your religion tells you that god has infinite love for us and he will still allow many of us to burn for all eternity? Does that remain consistent with a loving, forgiving, compassionate god? Can god live with him/herself knowing that? It seems to contradict everything that god stands for.
If you're gonna give me the "god does not send you to hell, you send yourself" argument. Notice that I wrote down "allow us" to go to hell. Meaning if hell does exist, he can stop it at anytime.
2006-11-17 03:07:19 · 26 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Pleasant, thats the dumbest thing I ever heard of. When your parents punish you, they don't punish you FOREVER do they??
2006-11-17 05:42:20 · update #1
Petunia? If that is so then where is the free will?
2006-11-17 05:48:13 · update #2
yeah jiggy, I'm sure you're a saint among men. Thats the problem, you think you're going to heaven. What if you're not? I bet your opinion would change then.
2006-11-17 05:50:33 · update #3
Lol, steph your answer is a tribute to the failure called life. You should rethink your answer and remember that god also created evil because it was necessary. So if there is a hell than its a trap and god should of done things differently.
2006-11-17 05:53:09 · update #4
Why does everyone believe that you can't be a good person without believing in god. God and goodness are 2 seperate things. One is possible without the other.
2006-11-17 05:54:56 · update #5
He loves the sinner but hates the sin. WHATS A GOOD GOD GONNA DO?????
2006-11-17 03:26:15 · answer #1 · answered by rapturefuture 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
OK, so tomorrow God decides to elimanate hell. He now opens heaven to anyone and everyone. How is it different then earth? Why would you want the rapist and the murderers and the molesters, and the thieves and the rest to be relased for all eternity to continue destroy lives? Why would you want to introduce crime and sin and war and hate and destruction into heaven? We have had enough of "hell" on earth, we con't need it there also.
God ALLOWS it because:
1) "a person persuaded against his will is of the same persuation still". Those who hate and reject God would not change.
2) if you make the decision to stand in the middle of the freeway, you are going to get hit by a car. There are consequences to your actions, and you either pay the price or get the reward based on them. If there are no consequences for your actions, then there is no morality or right and wrong.
3) Death is final. After a person dies, he can not longer changes what his body did or perform new ones. After a person dies, he can no longer changes that thoughts his mind thought, or think new ones. His actions and thoughs are sealed for all eternity. The same is true in the realm of the spirit. When a person dies, whatever he was a death, he remains forever. That is what is means when the Bible says it is appointed to man once to die, and after that the judgement. This is no redemption or no changing after death. So a person after death can not change and begin loving God, or acting moral, or have their spirit reborn, etc. Their fate is determined in this world, not the next. God does everything he can do get your spirit reborn and ready for heaven - including die for you. But in the end, if you reject it, then your fate is sealed. He has to allow it because you choose it. And choices have consequences.
2006-11-17 11:30:12 · answer #2 · answered by dewcoons 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Alright, I'm going to try to answer this on my own, because I'm sure you don't want a cut and paste answer from biblegateway.com. Here goes:
First off, i think the "god does not send you to hell, you send yourself" arguement pretty legit. As a loving parent, you teach your child right and wrong, tell him what you expect of him... and then let him live his life. If he chooses to reject the guidelines you've laid out for him, consequences will happen. True love isn't permissive. It has boundaries in place for a specific purpose. If you tell child not to drink before driving, and he does so anyways... chances are that he's going to crash and burn. This doesn't mean that the parent is going to be sitting there thinking, "haha, serves you right!" He's going to be crying harder than anyone else because it's his child.
Secondly, I don't think it's in God's nature to force anyone to do anything. Sure, he could force everyone to worship him and live a holy life... but where's the love in that? It's not love, it's captivity. We wouldn't be there because we wanted to.
Thirdly, there are people who just don't want to love God, regardless of the consequences. No matter how great we think we've lived our lives, we all screw up. The beautiful thing is that God gave us an out. He sacrificed himself so that we'd have the option of eternity with him. He sacrificed himself for everyone... even the people who hate him, abuse him, and reject him. If that's not love, I dont know what is. The result however, is that it means we have to give up a lot of control in our lives. Many people would prefer the freedom hell to a forced life of submission in heaven with God. Ultimately it's their choice, and God isn't going to force them into a situation where they wouldn't be happiest.
And so yes, this bothers me, but not the fact that God doesn't stop it. What bothers me is that so many people are missing out. Which is why you get Christians shoving their message down your throat all the time. While this isn't necessarily an effective means of showing someone God's gift.. you can consider it an act of love on their because they're honestly trying to save your life.
2006-11-17 11:48:01 · answer #3 · answered by deepwaters05 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You are setting up a straw-man fallacy with your evaluation of Christians. It is true that God is loving, forgiving, and compassionate. But he is also just and holy--that is the part you left out. If he allowed sin to go unpunished, then he'd be a contradiction because he would not be maintaining justice.
The Christian God however did provide a way out of his love and compassion--a way so easy that a person does not have to do anything to be accepted by God. Humans however reject this way, therefore God cannot be held morally responsible for their decisions. And if God stopped hell, then he'd be amoral because he wouldn't be upholding justice. What if one day the courts decided to just let all the convicted felons free out of love and compassion? There would be a public outcry! But they keep them locked up so justice is maintained.
