I have seen many postings by people who do not believe in Hell, claiming that it is not fair...What can a person do in a short time , to desirve eternal destruction,or sepairation from God.
Is Heaven or Earthly Paradise fair? if you take the same topic and switch it around, People have no problem adopting the rewards God blesses us eternially with his Grace.
If you are going to throw out one doctrine as undesirved, don't you have to throw out the other as completely undesirved as well?
2007-10-23 04:42:20 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Hi..Old Guy
2007-10-23 04:49:27 · update #1
Dwayne...Process the Quretion at hand, love.....Put off the JW thinking cap, and look at the question at face value...I will not agrue soul with you...there are many scriptures to prove thet we have a Soul. that is not the basic issue.....The Question was posted because a JW. said to burn for eternity is cruel and God is not Cruel...
2007-10-23 04:51:32 · update #2
Amen..Jefferson..You get 10 gold stars...You got the point!
2007-10-23 05:01:13 · update #3
Dwayne..you did not address my question regarding eternal reward....what can you do in your life to desirve that...and why are you so opposed to God convicting and giving the exact opposite as punnishment?
2007-10-23 05:07:16 · update #4
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AncuBiAhhHzEX3GKbpo7YhDsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071021152816AAiAgIV&show=7#profile-info-F7KkRx1Daa
2007-10-23 05:49:08 · update #5
The doctrine of Hell is definitely biblical. Jesus Himself mentioned it in His account of the Rich man and Lazarus in Luke chapter 16, and referred to separation from God in a number of other verses in the gospels. In Revelation 20 we are told that "death and hell" will ultimately be cast into the Lake of Fire. So yes, Hell is definitely in the Bible.
As for eternal blessings, you have a very good point. People don't have nearly as much trouble accepting good-sounding ideas as they do bad-sounding ideas. Granted, eternal damnation is a frightening and difficult thing to accept, but it does make sense from a biblical perspective.
The entire reason why Christ had to die is because man cannot atone for his sins in the sight of God. Christ died to input His righteousness to those who believe in Him, thereby forever justifying them in the sight of God and providing them with "eternal life". On the other hand, those who choose not to accept Him must bear the weight and punishment of their sins, and since they can never atone their punishment never ends.
The good news about eternal damnation is that those who accept Christ never have to worry about it. 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."
2007-10-23 04:57:20 · answer #1 · answered by jeffersonian73 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋
I don't understand how anyone can equate hell with unfairness on God's part. Firstly, WE choose hell for ourselves if we refuse to obey God's laws. Secondly, it would be more unfair to expect a just God to defy justice by not metting it out where appropriate. Thirdly, has the person you are talking about never read the Old Testament? How vengeful was God against Israel's enemies in those days? Is He not the same yesterday, today, and forever? He says He is.
Mike had a very good post. Ben, for all his HS and college studies, has apparently never picked up a Bible to see if the word Hell is there or not. I can open up to the concordance of my KJV and find a whole list under the entry for Hell. Not to mention, plenty more references to Hades, Sheol, and Torment.
When you think about it, everything of Satan is the antithesis of everything that is God. God commissioned Christ. Satan will commission the anti-Christ. God sent prophets. Satan will send the "False Prophet". God has His angels. Satan has his angels (demons). So why is it so hard to grasp a concept that says that just as God's plan is for as many who will to receive everlasting life, Satan also has a plan for the rest of mankind which is diametrically opposed to God's plan. Rather than live with God eternally in peace and happiness, Satan wants us to live eternally separated from God in misery.
Jesus said Satan was a murderer and a liar since he began and he has been proven to be such ever since Eden. He counterfeits every plan of God with one that is equally evil. So, heaven AND Hell? Why not? Especially when both can be proven Scripturally.
2007-10-23 09:31:44 · answer #2 · answered by Simon Peter 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Short answer, the Bible is either entirely true or entirely BS. You cannot take it cafeteria style, picking and choosing the doctrines that fit your lifestyle.
I believe the Bible is true and establishes a doctinal guideline for my life. I do not claim to be 100 percent in line with all it's doctrines 100 percent of the time, but I do pray about it and work on getting better at understanding God, His son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit's interaction with me.
I heard it said by someone famous (I don't remember who) that Jesus is either God incarnate or a lunatic. I choose the former but many will choose the latter, which is, in essence, choosing hell. I am just not sure what hell is, beyond being eternal separation from God.
2007-10-23 04:51:20 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
Hell is one of those subjects that makes people uncomfortable. We hear stories of hell being a place of fire, demons, and endless torment. Throughout history many authors have written about it, Dante's Inferno for example. Western culture is very familiar with the concept. Even Hollywood has made it the subject of many movies. Whatever the context, whatever the belief, hell is definitely taught in the Bible. But even the doctrine of hell is not without its controversy. Some say it is only the grave with no consciousness. Others say it is a place of correction and punishment that is not eternal. Others say it is an endless agonizing punishment in fire. Whichever it is, hell is the total absence of the favor of God.
