In the Scripture, it states very clearly that "The Kingdom of God is within you" (Lk. 17.21). It also says that eternal life is knowing God. The Kingdom of God isn't some outward, easy to say thing. It isn't a legal satisfaction of God, but how you love Him and become like Him.
The direct correllary of this is that Hell must also be within you. The first indication of this is precisely what Heaven is. It's not some carnal torment, but something spiritual, so wouldn't eternal death be similar in nature to eternal life? The next indication is that Jesus says that there will be people who cry to him "Lord, Lord," a clear sign of belief, but will go straight to Hell (Mt. 7.21-23), they cannot cry "Lord" except by the Spirit (I Cor. 12.3). They believed and are damned.
The last evidence is that in Rev. 20.15, anyone not in the Book of Life is cast into the Lake of Fire. In Rev. 19.20 this is called the "Lake of fire and burning brimstone." Brimstone in Greek also means "divinity."
cont
2007-05-13 16:53:00 · 8 answers · asked by Innokent 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
With those together, then is it not possible that Heaven is not some place we can reside because of juridical atonement of Christ taking the Father's whipping, and Hell not some place God made for eternal torment because of our faithlessness, but rather that both are God Himself, and the only demarcation is how like God we are ourselves?
It's a humbling thought, and if true, it means a lot of preachers are preaching people straight to Hell with quick "sinner's prayers," easy tracts, and quick decisions gotten from street preaching. It's a very humbling thought and was for me when I first thought about it.
2007-05-13 16:55:36 · update #1
In scripture, it is said that if a person lays their head to rest in heaven, God is there. If they lay their head to rest in hell, God is there also. In the New Testament, Jesus dies on the cross. He descends into hell to release all the patriarchs from Adam to His time from bondage. So you see, God and Jesus transcend the confines of this earth. They can be in both places but also define these places and can transcend them.
2007-05-14 17:27:48 · answer #1 · answered by endpov 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Simple answer:
Using only the Bible, since that's where our information about heaven and hell come from, it's clear that heaven and hell are not God.
The Bible makes it clear that anything God creates is separate and distinct from God. This means that when God created a rock, that rock is not God or made out of God, it is entirely a rock and separate from God. The same holds true for heaven and hell.
Now Jesus did say that the kingdom of God is within us and He also equated the same phrase with the Kingdom of Heaven. But Jesus also referred to heaven as an actual place where we go to live, even saying that there will be dwelling places for us to live in. Jesus also referred to hell as an actual place. Now whether these places are physical or spiritual we don't know, but whatever sense it is, it is an actual place that people go to. So what does this leave us with?
In order to understand creation, heaven and hell, picture all of existence in the beginning being God. So just for this argument imagine looking at a piece of paper and drawing a circle. That circle represents God and nothing exists outside of Him, meaning the rest of the paper doesn't exist. Now in order for God to create something He would actually have to retract Himself into Himself to create a space. So now imagine the same circle except now draw a little circle in the center of the Big circle. In that little circle is where God created creation (the universe), heaven, and hell. Now that space in the circle is not God, because that space was created by God retracting Himself. So it's a separate and distinct thing apart from God. Of course God still has power and authority over that space and everything in it because He created it, but the importance is that the space and the stuff in the space isn't Him.
As for what happens in heaven and hell. The Bible says heaven is where God can be experienced fully. Hell on the other hand is the absence of all that is God except His wrath. Not a pleasant place to be.
I hope this answered your question and helps.
zerocool_12790
2007-05-14 11:11:38 · answer #2 · answered by zerocool_12790 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
People get this mixed up all the time. They equate God with Heaven, and you just equated him with both Heaven and Hell.
God isn't either one of them. I was born in California. I can be called a Californian, but I am not California. God resides in Heaven. He can be called a Heavenly being, but He is not Heaven. We can go further and see that is Revelation, God ends Heaven and Earth, and before that he changes Hell by throwing it into something called the 'Lake of Fire'. So all of them change. Heaven, Hell, and Earth all change. God remains the same.
2007-05-14 00:01:56 · answer #3 · answered by Christian Sinner 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It cannot be that God is both heaven and hell: God and heaven, yes, because that is the ultimate purpose of us christians, to be in heaven, to be in God's kingdom. But for hell, there is hell in the absence of heaven, and Godis not happy to see His children in such a state
2007-05-14 01:24:35 · answer #4 · answered by bagi 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
he's the one create heaven and hell!! he will give judgment when time comes!! everybody enjoying life now but when time comes they will cry for their sins!! good bless!!
2007-05-14 00:01:22 · answer #5 · answered by rssays 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is all a fiction. The bible has validity only by happenstance. There is no reason to believe in any sort of god, and it is provably useless to do so.
2007-05-13 23:59:29 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
god is everything thus it's heaven and hell.
2007-05-13 23:58:19 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
If 'God' is everything, then it follows 'God' is both, yes.
2007-05-14 00:00:58 · answer #8 · answered by Taliesin Pen Beirdd 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