2006-11-17 11:45:34 · answer #4 · answered by The1andOnlyMule 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The only thing that he asks of us is to believe in him and know that he is God. That's not much. He died for everyone. No matter what race, religion, how tall, how much you weigh, etc. Hell is a real place and when you have the choice to go to Heaven and be with the one who loves you regardless or go to hell and live forever in darkness, why would you choose to live your life on earth badly? It doesn't contradict what he said and how he is. He loves us no matter what. But if (when you die) you still haven't taken him as your Saviour, it's too late. It's like when you do something bad as a kid, and your parents punished you, that didn't mean that they didn't love you. It just meant that they wanted you to know right from wrong. Just like Jesus, our Heavenly Father, when we sin, he punishes us too. It says in the Bible, If you do something wrong and you don't feel guilty, meaning he didn't punish you, you are none of his. He loves us and wants us to just trust and have faith in him.
2006-11-17 11:19:48 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
God did not create hell for humans, but the devil can drag us down with him if we aren't careful. God will still love us.
It really doesn't bother me at all. God says, do this or else. Well, I will take his word for it, because he doesn't lie. I'm not gonna say, well, I don't like what you re doing God, so forget you, I'm not gonna believe in you, or heaven or hell. Just because we may not be able to quite comprehend it all at once, doesn't mean its not true.
**add; I also agree with those who posted previously, that it does say that death is the price for sin. However we will go to Hell, which is torturous, until that day that God casts the devil and his followers into the pit of fire.
2006-11-17 11:20:26 · answer #6 · answered by ♫O Praise Him♫ 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Deuteronomy 30:19; I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may Live.
It's funny to me that non believer are always saying we Christian are forcing Jesus down their throats, But then when God gives you the right to choose good or evil, your asking why he allows you to do so. If he forced you to live for him you wouldn't like that either. But he Tell's us many times he allows us to choose where we want to live eternity, and yet that's not what he should do either and your mad at him for that too.
2006-11-17 11:41:53 · answer #7 · answered by Tim and Karen J 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
you do not know what hell is.
Hell is = the absence and separation from God. that is what Hell IS. If you chose to be separated from God, you are in Hell. God does not "Stop it any time" because in order to do that, He would have to remove the free will of those that chose no separate themselves from Him. and whats the point of choosing to be good and to go to be with God if He would just make us do it anyway if we disagreed? Its called Free Will. God didn't want us to be like robots that mindlessly obey Him, He wanted us to chose Him, because we WANTED to. this of course leaves room for people to NOT CHOSE Him.
Would a compassionate parent never punish a child that was disobedient? would a compassionate loving parent force their adult child to live with them if the adult child did not wish to be near them anymore?
You have a CHOICE whether or not to love God. Do u seriously think God is getting his kicks out of people ignoring Him and choosing to turn their backs on Him? it breaks His heart, but He knows if He wants true love it must be given freely. And God is always, always there, all u have to do is love Him back. If you could fathom for one instant the amount of Love God has for you, yet holds back, for that very reason, you would be on your knees in tears, saying "father, father I love you, I'm sorry...."
separating ourselves from God is hell, something many will not fully realize until the end...
2006-11-17 11:26:25 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Nope. He loves us, he gave us a way out, we dont take it. He allows it because its his punishment, and we all know it.
Like a child who is being naughty. If they know what the punishment is going to be, and do it anyway, and get punished for it, whose to blame? The child for acting out, or the parent for following through with what they said.
With great sacrifice, comes great punishment.
And dont tell me what I can or cant say to answer a question, just because you dont want to hear it. Like it or not, it IS the answer, you choose it, you do it to yourself. Free will means God lets YOU. Would you rather be forced, or are you just looking for a free pass into heaven, while all the rest of us actually work for it?
2006-11-17 11:16:52 · answer #9 · answered by sweetie_baby 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
God gave you free will. If you sin, go against him, despite the chances He gives you to come to know Him, is he really allowing you to go to Hell or are you sending yourself there? God doesn't want any of us to go to Hell, but if there was only heaven, then what is the use of being good? IF there is no punishment, why do good? You have no reason to. God could take away free will, and then we'd all worship him and go to heaven, but he doesn't want to force us into his service. WE choose to or we choose not to.
As a CAtholic,I believe in Purgatory. I think 99% of the world is heading there, a chance to pray off yoru sins or give yoru final thumbs down to God nad be sent to Hell. I plan on praying. I would hope, that shown the mercy of God, you choose that after death too. What you do, you have the free will to do.
Remember that.
2006-11-17 11:18:22 · answer #10 · answered by sister steph 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
There is no fire in hell.
Historically, the idea of a fiery hell accepted by "Christians" never existed till well after the 3rd century.
That means for over 200 years such an idea was foreign.
Why did it slip into Christianity?
Acts 20:29,30Â
"I know that after my going away oppressive wolves will enter in among YOU and will not treat the flock with tenderness, and from among YOU yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things to draw away the disciples after themselves."
A fiery hell is an example of those 'twisted things' that were brought in by 'oppresive wolves'.
The real hell is the grave, 6 feet under.
Its actually a bit cold there.
2006-11-17 11:34:28 · answer #11 · answered by Uncle Thesis 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