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Question

I'm a strong christian(baptist), but when ever their are sermons on what hell is like and how tortuous it is I begin to doubt my spirituality/faith. Is this normal?/is there any way I can stop this?


Thanks

Answer 1

"All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God."
You are a child of the king because you have chosen for Him to live in your heart and it is by your heart that you will be judged. Satan has no power over you and you should rebuke any doubt about your spirituality--he will try to destroy your faith in any way he can-so keep quoting the Word and demanding him to flee and the Word says that he has to. You are saved, sanctified and headed for the kingdom of heaven someday. Praise God for that!!!!

Answer 2

Hello, E.J.:

You should realize that the doctrine of eternal torment has made more atheists than any other fabrication in the Christian faith.

In fact, that and the murders of Catholicism in history kept me out of church. Then I decided to study the Bible on my own. It was a Catholic doctrine that invented Hell and Purgatory--they borrowed those falacies from paganism.

How could God torment even babies who were not baptized at infancy? Well, they don't need to be because they are not held accountable for sins they had no knowledge of and will enter Heaven on their parent's faith.

And Hell fire destroys the wicked eternally. Being destroyed is an eternal punishment, not an eternal punishing; there is a difference, you know, E.J.

A Bible code revives forgotten yet essential truths. Select http://abiblecode.tripod.com and read all five chapters for a complete synopsis on the plan to save this planet from the curse of sin.

Shalom, peace in Jesus, Ben Yeshua

Answer 3

E J - I think i know how you feel, there are some subjects in my church that make me uncomfortable. Search your feelings and pray. What do you think you should do? Maybe simply not paying attention to it. Maybe changing churches. Also try to find out why you feel this way when you hear those kinds of sermons. Maybe because you disagree. discuss with the pastor, show your point

Personally i believe that hell is simply a place where God is absent (what is pretty terrible). And i don't like churches that spend more time talking about hell than heaven...

Paz de Cristo

Answer 4

Yes, very normal.
satan works on keeping people from getting Saved.
Then, after they are Saved, believing that they are Still Saved, or got Saved in the First Place.

It takes the Unpardonable Sin to make you Lost Again, with no second Chance of Salvation.
Very Few Christians commit this sin, it takes Time to Commit it and it is hard to do.
Wouldn't worry about Unpardonable Sin.

Just turn to Romans 10:9 and tell satan OUT LOUD (he can hear you) that YOU DID THIS, and YOU are a Child of GOD, on your Way to Heaven!!!
Do it as many times as it takes till that Doubt and Unbelief goes away, along with the devil.

After so many times of doing this, you will have Renewed your Mind to Romans 10:9, and it will be alot Harder for satans devils to mess you up with this Doubt and Unbelief.

I know that I know that I know that I AM Saved because I have done that Over and Over Year Ago.
satan will leave you alone, he gets Tired of Hearing the Word of GOD!!!
Hope this Helps!

Answer 5

Don't doubt your faith... I am curious as to why there are so many messages about hell that you hear... It is not that important once you are saved. It would be much better to learn how to be more Christ like and believe me those messages could take up eternity....

Stop the doubt, by reading Romans 10:9-10, 1 John 1:9, 1 John 3.

As much as you can do what is right. Micah 6:8.

Answer 6

Maybe you should talk to your pastor. I grew up Baptist and know that they are big on learning about faith instead of being told what to believe. You should never try to stop the things you are feeling or thinking but educate yourself instead. You should think about why the issue of hell bothers you so much and talk to a youth pastor or the pastor of the church. That's what they are there for. If they can't answer your questions, you may want to explore other denominations or even faiths. Remember that you can only believe in the things you know!

Good luck!

Answer 7

Well, I think the problem being that so many people get caught up in the idea of hell as a place where all our worst nightmares come true. I've changed my conception of hell. More than a place, it is a state of mind and being. The word damnation, is easy to understand if you think of it as, well, a damn. A damn is something that stops the flow. For example, the flow of water. Damn's hold us back. So I personally believe, damnation is a stopping of progress. Honestly, what can be worse than that. When our progress is stifled because of sin, we are damned. Fire and brimstone, is the imagery to express a tormented conscious. Guilt comes from sin. So loss of sin, and repentance can break the damn and help us to progress without stopping. Simple concepts to understand. The bible is full of imagery and allegory. God speaks to us according to our understanding. Some people need to be afraid to keep in line. Look at people in prisons. Most of them live their lives in fear. In my opinion, it's easy to control the simple minded with fear based language. No problem with being simple minded, little children are simple minded. And to God, we are all little children. But I believe there does come a time when we need to set aside nursery rhymes and reconcile with the truth. If one of God's attributes is Love, I have a hard time believing that our popular conception of "Hell" is in alignment with his ways. If it was, God would appear to be sadistic. That is contradictory. I do believe their are punishments attached to sin, but through the atonement of Jesus Christ, we can find mercy and relief from even those punishments.

Answer 8

Yes it is normal because what you are being told about hell is untrue.
The torment of hell is relational in nature and involves banishment from heaven. Mental and physical anguish result from the sorrow and shame of the judgment of being forever relationally excluded from God, heaven, and so forth.
In this sense, someone with greater sins has more to "be ashamed of" than someone with lesser sins. Thus the lesser sinner may perhaps be able to withstand God's omnipresence to a greater degree than a greater sinner; to put it another way, the person who has greater sins finds themselves to run harder, more often, and farther than the person with lesser sins.

Biblical passages support this: Daniel 12:2 speaks not of everlasting pain, but of disgrace and everlasting contempt. The "weeping and gnashing of teeth" associated with punishment verses "describes a reaction of persons who have been publicly shamed or dishonored" (Malina and Rohrbaugh, Social Science Commentary, 76.

Answer 9

It is perfectly normal to have doubts. You can have doubts even when you believe. Abraham himself clearly believed, but at the same time he had doubts. Faith is not always about having positive emotional feelings toward God or life.

Talk to other believers about it. Read some books regarding this subject (C. S. Lewis, Lee Strobel, Alex McFarland) or do your own bible study on the subject.

“Everything is possible for him who believes.”
Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Mark 9:23-24

Answer 10

It's absolutely normal to doubt or question any kind of belief system. But whether you actually decide to stick with it takes a much longer time to determine. It's entirely up to you whether you want to remain a Christian when you are no longer getting spiritual fulfillment -- so don't let anyone bully you or scare you back in line. Religion is a personal choice, no matter what some people might say.