My God is an all loving, omnipotent perfect being. In being perfect, they can not have hate, or disapprovement. They love us all as their sons and daughters regardless. To create something like a "hell" would show humanistic qualities in a perfect being. How could that be? They are omnipotent. The love us... why is that so hard for some people to get?
2006-09-30 15:39:34 · 17 answers · asked by leafrogger 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
No I did not make up my own God. I obviosly don't believe the Bible to be the word of God. But explain this to me.... For hundreds of years it was a sin to eat meat on a Friday. Then all of a sudden the church said it was okay. So for hundreds of years people were sent to "hell" for this "sin". Did they get out? Get a free pass? Or do they still suffer because the rule wasn't changed during their life time?
2006-09-30 15:48:06 · update #1
Way to go Don H.... looks like there might be some one out there I can talk rationally to!
2006-09-30 15:53:38 · update #2
Capelite... How do you know what Jesus said? There are many different interpretations of what he said, how do you know what you believed he said was actually true? See I believe he taught about a loving MOTHER and Father God, with no hell what so ever. He didn't die for sins of those yet to be born.... he died for his message. But that's what I believe... other than the bible (which I believe to be a book of stories and nothing else) where is your proof? I have Nag Hammandi and the Dead Sea Scrolls. But you'll probably pop off with some silly remark for those too. Can you try to be a little less judgemental and a little more open minded? I accept you for your beliefs, I just want to debate the logic.
2006-09-30 16:09:03 · update #3
Thank you SpecialK for your understanding and support!
2006-10-01 02:12:49 · update #4
You didn't make up your own God you read your Bible and understood what it was saying yourself instead of relying on someone else to give you there interpretations of it.
I always ask someone that believes in hell how they would feel if as a child growing up they had a problem listening and kept doing things they shouldn't over an over again until finally their parents said OK I've had enough, took them oven to the hot eye of the stove and held there hand down on top of it, basically melting the flesh off. Would they have appreciated that? Would they have thought Oh well I should have listened? Would they consider doing that to one of their children?
We know that any sane person would cringe at the mere thought of this kind of abuse. Yet mankind in general have no problem assuming the loving creator would do this to his sons and daughters!
Makes no sense to me.
Keep on reading, keep on mediating on what you read, your headed in the right direction!!
2006-09-30 18:05:24 · answer #1 · answered by SpecialK 2 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Hell was created for the devil and his angels, not people. As it is written: "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Get away from me, you who are accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels!" (Matthew 25:41)
But, because people tend toward wickedness, and don't repent, they are destined for hell, unless they have had the penalty for their sins paid. It already has been by Jesus Christ, but like any other place you may want to go to, you must have received the ticket.
If you go to a concert that a friend has bought tickets for, and you don't take them with you, do you think they will let you in? Of course not! Same with heaven. The price has been paid. But you must receive the ticket. You do this by repentance (changing your mind about the way you've lived your life) and confession, receiving Christ as Lord.
If you end up in hell, which Jesus spoke more about than heaven, you do so by walking over the dead body of Christ.
Don't get angry with God that He didn't make the way to heaven the way you want. God is sovereign. He makes the rules. Follow and obey them, you get in. You must have the ticket. Jesus IS that ticket. As it is written: "Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)
He didn't say He was "a way" or "one way," but THE way. Please, for your own sake, take the way! If you don't, this will be the result: "Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. (This is the second death-the lake of fire.) Anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:14-15)
UPDATE: Response to leafrogger: I am glad that you have a copy of the Dead Sea Scrolls. They prove that the Old Testament that we have today is the same as the one Jesus would have had access to. As far as the Nag Hammandi, that is not a biblical source, so, because I am a Christian, it has nothing to do with my faith.
You asked me how I know what Jesus said. I know because it has been recorded in the New Testament by those closest to Him. Simon Greenleaf, the founder of Harvard Law School, was trying to disprove these accounts, and after must research and scrutiny, he determined that the eyewitness accounts in the New Testament would be considered trustworthy in a court of law.
