Paul Chapman wrote:
> Matthew Johnson wrote:
>
> >
> > This is "another look"? I don't see a real difference from your
> > previous look. It has all the same faults. The most basic of which is
> > you false assumption of what "eternal/everlasting destruction" means.
> >
> >
>
> I take "destruction" to mean what it's plainest meaning is--the ACT of
> destroying or the PROCESS of being destroyed. Whether it is the act or
> the process would depend on context. Either way, destruction in itself
> implies an outcome: one where the object that undergoes destruction will
> be broken down, ruined, and of no use. In the case of a living being,
> destruction is an act or process that brings existance to an end.
>
> For example, when we speak of the 'destruction' of Sodom and Gomorrah we
> mean that event when "Lot went out of Sodom" and "it rained fire and
> brimstone from heaven, and _destroyed_ [them] all." (Luke 17:29)
>
> Of this event Jude wrote, "Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities
> about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and
> going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the
> vengeance of eternal fire." (Jude 1:7)
>
> Sodom underwent destruction by an "eternal fire." That fire is not
> still burning today, but it burnt until there was no more combustible
> material to burn. Nothing 'quenched' it. The outcome? Sodom ceased to
> exist.


Yet, even with all that, God shall restore Sodom to her former
estate.

The Revised Standard Version Ezekiel 16 :53-57.
"I will restore their fortunes, both the fortunes of Sodom and her
daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will
restore your own fortunes in the midst of them, that you may bear your
disgrace and be ashamed of all that you have done, becoming a
consolation to them. As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters
shall return to their former estate, and Sama'ria and her daughters
shall return to their former estate; and you and your daughters shall
return to your former estate. Was not your sister Sodom a byword in
your mouth in the day of your pride, before your wickedness was
uncovered? Now you have become like her an object of reproach for the
daughters of Edom and all her neighbors, and for the daughters of the
Philistines, those round about who despise you.


> When we read that the wicked will be "punished with everlasting
> destruction" (2Thes 4:9), I dont deny the process, but I maintain its
> outcome--the wicked shall cease to exist.
>
> In Ps 88:10-11 "destruction" is synonomous with "the grave".
>
> "Wilt thou