Do you understand that I do not condemn anyone to hell when I believe in hell and heaven?

Question

God gave us a choice to make. I choose God for the reason I want to be with Him here and after.I trust His promises.

I choose Jesus because I love Him, not because I do not want to go to hell.

I respect your choice. How it is so hard for you to respect mine? In the mean time we should all try to love each other and help one another when we can.

Tell me your thoughts. : )

Answer 1

Yes I do understand you.

A lot of people over generalize when they speak about Christians. They think of the vocal ones - the ones that tell us non-believers that we are going to hell. Then they group all Christians into one big bucket when the majority of Christians are just trying to live their lives.

My husband is Christian. He has never once preached at me nor told me I am condemned to hell. This doesn't mean we don't talk about religion. We do all the time - and share our beliefs. But he has never condemned me - though I know he has wept at the thought of my going to hell.

Don't let those who condemn you unfairly get to you. Challenge them, continue to do so. Especially when you have not committed the 'crime' that they accuse you of.

I also agree with your viewpoint on God and the afterlife. Many people think that they are being condemned to hell by God in the Christian point of view. That's not really how it works. For Christians, we have the choice to accept Jesus or to not. When we die - God honors that choice, the choice to be seperted from him. To say that God sends innocent people to hell and condemns them for simply rejecting his son is a great misnomer and shows a grave ignorance of the bible.

Answer 2

Not clear on the question.

If you are asking my we don't all love each other and respect each other then the answer is;
This behavior is taught to us by our culture or upbringing. Some cultures teach hate of others to their children so that they will growup to become suicide bombers for their cause.

But then Christians in the past have tortured and killed people because they were heretics as seen below.

"The first person to be executed as a "heretic" was Priscillian of Avila. Having been condemned for heresy by a synod, he appealed to the Emperor Maximus; the latter, however, had Priscillian and six of his followers beheaded at Treves in 385."

"Torture was used after 1252. On May 15, Pope Innocent IV issued a papal bull entitled Ad exstirpanda, which authorized the use of torture by inquisitors."
"One of the more common forms of medieval inquisition torture was known as strappado. The hands were bound behind the back with a rope, and the accused was suspended this way, dislocating the joints painfully in both arms. Weights could be added to the legs dislocating those joints as well."

Answer 3

Please see my answer to your last question. It also applies here.

But to address these specific questions:
1. Yes, I understand that you do not want anyone to go to hell.
2. I believe in God, but not so much because I "choose" to (see my other response) but because I have experienced God in my life. And yes, I do love Him and want to be with Him. I trust His promises, but I don't believe He wrote the Bible (again, this is based on evidence).
3. I think Jesus was a great spiritual teacher, but because of the evidence which God Himself has availed to me, I do not believe that Jesus is the divine "Son of God" nor the Messiah prophesied in Jewish scripture.
4. I respect that you believe in the Bible. I even respect your right to believe that one must be a Christian to get to heaven. I disagree, but I respect you. I respect you because I don't think you have the "choice" to believe what you do. We believe in things for various reasons - evidence, personal experience - and I am not going to condemn that.

Yes, we should love each other, that's for sure. I believe that it is absolutely essential to test your beliefs, especially if your beliefs can potentially cause harm to others or to yourself. For example, someone who believes that I am going to hell may cause me harm (because I feel that you think you're better than me- whether you desire me to feel that way or not, I inevitably feel that way). You also harm yourself by believing this, because it is a sad belief to think about how many people that you love and care about might end up in hell.

So I consider these beliefs potentially harmful. This does not make them false. BUT, before accepting potentially harmful beliefs, it is very important to be sure about your beliefs. In other words, test it. Are you really right? Is there evidence that the Bible is the Divinely inspired Word of God? Have you examined all the arguments on both sides of this issue so that you have sound reason to believe in these potentially harmful beliefs? Again, if there is evidence for your beliefs, then it is ok to hold them, even if potentially harmful. But if you are just believing in them because they make you somehow feel good - and the evidence is actually against you - then there is a problem here.

Answer 4

I challenge you. I saw you say the other day that everyone had a choice, and you did not know why anyone would choose hell. Look back in your answers, it was you, and you said just that.

Answer 5

God created me with a brain powerful enough to understand that the evidence he left about Himself is completely lacking and contradictory.

So if I'm going to hell, then to hell with God.

Answer 6

I personally have no problem with people's beliefs I have a problem when people try to impose their beliefs on me...By the way I felt like most of those questions were retorical

Answer 7

Who are you talking to? And PS God chose YOU. It's not about you, it's about God. And whose choice are you respecting here? My choice? How do you know what my choice is? Jeeze, grow up.

Answer 8

Theists, especially christians, try to control and restrict us based on their views. If all christians stop crusading against science, culture, art, sex and sexuality, religious freedom and such, and stop telling everybody else they're going to be tortured throughout eternity unless they join you, I assure you that you won't encounter nearly as much hostility.

Answer 9

*Yawn*

This is really getting old. Do you actually read the answers we give you, or do you just think up 12 more ways to say the same thing?

Answer 10

Most of us will see you on the other side.