: : Can someone tell me what is ment by "...whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." ?

: : everlasting life??? not perish???

: bzrd here: It is required by man to die once; "the penalty of sin is death". Those who don't beleive in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are subject to the second death; they are cast into the Lake of Fire. Interestingly, there is an interpretation of scripture that I encountered, that says this is indeed a death, and not an eternity in Hell. "They will be as if they never were", which if you consider that God transcends time, and that eternity consists of "endless time", then endless time would have no relevence outside of the universe. So, if one was doomed to an eternal Hell, then that would be only until the end of time.

Apollos :However, if I may interject one thing I remember reading in one of the books of the Bible; at the lake of fire after the end time that the smoke of their torment ascended up forever and ever before God. If that has any bearing on your discussion. Just as the people in heaven lived for eternity. Some had a gift given to them of eternal life and some received a cursing of eternity in a lake of fire, evidently because of their life style upon the earth.