show_no_mercy

Adam's curse.

Chili

. . . and Adam's curse was to be alienated from his own true self in the image and likeness of God = banned from Eden.

rhutchin

For example:

Romans 2
3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?...
5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil,...

2 Corinthians 5
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

2 Thessalonians 1
7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

ApostateAbe

Only 2 Corinthians is an authentic Pauline letter, and it seems to be a pretty good indication that Paul believed in hell. What is the terror of the Lord, or a negative judgment before the judgment seat of Christ, if not hell?

Andykiwi

A lot of the "testing by fire" metaphor can be seen to apply to this life, I think.

Paul wrote most of his letters before the Gospels were written, of course.
The idea of hell developed in a few places before it became part of Church thinking...
Zoroastrianism and some pre-Christian Greek writers (Hades).
It wasn't part of early Jewish thinking.

Chili

Hell is opposite to heaven and cannot be known until heaven is called into existence.

Chili

Paul knew what hell on earth is, of course he did, but that does not make him a believer. He can boldly say what is hell on earth but the problem is that "many are called but few are chosen" and if out of those called that these few are chosen it is those called but not chosen who are not able to work out their own salvation and they will be in hell . . . while trying to do so and still die nonetheless.

spamandham

IMHO, the Pauline tradition originates in allegories. When Paul talks about resurrection, he is not referring to corpses coming back to life, nor is he referring to spirits living in heaven. He's referring to a new way of living in the here and now. Similarly, the kingdom of god is not a place or a future event, but instead refers to a change of heart - a different way of viewing the world.

Paul might have believed in some sort of vague afterlife concept, but it isn't clear to me what that might have been if he did.

mountainman

Not necessarily since this is subject to controversy. The dating of the gospels and the dating of acts and the dating of the letters of paul are all over the shop. In fact some academics claim that none of the 14 letters of Paul are genuine, but in fact are much later forgeries.

rhutchin

Hell is not so much "opposite" heaven as it is "outside" heaven. When a person dies and desires to enter heaven, it is so that he not be confined to that region outside heaven which is called hell.