"The road to hell is paved with good intentions"?

Question

I have heard this expression since I was a young girl. What do you think it means?

Thank you for your answers. Happy New Year All

Answer 1

I think it means that we get caught up in our lives, the people around us, and the world in general. We all feel drawn closer to God, but we are real busy with our families and our careers and God gets shoved into the corner. He is not forgotten, but He is out of sight at the moment. We keep saying that one day we will turn to God and give Him all the worship and time that He deserves, but that day never comes. When your life ends, there is no coming back to make things right and you have to walk down that road.

If you are interested, read these Bible verses: John 3:16, 17, John 10: 9, 10, John 14:6, and Acts 2:38

Compare these verses with the above: Mark 9:42-50, Matthew 7:21-23, Matthew 12:36,37, and Revelation 20:11-15

Ezekiel 33:1-6

Life is about choices, isn't it?

Answer 2

Erm no it isn't.

It's paved with sin.

That phrase is another pathetic excuse at discrediting religion that has steadily developed over the last 100 years.
You see, in my opinion about 100/150 years ago people began fearing of the return of Jesus, following the clear prophecies of the Bible, and as such, certain phrases and ideas (I'm talking Freud, Darwin- 'all good intentions are bad gooble gabble' etc) were actually put in place to discredit and distance the world from religious teachings.
Whether this was instigated deliberately for purposes of stability or whatever, I don't know BUT in my opinion I think the phrase means intending to be good isn't sufficient.

Which, may be true, but I feel that the overall meaning of the phrase is 'lets try and discredit religion before we all get punished due to being such selfish greedy people'

Another example would be 'men think about sex every 7 seconds' it isn't a phrase, it's an instruction. The phrase to me represents a culmination of anti-religious ideas, possibly propogated by a nascent anti christ, which I consider to be a set of ideas.
Goodness is a lot harder to sell to. People are considered to need less when they believe in things beyond themselves, which is mainly true. Not having God leaves a fairly large and valuable void. In my opinion.

Answer 3

I think it means, for example, that if I say I was going to give money to that person in need and don't and they die then someone could say, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Or would that be a guilt trip?

Answer 4

Little Angel got it right "It means a lot of people have thought they were doing good but were doing evil, I think"

Proverbs16:25 There exists a way that is upright before a man, but the ways of death are the end of it afterward.

The man thinks that his way is upright or good when, in fact, the end results of it are death. So even though his intentions are good they are paving the road to hell / grave / death.

Answer 5

I think this applies to people who really have good intentions to help someone but since they really don't know what's best for the other person, they end up making things worse when they were really just trying to help. The reference to the road to hell refers to the trouble they inadvertently cause (perhaps causing the "helped' person to tell them to go to hell).

The moral of the story: mind your own business, don't do things for someone else unless they ask you to. Never do for someone else what they can do for themselves. Allow them the dignity of making their own choices! And then you'll never get blamed when things go wrong! LOL

Please note: this does not apply to doing little nice things like getting someone a cup of coffee or holding a door open. I'm talking about big things that constitute interfering with someone's life.

Answer 6

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I love the expression. The Jihadists who committed the greatest genocide in all human history (see below) truely believed they were serving Allah's will. The greatest horrors are done by the self righteous who truely believe they are doing right or good.

Answer 7

My father said it meant that if you knew what the right thing to do is and you don't do it, then good intentions would lead to hell as actions would lead to heaven.

Answer 8

It means a lot of people have thought they were doing good but were doing evil I think

Answer 9

sounds like a metaphor describing organized religion....many of them mean well, but use scare tactics, bullying, and deception to "spread the word"

Answer 10

it means just saying you will do good is not good enough. Just saying you will give your life to Jesus and serve God is not the same as doing it.