Everyone I really care about will be in hell by the Christian understanding, why would I want to be in heaven?

Question

My wife, my kids my dearest friends will all be toasting away in hell based on the Christian criteria. Why would I choose not to be with them? In all honesty heaven would suck without them and I could never view a god that damned them as anything but a monster.

Answer 1

Not all Christians will say that, Quantrill. I believe in Jesus and I believe that the Bible gives me all the information that I need for this life.

What I do not believe is that the Bible gives me all the information in the universe. I have no way of knowing whom I will see in heaven. I think many Christians will be very surprised on this question.

The final judgment belongs to God, not any of us.

Answer 2

It's not 'Christian fanatics' who believe this, it's all Christians, because as you pointed out, we do believe the words of the Bible. God did not leave us alone to guess for ourselves whether or not we can be saved. Put it like this: think of a sheep in a green field. The sheep looks very white against the green. Most people see themselves as the sheep, compared to others, saying they are not as bad as rapists, or murderers, or even the woman down the road who scares children. Now put the sheep in field of freshly fallen snow. The sheep looks grey and dirty. That's us compared to Jesus. Jesus tells us that even calling a friend stupid is a sin, or thinking lustful thoughts, or stealing an apple when you are five years old.....It's this whole sin thing that keeps us from being as pure as Jesus. Sin is like an illness, and God will not allow this illness into heaven, thankfully, or else the whole sorry mess of our lives will start all over again. On our own, we are unable to become sinless. The Israelites sacrificed animals in order to make up for their sins, ( the life of an animal is in it's blood and the spilt blood that atones for sin.) They had to sacrifice animals over and over to make sure their sins were covered. Then Jesus came and was sinless, and his blood was spilt as a gift for you and me, so that we no longer have to be declared guilty of sin,,,,,,,so long as we have accepted that we are full of sin, even small sins, and asked Jesus to be our saviour. It's not our idea, as Christians, to scare people into believing, because you can't. Even if you are scared of hell, it does not make you a believer in Jesus. You made an assumption that we have not studied the history of the Bible. You are wrong in that. The church I belong to runs courses on the history of the Bible, and we read a lot about it. I am currently doing a free online course to study these things. I think you have a good heart but you have not understood the Bible very well. I recommend that you do an alpha course, you can honestly go and ask any question you like, without any pressure or judgement. It's a good thing to ask questions.

Answer 3

What hell is according to the Bible, which Christians should follow, is often misunderstood.

If you look in the Webster's dictionary, you see thatn hell means "sheol" in Hebrew and "hades" in Greek. These two words are found in different parts of the Bible.

For ex:

Psalms 6:10 "You will not leave my soul in Sheol, you will not allow the loyal one to see the pit."

Acts 2:31 "He saw beforehand and spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he forsaken in Hades nor did his flesh see corruption."

In many versions they replace both sheol and hades with the word hell. It is also often replaced with pit or grave.


What exactly, according to the Bible, is Sheol or Hades?

Job who was suffering so much pain had actually wished to go to Sheol. Does it really make sense that somebody who was already suffering so much would want to go somewhere to suffer more? Of course not. Feeling the pain he was feeling, he wanted to get rid of it, which resulted in him asking for death. How do we know he was asking for death?

Ecclesiastes 9:5 states: For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten.

Then a few verses later in Ecclesiastes 9:10 says "All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in She′ol, the place to which you are going."

Here it is written that the dead aren't conscience of anything, that they can't do anything when they are dead, when they are in Sheol, their grave.

Also, Jehovah God being the God of love as it says in 1 John 4:8, he would hate to see his people being tortured in a place of torment. For instance, the Isrealites had turned their back on God and began practicing idolarty and sacrificing sons and daughters by throwing them into fire. But in Jeremiah 7:31 we read how God felt about this. "And they have built the high places of To′pheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hin′nom, in order to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, a thing that I had not commanded and that had not come up into my heart." Something like this would not come into God's heart, it would be a contradiction of 1 John 4:8.

So you, your wife, and your children will not suffer in a hell as the world describes it to be.

