[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by VoiceInWilderness

Personally I don't think the Bible teaches that those who have not received Christ will "go to hell". It does teach that those who receive Christ will not go to hell. That is different.

I'm trying to get a handle on what you actually believe here, so could you explain a little more about what is going to happen to these unbelievers who do not go to hell? For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.(2 Cor 5:10) So when these ones come before the judgement seat of Christ, the Lord is going to say "oh, when the Bible said 'all' it really didn't mean you guys". Also note "for his deeds in the body". This to me clearly indicates that ALL will be judged for what takes place during our days here on earth.

It seems to me that you believe that there is going to be some third dimension apart from heaven and hell. I don't see it in the Word. Maybe there's something there that I'm not seeing. So could you please elaborate a bit on this? I not trying to be argumentative, just seeking some clarification.

But it doesn't help explain this verse because according to that understanding the false teachers will not go to hell having known Jesus as Lord and savior.
But how could the judgment on a backslider be worse than the judgment on someone who never received Jesus?

Who said that false teachers are going to hell? I don't think you've heard that from me or anyone else on this forum. Some false teachers will go to hell because they never believed on the Lord Jesus in the first place. Some will no doubt "suffer loss; but ..will be saved, yet so as through fire." (1 Cor 3:15)

I will start off with question #1.
Where is there a verse that all unbelievers go to hell for eternity? Clearly there are some who do (Rev 14:11). But this verse does not refer to all unbelievers.

Nothing in Revelation 14 makes or breaks your case, so I'm not sure why you are bringing it up.

Mat 26:24 and Mark 14:21 say that the punishment on Judas will be so terrible that "it had been better for that man if he had never been born." Yet, most evangelicals say that it would have been better for most human beings if they had never been born. This cannot be. According to the 2 verses above, eternal hell is an exceptional punishment for extreme sinners.

Most evangelicals say what? I have never heard any Christian teacher or minister say any such thing. Again the verses you have provided do not make your case, and they certainly do not say that hell is an exceptional punishment for extreme sinners.

In the Old Testament there is Israel and the nations. Israel is analagous to the church, and the nations to unbelievers. In the Old Testament no one would get the view that all the nations go to hell for eternity. It is clear that they are there in the next age. The righteous among the nations live in the next age as the nations and the righteous of Israel live on as God's people in the next age.

Yes Israel is analogous to the church, but I don't think that the nations (in the O.T.) are analogous to unbelievers (in this age). Israel was a people chosen and called out by God (as we Christians are), but the nations in the Old Testament were held under God's continual judgment (with a few exceptions) and were not provided any chance of redemption, whereas the unbelievers in this age have been given the opportunity to come out from underneath God's judgment. (I do understand that part of your contention is that some have not been given that opportunity, and we can certainly discuss that on this thread).

The situation with how God's people who lived under that law will be judged is an area of debate and even sharp disagreement among Christians. I have not studied it enough to make an intelligent argument either way. I wish the apostle Paul were here to expound upon what he told the Romans: For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; (Rom 2:12) It seems cut and dry, but there are other portions of scripture that seem to make it a little more complicated than this verse seems to indicate.