Oxy, in what way do you find the above quote “mean-spirited”? Do you think he’s lying to make ET Hell-based Christians sound bad? Do you think it’s mean spirited to call the traditional Hell doctrine a “sacred cow”? Please elaborate. I’d like to understand your viewpoint better.
Sonia
Exactly! except the part about him lying. I believe Sherman honestly believes what he says. The spirit of his post was mean spirited in that when you call others “mean spirited” then in a way you are being mean spirited as well especially when the other camp does the same and you say nothing about that.
You should be prepared to defend the Truth. You have no authority beyond what is demonstrated in the Scriptures!
Defending the truth is one thing. Beating my head against a brick wall is another. The only truth is the gospel and pitting one presupposition against another presupposition is not the gospel.
Why you beat your head against The Rock, and kick at the goads I can only wonder.
So you present no evidence to counter my point regarding Hell not even being named specifically in the Bible, and the misinterpretation of Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna; and instead you express and opinion that my flesh is talking instead of my spirit, and that I’m railing against “the establishment” though I didn’t rail against the establishment. It would be helpful if you’d deal with the issues instead of, well, whatever it is you’re doing.
So you’re being “mean-spirited” because of accusing me being “mean-spirited” for noting that others actions of exclusion and persecution are “mean-spirited”. That’s kind of a stretch isn’t it.
Don’t you think it would be much better to stick to the issue being discussed. If you’d like to present evidence that either Sheol, Hades, or Gehenna should be interpreted as Hell, please do so.
You are correct though that I do honestly believe what I share. Concerning Hell being a “sacred cow” for many believers, from experience I’ve found that many, even most believers will not seriously consider any evidence that calls into question their belief in ECT; and they’ll often resort to personal attacks and unfounded accusations against Universalism, and not deal with the issue at hand. So to me the analogy of a sacred cow fits. But if that offends you, I’m sorry; I didn’t mean it personally against you.
and the series continues:-
The Truth About Hell
*Others hold to a form of universalism that holds out the false hope that hell is not the final destination for sinners. In their view, God’s redeeming work doesn’t stop at death. God will eventually reconcile every creature to Himself—yes, even those in hell. As British evangelist John Blanchard put it,
All the ways to hell are one-way streets. The idea that those who go there will eventually be released and join the rest of humanity in heaven has not a shred of biblical evidence to support it.
Children are sometimes told fictional adventure stories with the delightful ending: “And they all lived happily ever after.” We call that kind of story a fairy tale. Universalism is exactly that. (John Blanchard, “Whatever Happened to Hell?”)*
The evidence he gives against a post-mortem chance for repentance is super weak. All he can find is a parable (Luke 16) and one verse in an apocalyptic book filled with figurative language? Especially when the Bible DOES give a description of post-mortem repentance (Phip 2:9-11)–or at least, it would be a description of repentance if we weren’t so biased against it.
And again we are back 
Well I must be wrong … no U-TURNS allowed 
… the facts prove that its just a fairy tale 
Oxy… have you really prayed and open your heart to the Spirits leading about this? Have you read any of the resources for the evidence of EU shared on this forum or any other site for yourself? Have you come to your own conclusions.
Or do you just take what you’re spoon feed at face value?
Show us your evidence that might convince us that our method of study is wrong, that our understanding of the original languages is in error. That we are mistaken when we say that “Sheol”, “Hades” and “Gehenna” should not have been translated as “Hell”. Ect. etc. ect.
Don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions of your teachers and pastors. Don’t let them control you with fear of not being “Saved” because you challenge the traditions of men.
Praying for you.
Grace and Peace
Universalism is indeed a fairy tale: The evil giant called Death is slain. The maiden is rescued from the Dark Tower and marries her prince.
It’s also true that stories with unhappy endings are called tragedies.
The question becomes, “What sort of story are we in? What sort of story has God written?” (You can tell a lot about an author by reading his book.)
It is indeed a beautiful story! Funny how we humans have this idea that a thing must be wrong because it’s “too good to be true”!
Sonia
If Reality isn’t a faerie tale it isn’t worth reading, let alone living.
and the series continue:- gty.org/Blog/B110506
Is Hell Really Endless?
