If God loves everyone, why is there a heaven and a hell?

Question

I went to Catholic school for 10 years and I really don't understand this. A few months ago I asked this question and I almost got suspended for "questioning christian teachings.'

Answer 1

This is a very good question.
A loving father would not send a child to hell, even if the child were rebellious and not caring in return.
And not believing in a particular dogma is not the same thing as not loving God or being rebellious. God gave us minds and our own experiences so that what we believe can make sense to us. He does not require us to mindlessly accept what other human beings tell us to believe, even if they say they are speaking for God.

Answer 2

You'll find it surprising that there is no such teaching of an eternal hellfire for punishment in the Bible. However, there does exist a Heaven, but not after the fashion that many make it out to be.

Take the example of the faithful man Job. If you read the account in Job, you will learn that he was a very righteous man who was approved by God. Yet, he stated in chapter 14 verse 13, "O that in hell you would conceal me,
That you would keep me secret until your anger turns back,
That you would set a time limit for me and remember me."

Now, why would he expect to go to hell? Well, because he knew of the true meaning of hell and what sort of place it was. In some translations of the Bible, hell is translated She'ol or Hades. But what do they mean?

Take a look at the clear explanation and think about it.

What Are Sheol and Hades?

IN ITS original languages, the Bible uses the Hebrew word she’ohl′ and its Greek equivalent hai′des more than 70 times. Both words are related to death. Some Bible translations render them as “grave,” “hell,” or “pit.” However, in most languages there are no words that convey the precise sense of these Hebrew and Greek words. The New World Translation therefore uses the words “Sheol” and “Hades.” What do these words really mean? Let us note how they are used in different Bible passages.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 states: “There is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol, the place to which you are going.” Does this mean that Sheol refers to a specific, or individual, grave site where we may have buried a loved one? No. When the Bible refers to a specific burial place, or grave, it uses other Hebrew and Greek words, not she’ohl′ and hai′des. (Genesis 23:7-9; Matthew 28:1) Also, the Bible does not use the word “Sheol” for a grave where several individuals are buried together, such as a family grave or a mass grave.—Genesis 49:30, 31.

To what kind of place, then, does “Sheol” refer? God’s Word indicates that “Sheol,” or “Hades,” refers to something much more than even a large mass grave. For instance, Isaiah 5:14 notes that Sheol is “spacious and has opened its mouth wide beyond bounds.” Although Sheol has already swallowed, so to speak, countless dead people, it always seems to hunger for more. (Proverbs 30:15, 16) Unlike any literal burial site, which can hold only a limited number of the dead, “Sheol and the place of destruction themselves do not get satisfied.” (Proverbs 27:20) Sheol never becomes full. It has no limits. Sheol, or Hades, is thus not a literal place in a specific location. Rather, it is the common grave of dead mankind, the figurative location where most of mankind sleep in death.

The Bible teaching of the resurrection helps us to gain further insight into the meaning of “Sheol” and “Hades.” God’s Word associates Sheol and Hades with the sort of death from which there will be a resurrection. (Job 14:13; Acts 2:31; Revelation 20:13) God’s Word also shows that those in Sheol, or Hades, include not only those who have served Jehovah but also many who have not served him. (Genesis 37:35; Psalm 55:15) Therefore, the Bible teaches that there will be “a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.”—Acts 24:15.

[Footnote]

In contrast, the dead who will not be raised are described as being, not in Sheol, or Hades, but “in Gehenna.” (Matthew 5:30; 10:28; 23:33) Like Sheol and Hades, Gehenna is not a literal place.

Tell me what you think!

Answer 3

1st thing you must realize is.........there is a HUGE difference between those who call themselves Catholic and those who call themselves Christian.
- Catholic are part of the Roman System.
- Christians are not. We protested against the corruption of the Roman System centuries ago.

