Going to Hell is our choice, apparently..?

Question

Christians, this isn't a personal attack, or an attempt to get under your skin, but can someone truly justify this for me?

Imagine you're being threatened with torture- a terrible, gruesome death, and it can all be avoided if you admit belief in.. say.. the tooth fairy.

How is this 'righteous' in any way? Is this actually how God works?

Ash: For the sake of conversation, let's assume that the person with their life on the line is just as ethical and moral as any believer.

Lady Louisa: This is hypothetical. Heard of it?

Sillyturtledad: I don't believe in Hell, so naturally I don't fear it. I'm just tired of being told that "It's my choice" to be sent to Hell by an all loving, all forgiving God, when anyone with a tad more rationality than an infant can see how illogical that is.

Answer 1

You are making assumptions about hell that are from popular culture, not from orthodox Christianity. Hell is not torture, and people don't end up in hell because of belief. Hell is an eternal loneliness, and people go there because in their pride they try to make themselves into ersatz gods.

Many of the apparent difficulties with the doctrine of hell disappear when certain misconceptions are clarified. The first one, is a misconception of God's character. 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.

A second misconception has to do with how one is "sent" to hell. Often objectors claim that God randomly picks people to be damned as if on a whim. Additionally, they envision that the one sent to hell is absolutely innocent in the matter and had nothing to do with the outcome. On the contrary, Christians have long held that hell is a choice that is made by the one who arrives there (e.g., in Matt. 7:13-14 Jesus says those who choose the broad path walk to destruction). Essentially, then, God does not send people to hell. Rather, people send themselves.

A final misconception about hell is that it is a place of physical torment and torture. Sometimes this is inferred from the creative writings of Dante (who, by the way, was a master of symbolism too). The Bible describes hell in symbols, which is evident by the diverse portrayals given in scripture. For example in Mark 9:43-48, Jesus says hell is a place of unquenchable fire. 2 Peter 2:4 describes hell as a pit of darkness. The book of Revelation refers to hell as a "Lake of Fire" reserved for punishing those who rebel against God (Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 14-15; 21:8). There is no need to try and harmonize hell as a literal pit of darkness that also is composed of fire or to construe hell as some literal lake of fire. 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

You are not being threatened with torture- a terrible gruesome death, all that will occur is that you will no longer be in the presence of God. Something you have never nor has any living being ever experienced. Picture a high school gym. with a million candle power light in the center. Every where you look the light is, everywhere. does that mean there are no shadows? no, they are there, but until you remove the source of light, you cant see the shadows. When you reject God, he lets you have your way, he will leave you to your own desires. When the spirit of God leaves the horrors you mentioned are free to do as they please. He did not do it to you, he gave you just what you asked for, a eternity away from him.

Answer 3

I don't see any of us being put in this particular situation anytime soon but the time will come when we will have to confess who we believe in. But the Bible says we will be persecuted for Christ's sake. God is righteous and is a righteous judge. Many people have been killed for expressing their belief in God and many have been spared ex: 3 Hebrew boys. I believe if you are operating according to God's will and you are being led by the spirit you will not have to face such a situation like you are talking about. But if you are doing what God has told you to do and you are faced with this situation God will empower to go through it even if it is death. There are no exceptions or freebies into Heaven. One way in - through Jesus Christ. Life IS a choice. Heaven or Hell. One way to Heaven and a millions ways into Hell. Narrow is the road to heaven and wide is the road to Hell. Don't fret about such things like being totured just live your life according to God's will and you will be alright. Paul was stoned and jailed for preaching the gospel. Stephen was stoned to death. People have been ripped in half. Jesus the Son of God had to be tortured and killed. Are we better than them? No.

Answer 4

Well...wait...if you don't believe in God, then that rules out Hell, too, so what are you worried about?

And according to the Christian religion, to avoid Hell, you simply have to follow Christ and believe that he came and died to absolve us of our sins. However, it's not a choice you can make once you die.
You can't stand outside the pearly gates and say "Oh...I will follow Jesus and I believe in Him!" and expect to get through. It must be a decision while you live.

Of course, as I understand it, Jehovah's Witnesses believe that no father would truly allow his children to suffer for all eternity (God being our father and us being God's children) even if we were "bad". After all, I would never want my little boy (or girl) to have to endure an eternity of torment. As a result, I believe that Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe in Hell.

But again, if you believe God is no more real than the tooth fairy, then you should believe that there is nothing to worry about.

Answer 5

Remember, you have a hollywood view of hell, which by the way got it from the catholic view of hell. Let me give you my Hebrew perspective of hell. Hel, is the daughter of Loki, which is norse mythology. The greek mind, which most of us have, think that death really isn't death and we go to some realm ruled by various gods.

The Hebrew Scriptures states, when you die you go to your grave and become soil. Someday, you will be resurrected and stand before Yeshua (Jesus) and give an account. You as an unbeliever will be judged based on your works. The believers will be judged more harshly because they claimed His name.

In the end, you and I will either inherit eternal life and eternal death. Please, forgive my brethren for their misconception of hell which you already see the error. You are a Hebrew in the making. Shalom.

Answer 6

If you have a hard time with spiritual principles, I will try and explain this to you by earthly principles and logic.
Let us assume that you are walking down the sidewalk and a man approaches you with outstretched hands. In his right hand he offers you $100,000 cash. In his left hand is a angry, poisonous, venomous snake. The choice is yours, you get to decide which item you will take. If you choose the angry, poisonous, venomous snake and it bites you and you die, how is that anyones fault but your own? Can you then say God is not fair? We all have a choice, pick good or pick evil.
Admit responsibility for your own choice.

Answer 7

The full truth of the answer can not be given... No one of The Faith is able to fully explain The Truth... the short version is simply that, those of us of The Faith know we will not die. And that there is no authority, or power, greater than The One we serve. God expects us to have The Faith strongenough that we are able to walk through The Valley of The Shadow of Death... one form of which you describe... there are "exceptions" ... but they are rare and most often pertain to the lives of others rather than to preserving our own mortal bodies.... to save another mortal life to preserve the oportunioty for that one to come to God it may be necessary to lie to those who would force us to submit to their way.... there are many of The Faith around the world who have to do that on a daily basis... God knows the difference...

Answer 8

Hell is not a place of burning and torturing.

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)

The torment of hell is relational in nature - someone with greater sins has more to "be ashamed of" than someone with lesser sins.

Answer 9

Hell is a death penalty for our sin.

When we died, we are guilty from the sin that we carry because we inherited it from Adam and Eve.

God cannot allow sin entering into Heaven because it is perfect.

The choice for us to avoid Hell is up to us whether we accept Jesus Christ as our redeemer. Jesus Christ has been sentenced by mankind to be whipped with sharp object from his skin to his bone, nail to the old wooden cross, mock to scorn, beard pulled, the sharp long thorn beaten on His head, and last pierce through His heart from the Roman's spear. He did that to pay for our sins. This sacrifice was made so that the only person who we should ask is Jesus Christ who the Son of God.

By asking Jesus Christ to come to your heart is like entering a backdoor to Heaven.

Answer 10

Well, I'm Muslim, so by Christian standards, since i haven't accepted Christ, I'm going to hell too...

I believe in hell, and i believe there will be dwellers, but in Islam, we believe it will be faith AND deeds that count... believe in God and do good things, you can have heaven.

Naturally, if a person doesn't believe in God, they feel the notion is as silly as the tooth fairy. but at the end of the day, those who believe, it will make sense to them