The question goes something like this, "Would a loving God really send anyone to hell? This is how the argument is verbalized to dispel the fact that God made hell for those who sin. While this doctrine is ever growing, even some outstanding Christian pastors have jumped on the bandwagon. However, no matter the status of the one spewing the dispute, a Christian must not go by what they say or hear say, but totally by the Word of God. That indeed is the only standard to abide by when confronted with things of the unknown.
In today's society, many believe hell does not exist or is hell here on earth. Another thought injects the suggestion that death is simply the grave without any consequences for this life's actions -- condensed into total annihilation when we die. Yes, and the list gets even longer as time passes. To understand why people believe these things, you need to read "my interview with Satan" on this blog site.
From a biblical perspective, not one of these views line up. Let's answer these one by one. Why would a loving God send anyone to hell? This question might best be worded as: "Why do I want to send myself to hell?" We are all accountable for our own actions. God gave each of us a free-will to make choices. Whatever choices you have made did not come from God. Each of us are responsible for our individual actions in life.
God did everything He could do to set us free from the wages of sin. He died in our place so we would not have to pay the price ourselves. Does that sound like a God who does not love us? We must quit blaming a loving God for what we do. If we reject God's way of salvation, we are saying, I want to pay the price for my sins myself and I want to live an eternity with Satan and not with God.
In the Book of Revelation 20:14, it declares that death and hell shall stand before God to be judged according to their works, after which both death and hell are sent into the lake of fire. Meanwhile, a previous verse 20:10 describes the lake of fire as the place where the beast and the false prophet are sent to be tormented day and night forever and ever.
So, the question is: Why does God (in verse Revelation 20:14) judge those in hell according to their works if they will only be dead or annihilated? Doesn't it seem counter to reason, if one person did a lot of works during his life and another person did nothing, that they both should get the same reward if death simply means annihilation. Would not a better summation be that each are judge by their works, meaning that there are various stages of punishment, and each receives their punishment as each one deserves according to what works they did while on earth.
Will hell cease to exist if we refrain from talking about it? Should we take our chances simply on the premise that we heard someone say there is no hell? On the other hand, is there a reason for not believing the Bible, which teaches repeatedly of a literal hell? I am sure you have checked out every avenue before you made your decision. The Bible says God is faithful and wishes no one to perish, so how can we blame God for our rejecting Jesus?
The key to being sure you make the right decision, comes from what Jesus told us. He said: "He who comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out." If you have not come to Him, or thought you did at one time, I urge you to do it again to be sure. God only accepts a willing vessel. That is why many do not receive the love He offers. God searches the heart for sincerity. Do not give up on God. He loves you and sent His Son Jesus who died to show you of His love. https://doveandword.com
11 comments:
A topic that many do not want to face. You showed the true character of God.
It is so much easier, for many, to not believe in hell. On the other hand, for me, it is so much harder to not believe in hell.
How do people rationalize that there is a Heaven and not a hell? That would be saying there is a God but, not a Satan. The Bible says there is, so there is.
Being a Catholic, we were brought up with Heaven, hell and purgatory. Now most people do not believe there is purgatory.
I used to have a old neighbour when I was growing up and he was a lovely old man who takes walks everyday with his walking stick. He lived with his son in a big 3 storey house on top of a little hill. One day he told me (I was a teenager then) that he used to be a mean person but he had a heart condition and at one time he was declared clinically dead. During that time, he was shown heaven and hell and he felt he was given a second chance. He came back to earth and since then he had been a much nicer person and that he was blessed to be given the second opportunity. He finally passed away in his 80s.
George,
The key to understanding about
"hell" is to not stray from what Scripture actually says on the subject.
Certainly RCC strays on that one
with the unbiblical teaching of Purgatory.
What I read...is that we are offered
2 choices. Life and death.WE Would do well to just believe that. Natural man is spiritually
dead since the fall of Adam.
When man becomes "born again",
he becomes at that point "spiritually alive."
Those that are never born again,
are still spiritually dead and still without eternal life.
They get cast into hell and burn up...become ashes. and even the memory of those lost souls...
will be gone. At that point,
it will be as if they never were.
They will not be forever burning with eternal life. How could it.
They chose death....NOT LIFE.
I believe in the word of God found in the Bible. Therefore, I believe in heaven, just as I believe in hell and purgatory. Many claim that hell is NOW, where we are at, a sneak preview of the hotter damnation that can all eat us p[ if we don't repent and better our ways. I'd say, that can be true. If we look closely, several forms and means meant to ease humanity's so called sufferings are in the forefront. Sufferings are there to make us realize that we are one with God sharing in his passion and glory.For every suffering we have, we are cleansed and made better. The world today would want to encourage EASE even in ways it should not.
