Is God wrong to damn people?

Question

I'm coming from the perspective that God (of the Bible) does exist, so if you're going to answer please don't waste your time saying something like, "No, because an imaginary being can't be wrong and all Christians are deluded."

I hear a lot of people complaining that God is wrong, cruel, unjust, etc in damning people. On the flip side though, would people seriously be happier to see a complacent God who allows murderers and child abusers (and so on) automatically go to heaven?

(Esther, I wasn't actually questioning God, I was pointing out in an indirect way that a God who would not punish those who deserve to be punished would be complacent and hardly worthy of respect by using an example that a majority of people would agree was morally wrong.)

Wow, did I ever get my head ripped off!

For those of you who never bothered to read the whole question (though why I would think you would ever read this if you couldn't even read two paragraphs is beyond me) I wasn't really questioning God. I was trying (obviously without much success) to get people to see that a God who doesn't judge would be worse than one who does, in a round about way. Was my question that hard to understand? Ouch!

Ironically, I actually do believe that God is my maker and redeemer and that the Bible is the unflinching word of God. I was trying to ask a question to get the opinion of people other than Christians.

Also, even if you are one of those who obviously don't want to believe it, the Bible is clear that God does judge those who do not accept salvation.

After reading the answers on this question, for the first time I really understand why some people object to Christians in particular. Sure, I shouldn't judge God, but the best way to reach someone who doesn't believe in our Lord and Saviour is probably not by verbally attacking them.

Answer 1

First, let me tell you that this is a very good question and I hope you get alot of really good responses to it....

My response is this. God does NOT damn anyone....or send anyone to hell. They send themselves if they reject Jesus as their personal Savior or just die without ever asking Him to save them. . . .It is a choice and a RESPONSIBILITY that falls
to each and every person from Adam and Eve on. Everyone WILL stand before God and give account....and the main thing
that God will require of a person is what they "did" with His Son Who died for them.

When Adam disobeyed, sin and death came into the world and satan required that we all die...and go straight to hell for all eternity,...end of discussion.....but it was GOD Who could not and WOULD not walk away and leave us to our fate...and so He sent His Son to die in OUR place and PAY for all of the
sins that we committed and REDEEM us, giving us NEW life
by the Spirit of God....but we have to OPT-IN as it were...We have to make the POSITIVE choice to choose God and to be saved by the BLOOD SACRIFICE of His Son.....

God respects
each and every one of us so much that He will NEVER force His will on us and DECIDE for us what is in our best interest, even when He KNOWS what awaits all of those who die w/out
His Son.....and so that means that while God did His part in sending His Son and Jesus did His part by dying and paying the price to redeem us, WE have to make the choice and LET
God know that we want to be saved and be with Him forever.

God is not willing for ANY to Perish!!!

For those who choose to reject or just ignore the need to be saved, God will be their Judge and they will die in their sins just as if Jesus had never come. They will be condemned with
satan....and it will be THEIR choice....Not God's.....

John 3:16,17 - John 3;36 - John 8:24 - John 1:12....

You are totally right......There ARE moral, absolutes and the secular progressives, et al, don't like it....and that is the REAL reason that they come up with, as I was writing in a previous answer a few hours ago, their evolution garbage....They try so
desperately and futilely to convince themselves that they are no different than animals, so they can do as they please and will not be required to give account to God one day for how they chose to live, but they are DANGEROUSLY DECEIVED, because they W I L L indeed stand before God and give acct
for their lives, just as every one else.....God is the Judge of all
the earth and He will bring absolute justice...but He also gives
absolute MERCY and GRACE to those who receive His Son.

It is written in Hebrews, chapter 9 --

"IT IS APPOINTED UNTO MAN ONCE TO DIE AND AFTER THAT THE JUDGMENT."

There is no reincarnation, soul sleep, or purgatory. Not going to happen!!! Religion came up with purgatory as their idea of
"helping" God out by thinking that they can actually ADD to the
sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross....The other 2 myths were obviously made up by those who can't deal with the real-ity that they WILL stand before God one day when they leave this world forever......
ALL sins have been paid for by Jesus when He died on the cross and God accepted His sacrifice and raised Him from the dead on the third day....and the ONLY sin now that can
"send" someone to hell is to reject Jesus as their Savior and thus die in their lost condition -- guaranteeing that they will be
lost FOREVER!!!
Whatever one is when they leave this world - lost or saved - is
what they will be FOREVER and it is the choice of every one of us while we are still on this earth to CHOOSE -- eternal life or eternal death.....
No one has the RIGHT to blame God for what happens to them if they should die without Jesus....It is THEIR fault!!!!!