*Punishment in hell is defined by the word aionios, which is the word eternal or everlasting. There are people who would like to redefine that word aionios and say, “Well, it doesn’t really mean forever.” But if you do that with hell, you’ve just done it with heaven, because the same word is used to describe both. If there is not an everlasting hell, then there is not an everlasting heaven. And I’ll go one beyond that. The same word is used to describe God. And so if there is not an everlasting hell, then there is not an everlasting heaven, nor is there an everlasting God. It is clear that God is eternal; and, therefore, that heaven is eternal, and so is hell. (John MacArthur, “A Testimony of One Surprised to Be in Hell, Part 2”)
Augustine put it simply more than 1,500 years ago: “To say that life eternal shall be endless, [but that] punishment eternal shall come to an end is the height of absurdity.”*
I’m sure I will be repeating what has been said often on this forum…
What some folks have said… Sorry Oxy for the length of this post… I cut a whole bunch out 
But just in case you did not
The Greek word aion (and its forms) is the word used to translate for ever, eternal, and everlasting. This word does not have as its meaning “endless duration” as our religious traditions have taught us; rather it denotes a limited duration, an interval of time. Thus, it is also used to translate our English words “ages,” or “world.”
The Greek noun aion is used 128 times. It is translated in the King James Version as follows:
Ages 2
Evermore 4
Course 1
Never 7
Eternal 2
World 40
Ever 72
The Greek adjective aionios is used 71 times. It is translated in the King James Version as
follows:
Eternal 42
Everlasting 25
Ever 1
World 3
ETYMOLOGY, DEFINITION, & USAGE
Now, let’s take a closer look at this Greek word aion. We will look at its etymology, definition.
Etymology
“Etymology gives no warrant for applying the idea of eternity to the word … We find no reason in its etymology for giving it the sense of endless duration.” – J.W. Hanson, The Greek Word Aion, 1875 (pages 10-11).
“It must be admitted that the Greek word which is rendered ‘eternal’ does not, in itself, involve endlessness, but rather, duration, whether through an age or succession of ages, and that it is therefore applied in the New Testament to periods of time that have had both a beginning and ending” – Charles John Ellicott, Ellicott’s Commentary on the Whole Bible.
Definition
“the time of life” – Hesychius (A.D. 400-600).
“an interval denoting time” – Theodoret (A.D. 300-400).
“Properly, an age” – James Strong, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance Greek Lexicon (Greek #165).
“Primarily signifies time, in the sense of age, or generation” – International Standard Bible
Encyclopedia (page 1010).
“An age” – W.E. Vine, Vine’s Expository Dictionary.
“A period of time related to the subject” – Charles J. Wilhelm, Biblical Dyslexia (2004), Page 80.
“Any space of time whether longer or shorter, past, present or future, to be determined by the persons or things spoken of, and the scope of the subjects; the life or age of man. Aionios, a definite and long period of time, that is, a long enduring, but still definite period of time.” – John Schleusner, Novus Thesaurus Philologico-Criticus (1829).
“The life that hastes away in the breathing of our breath, life as transitory; then the course of life, time of life, and general life in its temporal form, then, the space of human life, an age.” – E.W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance.
“A period of existence; one’s lifetime; life; an age; a generation; a long space of time. A space of time clearly defined and marked out; an era, epoch, age, period or dispensation. – Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon.
“Time; space of time; life time and life; the ordinary period of man’s life; the age of man; man’s estate; a long period of time” – James Donnegan, A New Greek and English Lexicon (1839).
“Aion: A space of time, as a lifetime, generation, period of history, an indefinitely long period” – Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament.
THE RELIGIOUS CONCEPT OF “ETERNAL”
Interestingly enough, our English word “eternal” comes from the Latin æternus which means, literally, “lasting for an age.” – Walter Skeat, The Concise Dictionary of English Etymology, 1882. This is confirmed by many etymological sources:
“lasting for an age” – John Kennedy, Word Stems: A Dictionary, 1996 (page 128).
“age” – Robert K. Barnhart, Barnhart’s Concise Dictionary of Etymology, 1995 (page 254).
“age” – Ernest Weekly, An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 1967 (page 526).
Somewhere along the way the meaning of the word “eternal” took on its modern religious concept. “Eternal” has come to mean “endless.” This definition is purely religious, rooted in Greek philosophy.
