How is this possible?

Question

"Damnation is an act of love." A Christian said this.
he said if we didn't have the choice of damnation then we wouldn't have free will, but couldn't God just make us cease to exist?
That way we wouldn't be with him since we didn't choose to be with him (even though we didn't get the chance to make an informed decision because there wasn't a lot of evidence that Christianity is the right religion), but we also wouldn't be tortured for forever since no one wants to be tortured for ever and they wouldn't choose to be tortured for eternity if their choice was really free.

Jake 'N' Shakes said this

lucky, did God himself say this to you or did you hear it from somewhere else?
maybe your sources aren't that trust worthy?

wisdom, i'm trying to get you to think

Angel, we are not free to not exist for the rest of eternity, that's what a lot of people want, why cant they have that?

Joja, you gave the Koran a chance then?

why is the choice that isn't God eternal torture? why cant it be non-existance?, that is so much more loving

Answer 1

Damnation is an act of justice, - positively. Someone might be able to say that damnation could be an act of love... since God does 'scare' us into righteousness. He also legitimately scares us into doing good, when he says 2 are in a field one is taken, therefore you never know the return of the master.

But no matter what we say, - those that are damned to hell, it will be totally evident that they deserve to be in hell.

People that definitely reject the blood of Jesus are damned. Those that truly are never saved are damned, and those that have not heard,... it's in God's hands.. and I guess that's the best place for it to be.

But one thing is for sure, Jesus wanted the disciples to be sent, said it was very necessary as the "good news" of the whole world. We should not take that merely as a recommendation or simply as spreading "happy thoughts".

Answer 2

I am Christian and I wouldn't go so far as to say that damnation or hell is an act of love. However, I would say that giving a person a choice and not forcing them to be obey is loving. You said, "even though we didn't get the chance to make an informed decision because there wasn't a lot of evidence that Christianity is the right religion." Well, I 100% disagree. I think there is way more real evidence in both the existance of God and that the Bible is 100% true and real. So, you probably should choose to follow Christ. I know it, to me it's a fact. I've seen God work and help me in my life. He is real. You can't say its coincidence all of the thousands of prophesies in the Bible that come true and are still coming true. But back to your question. Everyone really needs to make a choice, either to follow God or not. It's their decision. If you choose God, then great, you recieve the benefits. If you don't, then you receive the consequences. God set up the rules, he knows the rules. He knew that it would be impossible for man to earn salvation on his own. That's why he sent his son, Jesus, to die for the sins of the world. That's a pretty big thing, Would you send your son to die? Probably not, neither would I. But he really loved us, more than anything, and he sacrificed the most important thing in the world to him, his son, so that we didn't have to go to hell. So, if all i have to do is believe in him and his son to avoid hell. I think that's a hell of a bargain. (pun intended). And if someone refuses to become christian, or even really investigate it for themselves, or believe crap people say against God and Christianity on yahoo, then that's on them too. If God says his judgement is righteous, then it is. It's not my job to judge God. What he says, I'm good with. Peace

Answer 3

Let's look at this logically and hopefully you'll understand.

For people to get into heaven where God resides, you need to know God, since you will be spending eternity with Him.
Hell is where God will not be. Hell is a place of eternal torment, where "you will always be thirsty, a drunk can never drink enough to satisfy," it will have the adverse effect, then it will be too late to "change your opinion."
Hypothetically:
Say you spend 70 years on this earth denying God or His existence. Your last breath leaves you and you soon walk through the gates of hell. People told you of the "escape plan," where Jesus came to bring sinners to repentence and save them.

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...

Jesus paid the price for your redemption from hell. If you accepted this plan and sought God with all your heart, your "ticket" to heaven is always in your hand. Without this ticket, you can't enter and there is no limbo.
Now, God loves you so much that He values your free will over His desire to be reconciled with you. He loves you so much that,if you choose to spend eternity without Him, He will give you this desire.

THAT IS AN ACT OF LOVE. It isn't what He desires, it is what you would desire.

Answer 4

If someone came to me and said,
" Listen, read this Book and if you can believe it, when you die, you will come back to life again in a perfect body and live for all eternity"

Why shouldn't I give the Book a chance?
A chance to live for all eternity...?
Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.


Instead of fearing damnation of the soul in the afterlife, why not give God a chance?

God gives everyone a chance to come to Him, and if they
mock and reject....God is the One who will judge them on Judgment Day.

I can't say its unfair because God is the One who made the rules. If He gave us life and died on the cross to save
us from sin, the least I can do is give Him a chance to come and live in my soul.

