One thing in Christianity that I don't understand how people can delude themselves about?

Question

Basically, that there is a God out there that loves more than we can possibly imagine.

BUT

If, for whatever reason, we don't have "faith" in God (because of course he provides no proof of his existence) we are sent to be tortured for eternity aka hell.

Now I'm not a great poet, but think about what I just said. Imagine the greatest love you could have for a person.
Now think about eternal torture.

And yet paradoxically, Christians believe in this God?!? Am I the only one who thinks this?

I'm not saying that I'm the first person to think of this. I've heard it before.

It's just that people seem to intellectualize it instead of truly feeling the argument.

I just can't get past this one point.

Answer 1

Threshold: As a Christian, I can tell you, that you make absolute sense here, in your query. Great question ! - How could a God of ABSOLUTE LOVE roast people in an ever-burning fire ? This is surely, nothing short of a paradox ! The God I know, has a unconditional love for His human creation - and along with that, has a Devine Plan for us all that will eventually, have ALL of us saved. God assumes full responsibility for allowing a devil - Satan to run loose on this world's societies and has a plan in store to assure us ALL of a New World [Age] , ushered in, at the return of Jesus Christ to the earth. God IS in the SAVING business and that He will do ... the LOVE of God will be experienced by ALL people ever born ! A great future will come after this earth is through with doing its own thing !!!

P.S. Right-on there, "Happy Days" - you know the truth and the truth has set you free - indeed !!!

Answer 2

When you truly love someone you never want them to suffer in any way,not even when they hurt you.The problem with God letting some one go to hell and be tortured for an eternity isn`t so.First off God gives you all the time in the world to except him and believe in him..Second Hell will be burned up right along with Satan ,his Angels and all those who refused his love and wouldn`t believe in him.This is the second death.It means when your judged and you know your self if you believed or not, but because he is a just God you will be showed your ways and then you again will die only this time it will be forever and you will never again live. All those who but their trust in God won`t have any part of the second death.It tells you in the old testament and the new that there are two deaths.One for us all and a second for the unbelievers.Now Why would God want to rein with his children with those who said he wasn`t real.Then things would be the same in the new world and God said that there wouldn`t be any more strive or evil, sickness or pain.That life would be what he had intended from the beginning.

Answer 3

This is one of the dumbest atheist objections to Christianity. You're saying that you'd believe it if it weren't so harsh, as if the irrationality of it is not the major issue.

Now, think about your question.

Isn't it totally UNFAIR that steel balls can't fly? If God loved them, wouldn't he allow them to soar through the clouds forever? Sure, he SAYS he loves them, but if you throw a steel ball into the air it's going to come crashing right back down.

Aren't the discoveries of science based upon the existence of natural laws? The Law of Gravity. The First Law of Thermodynamics. And so on. It is due to the existence of these laws that men were able to walk on the moon. Doesn't it follow, then, that God's laws must also be absolute? Isn't that rational?

Finally, how do you expect to spend eternity with an entity you don't believe in? Talk about not making sense!

Now, I'm not saying God exists. I'm not saying the Bible is true. All I'm saying is that your argument is no good.

While I'm venting: The only worse objection to Christianity is, "I'd believe in the Bible if it didn't say I can't sin, because I like to sin a lot." You'd be surprised how many atheists say that (though not in those exact words). It makes us all look ridiculous.

Answer 4

You have it right. Why would a loving parent put his child's hand in a fire because he told a lie or stole something? He wouldn't. Not if he loved the child. God is our father and he doesn't hold our hands or any other part of us in a burning hot fire. The Bible says that when we die we go back to the dust we are made from, we know nothing, have no thoughts, are not conscious.

This is what God told Adam after he sinned. Genesis 3:19 - In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return.
Ecclesiastes 9: 5, 6 - For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten. Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun.

So the question then is - how can they suffer if they are no longer conscious? For them to suffer, wouldn't they have to KNOW they are suffering? Please think about it.

Answer 5

It never ceases to amaze me that people have such ideas about the love of God. I think as humans we look at love from a human standpoint- which is normal, because guess what ,we are human. However to really experience the love of Almighty God, we have to look at things not through human eyes, but His. God is infinitely Holy- perfect and righteous in all that He does. I know if you do not believe in God, you will say, this is not possible. It is not only possible it is REAL. We are humans, and I can pretty much say that not one person would say they are perfect. Regardless if you use the word sin, or not - we all know that we make mistakes- or whatever you want to call it. Since God is Holy and we are not- there is a huge gap between Him and us. How does God bridge that gap? By sending His Son Jesus, to pay the price that we could never pay. However those who do not believe in God, will not admit they need a Savior- so they would say, "if God was loving, He would send no one to hell". Look at it this way, salvation is a free gift-it costs us nothing and cost Him everything. We choose to send ourselves to hell, if we refuse to acknowledge our sin, and accept Christ as our payment. It was not the nails that kept Jesus on the cross- He could have saved Himself, or had a multitude of angels at His beck and call- however it is LOVE that kept Him on the cross. We deserve hell, God's love and Jesus' sacrifice gives us the opportunity to escape the hell we deserve. Look at love through the eyes of a perfect God, instead of love from a human stand point. Totally different when you do. If was for me - the difference? Eternal life!!