Answer 2

Maybe you've heard the famous novel "Sinners in a Hand of an Angry God" in this book it talks about hanging from a thread like a spider web while dangling over the pit of Hell. We are all the same way. We are SAVED by God's good grace. He could kill us all right now if he wanted to. .but he hasn't. This whole world could be condemned to Hell right now but God is giving us a second chance. So really he isn't damning anyone without a lot of fair chances.

Who are we to say God is wrong for doing something? We are humans and we don't know everything that other people do or think. God is the ultimate judge and we should be grateful we aren't all burning in the pit of Hell right now. I think God has been more than gracious enough to not kill me and throw me in Hell for the sins that I've committed.

In short, No God isn't wrong. Although some of the things that he does may not make sense to us. .he has a plan for everyone ( 1 Thessalonians 5:16-5:18).

Answer 3

Well... God's not necessarily wrong to damn people.

Certain people may well deserve it.

However, some of the ideas people have about God certainly sound wrong to me. For instance, if God were to damn people just because they've never heard of Jesus Christ? That would be wrong.

I don't think it's the damning thing, itself; I think it's the reasons *why* a person might be damned.

Now, you'll be getting several answers saying "we're not allowed to judge whether God is right or wrong..." or something like that, but that's a bunch of horse-puckey. Of course we judge God and his actions. If we didn't, or if we couldn't, then we'd never be able to tell whether God was 'good' or 'evil' or whether he was any different from the devil, etc. If we can't judge God to be good (or otherwise), then we're following his will simply because he's powerful and will punish us if we don't. In other words, that would make God a tyrant... which... doesn't sound great to me.

Answer 4

I think the fact that God actually creates people who he knows are going to commit murder and molest children is what most people who think he is cruel are talking about.

If God is real and does exist, and if he is all knowing and creates humas as his bible proclaims, then he knows who will turn out to be a pedophile before they are created.

God created Hitler, Stalin, Osama bin Laden, Pol Pot and Richard Simmons. He created them with the knowledge of what they would do with their lives, and how they would treat other people. Does Hitlers "free will" supercede the millions of Jews right to live a torture free life. God thinks so, because he created Hitler, knowing he would torture and kill all those Jews. He also knew that those jews would die without accepting Christ, so they were burned in ovens, only to end up burning in Hell. God created everyone of them with that knowledge.

If you are a Christian and believe what the bible teaches about salvation (NT) then you are worshiping a very cruel God. There is no way around it.

Free will is not an excuse. The wages of Sin is no excuse either, because all those Jews are going to burn in Hell due to Eve's mistake.

By the way Eve ate the apple without a knowledge of good or evil, so how could she know what she was doing was wrong?

Murderers and Child Abusers should be punished, but why would God created them to abuse kids? If you owned a fish bowl, and decided to put a piranna in with the other fishes, are you responsible when the other fishes are eaten? Is it the fishes fault that they were eaten? Or are you responsible for putting a preditor in the tank. God creates people who he knows are going to turn into preditors, and then allows them to have access to Children. No way around it.

Answer 5

Since it's "choose your God" day, ...well let's think... ah yes I have it: I would rather have a God able to make murderers *actually* realize what they have been doing, make them able to see through the eyes of their victims. If I had a child and she were molested, I'd feel much better to see the criminal effectively repent, than see the criminal indifferent (if not spitting hatred) but tortured and buried alive. See, repentance may be indeed the best punishment that exists, and I suppose those who have felt it know what I mean. Wake up the conscience in those people, and there's little else you need to do about them. Besides, God would get away with a clean face, the guys would end up in Heaven, I & my kid might get a better chance to get on with our lives, so everybody would live happily ever after. Ah, repentance, such an efficient tool - ...when it does not lead to self-destruction, that is (smiles happily the devil, who does have this intriguing talent of geting a nice profit out of God's most wonderful inventions).

Answer 6

Put yourself in His shoes. He created you, allowed you to have a free will and to whatever you want (within reason, of course), all on one condition: That you accept Him and Jesus as your Savior. That's letting us all off pretty easy, and what's more, He created us. I think that He might have more than a lee-tle justification in doing what He wants with us, don't you?

Finally, as for those who never had the chance to hear the Good News, God has His own special criteria. He is, after all, omniscient and more likely than not already knew how their lives would unfold, just the way you would know (even if you didn't get to see it happen) that tomorrow the sun 's going to come out because the weather forecaster said so.

Answer 7

Well, that depends on what you mean.

If you're referring to condemn ("Aha! You did wrong! I shall smite thee!), of course, God would be wrong.

