If we look at the literal interpretation, alot of great people would be in Hell.
Archimedes, Socrates, Plato, Gandhi, Martin Luther, Charles Darwin, Neils Bohr... I mean the list goes on and on.
As to all of them being "loving" people specifically I can't really substantiate that, but they, for the most part, made great contributions to the world, and did so magnanimously.
2006-08-14 05:59:36 · 28 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
All the people named indeed had great contribution and personified love. I wonder why the name of Jesus has been excluded since central theme of his teaching was love.They all met a sad end. How are we sure they were condemned to Hell? Why could they not reach Heaven? Why should we conclude that god punished them. They had a set duty/ministry to deliver after which their existence on earth would have been out of place/ probably diminished the value of their work. Hence their end was ordained. Could we not look at the issue this way?
2006-08-14 06:30:44 · answer #1 · answered by openpsychy 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Dear Sinyckel,
God does not condemn any one to Hell. He has given us free will and men make choices. Hell is ultimately a place where people are eternally separated from the presence of God. In other words if a person wanted nothing to do with God in this life why would he want to spend an eternity with God?
God is really clear in His word that His desire is that none would perish. i don't want to quote a million bible verses- so i'll just quote the well known John 3:16- God so loved the world. God shows his love to the world through Christ but ultimately you and i have to make the choice whether we are going to trust Him with our lives or trust ourselves and our own "goodness". The Bible clearly teaches that no one's goodness is "good enough" you can't work your way in as many other religions do.
It does not discount the fact that people can do great and wonderful things that are helpful to humanity and contibute to society, but Heaven and Hell are not based upon our works. It's not a sliding scale. How do you measure that?
Hope that helps,
Nickster
2006-08-14 13:20:32 · answer #2 · answered by Nickster 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Well, first of all, being just a good person and making contributions for society on Earth doesn't automatically give you a free ticket into heaven. I don't care if they found a cure for the common cold, or they if they found a way to stop world hunger.
You have to acknowledge that there is a God ( the God of Abraham, Issac, and Moses ). You also must believe that he sent his son Jesus Christ to Earth, to become a man, and pay the total price for our sins, death. You must also put your faith on that. If you do then you will be with God forever in the afterlife.
If these good people in history did this, then God wouldn't send them to Hell. God will always love them, even they did make it into Hell because God's love is everlasting, and no force in the Universe, or outside of it, will ever destroy it. He sent some good people there for them to pay the price for not acknowledging Jesus.
2006-08-14 13:25:42 · answer #3 · answered by phil m 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's simple. The God of the Bible is a massive egomaniac who can't tolerate the presence of anyone who doesn't kiss his...ring continually. What the folk who are defending their God are saying is that yes, all these good people have been cast into hell because despite their goodness they didn't kiss God's precious ring and therefore somehow deserve eternal suffering. That includes all people from places that have never heard of Christianity, babies who died before they could hear and understand the Bible, and the millions of people who died before Jesus came along.
In other words, Biblegod as an unjust @$$(*!#.
2006-08-14 13:30:35 · answer #4 · answered by Scott M 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know all of these people you mention, but most I have heard of and I would say that those that I have heard of are unlikely to be condemned to hell for eternity, certainly not the "burning" type hell that most Christians speak of. Often when the Bible speaks of "hell" it often just refers to grave. Christ did say that in his Fathers house were many mansions and I suspect that a place will be found for these people. They may not be living with God, but they will unlikely be in a "buning" hell either. The apostle Paul spoke of three heavens. Each "heaven" is different in glory though all better than earth.
2006-08-14 13:16:44 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Entrance into heaven is not dependent on any great contributions you made to the world. The fact of the matter is that God cannot allow sin into heaven. Sin is EVERYTHING that God IS NOT. God does not send people to hell...people CHOOSE to go there by not accepting God's only way to enter heaven, his Son Jesus Christ. It is only through him that we even stand a chance at it. Not by any great thing we do or love that we show on this earth.
(And I don't quite understand why Martin Luther is on that list. I firmly believe that he was a believer in Jesus Christ).
2006-08-14 13:11:03 · answer #6 · answered by kerri s 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
God doesn't send anyone to Hell, Hell was never designed for mankind. On another note both Martin Luther, and Charles Darwin died christians.
2006-08-14 13:12:51 · answer #7 · answered by ashley k 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes - great people will be in Hell & can go to Hell. I know we don't like to hear this....I know that is very hard for our human minds to totally wrap around.
There isnt' anything wrong with be a "good person" or being "loving". Those are great qualities to have. It is a great thing to contribute to the world in a positive way, but life after death is about so much more than just being a good person here on earth. It is a part of it - but not the total.
God doesnt' choose to punish good loving people by condemning them to Hell. We as people have a choice! Even if we are the best, good, nice loving person in the entire world, that doesn't buy us a ticket to heaven so to speak. It takes a choice & response on our part to accept Christ & follow Him in our daily life - doing the things we do not for fame, glory or even to be considered a nice person - but doing it out of the love that Christ showed for us. You might ask, what is the love that Christ showed for us??? Well, in case you don't know, all humans, no matter how good, nice, loving they are are all born sinners (aka evil, against God). So, because of this, in and of ourselves, we can't serve others, love others, help others, the way Christ did because we are seperated from Him by our sin. We have the choice to believe in Christ, that He paid the price of our punishment by dying on the cross for our sins/wrong, and to follow Him each & every day in our words, actions, choices, etc. The love that Christ showed for us was dying for your sin & my sin, taking that upon himself so we didn't have to take the punishment we deserve. If we choose to love Christ & follow Him, we don't have to live in fear and wonder if we will be punished to Hell, because we alerady know that Christ took that punishment upon himself for us. Then we can truly love & help people. Our motives have change...our perspectives have changed...we love because Christ chose to love us while we were still sinners & die for us so that we wouldn't have to!!!
2006-08-14 15:29:02 · answer #8 · answered by jessicasue12782 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I highly doubt it. I had asked a similar phrased question to a theologian a long time ago. He told me (and the class) that it is his contention that God is a lot more understanding then the far-right Christians make him out to be. He said just don't believe that you either go to Heaven or to Hell, there's a big indefinite area in between.
2006-08-14 13:10:41 · answer #9 · answered by Sick Puppy 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Martin Luther will be in heaven as far as I know. God is merciful and we should all go to Hell, but we are given the chance to accept Jesus and go to Heaven. How was Darwin great?
2006-08-14 13:09:02 · answer #10 · answered by schoolandgolf 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