why do religions teach of hell when their is no hell?

Question

religions teach that god is vengefull , judgmental, jelous, and spitefull.. none of which is god like qualities. why do they attach bad human qualities to god. its ok he will forgive them. he or she is forgiving. but if we want to see peace for this planet they should stop or were going to kill everyone on this planet

Answer 1

Religions use allegories to inform, indoctrinate, and control the members and recruits of the religion. In the western world, many people have been educated sufficiently to understand that while most religions serve many noble purposes, many are espousing "truths" that are anything but.

Some religions have become the victims of their own propaganda for so long that the leaders of the religion actually believe the allegories are the truth and they teach it as if it were. The inevitable result will be that those religions who cannot evolve with the education and natural selection of human intelligence will first be relegated to the third world and emerging countries, and eventually will become obsolete altogether.

There are some philosophies of life that are commonly mistaken for a religion, which have more enduring messages and principles. Buddhism is one with which I am familiar. I have read that the Buddha himself was clear that he did not believe in gods, and taught that people should not believe even he the Buddha without thinking for themselves, about what he taught, and drawing their own conclusions.

The unitarians are an example of a religion that seems to be trying to evolve and combine the best parts of many religions and philosophies. From what little I have read about them, they are still in a stage where their liturature presumes the existence of God as god is most commonly defined. I imagine it is necessary for them to be inclusive of the people who have not yet been able to let go of the simplistic, allegorical concept of a single omnipotent god.

You have applied basic logic in your question and found the concept of God as it is commonly represented to be troubling. Good for you. But people need meaning in life. Don't let your logical orientation close you off from the many good messages that come from religious groups. Just apply logic and a healthy skepticism to the elements of those religions that try to offer pat answers to questions and ideas that deserve more honesty and more respect for the minds and spiritual sensibilities of the evolving audience that asks them.

Answer 2

I like your question. I've studied this issue some. And I have still not come to a conclusion. Jews either do not believe or do not know if there is a hell as you probably know. There are scriptures that come close to convincing me that there is and others that convince me there is not. So I remain undecided however I am more inclined to believe that God was not referring to a literal fire. Just as He was not speaking literally when He said , "if your hand offends you cut it off." I don't see to many people running around with no hands. But later in the same chapter He says: "better you should go to heaven with no limbs than with all your limbs to go into hell." Now if He didn't literally mean to cut off your hands or pluck out your eyes then it is reasonable that He was not referring to a literal hell.

I do believe however that we are made in His image and I do believe that God is judgemental, jealous and angry. He does have these qualities just as we do. We have Judges. We are jealous over our children. And we are angry at wrongdoing. So I believe that these qualities are not necessarily bad.

I share with you a desire for peace. I think I can have peace within myself and can be at peace with God and as far as possible at peace with all men. However the "they" in your last sentence is not just the religious but all those who are hateful and do not want to be at peace with their fellowman.

Answer 3

Um, i think you need to learn more about God then what someone planted in your head. First off, how do you know what God is really like and what "a god" should be like? god qualities(ha) God is the absences of evil(sin). Even those qualities you listed seem bad, they all have a reason, whether we understand them or not, that is not the concern. The concern is pleasing God and making him out personal savior. Believing the Jesus died on the cross for our sins and being able to stand up and not be ashamed.

If we knew why God is why he is, then there wouldn't be much use in beliving in him.

Walk by faith, not by sight.
http://thekingsrings.com/romans_road/contact.html

Answer 4

Vengeful and Judgemental? Absolutely. God, being all-knowing, is the only being trully qualified to mete out judgement of those who oppose Him.
Jealous? Not in the way you normally use the word. Jealous in biblical context is much more like having deep and sensitive feelings. When people go astray, it hurts Him.
Spiteful? Never. As our Father, God loves us and truly wants for us to be happy and to live in peace. It is our own lust for power and glory that separates us from God and causes war to come into the world.

Lastly, what is Hell anyway? To my understanding, hell would be having a knowledge that I could have done better in life to obey the commandments and walk in the right path, and having to confess that face to face to God. That's worse than any fireball.

Answer 5

Justice is not a human quality. Look around you. Humans are not just. If God is just, why is that bad? If people choose to go to hell, God is just and will let them go there.
Anyway, what makes you think you know everything about the universe to the point that you are so sure there is no hell?
You must truly know it all.

Answer 6

God has a right to judge (He's perfect), He is jealous like a man is to his wife (or visa versa), and He is not spitefull you are. And Hell does exist, it's where Satan was cast out to since he couldn't live with God anymore.

Answer 7

What makes you think there is no Hell? The Bible speaks of hell more than heaven. Please be more specific. Remember, although God is a loving God he is also a just God. You have your entire life to accept Jesus as your savior and the only unforgivable sin is to reject the Holy Spirit. God created us to fellowship with him that's why we have free will. If you are right and there is no hell, accepting Christ as your personal savior will guarantee heaven but what if you're wrong?
Just think about this.......
If you dies tonight, would you be willing to risk your eternity on having no hell?

Answer 8

People project their ego thought systems outward and attribute it to god. When people like Jesus come along and have a direct experience of unconditional love (god) and try to get this across, people's egos don't want to hear it and so they get mad and change the message. Jesus got this dynamic across in parable of prodigal son -- the 'good' son thinks god rewards, punishes, etc. but is pissed when his understanding is completely wrong and that the whole concept of some people being treated special and rewarded misses the whole point.

Answer 9

Don't know about you ---But I've heard about Hell sence I was a little one...Seems funny after all these centuries .. Nobody has changed the discription of it...So rest assured It is not Made up !! or a figment of Someones imagination..It is Just as real as Heaven....So You make Your choice..Just don't try to convince others there is not a Hell.

Answer 10

they stole the concept from the Pagans.
In ancient Babylonian and Assyrian beliefs the “nether world . . . is pictured as a place full of horrors, and is presided over by gods and demons of great strength and fierceness.” 
Early evidence of the fiery aspect of Christendom’s hell is found in the religion of ancient Egypt. Buddhism, which dates back to the 6th century B.C.E., in time came to feature both hot and cold hells.
Depictions of hell portrayed in Catholic churches in Italy have been traced to Etruscan roots.

Would God do this? Note Jer. 32:35 Furthermore, they built the high places of Ba´al that are in the valley of the son of Hin´nom, in order to make their sons and their daughters pass through [the fire] to Mo´lech, a thing that I did not command them, neither did it come up into my heart to do this detestable thing, for the purpose of making Judah sin.
If it was detestable to God for people to burn their children, it follows that it is always detestable to him to burn people. Even for punishment.

Eccl. 9:5, 10: “The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all . . . All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol,* the place to which you are going.” (If they are conscious of nothing, they obviously feel no pain.)