Good Christians have a moral dilemma with the concept of Hell?

Question

I understand the concept of pity. I know fundamentalist Christians do too, which I why I know tears would be shed while witnessing kindhearted and loving non-believers to all things human, slowly decending into an eternity of unimaginable suffering in Hell. "Roasted alive for eternity on Satan's BBQ" seems to be a common description for life in the underworld by the faithful.

Pity is cheap, I don't want your pity. I want people to stand up and say in a loud commanding voice to God "Thou shalt not torture the undeserving!"

Thanks thundercatt9, I like your reasoned posting. I wish others on R&S were as respectful of opinion as you are to mine, and I am to yours, as they are to any.

Answer 1

While Christians affirm unequivocally that God is essentially good and loving, it must be emphasized that complementary to these attributes is the characteristic of justice. A loving being that ignored evil or that treated bad acts and good acts equally would not be good. Hence, if God is good, then God is also just - he must treat evil as evil. So, if any creatures merited the existence of hell, then God could remain essentially good and loving by giving them justice, even if that means sending some creatures to hell.

Another misconception about hell is that it is a place of physical torment and torture. Rather, most Christians have understood these descriptions to capture symbolically that hell is final and utter separation from God's saving grace. Some Christians, like C. S. Lewis, take hell to be a real place where sinful people make themselves miserable. Similarly, thinking of heaven as a place of hedonistic pleasures is wrongheaded as well. In fact, those who choose hell would not enjoy the pleasures of heaven since those pleasures essentially flow from a right relationship with God.

Answer 2

Yes the concept of hell really scares me to death.

If there were an eternal BBQ, wouldn't that make God a pretty much a psycho terrorist for saying this?

"Be my friend or you're frying for eternity?"

How'd you feel with living with someone like that for the rest of your life?

So now I writing an animation about this

from what i understand of the bible, hell is not an actual place.

Its the fire, the light which surrounds God.

this fire is hell to some people but other people thrive on this fire like the way plants do.

in Revelation it says heaven doesn't need a sun and the only light source there is the light around God.

Its so bright we won't need a sun to live there. The sun is around 5,000 kelvins. That's pretty hot.

only the people like God can stand living in that kind of perfect light.

plz check out daniel 3. isaiah 33 and exodus 33.18 to end.

here's an eg. of people walking into fire and walking out of it alive.

it's a mini-picture of life in heaven one day.

its kinda like Superman covered by the glass dome when the kryptonite spilled everywhere and he was ok.

Answer 3

Hell exists because God is perfectly holy, and righteous, and any violation against God requires a severity commensurate with that level of His righteousness.

Oft times the wrong question gets asked, namely, "How can a loving God bring punishment upon an undeserving humanity?" A more appropriate question to ask is, "How is it that God decides to forgive anyone's sins in the first place, blessing some [His Elect] with eternal life?"

That is, we ought not to ask for what we deserve (that would be eternal torment in Hell), we ought to ask for God's grace & mercy, freely bestowed upon those who seek forgiveness in the sufficient sacrifice on the cross by Jesus Christ.

All of humanity is sinful, and is deserving of God's eternal wrath, "...for all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God". - Romans 3:23. God does not grade on a curve, guilt before Him for just one sin makes us as guilty as if we've violated all, "For whoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all". - James 2:10.

Answer 4

God will not torture any undeserving. Christians will not witness anyone descending into Hell. Those who choose to reject God are deserving of eternal punishment.

Answer 5

You should say that. God should not and does not condemn the undeserving. However, since "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3), we humans are deserving. We Christians are simply the forgiven, whom He is taking to heaven.

Answer 6

God doesn't. There is no such thing as "Hell." The Bible doesn't support it at all. See the reference material below.

There *will be* a Lake of Fire, on the surface of this earth, in which those whom reject God will be burned up -- to ashes. (Malachi 4:1-6)

Answer 7

Universalism is a long-standing Christian tradition, supported by the Bible and the writings of the Church Fathers.

Answer 8

By believing in Jesus you will get one of the first seats in Heaven to watch how the vast majority of the human beings will be tormented in a sulfuric fire for ever and ever and you will get a chance to poke fun and tease at them all you want for ever and ever…

Luke 16:23-25 (NIV) (Sweet Jesus says) And being in torments in Hell, he* (*a rich man in Hell) lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’(and Jesus all excited continues telling…) But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. (Hey, these are words of Sweet Jesus!)

Revelation 14:10-11 "he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur IN THE PRESENCE of the holy angels and of the LAMB* (*aka God the Son Jesus Christ, and some Christians who will ALWAYS be with him wherever he goes/John 17:24). And the smoke of their torment rises FOR EVER AND EVER. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name."

Hey, what a show for all the Christians! No wonder Jesus said that you must hate your father and your mother and everybody else to be his disciple, especially if they are "unsaved" and go to Hell! You will hear a lot of “I told you so…” from Sweet Jesus!

Answer 9

How dare you sit in judgment on God.

I shall not say anything of the kind to Him; judgment is His alone.

Answer 10

But don't you see? They ARE deserving. That's the problem. and I'm not pi**ing Him off just to satisfy YOUR twisted sense of right and wrong!