What to expect in hell

[Beetow]

● Rom 8:15-16 . . For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out: Abba, Father. The Spirit
Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

That passage tells of a supernatural close encounter of a third kind, so to speak.

Not every Christian undergoes the experience. For example: adherents of
Catholicism and Seventh Day Adventism honestly don't know for sure where they
stand with God-- we're talking about something like 1.37 Billion people. Those two
denominations alone represent approximately 57% of the world's Christians.

* Rom 8:15-16 never happened for Mother Teresa. She complained in private
correspondence with spiritual counselors that she felt not the slightest glimmer of
the Lord's presence virtually her entire five decades in India; leading Teresa to wonder
if there really is a God out there; and she sometimes spoke of Jesus as "the absent
one".

The Spirit of adoption is supposed to make God's people feel at home; not feel left
out. I don't know what went wrong with Teresa but for sure her spiritual condition
was not good.

NOTE: The word "Abba" is transliterated rather than translated; i.e. it's the actual
word; but it's neither Greek nor Hebrew, rather, it's Aramaic.

Abba pertains to one's male parent but not as an ordinary noun. It's a filial
vocative.

For example: When my son points me out to one of his friends and says "That's my
dad over there." Then the word dad simply indicates how he and I are related. But
when he shouts "Hey dad, I'm over here!" then the word dad is a filial vocative
because he's addressing me personally to get my attention.
_

 

[Beetow]

The Father has entrusted all judgment to His son (John 5:22) For that reason,
people really ought to be scared of Christ because he intends to go about the
business of judging no differently than the fire and brimstone practices of the God
of the Old Testament, by whom Jesus has been trained to take the reins.

● John 5:19 . . I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do
only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also
does.

● John 10:30 . . I and my Father are unified.

● Ps 2:7-12 . . I will proclaim The Lord's decree. He said to me: You are my Son;
today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your
inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron
scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.

. . .Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve The
Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be
destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who
take refuge in him.
_

 

[Beetow]

● Heb 12:29 . . For our God is a consuming fire.

That's a quote from Deut 4:24 which, in context, doesn't describe God's physical
characteristics, rather, it's a figure of speech illustrating rage: defined by Webster's
as violent and uncontrolled anger. It's hard to imagine Christianity's divine patron
ticked off to that extent, but there it is.

* A consuming fire is one that cannot be extinguished, i.e. once it gets going,
there's no stopping till all that's aflame is utterly destroyed beyond recognition, viz:
a conflagration.
_

 

[Beetow]

If there is such a thing as soul sleep I won't know it, here's why:

I've been under anesthesia once for appendicitis, twice for hernias, one for a scalp
lump, once for a kidney stone, twice for total knee replacements, once for a
colonoscopy, once for lung cancer, and twice for an endoscopy.

In none of those procedures was I aware of the passage of time. The very moment
I went under was simultaneous with awakening. So if soul sleep is like that, I'll be
in Heaven as if I went from here to there in less than a second of time on the clock,
i.e. instantaneously. The same can be said for folks on track for the wrong side of
things.
_

 

[Beetow]

God has a passion for mercy and generosity; but they're not His only passions.

● Rom 11:22 . . Behold then the kindness and severity of God

The human condition is so bad, so corrupt, and so hopeless that only the death of
God's sole descendant is adequate to rescue everybody from the lake of fire
depicted at Rev 20:10-15 where numbers of folks will be terminated with extreme
prejudice by a mode of death akin to a foundry worker falling into a kettle of molten
iron.

Now, who in their right might mind can look at that scene and not come away with
the opinion that it depicts a very cruel and unusual punishment? Why not just put
folks down with an injection so that they softly and gently fall asleep never to wake
up? Wouldn't that be nicer, more humane? Yes that would be nicer and more
humane; but would it satisfy God?

Adam started out in the image of God. So at first, his sense of right and wrong was
in agreement with his creator's sense of right and wrong. Then came the forbidden
fruit incident when Adam's original sense of right was lost and his conscience
became that of a tin god.

