Do you believe in Hell?

Question

If you do, then please answer me this.

What finite crime, and since our lives on Earth are finite we can only commit a finite crime, deserves a finite punishment?

How can an all-loving god hand out an infinite punishment? - do not claim that this is up to the individual. The individual decides to commit a 'crime' but it is god who decides to implement the punishment.

Brittany2010: Prison is a finite punishment for a finite crime. Hell is an infinite punishment, they are not the same.

LG: I threaten punishments to my kids for breaking the rules. They re not infinite punishments. I chose to act or not if my kids break the rules.

Catalyst: You believe that some crimes can not be paid for on Earth. Fine. But what crime is worth a punishment of infinite torture?

Answer 1

Hell and sin are scare tactics to keep people in line, and to keep them from questioning anything for fear of retribution.

Answer 2

Yes, I do believe in Hell. Its quite logical to believe in it. Part of the belief in hereafter.

Don't you see all the atrocities that people commit in the world all around us? Some of them manage to have it their way all their lives. Don't you think the people whom they have targeted need justice? Where will that justice be given? On the judgement day of course!

Think of, for example, a mass murderer. What punishment can he get in the world for his crime? Death sentence, at the mpst. His is just one life. How will this balance so many lives he has taken? How will it balance so many associated lives he has destroyed? This was just one example of a finite punishment not being enough for a finite crime.
So some issues cannot be settled in this world. There has to be a life after this life, with Heaven for good ones and hell for transgressors.

God is all loving, all merciful but He is also the Judge, the Decider, the Punisher. It is up to us, humans, to choose which side of Him would be like to be associated with us.

Answer 3

Listen to this then tell me if you believe in Hell....A man comes home from work and has found out that a run away pit bull dog has killed his dog and his neighbors dog and is still trying to kill more. You capture the Pit Bull and instead of calling the police to have him put down you tie the dog up. You then build a pully system so that you can raise and lower the dog. You build a big fire and get pokers ready in the fire too. You then lower the pit bull so that he is getting burned and you keep hitting him with the hot poker. You torture this animal every day burning and burning it. Now what do you think? You would be a crazy sick cruel person right? If the Dog was dangerous just put him down.

People accuse God every day of being this sick by saying there is a Hell. By the way in the Bible at Jerimiah 7: 30-31
It says this...For the sons of Judah have done what is bad in my eyes,’ is the utterance of Jehovah. ‘They have set their disgusting things in the house upon which my name has been called, in order to defile it. 31 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.’

They were sacraficing their own Children and something God didn't want or even think of...So in answer to your question there is no Hell.. The actual word Hell was put in the bible by men who wanted you to believe in hell. In Hebrew the word was Sheol (Grave) and Greek it was Hades, also Gehenna was used. This was a actual place SW of Jerusalem that they used to burn trash and throw their dead criminals. By not having a proper burial it was considered a horrible dishonor. So when Jesus used that place in his illistrations he was comparing it with criminal acts.

It was a real place. It never symbolized torture but everlasting destruction.

Answer 4

There are two separate judgments. Believers are judged at the Judgment Seat of Christ (Romans 14:10-12). This judgment does not determine salvation, but rather is when believers must give an account of their lives to Christ. Believers are rewarded based on how faithfully they served Christ (1 Corinthians 9:4-27; 2 Timothy 2:5). The things we will likely be judged on is how well we obeyed the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), how victorious we were over sin (Romans 6:1-4), how well we controlled our tongue (James 3:1-9), etc. We will have to give an account for our actions, Romans 14:12 declares, “So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” Unbelievers are judged at the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15). This judgment does not determine salvation either. Everyone at the Great White Throne is an unbeliever and is therefore already doomed to the lake of fire.

The wicked are forever subject to the fury and the wrath of God in hell. They consciously suffer shame and contempt and the assaults of an accusing conscience -- along with the fiery wrath of an offended deity -- for all of eternity. Even those in hell will acknowledge the perfect justice of God (Psalms 76:10). Those who are in the very real hell will know that their punishment is just and that they alone are to blame (Deuteronomy 32:3-5). Yes, hell is real. Yes, hell is a place of torment and punishment that lasts forever and ever, with no end! Praise God that through Jesus, we can escape this eternal fate (John 3:16,18,36).

Answer 5

Many people do not understand this. The punishment in Hell/Hades is not infinite. Jesus' sacrifice served to overcome Death and Hell so that Hell would not be infinite. Those who commit sin will suffer in Hell for a time, but after their debt is paid, they will be freed and inherit a place in Heaven.

Answer 6

Have you tried looking up 'Hell' in the Bible?

Hell, so far as I can recall, doesn't actually exist.

The bit about being cast into the fire, was based on a real place where a fire burned pretty much all the time and they threw criminals onto it.

Jesus spread a lot of parables about how if you weren't ever vigilant you would be judged unworthy, which would lead to a lot of crying and gnashing of teeth. But I read the Bible right through and couldn't find Hell in it anywhere.

I was a bit surprised. Mind you, a lot of things about religion surprise me.

Answer 7

I do not take the things being said about hell in the holy books literally.
there will be no such thing as fire. we are not taking our bodies to the other world anyway. and how can a literal fire burn our souls?
Hell is only seperation from God. nothing could be more terrible than that. right?

Answer 8

Well the reason I believe hell is real is because I was raised a Christian. I was going to convert to Judaism, but the fear of hell is so strong that I'm thinking I shouldn't do It.

Answer 9

I believe nothing, for beliefs have no supporting evidence. There is no logical evidence to support the existence of Hell or Heaven. They are inventions to keep childish people in line and giving money to priests for nothing real.

Answer 10

Oh, so you believe that in a democracy;the legal system shouldn't be able to send murderers to prision. Yes, it was very much the sinners' choice not to repent. Separation is what they had from God on eart, and what they shall eternally recieve from God in the afterlife.

Answer 11

If you know God will implement the punishment, why commit the crime?

Crime does not go unpunished. God is a just God.