Answer 6

NO...you are certainly NOT the only person who has wondered this. My son asked me this a few years ago....after he had tried to committ suicide. There is a God out there....and He does love his creation. Every culture in the world has some belief along those lines. Christianity, Islam, Judaism are the only ones who seem to get caught up in condemning everyone else who isn't ....what they are. Well my answer to my son was this: Everyman seeks God in one way or another. I think when we all get to Heaven we are going to be really suprised who we see there. Even Jesus himself said I did not come to condemn the world.....but to save it. So....I was born into this place in this time and JESUS was the way that was presented to me to find God. So I chose the way presented. But I will rejoice when I see him if alongside me stand a buddhist, a jew, a moslem, whatever! The issue is....will you take the way shown you and let others take theirs?

Answer 7

God is a loving God and that is why He allowed Jesus to die on the cross for our sins so that we may be forgiven and have a chance to spend eternity with Him in Heaven. God does not wish anybody to go to Hell but that is His Judgement to those who don't live by His Word and way of life. And you are telling me this is the only thing in christianity that you don't understand?? More people are confused by the Trinity than why God would send us to hell. If you are lost there too i'll be happy to help. God Bless

Answer 8

You have been lied to friend. God burns nobody. That is merciless and EVIL. God in fact will reconcile all unto Himself. That was His mission,and He will complete it. God loves all His children,He dosen't burn them. All of the judgements in the Bible,are completed during peoples and nations lifes. God never speaks of eternally torturing someone. What kind of God would He be. Not one that I would serve. If He did that,He would be a monster,not God. Stop listening to stupid preachers,that know not Gods Word,but speak the words of men.

Answer 9

I always marvel at this skewed interpretation of my beliefs.

I follow an infinite God whose nature I can't possibly comprehend fully. I can't possibly understand the natural laws of his "plane of existence" when I can't even fully understand the natural laws of the universe he created (the one I live in now). For whatever reason, "unrighteousness" or the things God calls "sin" can't exist in his home. Perhaps it is a natural law that imperfection can't inhabit the same space as imperfection...perhaps there is another reason I can't even imagine with my finite mind.

God does love us more than we can possibly imagine. Since the time he created man, he has been giving people instructions for how to have a relationship with him...for how to exist in his presence. The first people lived with him...and they chose not to trust his instructions for living in that place. He put them on earth because they could no longer live with him and gave them instructions for avoiding things that would drive us even farther from his home and we kept walking away.

He loved us so much that, after making it clear to us that the whole "knowledge of good and evil" thing (wanting to make our own decisions) couldn't possibly lead us all the way back to him, he put on a human suit and came to earth to show us the way. When he died, Jesus paid the eternal price for the sins of the world (past, present and future). When he rose again, Jesus showed us that we could have the same victory over the death that had plagued the world since our ancestors ate that darn apple if we would just put our trust in him.

Makes sense to me...trust plays a key role in learning...if a student doesn't trust his teacher, he won't accept the teacher's message. Perhaps learning to have faith on earth is necessary for us to accept what we'll learn about "heaven" when our body lies. Perhaps faith is the "sense" of the soul, not at all unlike the five senses of the body. Without it, our soul won't have the ability to function outside the body???

Hell isn't "punishment" in the punative sense of the word...it is the natural consequence of being separated from God for all time. I don't pretend to know what that means, but the simple fact that so many human minds perceive it to be some eternal torture chamber suggests to me that it probably isn't anything like that! If we can't comprehend the nature of God's kingdom, how could we possibly comprehend what it would mean to be unable to exist in that kingdom?

A tad simplistic, but I think it could go something like this. Your body dies and your soul (whatever that is) meets Jesus. His job is to assess whether that soul has the ability to adapt to existence in God's home. He's looking for one thing...were you able to accept what sounded like an outlandish story on faith...if so, then come on in. You may have to take some classes before you can actually start to "live" here, perhaps even a lot of classes if you really don't have a clue how to love God and everyone else, but your faith bought you a chance. No faith, sorry, you can't possibly understand what you'll need to learn and you probably don't even accept what I'm saying to you now.

Answer 10

God does provide proof of his existence. Most of humanity is to blind to see it.
He does love every person more than we can imagine. There are many people who push it away though. God, in his own way, reaches out to these people, but they still push him away. Eventually, God lets the people have their own way, complete and total seperation from God. In other words hell.

Besides, if God is a loving God, he would not let his children suffer they way they do for their beliefs if having faith in him is pointless.

God does not send people to hell. They choose it for themselves. He does not want anyone to go to hell, he just loves us so much that he gives us what we want, nothing to do with him forever.