Well; that's why many of us cannot appreciate our maker's justice. If we did, we
wouldn't be criticizing Him for the way He intends to punish folks. Instead, we'd be
cheering Him on; like this:

● Rev 16:5-7 . .Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: You are just in
these judgments: You who are, and who were; the Holy one, because you have so
judged . . .Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.

* The "Holy one" is none other than God's descendant, i.e. the sweet little babe
away in a manger will be presiding at the great white throne event.

● John 5:22-23 . . Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all
judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

● Acts 17:31 . . He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the
man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the
dead.
_

 

[Beetow]

● Luke 16:27-29 . . I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have
five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of
torment. Abraham replied: They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to
them.

Although many details pertaining to the afterlife are absent in the Old Testament,
Moses and the prophets wrote quite a bit about retribution. Torah-trained Jews
have always known something frightening is in the works. For example:

● Isa 66:23-24 . . And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another,
and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith
The Lord; and they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that
have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire
be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
_

 

[Beetow]

● Ps 115:17 . .The dead do not praise The Lord, nor do any who go down into
silence.

"any who go down into silence" tells us that certain folks might just as well be mute
in the afterlife because The Lord no longer lends them His ear; they're permanently
cut off from His benevolence, viz: God has no interest whatsoever in either their
worship or their prayers, i.e. they are dead to Him; and as far as He's concerned
they're like old documents disposed in the shredder because they no longer matter.

* It's conceivable that the outer darkness spoken of in the 8th and 22nd chapters of
Matthew is a sort of reiteration of Ps 115:17. In other words: although folks
alienated from God are in a darkness of sorts already; He hasn't totally abandoned
them yet.

● Matt 5:44-45 . . I say, love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. In
that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For He gives
his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and on the
unjust, too.

Illustrations for Dante's Inferno by the artist Gustave Doré may not be entirely
true, but they sure do a good job of impressing the total and complete absence of
God's benevolence in the netherworld.
_

 

[Beetow]

● Ps 115:17-18 . .The dead do not praise The Lord, nor do any who go down into
silence.

"any who go down into silence" tells about people who have lost all meaningful
contact with God, i.e. He no longer lends them His ear; they're permanently cut off
from His benevolence, viz: The Lord has no interest in them whatsoever and as far
as He's concerned they're dead to Him like old documents disposed in the shredder
because they no longer matter.

* It's conceivable that the outer darkness spoken of in the 8th and 22nd chapters of
Matthew is a sort of reiteration of Ps 115:17. In other words: although folks
alienated from God are in a darkness of sorts already; He hasn't totally abandoned
them yet.

● Matt 5:44-45 . . I say, love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. In
that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For He gives
his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and on the
unjust, too.

Illustrations for Dante's Inferno by the artist Gustave Doré may not be entirely
true, but they sure do a good job of impressing the total and complete absence of
God's benevolence in the netherworld.
_

 

[Beetow]

I think most folks would agree that monsters like Kim Jong-Un, Xi Jinping, Robert
Mugabe, Muammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, human traffickers, and drug cartel
kingpins belong in Hell; but why are decent folk down there?

Well; obviously humanity's moral compass points to a different north than their
maker's, viz: sometimes what's permissible in human reasoning is unacceptable to
God. Why is that?

In the beginning; humanity was created with a conscience patterned after its
maker's conscience.

"And God said: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness . . So God created
man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female
created he them." (Gen 1:26-27)

Then came the forbidden fruit incident, wherein humanity's conscience lost its
divine quality and became humanistic.

Then the Lord God said: Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good
and evil. (Gen 3:22)

In other words; Man became a tin god conducting himself in accord with his own
moral values.

There's a rather humorous scene in Dante's Inferno where these two guys who
knew each other in life are quarreling over who deserves Hell more than the other;
which is pretty silly when it's considered that both are in the same place and on the
same level.

I rather suspect that quite a few folks sincerely believe God has made a big mistake
sending them down there. In their judicious estimation; others deserve it for sure,
but not themselves.
_

 

[Beetow]

The disturbing scene depicted at Rev 20:11-15 will be presided over by none other
than the sweet little babe away in a manger.