The Testimony of Others
We are not alone in coming to see the important scriptural meaning of “for ever,” “eternal,” and
“everlasting.” Consider the testimony of others concerning the current concept of “endless” as related to “eternity:”
“No, doubt it was right at one time to translate aion by eternal, and would be right again could we reinstate the original significance of the word: for, strangely enough, the word ‘eternal’ originally meant age-long.” Samuel Cox, Salvator Mundi, or Is Christ the Saviour of All Men? 1877 (p. 119).
“Let me say to Bible students that we must be very careful how we use the word ‘eternity.’ We have fallen into great error in our constant use of that word. There is no word in the whole Book of God corresponding with our ‘eternal’ which as commonly used among us means absolutely without end.” – G. Campbell Morgan, God’s Methods With Men (p.185).
“Eternity is not a Biblical theme … What we have to learn is that the Bible does not speak of eternity. It is not written to tell us of eternity. Such a consideration is entirely outside the scope of revelation.” – Charles H. Welch, An Alphabetical Analysis (Vol. 1, p. 279, 52).
“Aion … is a period of longer or shorter duration, having a beginning and an end, and complete in itself … The word always carries the notion of time, and not of eternity. It always means a period of time. Otherwise it would be impossible to account for the plural, or for such qualifying expressions as this age, or the age to come. It does not mean something endless or everlasting … The adjective aionios in like manner carries the idea of time. Neither the noun nor the adjective, in themselves, carry the sense of endless or everlasting … Words which are habitually applied to things temporal or material cannot carry in themselves the sense of endlessness. Even when applied to God, we are not forced to render aionios everlasting. Of course the life of God is endless; but the question is whether, in describing God as aionios, it was intended to describe the duration of his being, or whether some different and larger idea was not contemplated.” – Marvin Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (Vol. IV, p. 59).
“That aiónion, does not mean endless or eternal, may appear from considering that no adjective can have a greater force than the noun from which it is derived. If aión means age (which none either will or can deny) then aiónion must mean age-lasting, or duration through the age or ages to which the thing spoken of relates.” – Nathaniel Scarlett (1798).
“Since aion meant ‘age,’ aionios means, properly, ‘belonging to an age,’ or ‘age-long,’ and anyone who asserts that it must mean ‘endless’ defends a position which even Augustine practically abandoned twelve centuries ago.” – Frederic William Farrar, Mercy and Judgment, (p. 378).
“The Bible hardly speaks of eternity in a philosophical sense of infinite duration without beginning or end. The Hebrew word olam … in contexts where it is traditionally translated ‘forever,’ means, in itself, no more than ‘for an indefinitely long period.’ … In the New Testament, aion is used as the equivalent of olam.” – Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Bible.
“The Old Testament and the New Testament are not acquainted with the conception of eternity as timelessness. The Old Testament has not developed a special term for ‘eternity.’ The word aion originally meant ‘vital force,’ ‘life;’ then ‘age,’ ‘lifetime.’ It is, however, also used generally of a (limited or unlimited) long space of time …” – The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (vol. IV, p. 643).
“There is no word either in the Old Testament Hebrew or in the New Testament Greek to express the abstract idea of eternity. (Vol. III, p. 369): Eternal, everlasting-nonetheless ‘eternal’ is misleading, inasmuch as it has come in the English to connote the idea of ‘endlessly existing,’ and thus to be practically a synonym for ‘everlasting.’ But this is not an adequate rendering of aionios which varies in meaning with the variations of the noun aion from which it comes.” – Hasting’s Dictionary of the New Testament (p. 370).
CONCLUSION
In the Scriptures, “for ever,” “eternal,” and “everlasting” cannot possibly convey the meaning of “endless.”
(1) If so, how could aion ever be in the plural?
(2) If so, how could aion ever be spoken of as having an end?
The basic concept of aion does not convey the religious system’s imposed definition of “without end.” A clear understanding of biblical words, defined by the Scriptures themselves, is always the best remedy to the traditional bondage of the mind by the doctrines of men.
Thanks to Clyde Pilkington at BibleStudentsNotebook.com
Shorter answer this time. 
