from my perspective, it just appears that unsaved sinners cease to exists once they die.
so why did the christians need to invent a scare tactic that says "no, God makes you continue living so he can send you to eternal punishment''..?
2007-06-11 02:10:18 · 9 answers · asked by Fatty 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The Priests who wrote the books kept upping the ante.
2007-06-11 02:26:22 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You're almost there, Fatty. Just a couple more steps...
You have discovered one of Satan's best lies..."you won't really die"...but the truth is, the soul that sins, it shall DIE.
But it isn't quite as simple as, you're naughty, you die, you get shoveled into the earth, the end.
What has died is your physical body. Your spirit has gone back to God, Who gave it. God must still make a final disposition.
It is His choice to resurrect you, in order that His children can see and understand the true finality of death. For their sake, you must now die "the second death".
Death and Hell, Revelation says, will both be tossed into the Lake of Fire, where they will finally be destroyed, along with anything...and anyONE...that would hurt or destroy in God's Kingdom. Think of it as God's incinerator.The entire Cosmos are being rebuilt..this time, NO entropy, NO sickness, NO pain, NO selfishness...and NO death.
If you insist on resisting God's gift of eternal life, I suppose you could wind up getting tossed into the incinerator...but, don't worry about it too much. You won't feel it...you will be nothing more than a rapidly disappearing grease spot. Nothing, really, to be afraid of.
Many Christians really do believe that God will punish people for eternity in "hell". It's very sad, really. Those Christians have somehow missed out on the true love that God has for His creation.
But God is working on that, even now...
2007-06-11 02:32:17 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because from your perspective it makes not sense.
However people like to put things in perspective. Since people are aware that they exist and people are told they will keep existing after death. The idea they could not exist doesn't seem to make sense to them.
Also think of the context in which hell and purgatory where created? Most people around those times could not read and so they had to go one what ever the priest/pastor/etc told them and using big concepts like existence and ceasing to exist just wouldn't make sense to the illiterate masses and so they put the punishment in the context in something they could understand like fire and brimstone.
2007-06-11 02:16:44 · answer #3 · answered by John C 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The death that is referred to here is "spiritual death" or hell.
Take a look at the second part of the verse. This is an either or situation, eternal death (hell) or eternal life (heaven).
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23
2007-06-11 02:20:55 · answer #4 · answered by TG 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Spiritual Death is a cessation of progress and separation from God. Damnation is the same thing. Damnation does not mean "punishment". That's the real disconnect in most "mainstream" Christian churches.
2007-06-11 02:16:57 · answer #5 · answered by Open Heart Searchery 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God says in His word.....wages of sin is death. Jesus talked about hell more than heaven warning people of hell. Christians didn't make up hell or eternal punishment. Hell was not made for people it was made for satan and his demons. Humans in there sin and unclean living put them in hell.Read the word of God. Find the answer to your question.
2007-06-11 02:16:46 · answer #6 · answered by stacy j 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
"Wages" are full payment for work done.
So if you sin [ disobey] you will be paid...IN FULL...by death
therefore when you die, your death has PAID IN FULL for your sins, both enacted by you [ robbing banks etc,] and what you inherited from Adam and Eve.
So from that moment on, you are PAID UP,
So there is no more 'debt' owed to God.
So there is nothing that HE, God, [ who made the rules] can
legally do FURTHER to you.
Like endless torture in a terrible place for eternity.
It proves that a Loving LEGAL God would have no such place.
2007-06-11 02:20:13 · answer #7 · answered by pugjw9896 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"And the Lake of Fire was the Second Death-" Revelations. There you go. And God doesn't want to send you to Hell, He has to. Every parent must punish their child.
2007-06-11 02:17:52 · answer #8 · answered by KJLONG 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
since the beginning of time
2007-06-11 02:16:46 · answer #9 · answered by thetruth 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