What PURPOSE, does an eternal "Hell" serve?
Why can't "God" just KILL the sinners, nonbelievers,
ect.? What's the point of keeping them around?
After all:
-The punishment is not to REFORM SINNERS (it lasts forever!)
-The punishment is not to MAKE AN EXAMPLE of the
sinners (an example to WHO, the elect? Can they still
f**k up and get thrown into "Hell" then, so they need a
continual reminder?)
-Or is it plain VINDICTIVENESS (HUH? "God" getting
ANGRY at people who he knew would not accept him,
BEFORE HE MADE THEM? Is "God" a psychopath
then?)
There is one more possibility...
Could it be, that to "fuel" the eternal bliss of "Heaven"
you need eternal suffering from someplace else (sort
of an essential dualism maybe?) But this would make
"God" one serious MONSTER to invent such an
arrangement - and only a true BARBARIAN would
deny that! (But then, Christianity is a barbaric religion,
so why do I bother?)
2007-07-01 14:04:03 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
To "Memory":
If Christianity preached ANNIHILATION
of sinners...
I'd probably be a Christian! Why?
Because I want annihilation anyway!
The thought of an afterlife make me
want to puke. I don't want to be a ghostly
being, a cloud of ectoplasm, or whatnot!
But if other people WANTED an afterlife,
they could have it. That's cool with me!
ETERNAL TORTURE DOCTRINE, is
the long and short of why I despise
Christianity. Torture is INEXCUSABLE,
no matter how high-and-mighty you are!
(Here that, "God"?)
2007-07-01 14:20:09 · update #1
To "Blessingseeker":
You are advocating COWARDICE, dude.
I promised myself LONG ago, that I'd DIE
before I let myself be bullied or intimidated,
EVEN BY GOD. I will hold myself to that,
thank you very much!
2007-07-01 14:23:11 · update #2
To "Tenshigirl35"
What a yellow-bellied attitude you have!
"God" CREATED HELL, right? HE IS
THEREFORE TO BLAME FOR IT!
(Try and weasel outta THAT one...)
2007-07-01 14:25:47 · update #3
God is a jerk.*
*if he were real, which he's not.
Therefore, its a scare tactic. Nothing more.
2007-07-01 14:13:32 · answer #1 · answered by Kim Christ 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Since you are so good a research you might want to take a peak into the dogma that you so brazenly antagonize. The Hell with sulfur and pain you think is the destination for all sinners is not a burning furnace, just an place where God isn't. The eternal suffering comes because your eternal soul will never be in the presence of God. The hell you think about is only in the heads of very creative movie makers that have mesmerized the heads of a lot of people.
2007-07-01 21:13:52 · answer #2 · answered by ΛLΞX Q 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
As you put it it does sound bad. If it is eternal, as has usually been taught, it maybe because spirits (as opposed to bodies) are imperishable. In the Medieval Ages they did give hideous depictions of it, but that may be more due to human love of horror - now fulfilled by video nasties etc - than scripture. But Jesus does seem to teach that is an unpleasant reality to avoid.
2007-07-01 21:14:09 · answer #3 · answered by Cader and Glyder scrambler 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The purpose it serves is to inflict the evil upon them that they are exactly deserving of for their wicked deeds.
Do you really think it would serve justice if a man like Adolph Hitler who was directly responsible for the misery and suffering of millions of people should come to the end of life and suddenly go "poof" and just disappear?
What kind of a warped perverted twisted mind could imagine such a gross miscarriage of justice?
"He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous,
Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD. "
Proverbs 17:15
"Evil men do not understand justice,
But those who seek the LORD understand all things. "
Proverbs 28:5
2007-07-01 21:17:15 · answer #4 · answered by wefmeister 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
God does not send anyone to hell. A person sends himself there by rejecting God. It is your choice. Hell is eternal separation fropm God. There are also different levels of hell if you will. Jesus said concerning this in Luke 12:47-48 And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. Also Paul or Timothy said in Hebrews 10:29 said: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
Beloved, Do not speak evil of the one who created you. Do not reject his sacrifice. Unless you repent,you will have to answer for every idle word you speak. This same God who you mock and blasphemy loves you and wants you to come to him. O' come to Christ. I beg you. Don't send yourself to the lake of fire....
Hebrews 9:27 .... it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
2007-07-01 21:33:16 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
May God touch your heart and lead you to Him.
Can following a loving God be worse than a burning Hell?
God Bless You
2007-07-01 21:10:42 · answer #6 · answered by B Baruk Today 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
When you get to the other side, after you die, you will be judged.
People who were very evil, will go to hell,
Something tells me you were not very evil.
And with God all things are possible.
2007-07-01 21:13:26 · answer #7 · answered by ? 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wouldn't that make "a loving god", who would burn his creations in Hell for eternity, an ogre?
2007-07-01 21:43:46 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
God doesn't need to punish anyone. The consequences of their choices in life do it for them. God has given us a way to have the spiritual consequences wiped clean...(Repentance)...but those who do not wish to use the atonement will be allowed to know that it was their choices that kept them from God...not God wishing them to be away from Him. They will be allowed to endure the consequences of all their choices in their lives...and know without a doubt that they deserve every last bit of agony they are enduring because they chose this path.
God doesn't have to do anything...infact...hell comes to a person when they refuse to ALLOW God to help them. They are left alone and they have no one to blame but themselves. At that point in time they will no longer be able to lie to themselves...And they have never been able to lie to God.
So, don't blame God for hell...He is doing and has done everything to help each of us avoid it. The only thing he hasn't done, and won't do,...is make our choice to accept His help for us. God doesn't force Himself on anyone. WE have to invite Him into our lives...then He can work Miracles. Until then, we are on our own.
Edited 2 July 2007 10:13 am:
Like I said before...God created Man. God GAVE man free agency...IOW to choose if they wish to follow God or not. If they choose to follow God...God could help them because He had already set things up so that all could be saved from the torment of sin. If on the other hand, man choose not to allow God to help them...natural conquences are in effect. Hell is being away from God, and knowing His goodness and mercy was yours for the taking, and choosing pain and torment instead. God doesn't need to create Hell...Man did it to themselves.
2007-07-01 21:15:44 · answer #9 · answered by LDS~Tenshi~ 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
~GOD IS FAIR AND HE LETS US HAVE THE DESCISION TO MAKE TO FORGIVE OR NOT TO FORGIVE,TO ACCEPT HIM OR NOT, TO BELIEVE OR NOT, ETC., ETC.
~EVERYONE GETS MAD WENEVER PEOPLE MAKE YOUR CHOICES FOR YOU .HERES THE BEAUTY OF IT GOD LETS YOU MAKE YOUR OWN THEN WAT DOES HE GET IN RETURN PEOPLE COMPLAINING?
~IT WOULDNT BE FAIR TO KILL ALL SINNERS AND NON BELIEVERS, BECAUSE SOME BELIEVERS STOP BELIEVING AND SOME NON BELIEVERS START TO BELIEVE. AND EVERYONE SINS AT LEAST ONCE. WEN WE ARE BORN WE ARE BORN SINNERS. SOME SINNERS REPENT, AND OTHERS REFUSE TO REPENT.
~SIN GOT IN THE WAY OF PEOPLE ACCEPTING CHRIST FROM ADAM AND EVE TIL NOW.
~HAVE A VERY GOOD DAY YOUSELF. IM HERE TO ANSWER ANY OTHER QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY.
2007-07-01 21:19:59 · answer #10 · answered by tina2000 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