As for "informed decisions" God will know who was informed enough and who wasn't in this world.
As for Americans, there's too many movies that have been shown like The Ten Commandments and The Passion of Christ for anyone to say they didn't know better.

But if its any consolation, there will not be an eternal hell
because then the person would have eternal life, and God
is only giving the GIFT OF eternal life to those who go to heaven and those who were in His thoughts before the foundation of the world.

Answer 5

This question reminds me of the Jewish explanation of "satan."

There is a famous Jewish teaching that if you want to find out the true meaning of something, find the first time the word appears in the Bible. The first time a form of the word 'Satan' appears is in Numbers 22:22 where an angel of G-d stood in front of Bilam and his donkey to obstruct them, to block their path. The word "l'satan", therefore, means to be an obstacle, an obstruction, a roadblock, an adversary, etc.

The purpose of Satan and the Satanic force in the world is to obstruct our spiritual progress. Life is supposed to be a path to G-d. If the journey were a breeze, with no challenges, there would be little virtue in succeeding. For example, G-d tells us not to commit adultery. If there were no strong sexual impulse, and if people of the opposite sex looked like sacks of potatoes, there wouldn't be much virtue in being moral. G-d asks us to return the lost objects of people that we may happen to find. If we had no lust for money, then there would be little virtue in returning someone's wallet. The rabbis teach in the Talmud that Satan basically resides inside of us, and it's called the Yetzer Hara (Inclination Toward Evil). The rabbis say that this Satanic force is the greatest blessing that G-d ever gave us! Satan is the loyal opposition. It helps us build our spiritual muscles by giving us resistance to our spiritual progress. If you go to a gym, and lift weights that weigh 6 ounces, you will never build any muscle. The more weight you add, the more resistance, the more muscle you will build. The same is true spiritually. If we didn't have this Satanic force in the world opposing our progress, there would be no opportunity to build our spiritual muscles...

The greatest chess player in modern times was arguably Garry Kasparov. His greatest opponent was Anatoly Karpov. They were bitter enemies. But without Karpov, there would be no Kasparov. Having such strong opposition brought out the best in him. It made him the great chess player that he was. If he only had weak competition, he would never have grown into a great chess player. So, his strongest enemy was the greatest blessing to him! The Talmud says that the more righteous someone is, the greater is their Yetzer Hara. G-d needs to test him even more since he's reached such a high level!

What a totally different understanding of Satan than the Christian one! To them, Satan is not playing on G-d's team. He's the leader of a team that has rebelled against G-d. From a Jewish point of view, Satan is on G-d's team! And even though he tries his hardest to tempt us and detour us, he is ultimately rooting for us to overcome him! He's simply doing his job!

Rabbi Michael Skobac

Answer 6

No one is going to be tortured forever and ever. The Bible is clear on this. The forever burning tormenting hell is a fictional place that is not Biblically supported except in ONE parable that was told. There are plenty of other places in the Bible that support the NON-EXISTENCE of hell though.

The word hell translated out from the Hebrew word "Sheol" and the Greek word "Hades." They literally mean "the grave."

God loves you desperately. He longs to hold you in His arms, protects you, comfort you, heal you, listen to you, dry your tears, fight your battles for you, meet your needs... He paid a mighty high price so that you could make the choice, out of love, to come and join Him in heaven - a beautiful place where there will never be any sorrow, suffering, pain, tears, or death.

He couldn't just make us cease to exist, because then Satan wins. The rest of the universe would see that if they didn't obey God, they would "cease to exist." They would then serve God out of fear, and not out of love.

You don't beat your spouse and expect them to love you. If they said that they loved you, you would know that they only said that because they feared you. It would not be a very satisfying relationship.

If you want to find out some neat things that God has told us in His Word, go to the following website and take their free Bible Studies. They are easy, and I promise you, eye-opening.

Answer 7

Exactly! i say that people seem to forget there are other choices than heaven and eternal torment. There is non-existence, there is another shot, etc... A god that gives us the choice of eternal torment or heaven is NOT a merciful god. Period.

Answer 8

It's just the standard religious extortion - They threaten eternal torture in order for you to toe the line, give your money, keep the religious leaders in the wealth and power and prestige that they'd like to maintain. Just normal human nature really.

Answer 9

We are free to make choices, not free to choose the consequences of the choices. God did this so we would learn and decide whether we wanted happiness or misery.

Answer 10

The only torture in Hell is living with yourself and your companions there. People in hell like it there because they can excercise their loves which are the love of evil and the love of falseness.

http://www.mechanicsburgnewchurch.org/hh-ager.txt