Fortunately, that's not what God does. God loves first. He extends as much grace and forgiveness as He can. He tries to grab your attention all the time. He freely offered Jesus for reconciliation. He left tons of evidence and answers for those who seek after the truth... but He leaves the choice up to you. If after all that, you still don't want Him and choose to reject Him, either openly defying Him or coming up with your own version of God, then I'm afraid you're separated and judged accordingly and sadly, you'll be without excuse.

I believe that even the worst of people deserve a chance to get to be with God, even Hitler, because when you're connected with a love like God's, you don't want to do anything else but love. I'm not saying that Hitler deserves such a thing. I am saying though that God's love is THAT powerful and as such, those who choose to reject such a thing seal their own fate.

Note: God didn't plan sin. He gave the choice but humans chose sin themselves. He planned the creation of people like Hitler and Stalin, sure. But in that strain, if Hitler grew up in a loving environment where Jews were nicer to him instead of this fallen world where humans hurt one another, I don't think he would be the tyrant that he was today.

Answer 8

God is Love. He created us to share that love in a relationship. In order for love to be complete, we must love something outside of ourselves. That bond was broken when Adam damned all of us by allowing sin into the Garden of Eden. Since that time, God was devising a plan of Salvation to get us back from that sin nature. In the Old Testament the shedding of innocent blood was used to forgive sin. In the New Testament, God Himself came to this planet, but to make it legal, He had to do it a certain way. This where the Virgin Birth comes in. He was born, lived among us, was falsely accused, was persecuted, beaten, humiliated, and hung on a cross to die for our sins. All of these events were written about by the Prophets 700 years before they actually happened. This is where we get the shedding of innocent blood to remit our sins. He did this as an example for us. Let me explain. This won't hurt a bit. In St. John 3:5, Jesus said that we must be born again of the water and of the spirit. We are born with a sinful nature. Our spirits became dead when sin entered the picture. In Acts 2:38 St. Peter told us how to accomplish whar Jesus Christ started. We ask for forgiveness, we are baptized by immersion in the name of Jesus Christ to wash all of our sins away. We will be clean from the inside out. Then He will Give us His Spirit to replace what was lost. We will know when we have it when we experience exactly what they did in Acts 2:4, 10:45-46, 19:6, and St. Mark 16:16-17. This will help us to overcome our sin nature. I suggest that you would experience it for yourself. There isn't any other way to have the relationship back the way that it was meant to be. God will do a miracle in your life. He took my alcoholism away for me. Bless you in Jesus name.

Answer 9

Yes, that's a major reason why I don't worship your god. (Note: I said "don't worship", not "do not believe exists". I believe he exists, but is not as all-powerful as his followers claim him to be and I choose not to worship him for moral reasons.)

Sentencing people to an eternity of torture is the epitome of injustice. Because there is no crime that a finite being can commit that warrants being punished for an infinite amount of time. Particularly when the "crime" is not believing in him. That's just absurd.

I do believe that child abusers, rapists, murderers, etc... are rightfully punished in the afterlife, but not for all eternity. The punishment must not exceed the crime, otherwise it is injustice.

Answer 10

a sin is something that stands between you and Gods holy ghost spirit.blasphemy of the holy spirit is unpardonable because you do not have the spirit guiding you.so of course you cant make it ,without it.
It will not lead you to heaven when you pass on if your not connected to it, murderers and child abusers or not connected to the spirit, all that call on the name of the lord will NOT be saved, only these who do my fathers will , will make it to heaven.You have to be guided by the spirit and be connected to it to go to heaven said JESUS.you MUST do Gods will.he also said only a FEW will make it, read the bible & not just listen to what the preachers say.where all you have to do is call on his name, Jesus said that is NOT enough.No way do I wish to be with murderers in heaven, in my fathers house or many mansions for those who love God and wish to do his will.,those who or evil will be separate from those who have the spirit of god within them.naturally

Answer 11

God doesn't damn anyone, they choose to walk away from Him|


Hell is simply the outer darkness where God *is not* (whatever form of torment that might take)|

God is the ultimate ordering, light giving, peace giving, happiness giving principle of existence| And we are only deprived of those things to the extent that we choose to live outside the sphere of God's will and God's commandments (which is simply the operating system of the human person - if your operating system is wrong or ignored, the system won't work properly)|

So those in hell are those who love darkness and falsehood because they deemed it to be of advantage to themselves when they were alive|


And hell is in perfect accordance with justice, because people who have lived their lives hurting and depriving others to get ahead and gain themselves, are rightly deprived of happiness and satisfaction in the afterlife in eternity|




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