You mentioned that you believe thet Jesus taught about a loving mother and father. Well, other than Mary, Jesus has no other mother. God declared that He was a Father. Look in the Dead Sea Scrolls, under Malachi 1:6: "A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?"
But, since you seem to be looking for some snarky comment from me (asking for a silly remark), I'll indulge you:
Where do you get the idea of God as a mother? It isn't biblical. If I claim my idea from Scripture, where do you get your idea? If it's not from the Bible, we cannot agree, since anything extra-biblical as it relates to God will not be accepted by me.
And I don't recall judging anyone. I merely stated what I believe from the Scriptures. I am not open-minded toward ideas about God from other sources, so, I suppose you can call me close-minded in that regard.
2006-09-30 22:58:34 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
It seems God is a restricted being or what? restricted not to hate, restricted not to maintain Hell, probably devoid of the powers to be imperfect. How many meanings the word Omnipotence can have ? Which meaning is right ? Omnipotence means capable to do a few things and not capable to do a few other things or what ? Is the meaning of the word, only that which is accepted by the majority or what ? Probably some more thoughts in this regard in the following link
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhMeVBXxFw6aDjtDLnMnb6fsy6IX?qid=20060822193746AAMbVNv
luv and SAI RAM,
jk
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/athmavidya
2006-10-02 05:05:55 · answer #3 · answered by jayakrishnamenon 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It's admirable that you want to debate the logic, but you are debating the wrong logic. Hell is not a creation of God. Hell is what those who do not love God, or rather love themselves more than they love God and their fellow man, will experience when they are confronted with the all-loving, etermal love embrace of the living God. Since they cannot bear to accept God, they will be in a state of torment when they are confronted with Him and cannot hide from the truth.
2006-09-30 23:57:32 · answer #4 · answered by LDRship 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Depends on your definition of loving.
I love my kids, I'd lay down and get run over for them if necessary. But what if my kids refused to acknowledge me? If they left me and even denied I existed? Oh sure, I'd go after them and beg them to come home. But what if they didnt?
At what point do I say that my child is lost to me? At what point does God say the same thing? If someone spends their entire life denying God exists, even after the moment of death, what is God supposed to do?
No, there IS a hell, it's very real and the people who go there are lost forever. However, I think the definition of hell is very misunderstood. Revelation talks about how Hell and everyone in it will be cast into a lake of fire, never to be seen again.
2006-09-30 22:48:19 · answer #5 · answered by arewethereyet 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
God cannot create hell that is why he needs the devil. A being like God who is perfect love and forgiveness needs something(someone else) to do the things he cannot (By that i mean if he could create hell he wouldnt be perfect love and forgiveness). By giving Lucifer everything and making him the most perfect he in effect created the first spoiled child. As any spoiled child will do Lucifer rebelled when God didnt give him the earth. he became angered at man who was less than perfect in his eyes and thinking God loved man more set about to destroy him. The rest is Scripture.
2006-09-30 22:51:37 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
People have a choice in their lives whether to accept God's grace or reject him. When you pass away, you simply are given what you deserve. If you choose to reject God, you go to a place where you truly are disconnected with God. And we call that place hell. Hell is more of a place where you are without God than a torture chamber.
2006-09-30 22:45:01 · answer #7 · answered by CK 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
What qualifies something like anger or disapprovement as a 'humanistic' quality? If you read the scriptures, God is very clear in his complete love for mankind - but also for His absolute intolerance of continued willful disobedience.
2006-09-30 22:43:44 · answer #8 · answered by maryteresa1979 1 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Sounds exactly like my God. Looks like we are going to end up in the same place one day.
Too bad about that silly little judgmental punishing God those other guys have.
Looks like we both must have created our own God like poetic1 said then doesn't it. Odd how we created the exact same one isn't it.
Love and blessings
don
2006-09-30 22:45:32 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
Religion has indoctrinated people to subdue them by the fear of Hell or eternal damnation. Jesus loves us all, whether we are good or sinners. I don't believe there is a Hell. Only an absence of God's presence.
2006-09-30 22:47:59 · answer #10 · answered by STONE 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