lake of fire

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Proper noun

lake of fire

1. (Christianity) A place where evildoers are sent in the afterlife; hell.
   • 1755, John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament‎^[1], 12th edition (Religion), New York: Carlton & Porter, published 1856, →OCLC, page 722:

     These thousand years are followed by the last times of the world, the letting loose of Satan, who gathers together Gog and Magog, and is thrown to the beast and false prophet in the lake of fire. Now Satan's accusing the saints in heaven, his rage on earth, his imprisonment in the abyss, his seducing Gog and Magog, and being cast into the lake of fire, evidently succeed each other.

   • 1992 February 23, Sandy Tolan, Nancy Postero, “Accidents of History”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 December 2022, Section 6, page 38‎^[3]:

     The Garlands and the other missionaries have been teaching Ataiba about Papaguatsu -- God, the Great Father; about a place called God's camp, where the believers go when they die; about the other place -- the eternal lake of fire. […]
     "I'm not scared of anyone, just the Lord," Ataiba says afterward. "If I don't obey Him, He'll punish me. This they have shown me from the Bible." He looks up, squinting hard, pondering this new world view. "In the jungle, I was bad. No one had shown me the Bible, so I shot at people with arrows. Now, the Son of the Chief has pardoned me. I want God to take me to the sky. I don't want to suffer in the lake of fire."

   • 1999 August 17, Hanna Rosin, quoting R. Albert Mohler Jr., “Pope's Vision of Heaven, Hell Riles Evangelicals”, in The Washington Post‎^[4], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 December 2022‎^[5]:

     "My concern here is the temptation to make hell a state of mind, to psychologize hell," said Mohler. "As attractive as that may be to the modern mind, that is not the hell of the Bible. Jesus himself spoke of hell as a lake of fire, where the worms would not die and the fire would not be quenched. It's all very graphic."

   • 2012, D.A. Miller, A Theological Study of The Book of Romans, →ISBN, page 86:

     The reality which is expected is the justice of God judging unbeliever reversionists, both Jews and Gentiles, and sending them to the Lake of Fire.

   • 2012 April 23, Jeffrey Jones, Scott Haggett, “UPDATE 2-Alberta Conservatives defy polls, win another vote”, in Eric Walsh, David Brunnstrom, editors, Reuters‎^[6], archived from the original on 16 May 2021, INTEGRATED OIL & GAS‎^[7]:

     She raised eyebrows by not taking major issue with comments by some of her candidates, including one who said gay people would be subjected to a lake of fire on judgment day and another who said that he would be able to speak more effectively to all ethnic groups because he is Caucasian.

   • 2018 September 24, Manuel Ybarra Jr., “Letter: America lost its love for God”, in USA Today‎^[8], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 October 2023, Opinion‎^[9]:

     Those who reject God, and Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, will face eternal damnation in hell and the lake of fire. Repent, or face judgment.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:lake of fire.