For Christians: If you will go to hell if you don' t accept Jesus as your personal savior, are the people who lived and died before Jesus was born...in hell? When did hell start? Before the 10 commandments? Because that seems a little unfair. Thank you.
2007-11-23 07:10:42 · 9 answers · asked by justagirl33552 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The Bible doesn’t say when hell was created, but it does say why. It was "prepared for the devil and his angels:" (Matthew 25:41).
There is this misconception that 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.
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.
2007-11-23 07:21:47 · answer #1 · answered by thundercatt9 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Hell is first seen in the ancient legends of the Teutoni people. They date back at least as far as 10,000 BC. So hell was around long before Adam and Eve, let alone the ten commandments....!!!
2007-11-23 15:15:45 · answer #2 · answered by Terry M 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The Bible says hell was created for the devil and his angels (who joined with him to try to take over God). So it existed before humanity, and if such a place is also the destiny of those who reject Christ then it stands to reason that it or a similar place is meant for pre-Christ rejecters of God. Jesus spoke of a place for these people called 'Hades', and described it as a hot place of constant torment. The Godly were in 'Abraham's Boosom', a far better place, presumably a place of paradise.
Let God be God. He knows what he's doing.
2007-11-23 15:26:47 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
Hell is just the Christian interpretation of the Hellenic Hades, which originally wasn't considered to be an "evil" place at all, but just the destination of souls after they died.
2007-11-23 15:15:40 · answer #4 · answered by Belzetot 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Never, not now,and never will be. All you know of hell is within your self. It is a state of consciousness on earth. You create your own heaven or hell here, a state of mind. To live in life with a conscience that is continually dogging you continually warning against thine your better self in the desire to do good, is to indeed live in a hellfire itself. You cannot go against thine own conscience and be at peace with yourself, your home, your neighbor or God. The old testament saints had a form of redemption before the coming of Christ. A LITTLE UNFAIR, your d--n right it's unfair.
2007-11-23 15:51:38 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
Hell is not a place: It is in the spiritual realm, and like spirits, it does not occupy space. Hell is eternal seperation from God, just as heaven is eternal bliss in union with God. If you seperate yourself from God, that is your own doing.
The eternal nature of hell is stressed in the New Testament. For example, in Mark 9:47–48 Jesus warns us, "It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." And in Revelation 14:11, we read: "And the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever; and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name."
Hell is not just a theoretical possibility. Jesus warns us that real people go there. He says, "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matt. 7:13–14).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, ‘eternal fire.’ The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs" (CCC 1035).
http://www.catholic.com/library/Hell_There_Is.asp
2007-11-23 15:13:13 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋
The Catholics needed tools to get a grip on the non believers and the invention of hell was just one of many.
2007-11-23 15:16:48 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 3⤋
Jews dont believe in hell. DOnt worry.
2007-11-23 15:13:28 · answer #8 · answered by Nestor Desmond 6 · 1⤊ 3⤋
When Christians needed a place to put all us "lost souls."
2007-11-23 15:13:37 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 4⤋