I think 
For reasons stated in my last post here I find Matt 25:46 a very poor “proof text” of the life God will give us at the end of the ages. I much prefer 1Cor 15:50-57 were we find that we shall receive “incorruption” and “immortality”.
As already stated, the meaning of the word “aionios” is “age-lasting,” not “eternal.” Rotherham’s Emphasized version properly translates Matt. 25:46 as follows:
And these shall go away into age-abiding correction: but the righteous into
age-abiding life.
"To address the accusation that we are somehow limiting the life of God by our translation of the word “aionios,” we most confidently declare that God’s life never had a beginning, nor will have an end. This life can be found nowhere except in God. This life fills both time and eternity. It existed before the ages (1 Cor. 2:7), and it will continue after the ages (1 Cor. 15:28 ). God is eternal (Rom. 1:20–Gk. word “aidios”), indissoluble (Heb. 7:16), and immortal (1 Tim. 6:16), and therefore, His life is also eternal, indissoluble, and immortal.
Man, on the other hand, is both temporal and mortal. He is not born with this God-life. The Bible says, “Only God hath immortality.” (1 Tim. 6:16) Man exists wholly in the realm of time (ages). He has never known anything but the realm of time. He lives and he dies. He is born and goes back to the dust whence he came. So when God imparts His life, it is imparted to mortal man who is “aionian.” In other words, man has been given life which pertains to the ages. This does not mean that the essence of God’s life is somehow temporary (or that God is temporary), it simply means that the life of God is imparted to man who is bound to the ages and who is NOT immortal. The ancient Egyptian and Greek teaching that says that man has an immortal soul (now embraced by the Church) is not scriptural. The only reason man has any life at all is because God (who is life) chooses to impart it to His creatures.
When the Bible speaks of the “aionian God” (1 Tim. 1:17), it does not mean that God is less than eternal. It simply means that He manifests Himself within the framework of time. That which is seen is temporal; that which is unseen is eternal. When the Bible says that God is “aionian,” it means He is “aionian” in the sense that He can move and manifest Himself in the realm of sight.
When the Bible speaks of the “eternal” God (Rom. 1:20), this means that God transcends all time, and He manifests Himself in that which is unseen. God is the only One who can exist in both the state of time and timelessness. Jesus, after His resurrection, possessed the fullness of God’s life allowing Him to manifest Himself in both the “aionian” realm (when He showed Himself to the disciples) and the “eternal” realm (being with the Father).
“Aionian” life is that life which is applicable to the ages (time). “Immortality” is that life which is applicable to the state of timelessness. Both emanate from God who is indissoluble, unchangeable, immortal, and the One who NEVER dies. Again, it is not “aionian” in that its quality is somehow temporary, but in that it is given to man who is temporary. Since I am limited in my flesh, I cannot experience anything other than “aionian” life. I cannot move through walls and appear and disappear as Christ did. When I lay down this mortality, and put on immortality, then I will be able to minister both to God (eternal) and to my brethren who are still limited by temporal time (aionian).
No one who believes in universal reconciliation teaches that God is temporary. This is a twisting of our words that those who oppose the truth of universal reconciliation use to try and discredit the glorious gospel. While we in no way deny God’s “eternal” nature, we do believe that the nature of man is temporary. If God doesn’t give His life to us, then we would all perish forever going back to the “dust from whence we came.”"
Thank you Mr. K.Eckerty. He says it much better than I could.
Grace and peace
You are not answering anyones question. This statment is a common strategy used by people who have lost an argument and want to throw their opponent off. You make a series of emotional attacks or statments that you have heard or come up with and the focus is off of your failure to be able to logically answer the question at hand. You are not addressing the realities they are showing you in scripture.
What do you really think? I am sicerelly interested; I come from a place simillar to where you are at in your thinking, but in God’s grace and in my learning to really walk with Him have moved to where he really is. I would like to see how you are really walking with Jesus. Show Him to me through your walk and we will fellowship.
(and the Series continues:-) gty.org/Blog/B110511
The Severity of Hell
The doctrine of eternal conscious punishment…tends to be one of the first doctrines given up by people who are moving away from a commitment to the Bible as absolutely truthful …]. Among liberal theologians who do not accept the absolute truthfulness of the Bible, there is probably no one today who believes in the doctrine of eternal conscious punishment. (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology) gty.org/Blog/B110511