If eternal torment is a false doctrine, what about ';No rest day or night forever and ever'; ?

I know that ';forever'; can mean a limited time, but what is ';forever AND ever'; mean? Or no rest ';day or night';?If eternal torment is a false doctrine, what about ';No rest day or night forever and ever'; ?
I. REVELATION 14:10-11


Well, as for Revelation 14:11, that does initially sound like eternal torment...until you read Isaiah 34:9-10:





';Its (Edom) streams will be turned into pitch,


And its loose earth into brimstone,


And its land will become burning pitch.


It will not be quenched night or day;


Its smoke will go up forever


From generation to generation it will be desolate;


None will pass through it forever and ever.”





Obviously that verse is not referring to the torment of anything, but the destruction of an empire. Almost identical language is used in Revelation 14:10-11. Nowhere does it say there torment lasts forever; it says the smoke rises forever, as it did with Edom. There is no rest day and night...nor is there for Edom.





Think about it: if a fire destroys something, the smoke continues to rise after it is destroyed. If the rubble is cleared and things rebuilt, smoke won't continue to rise. However, just as when Abraham looked at Sodom and Gomorrah after it was destroyed, he saw the smoke rising (Genesis 19:28), the picture here is that Edom (and followers of the beast) are always in that just-destroyed state. It will never be rebuilt or restored. It is gone forever. The smoke doesn't literally ascend forever; it's just imagery. The same picture is painted for Revelation 14:10-11.








II. REVELATION 20:10


As for Revelation 20:10, the explanation is rather long, so I've included a link to one take on the issue (it also addresses Revelation 14:9-11). See last 2 sections:





http://www.afterlife.co.nz/articles-revi…





In summary, the following things must be considered:





- It's a vision, and the beast and false prophet, which are seen as being tormented ';day and night for ever and ever'; is a symbol. It’s not saying what literally occurs in real life.





- We learn by looking at Daniel 7, which is a very similar vision, referring to the same end time occurrences, that the beast is a kingdom. How on earth can you torment a kingdom (or any kind of corporate entity) in real life? You can't...





- Not only are men thrown into the Lake of fire, but so is Death and Hades. They aren't people or personal entities that could be tormented...We know death is destroyed (1 Corinthians 15:26), and it’s not a person; the Greek literally says it will cease. Men suffer the same Lake of fire, and the same literal fate (the Second Death), that Death does. That would mean they suffer destruction and extinction, just like death does...





- It would seem to contradict the ending of Daniel's parallel prophecy in which the beast is slain, not tortured eternally. However, there's no contradiction because they are both just VISIONS.





- The Whore of Babylon, also an explicit symbol, is shown as being tormented in fire while what she represents, Babylon, is destroyed, “thrown down, never to be seen again” (Revelation 18:21)If eternal torment is a false doctrine, what about ';No rest day or night forever and ever'; ?
Rev. 14:11:


11And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.';





--%26gt; The above verse refers to people who will worship the beast, that is yet future. It hasn't happened yet. They will be tormented forever and ever or ';eternally, without end, unlimited time.'; This is no joke. We must not make fun of His judgment. These people totally rejected God and His salvation and trusted the ';Beast'; instead.





Rev. 20:10:


10And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.





--%26gt;The above verse is clear. The Lake of Fire is the judgment of the devil, the Beast, and the false prophet. They will be tormented ';eternally, without end, without limit,'; including the people who followed them.
Jesus refered to Gehenna in the Valley of Hinnom there was a garbage dump outside of Jerusalem where the city's waste and carcasses of animals also those thought unworthy of burial were thrown in it such as criminals. The fires were kept burning by adding sulfur to burn up the refuse and the fires of Gehenna burned day and night. This is also symbolized by the lake of fire where hell and death is thrown into (Rev 20:14) to the fire that is never put out which means everlasting destruction not everlasting torment.


There are Bibles which associate the lake of fire as hell but hell and the lake of fire are two seperate concepts in the original greek texts.


Some because of the belief in hellfire would need some sort collaberation say that hell was thrown into the lake of fire which happens to mean hell which is confusing and not contain the ring of truth. Gehenna consumed with fire things to destruction and as with Jesus when he used the parable of Gehenna the Jews understood what he was speaking to them when Jesus said that God would destroy the wicked by throwing them into Gehenna. This was not a punishment of eternal torment but the destruction of the wicked.


The New World Translation has restored the proper usage of hell and gehenna so that they are distinguishable from each other. The link gives you another article on the subject


http://www.watchtower.org/e/20020715/art…





The Bible reveals the conditon of the dead, they are not in torment or in reward. They are conscious of nothing and they have perished.


Ecclesiastes 9:5-6


For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten. Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun.





Would a merciful loving God really torture someone forever?


Flies in the face of what we learn from the example of Jesus who imitated his Father and was merciful and full of compassion. If a decent human couldn't tolerate a person in eternal agony how much more so our Creator in heaven who is even more compassionate. The Churches say they praise God yet make him merciless.





These scriptures do not speak of a God who would create a literal place of eternal torment and suffering.





Matthew 15:8 This people honors me with their lips, yet their heart is far removed from me.


2 Peter 3:9


. . .he is patient with YOU because he does not desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance.


1 John 4:8


He that does not love has not come to know God, because God is love.
The translators were heathen, and understood things to say what they understood to be true. If you want to cite a specific text, I can try to give you an accurate rendering. It is difficult in the 'new testament' for we don't have the underlying Hebrew, but only the Greek translation, which may or may not be accurate. Thus we need to go by the entire book, paying especial attention to the most clear texts, and those that contradicted the translator's understanding, realizing that they must have been very clear to be rendered thus.
Perhaps it is only the ';either/or'; mentality that makes it false...as in either you go to heaven for eternal reward OR you go to hell for eternal torment. Some people believe that hell is reserved for Satan, his demons, and any human being that knew Jesus was telling truth (just as Satan did) and consciously chose to serve Satan instead. Perhaps they are the only ones that suffer eternal torment...everyone else just dies if they aren't invited in to heaven.





Even then, ';forever and ever'; could be referring to the scope of time relative to the existence of the world we live in now. Time would certainly be irrelevant in eternity...and if and when God does bring an end to this existence, that would mark the end of time-based references such as ';forever and ever';. The bible makes several references to the ';end of time(s)';...and it says that ';death and hades'; (and Satan and him minions) will be tossed into the lake of fire when that time comes. The bible uses terms like ';everlasting destruction'; to describe what happens even to people that go to hell...the term destruction is not consistent with the idea that souls would be preserved forever, it is consistent with the idea that they will be eliminated!
'no rest day or night forever and ever' ... i believe is a quote referring to satan and the lake of fire which is not hell.





It's obvious to me that the bible says satan will burn for eternity in the lake of fire.
you get the same thing in heaven . no one will be weary hungry or ill . so how do you know one from the other . and how can you aim at a target that is invisible to the eye and the heart .
Jeannie, shouldn't you be getting back to your bottle?