I can't believe in a God who would send people to hell

[Chad]

by Matt Slick

Denying it or not liking it doesn't mean it isn't real.

Hell was originally created for Satan and his angels. In the future it will contain those who join Satan in rejectingGod. If you reject God's provision for the forgiveness of your sins, then you will join the Devil who rejected God from the beginning. Is that what you want?

Could you believe in a God who would become a human, suffer at the hands of humans, and be killed by them, all so that His death could be the payment for their sins? That is extremely loving. God is saving people who deserve to go to hell - and we all deserve that. Remember that the same God that sends people to Hell also died for them. If they reject what God has provided, then what is God left to do? He would have to judge them.

Whether you believe in something or not does not change the fact of its existence. Jesus spoke often of hell (Matt. 25:41-46; Mark 9:47-48; Luke 16:19-31), and warned us so we would not go there. Would you say Jesus didn't know what He was talking about?

Are you implying that it is unjust for God to send people to hell? If so, then you accuse God of injustice. Sin is wrong and it must be punished. What would you have God do to those who oppose Him and do evil? Do you want Him to ignore that which is wrong? Do you want Him to turn His head and not be holy and righteous?

Other excellent threads to consider reading:

http://www.talkjesus.com/seeking-jesus/13288-why-believe-christianity.html
http://www.talkjesus.com/seeking-jesus/10887-how-friends-god.html
http://www.talkjesus.com/seeking-jesus/7749-meet-jesus.html
http://www.talkjesus.com/seeking-jesus/9596-fathers-love-letter.html
http://www.talkjesus.com/seeking-jesus/13601-questions-objections.html
http://www.talkjesus.com/seeking-jesus/8110-personal-relationship-god.html

 

[spirit1st]

We belong to who we follow? Listen God has mercy and kind of protects us to some degree. while we find out the truth ? But as long as we are serving satan . If we die ? then we must go where the demons go hell

2Ti_2:26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

God does not send any to hell. We decide where we go by who we serve ?

Rom_14:7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

We are serving one or the other ?

Every Evil thing on earth started with satan . he caused all the evil on this planet .

God caused all the good and perfect there once was .

 

[AbbysAunt]

It is ourselves by the choices we make that condemn ourselves. God gave man free will, yes he gives instruction to us on how to use that free will to live a life pleasing to Him, but will not force anyone to do so instead He leaves that choice up to us on how we will use that free will He gave us. If we choose to do what we know is sinful and do not have a repentful heart then yep we condemn ourselves to hell, but if we use that free will to accept Him as Lord and Savior, repenting of our wrong doings, honor Him, Praise Him, live as He says and do our best to run the race that is before us then we are heaven bound to live with Him in glory. God loves the sinner but cannot and will not accept or condone the sin.

AA

 

[SpiritLedEd]

I would add a book title to Chad's l,ist: God Forsaken by Dinesh D'Souza. A Christian college president, D'Souza debates atheists and agnostics using science and reason.

SLE

 

[clark thompson]

If God did not send people to hell, He would not be just. God gave a Way out of going to hell and this is Christ.

 

[brakelite]

If God did not send people to hell, He would not be just. God gave a Way out of going to hell and this is Christ.

An eight year old steals from his dads wallet, goes outside and is run over by a bus. He then, according to the majority of Christianity, goes straight to hell because he had not accepted Jesus into his life. He then proceeds to suffer the pains of fire for all eternity. He doesn't die of these pains, nor does the fire destroy him, no, God gives him the gift of eternal life so that he will live forever in those flames suffering without any hope, without any end.

If any human would devise such a form of torture like this, we would all rise up in righteous indignation and protest vehemently, and rightly so. The Holy Spirit in us would also be rightly grieved and affronted that such a thing would take place and transpire in the name of justice. What we would roundly condemn in one another as being utterly unjust, vicious, genocidal, and depraved, we praise God because He does the same! What we rightly and correctly describe as an abomination for man, we call it a virtue when applied to God!!????

We need to reconsider the correct meanings of the references to hell. We give it a meaning that is utter contradistinction to the many more verses which state categorically that the wages of sin is DEATH!

