Besides 2 Thess 1:9, which can be translated a variety of ways and therefore is not a strong proof of this notion, does the Bible say anywhere else that Hell is “separation from God”?
Seems to me that unbelievers don’t like God, nor His presence, and if God weren’t in Hell punishing them, they’d be doing wickedness down there, instead of weeping and gnashing their teeth. And Psalm 139:8 seems to say God is everywhere including Hell.
2 Thessalonians 1:9
ESV - 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.
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Tim Maas
As indicated in Matthew 25:31-46, in Jesus' description of the Last Judgment at the close of the age, He will tell the "goats" on His left hand, "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." That fire, far from being an environment that allows freedom of action (including the commission of sin), will be a place of everlasting punishment and torment. And Jesus' command to depart from Him indicates to me that -- God's omnipresence notwithstanding -- the condemned will not experience any awareness of, or derive any benefit or comfort from, whatever God's relationship to them will be.
Ben Jones
I checked fifteen different translations and they all use the identical term "punishment of eternal destruction" in this passage. I'm not sure what you mean by "translated a variety of ways" Even the illegitimate New World Translation renders that phrase " judicial punishment of everlasting destruction" which is interesting since they don't believe in Hell, replacing it with annihilation.
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