Now, God is love. But remember the story of Jacob and Esau in Genesis. God said "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I hated." Again in Romans 9, Paul further explains that "God chose Jacob, but not Esau." What does that mean? In Ephesians 1, read it, God predestined, He chose before the foundations of the earth who will be chosen, drawn to Him, saved, and sanctified and eventually glorified.

Jesus loved the rich young ruler was a pitiful love, not a saving love. The r,y,r wasn't saved from his sins. He rejected.

All sinners are given the opportunity to hear the gospel that Jesus came, lived a perfect life. Yet He was crucified by the hands of sinners and died a painful, agonizing death; bearing the sins of all who would ever believe on his body, also bearing (even worse) separation from the father for a period of time, then giving up His spirit and dying. 3 days later He rose from the grave as a acceptance of his offering.

God is Just, whoever receive Him goes to heaven and the work of Christ is then applied to the repentant sinner. But whoever rejects Him goes hell and suffers in punishment of all the sins he committed.

The Catholic church doesn't like their people to question them because their answers will expose their errors and cause people to fall away from a faith that really has no hope. Trust me, a million hail Mary's can't get you anything.

Answer 4

God does not love everyone, and for people to say such things or teach these things says God is weak, and he cannot finish what he started. Your question and others like that was the reason the Catholic Church does not like the Bible in poor peoples hands that did not understand or agree with what the church taught. Martin Luther realized the same thing a long time ago when he protested the churches teachings that when a priest blessed the bread and wine it literally becomes the Body and Blood of Jesus for men to taste, this is totally absurd unreasonable and plain cannibalism, but the church expects us to swallow that?
You read about Scribes and Pharisees in the Bible and you will understand the church today very well; Matthew 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
Matthew 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
Matthew 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Do not assume Protestant churches are any different they all do the same things also.
But Heaven is for God's Elected children and Hell is for all the rest of the people that reject God;

Answer 5

The teaching of eternal torment is false and dishonors God. Jehovah is a God of love and would never make people suffer in this way.

1 John 4:8 - "He that does not love has not come to know God, because God is love"

When a person dies, his impersonal spirit does not go on existing in another realm as a spirit creature.

Psalm 146:4 - “His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish.”

Answer 6

Est autem fides credere quod nondum vides; cuius fidei merces est videre quod credis - St. Augustine

If you believe in a twisted book such as the bible, (after all Mary was an unwed teen-mother) Then you can justify just about anything. Same goes with every other organized religion. Some people have the blinders on and can't see anything but want they want to see, hey that's life.

Answer 7

Well,you are entitled to your questions as they are a part of the learning process.However,if you remember the story of Lazarus,the answer is pretty clear,here.Lazarus was a beggar who sat at the gates of the city,and the rich man,never offered him anything,so when Lazarus died,he was taken to Heaven in Abraham's bosom.But the rich man died also,and asked that Lazarus be sent to dip his finger,into water to quench the rich man's thirst.The story goes on.......but you should understand ,that God has so much love for us that He sent his Only-begotten Son,that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have Eternal Life.I think that instead of questioning God's Love for us,maybe question you should be asking is"how much love mankind has for God".And thus,when we don't exercise His greatest Gift He gave us,which is Love,then yes there is a possibility of your soul to be in eternal damnation or "hell" or Hades.

Answer 8

God does indeed love everyone or why else would He send His Son to die for our sins. He is not willing that any should perish. But if you reject God, you are rejecting His love. If you don't accept His gift of salvation, then you will be lost. It is really very easy to understand--it's just that everyone tries to question it.

When we die, we will be more alive than we are now--we will have just changed our address. We will be in the presence of God!!

Answer 9

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance

God loves everyone, but those that do not choose him will be punished. I know you know this scripture, especially if you where in catholic school for 10 years, but if we deny him he will deny us.

Answer 10

Catholics posses the most corrupted teaching in the world...
To answer your question:
Heaven represents the goal to struggle,and Hell represents the punishment for disobeying the laws...

Hell is nothing more,but absence of heaven.