 

[spirit1st]

Hell is not forever . The lake of fire is.

Also I believe there is a age of accountability. God sees all mankind in the flesh as sinners. None of us are perfect in the flesh mind or body .

1Co_15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

Only the spiritual body is perfect , sin free at salvation. Our flesh is still the same sinner we were Born into .

Rom_6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.


Rom_8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
The flesh body is dead too GOD because of sin.
The spiritual body is alive to GOD.

 

[Boanerges]

If I look at this honestly I cannot see how we do not go to hell- thank God for His mercy and Love.

 

[brakelite]

If the fair and just punishment for sin is to suffer the torture of an eternally burning hell, then Jesus has not paid the price of our redemption.

 

[Chad]

If the fair and just punishment for sin is to suffer the torture of an eternally burning hell, then Jesus has not paid the price of our redemption.

The bible is very clear that punishment for sin is death (hell).

This portion of a gotquestions.org article summarizes this clearly...

Hell is mentioned 167 times in the Bible, sometimes called Gehenna, Hades, the pit, the Abyss, or everlasting punishment (Proverbs 7:27; Luke 8:31; 10:15; 2 Thessalonians 1:9). Jesus spoke of heaven and hell as real places (Matthew 13:41–42; 23:33; Mark 9:43–47; Luke 12:5). The story Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus was an actual event that demonstrated the reality of the two eternal destinations (Luke 16:19–31). Heaven is the dwelling place of God (2 Chronicles 30:27) where Jesus has gone to “prepare a place” for those who love Him (John 14:2). Hell was created for “the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). But because every human being is a sinner, every person past the age of accountability has already been condemned to hell (Romans 3:10; 5:12; John 3:18). We all deserve hell as the just punishment for our rebellion against God (Romans 6:23).

Jesus was clear that “no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3). He was also clear that hell is an eternal punishment for those who do not obey Him (Matthew 25:46). Second Thessalonians 1:8–9 says that in the end God “will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” John the Baptist said about Jesus, “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12).

John 3:18 explains in the simplest terms who will go to heaven and who will go to hell: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” So, those who go to hell are specifically those who do not believe in Jesus’ name. To “believe” goes beyond a mental recognition of the truth. To believe in Christ for salvation requires a transfer of allegiance. We stop worshiping ourselves, we forsake our sin, and we begin to worship God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Matthew 22:36–27; Mark 12:30).

 

[spirit1st]

Listen HE did give His life giving blood for all mankind. But we must accept that truth from our heart[Spirit] and accept Him as Lord and master . Other wise we will not get that free gift of eternal life. It by Faith we accept and Believe .

This I believe to be our LORDS gospel and the only way to eternal life.

1Co 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1Co 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:


Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Act_20:35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Rom_14:21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
Rom_15:1 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.


We need to have mercy where we can?

So many are turned away from churches and fellowship , because many put a great burden on them they cannot bear.

I am not saying we must put up with evil junk. Just we show LOVE and mercy where we can.

 

[Boanerges]

If we give as much mercy and love as we ourselves need we will change our world.

 

[Shutterbug]

The book of Revelations describes two scenarios. The first,which has been mentioned, is the lake of fire. The second, seems to be a place of outer darkness of misery. In either case, we are truly dead as it seems that God takes back our soul. Regardless, Hell will be a place where there will be no sunny day after the storm, no silver lining behind the cloud, no hope that things will improve on the morrow. All that can be expected day after day after day is perpetual misery. Those will are placed there will be those whom God cannot use. While God may be merciful, he has to draw a line somewhere. If he makes an exception for one, then he must do the same for all. I think what separates us from God is whose will we prefer to follow. If it is our own, would we not be ultimately working against God? If so, how can that contribute to a relationship with harmony? It does not. Cheers, John

 

[brakelite]