2007-10-23 04:45:38 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
i became into interested in this too and did a splash study some years in the past. What i found out is that hell by no skill incredibly enters the image till the later workings of the bible. you may think of that god could desire to threaten those with eternal damnation as early as obtainable, yet he did no longer. the concept of hell isn't even interior the start of the bible, purely of places without god's presence. extremely some human beings have faith hell would be like this and the hearth and brimstone are greater figurative. the different thrilling element is that the be conscious hell incredibly got here from Hel, a Norse mom or father of the underworld and her area became into the ineffective. thrilling that she is a woman too, i think of. lol
2016-12-18 15:23:59 · answer #5 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, the idea of a place of eternal flames was simply used as an illustration of a concept. As for the place that was used as an illustration, there is no such place, at least not any more. And it never WAS what Christians want you to think it was. It was the local trash dump.
First of all, the Tanakh (what Christians call the "Old Testament") doesn't mention "Hell".
It's Gehenna or Sheol, not "Hell".
The word Gehenna traces to Greek, ultimately from Hebrew: גי(א)-הינום Gêhinnôm (also Guy ben-Hinnom (Hebrew: גיא בן הינום)) meaning the Valley of Hinnom. The valley forms the southern border of ancient Jerusalem and stretches from the foot of Mt. Zion, eastward, to the Kidron Valley. It is first mentioned in Joshua 15:8. Originally it referred to a garbage dump in a deep narrow valley right outside the walls of Jerusalem (in modern-day Israel) where fires were kept burning to consume the refuse and keep down the stench. It is also the location where bodies of executed criminals, or individuals denied a proper burial, would be dumped.
Like Sheol, Gehenna is sometimes translated as "Hell", which is fine...but the IDEA of Gehenna, in the process of translation and interpretation, and being combined with Pagan ideas, took on a meaning that has nothing whatever to do with the original.
Why would a garbage dump be considered a place of torment? Well, the only immortality that people have (in Jewish tradition) is in being remembered by others. The traditional Yahrzeit (the ceremony to mark the annual anniversary of the death of a person) is one way in which the memory of a deceased Jew is kept alive. The yahrzeit is observed by lighting a twenty-four hour candle the evening before the day of the yahrzeit, and most people recite the Kaddish and take a few moments of introspection and thought. Most congregations recite the name of the deceased whose yahrzeit is being observed during the Shabbat services closest to the date.
Naming one's children after a deceased relative is another way to keep alive the memory of the dead. And no one would name their child after someone whose body had been dumped into the trash heap.
So....in summary, the whole idea of "Hell" as a place of eternal torment is a misinterpretation of the Jewish idea that being lost to memory is the worst thing that can happen to someone. Having one's body thrown onto the trash heap rather then being buried in sanctified ground with a commemorative headstone, and not being remembered through ritual, prayer, or having one's name passed along to future generations - THAT is the original horror that has been changed into the idea of the soul in eternal torment in the flames of "Hell".
Anyone who seeks to understand this should consult with a RABBI, as the Tanakh was written for and by the children of Israel.
2007-10-23 05:07:25 · answer #6 · answered by Raven's Voice 5 · 3⤊ 3⤋
Even the word hell isn't used in the bible!!!
Hell comes from a hebrew term for a valley of burning garbage that was used to keep cities clean!!
Back then, saying "go to hell" meant go to the valley of burning garbage.
Also: The pagans had a concept of Hel (yes, one L) way before the christians did. same basic theory, eternal torment, and both those religions melted together with the vikings. So the followers of christianity aren't really christians, they are more like chrisagans or some thing like that.
2007-10-23 04:49:49 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 2⤋
Hi Lamb
I think this is more a question about the nature of God. Is he vengeful to his own creation? Is he so vengeful that he would grant them immortality just so that he could punish or even torture them for ever? If he would that would be a pretty freighting thing wouldn't it?
All through out our universe we see God's nature displayed for example; Darkness is not the opposite of light it is rather the lack of light, or cold is not the opposite of heat it is rather the lack of heat. So, what is death? Is in the opposite of life or the lack of it?
I think that God is asking us to make a decision for either life or a lack of it. The trick here to our ego's is that we are alive now and it makes quite an argument that this is the life now and we should seek to add to it specifically. God on other hand is asking us to be his partner with him in life eternal. That which is unseen with our earthly eyes is an easy target for the ego. But, we are equipped with what is called a minds eye also, and this is were discernment can take place. It is also where the Holy Spirit can reach us in behalf of the Christ. What he offer us is truth and life eternal. The ego offers life now to the fullest. It, the ego, also projects fear and every other man made delusions on God so that it shuts down our ability to think past our human form.
Answer for your self the truth of a burning hell used to torture humans forever or the egos projection of fear of God so that you stay firmly entrenched in this life and it's preservation now.
I know that many will throw around the Lake of Fire that Satan will be thrown into as evidence of their hell. But, I would you explain the lack of life without return to some one two thousand years ago.
2007-10-23 04:47:00 · answer #8 · answered by Old guy 5 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Hell is in the Bible so, yes, it is biblical
I've never heard of anyone claiming there is no hell b/c "it's not fair" but I have heard of different interpretations of hell
Yes Heaven or Earthly paradise is fair and deserved after this "hell" on earth
2007-10-23 04:46:18 · answer #9 · answered by Hope 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Yes Hell is in the Bible many times mostly described as a burning lake of fire....theres a book out called 11 minutes in hell and it'a about a guy who has a dream about hell than reads the bible and finds all these scriptures telling him that what he dreamt was real. Check it out you can find it at
www.christianbookdistributers.com
2007-10-23 04:48:43 · answer #10 · answered by cute as a cookie 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