Is the doctrine of eternal torment more harmful or helpful to the faith of already-practicing Christians?

Answer 1

I think that doctrine is blasphemy against God to portray him as this monster that keeps people alive just to torture them.
Makes him worse than the humans. I feel it is from Satan to make us hate God.

The wages of sin is death, not life in torment

(Romans 6:23) For the wages sin pays is death, but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord.

The dead rest unconscience in hell., hades, sheol. Awaiting a resurrection.

(Psalm 89:48) What able-bodied man is there alive who will not see death? Can he provide escape for his soul from the hand of She´ol? Se´lah.

(John 5:28-29) Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.

(John 11:24-25) Martha said to him: “I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her: “I am the resurrection and the life. He that exercises faith in me, even though he dies, will come to life;

(Revelation 20:13-14) And the sea gave up those dead in it, and death and Ha´des gave up those dead in them, and they were judged individually according to their deeds. 14 And death and Ha´des were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire.

Answer 2

The answer depends on the love relationship the Christian has with his or her Savior, and on how much they understand God's ways. Some Christians don't know that they will never be cast into hell, so they suffer from that lack of knowledge. 1 John 4:16-18 tells us that those who love God do not fear the judgment; "perfect love casts out fear." Some Christians are not entirely trusting God; they think God may "get" them yet, so they never enter into a freeing, loving relationship with Him.

Others have a false concept of hell and its torments - God is not intentionally torturing anybody for eternity. The only reason people suffer for eternity is because hell is separate from God, and God is eternal. So separation is eternal because God is eternal. Good people are not being punished for eternity based on a few mild sins, but because God is eternal.

Many Christians do not know what the Bible actually teaches about hell, so they assume the worst, especially from people who hate God - and their concepts are hell are especially unbiblical. The Bible never portrays hell as a "torture chamber" or eternal torture. This is one of the phrases unbelievers use to explain why they can't believe in hell. They misunderstand hell.

Hell is a place of pain. It is not merely a mental state. It is for those who die in unbelief. See Luke 16:19-31 for a graphic portrayal of what hell is like. But the Bible describes hell in different ways—possibly for different types of crimes. For instance, hell is described as:
• a place of darkness (Matthew 8:12, 22:13)
• away from the presence of the Lord (Matthew 25:41)
• an everlasting fire (Mark 9:43)
• containing undying worms (Mark. 9:44)
• a prison (1 Peter 3:19)
• a place where people wail and gnash their teeth in regret (Luke 16:28)
• a bottomless pit (Revelation 10:1, 3).

The Bible does not describe it as a torture chamber filled with demons and pitchforks. We got these images from the Middle Ages and modern comics, paintings, movies, and television. The Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics tells us that some believe the pain in Hell is self-inflicted, that the pain is "living with the consequences of our own bad choices."

Answer 3

Very harmful to small children, it can be a thought that can be carried on through their lives. Especially if is preached in a screaming voice. There should be a law. If they are going to preach this junk, all children should be exited to more suitable teachings, mostly the Love of God.
I have a nephew who had a breakdown when he was carried to the gremlins at the age of 4. He became afraid of the dark, had to sleep with his mother, just paralyzed with fear, god forbid if he had heard the literal translation of eternal torment. He quit school in 8th grade. Got on drugs then and he is 26 yrs old and is in rehab today, drug addict, can't stop, impossible, without help. PLEASE PRAY FOR HIM, HE DOES NOT EVEN KNOW WHO HE IS when he is not high and very uncomfortable in hes skin when his sober. He was a prophesied child since his mother was unable to have children, my twin sister. They say that when you get on heavy drugs that the mind does not grow, he is still living as though he is a child, can't grow up. What is so sad is he is a border line genius, He can tell you every part on any motorcycle, bar none. He just got out of jail for 6 mo. and the first day out he got back on them, now facing 6yrs.

Answer 4

I would say neither to the faith of already practicing Christians. Our emphasis is elsewhere to be sure! 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 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. 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 5

Harmful, because it is a fallacy caused by a misinterpretation of the Bible. Eternal torment is not what a loving God would inflict upon His lost children. Yes, hell will be real, but it is not eternal. Consult the Bible for more information.

http://www.helltruth.com/

God bless!

Answer 6

It teaches that God is an unforgiving God and makes it hard to have a good relationship with him.

Jer. 7:31: “They [apostate Judeans] have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, in order to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, a thing that I had not commanded and that had not come up into my heart.” (If it never came into God’s heart, surely he does not have and use such a thing on a larger scale.)

Illustration: What would you think of a parent who held his child’s hand over a fire to punish the child for wrongdoing? “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) Would he do what no right-minded human parent would do? Certainly not!

Answer 7

Neither. It was there long before Christians came about, so why should it bother already-practicing Christians, whatever that means because there were no Christians when the teaching was introduced.

Answer 8

A fallacy.

Very harmful to teach Baal worship eternal torture because it is not of God or Scriptural.

However, there is a second death or non-existence. No tears for you or memory of you, blotted out of the book of life.

Answer 9

A Harmful Doctrine
Some maintain that the teaching of hellfire is useful, true or not. Why? They say it serves as a deterrent to wrongdoing. Is that true? Well, is the crime rate in regions where people believe in hellfire lower than in other places? Hardly! In fact, the doctrine of hellfire is very harmful. Will a person who believes that God torments people view torture as something abhorrent? Why should he? Those believing in a cruel god often become cruel like their god.
In whatever way a reasonable person may look at the matter, he cannot accept the existence of a hell of torment. Logic rebels against it. Human nature is repelled by it. More important, God’s Word does not say that such a place exists. When a person dies, “he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish.”—Psalm 146:4.

Answer 10

Harmful.
It's something that Christians need to fully reconcile with.