They will be punished with everlasting destruction

Hi Chad. I fully agree with (almost...I have a couple of issues with the Lazarus/Abraham story, for example, if a literal event, then those in heaven and thpose in hell can speak to one another, hear one another etc. The constant screaming of tortured sinners for eternity will get a little annoying after a while don't you think?).. everything you have printed above, particularly the quoted passage here. And this is the rub. The majority of Christianty does not believe that sinners will be destroyed, but rather that they also have eternal life. Yet the scriptures, as you also agree, do not say that sinners live forever, but that they die, the wages of sin being death. They are destroyed. Yes, they suffer for a time in fire. But scripture clearly informs us that the fire destroys them. Burns them up. Leaving neither root nor branch. Ashes under the feet of the redeemed when they tread upon the earth made new. (Malachi).
The 'everlasting destruction' spoken of is simple to understand. Once something is destroyed after all, there is no hope of return. The destruction lasts forever. the punishment is also everlasting, in that there is no hope after (the second) death for sinners. The Bible does npot speak of everlasting punishing, that is it does not mean a continuing punishing as a constant ongoing practice. It is an everlasting punishment. Death, in the case of the sinner, is eternal. No resurrection. No life. Eternal death.

 

[brakelite]

Another thought. It is claimed that hell is a complete seperation from God. I agree with this sentiment. This raises a question however. If one is seperated from the life-giver, how can one continue to live?

 

[spirit1st]

I Do not believe spirit beings die . So it is possible they could suffer forever . And we would not hear them in the lake of fire.
Just saying if the lake of fire is like the sun ? Then who would hear them in the sun ?

Listen some question we would like to know is not very clear to us ?

But Hell of course is only for a time, til the judgment day . God has a reason for the judgment day . We see the demons of already been judged and are domed . They have no hope what so ever .

I am not sure what going to happen on the judgment day . I could guess , but find it better if i do not.

outer darkness might not mean , Dark . It might not the lack of light , TRUTH . We might at times misunderstand words ? It could mean , No good thoughts just evil vile thoughts ?

We understand satan and his dumb followers are living in darkness now. But it could be worse for them . after all ? There is light in this world .

Not saying all I am posting is correct? But it something to think about maybe?

God sees All mankind in the flesh as sinners 100% . Only Jesus was pure and perfect in the flesh , Until He took upon Himself All mankind sins.

Nothing we see on this planet is eternal . Meaning nothing here is how God made it and that why All we See must be destroyed .

Listen I am 100% sure , The bible in perfect agreement in all scriptures . But in our little minds we cannot fully understand how one scripture seems to say the different meaning than one that appears too say something different? It our understanding that is lacking.

I believe GOD had it written the way is it so we must get the correct understanding from only the Holy Ghost. the carnal mind will not be able to understand it and will think it a mistake .

hell is deep in the earth . Those there are very unhappy . waiting for the judgment day while suffering . People are tricked at times , thinking it will be better to die. When they are shocked to find out? they gone to an even worse place of suffering.

We Must be Born again . It a true Birth , we know when it takes place. It just as Profound as our First ,[ water birth ] from our Mothers , but of the spirit . A brand New perfect baby spirit being . a true child of god . Of His family and household. a royal new spirit being .

 

[brakelite]

Possibly the best known scripture in the world says: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16. That word 'perish' means literally destroyed, or death. There can be no misunderstanding this. It is set out by Jesus as being in direct contradistinction to life. On one hand eternal life, on the other, perish, or death. There is no suggestion here that 'death' or 'perishing' means anything else other than what it literally means. A complete cessation of life.

Other scriptures throughout the Bible agree with this, both old and new testaments.
Ps 92:7; 37:20; 37:38; 101:8; 145:20; Prov. 13:13; 10:29; 19:9; Luke 13:3; 2 Thess. 2:10; 2 Peter 2:12; Phill. 3:19; 1 Tim. 6:9; Matt. 7:13.
Others say that sinners will be burned up completely. Matt. 3:12; 13:30; Heb. 6:8; Malachi 4:1,3.

...or consumed, Isa. 1:28; Ps. 37:20;104:35.

...devoured, Ps. 21:9; Rev. 20:9, Heb.10:27

and there are many more. I do believe tha the evidence for annihilation is overwhelming. Sinners do not suffer for eternity...when there just punishment is finished, they are destroyed.The only thing that is eternal is their death.