Brother Mark - As you say, we should not stray from what the Bible actually says. I believe spiritual death is the result of sin, not Adam's disobedience. Take a child who has not yet sinned. I believe he is not spiritually dead until the time he sins, which results in the child realizing good & evil. It is sin that condemns us - not the sin nature. (The wages of sin is death.)
Hell on the other hand, is mentioned in the book of Revelation in Chapter 20:10 as where the devil and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire to be tormented day and night forever.
Verses 13-15 is where hell and death delivered up the dead to be judged. Then death and hell are cast into the same lake of fire as the devil and false prophet.
If they are judged according to their works before being cast into the lake of fire, and if they cease to exist, why were they even judged?
Also, this all happens after Christ thousand year reign, which means it will be at least a thousand years from right now before the dead are judged and cast into the lake of fire. If they are simply ashes in hell, why do they come back? Maybe you have a different theory, but this is how I see it.
"....to not stray from what Scripture actually says on the subject.....
They get cast into hell and burn up...become ashes. and even the memory of those lost souls...
will be gone. At that point,
it will be as if they never were.
They will not be forever burning with eternal life. How could it.
They chose death....NOT LIFE".
Brother Mark, the above statement is not scriptural. The choices that we are given is eternal life or eternal death. Those that are cast into the LAKE OF FIRE will be there for eternity where "the fire is not quenched and the worm does not die".
Rev 2:11 "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death." '
Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
:14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 21:8 "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
The choice of the first death was a choice made by Adam and Eve, which we have no choice in that matter, we all must die, and then comes the judgment.
They had the "right to the Tree of Life" but chose to believe the Serpent. Jesus came to restore to us the right to the "Tree of Life"
P.S. You will be born again when you are born into God's Family, as Spirit Beings, at His second coming.
Peace
I am Islam by religion. Islam realy mean "love & prosperity". Anyboby who has achieved and demonstrated love and prosperity is called "Islam" by nature. It is my personal opinion. So a God (or Allah) full of LOVE and the creator of HEAVENS does not send people to HELL. It is the people who live the un rightful ways send themselves to HELL. Hell is nowhere but in your heart. It is how you feel truly.
http://islam-sejahtera.blogspot.com
Good point about Annihilation.
People generally don't understand that they have lied, stolen, lusted, hated, committed adultery, blasphemed God's holy name by using it as a curse word, and many other things, multiplied by thousands of times, and have therefore broken God's holy law, the Ten Commandments. They have offended a holy, righteous God, and therefore deserve Hell. God, being a righteous Judge, cannot merely excuse sin. Sin MUST be paid for. Sin MUST be punished. Therefore, if you don't allow Jesus to pay for your sin, then you are left to pay for it yourself, and, just as a penniless man cannot pay his fine out of prison, a sinner cannot ever fully pay for sin, and therefore, Hell is eternal.
Jesus is the only escape from Hell. There is no other. God provided a way to escape, and, if we don't like it, then we have to pay the way ourselves.
The Bible was written by man for man. It's intent is to keep man obedient and locked in to a specific religion. Many "good Christians" believe that christianity is THE ONLY WAY to God. They will go on to tell that other religions are "going to hell" unless they repent and accept christianity. This is simply untrue. One needs to understand that the hundreds of different religions are only various interpretations of God and God's word - interpretations by man.... and Christianity is only one of those interpretations.
Hell is a place created out of man's need to judge and be judged. It is a concept based solely on man's ego. God has transcended his ego long ago and has ZERO need to judge us. God is perfect and to imply that we, as God's creations, are anything less, implies God's imperfection. This is simply not the case. To understand God's unconditional love requires that that we understand that God would NEVER harm us in any way. The only purpose of punishment is to teach us. And to punish his children by placing them into an eternal fire pit, not only implies that God is a sadist, but is also implies that God is lacking intelligence - as this type of punishment would never serve to teach.
yoda7777,
If the Bible was written by man for man, then God did not have anything to do with it and we have no directives to follow.
If Jesus is not God then you would be right about the many ways to God. However, "The Unveiling of the Trinity" proves that Jesus is God by revealing the "Mystery to the Trinity."
Your point about God punishing us is wrong. God does not punish us. We desire to be punished by not accepting the price that Jesus paid so we do not have to be punished.
Hell was made for the devil and his angel according to the Book of Jude verse 6. When we reject God's way of salvation and obey Satan's lies, we are saying to God - we do not want to spend an eternity with you, but we desire to spend our eternity with the one we obeyed while on earth - Satan.
God doesn't 'send' anyone to hell.We choose hell when we choose sin.We choose hell when we reject Jesus Christ.Read More Here http://endtimes.mixxt.tv/networks/blog/post.arthen:6
Post a Comment