Answer 4

The dead are not conscious, they are simply no longer -- do not exist.

Thus the Bible equates their state with sleep, eternal sleep for many.
Job 14:12,13: So man lies down and doesn't rise; Until the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, Nor be roused out of their sleep. 13 "Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, That you would keep me secret, until your wrath is past,That you would appoint me a set time, and remember me! (NJB)
-----------------
The faithful (not the Saints) will all receive a resurrection to the earthly paradise, not heaven.

Most when queried about what they want imagine heaven to be a glorified supermarket earth. That is not so. The Bible states that the Saints who receive the heavenly resurrection will no longer eat!
------------
Thus life on earth under Christ's and the Saints' reign is the hope that is held out to general faithful mankind.

See here for scriptural proof:
http://bythebible.page.tl/Judgment-%26-Sheol.htm
http://bythebible.page.tl/Resurrection-When-f-.htm
http://bythebible.page.tl/God-h-s-Kingdom.htm

Answer 5

I agree wholeheartedly. It's one of the reasons I'm not Christian.

And how's this for a Reverse Pascal's Wager (take a drink) --

Consider that in the Born Again Christian understanding, there is nothing you can do to deserve heaven. Jesus has to do it for you. But once you accept Jesus, and repent, there's nothing left in your past that could keep you out of heaven.

So, follow this logic to its obvious conclusion. . . . .

Mahatma Gandhi, who led India to Independence, won the Nobel Peace Prize, and inspired Civil Rights movements around the world -- including Martin Luther King -- was a devotee Hindu his entire life. To my knowledge, he never accepted Jesus. According to the Christian rules, he's in hell, along with Carl Sagan and Kurt Vonnegut, and possibly Mark Twain.

Jeffrey Dahmer was a serial killer, cannibal, and necrophiliac. He murdered at least 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991, had sex with their corpses, and cooked and ate their flesh. In prison, Dahmer became very religious, and declared himself a born-again Christian. On November 28, 1994. According to the rules he's in Heaven, with Jerry Falwell.

So tell me Christians, how is this justice? And who would you rather spend eternity with? A Nobel peace prize winner, or a serial killer?

As the old saying goes, better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.

Hell is merely a way the Christians have of bullying and frightening you into believing their BS. Don't buy it. Believe what you want to believe -- what you feel is true in your heart.

Answer 6

Hell is not going to be a reunion or a party with all of your friends - it is eternal torment. People are NOT going to have the same kind of love feelings in Heaven as you have here on Earth. There is no marriage in Heaven.

What are you basing your opinion on? Only God knows a person's heart and is qualified to judge whether a person is going to Heaven or Hell.

The "Christian understanding" is "ALL who call on the name of Jesus will be saved." (But it has to be sincere repentance, not a foxhole "get me out of this" prayer, then back to your old ways.)

Answer 7

If you really cared about them you would try to save them by
bringing them to the truth where they won't get hurt . Some
father & weak husband you turned out to be . I think it will be
even harder to watch your family that you care about so much
in hell , as their skin is eaten off and ,are tormented by all the
demons raping your children and , as they scream out for daddy to help them & why did you bring us here with tears and fear and pain running all through them, you can do nothing now but watch the
ones you say you love . What kind of love or father for that
matter leads his family to destruction . You are on that path
and , you better get on the path that God is waiting for at and ,
He will walk with you all the way into a perfect beautiful never ending
life in Heaven , Amen....

Answer 8

hell is a place where God ISN'T!!!!! that's torture enough! Heaven is just a prayer away all you have to do is ask God for forgiveness and live for Him and once you've done that well you can tell other people so they wont end up in hell

Answer 9

The only way you can be with them is if you accept Jesus and you get them to accept Jesus also. Christ is the only way to heaven. I have never read where hell has a provision for being with loved ones. Hell is only portrayed as torment for the individual.

If you see God your cold heart will be changed in an instant.

Answer 10

Not all Christian's think this way, and I personally ignore those who feel they have the right to sit in judgement of others as though they were God. How dare they?