● John 5:21-23 . . Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all
judgment to the Son

● Acts 17:31 . . He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the
man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the
dead.

Misogyny was given quite a bit of negative press during former US President
Trump's administration; while misandry was treated as if acceptable. But malice is
unacceptable with God on any level; and I think we have to accept the possibility
that there are just as many, if not more, man haters in Hell as there are woman
haters.

● Rom 2:9-11. .There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does
evil: For God does not show favoritism.

Women are not a protected species with God; nor is their gender a mitigating
factor. They will be judged solely on the basis of their lives just the same as men.

● Rev 20:12-15 . . I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and
books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead
were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea
gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were
in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. . . And
whosoever's name was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of
fire.

* I would really hate to be a woman infected with militant misandry because in the
end, it will be a man that casts malicious women into the lake of fire and
permanently ruining any chances they might have had for happiness in the future.
For all eternity, condemned man haters will grind their teeth with hot tears and
white knuckled fury that they ultimately lost out on everything because of one lone
male's obsessive control over their lives.
_

 

[Beetow]

The way I figure it: seeing as how God is an intelligent, mature adult (so to speak)
who's never petty, nor capricious, nor biased, nor fickle, nor impulsive, nor
unreasonable, and takes no kind of sick pleasure in causing people harm; then God
must be just as stuck with Hell and can't make it go away with any more ease than
we can.

For reasons I have yet to even guess, Hell is unavoidable even for God because it's
somehow the right thing to do; i.e. it has to be utilized for punishment in order to
satisfy a level of justice that our limited little minds may never be able to fully
grasp.

● Ps 145:17 . .The Lord is righteous in all His ways
_

 

[Beetow]

FAQ: Doesn't 1Tim 2:4 say it is God's will that everyone be spared?

REPLY: It was likely God's will that no one perish in the Flood, but many did
anyway.

● 2Pet 2:4 . . God did not spare the ancient world when he brought the Flood on its
ungodly people; but saved only Noah plus seven others.

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is a fair warning of terrors yet to come.

● 2Pet 2:6 . . He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to
ashes; making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly.
_

 

[lentz]

I dont think the suffering in hell will be a literal fire burning because you cant burn a spirit. But the pain and burning will be seeing and knowing what the person could have had. Im probably wrong in that. But i domt want to find out either what the suffering is either.

 

[Beetow]

.

I dont think the suffering in hell will be a literal fire burning because you cant burn
a spirit.

I think we can safely assume that the afterlife is an unnatural world, i.e. the laws of
our world's physics very likely don't apply down there, viz: just as fire in our world
is designed to burn wood, so fire in that world is designed to burn spirits.
_

 

[Beetow]

The Corona virus is potentially lethal but not necessarily fatal, viz: should you contract
the disease, the likelihood of your getting past it is very good.

The global death toll as of 05/13/2023 is in the neighborhood of 6,874,258 out of
688,256,596 cases, viz: the odds of dying from the virus are like 100 to one.

Of course folks down below no longer concern themselves with diseases; they have a
whole other world of problems to cope with; mostly thirst, despair, and anxiety. I should
think that finding a place to sit down would occupy their thoughts quite a bit too.
_

 

[Beetow]

● 1John 4:10 . . . God loved us when we didn't love Him, and sent His son as an
atoning sacrifice for our sins.

The Greek verb for love in that passage speaks of benevolence sans any particular
affection and/or fondness. This is the manner of love we're required to extend to
everyone regardless of whether we like them or not.

In a nutshell, the love expressed in sending Christ to die for God's enemies was an
act of gratuitous kindness, care, pity, courtesy, and sympathy which should not be
mistaken to indicate that He particularly likes any of us. In point of fact, God most
likely detests a pretty large number of people for whom Christ died; yet He's not
indifferent to their safety because God is basically a neighborly sort of person. (Matt
5:44-48)

BTW: If perchance you haven't already; take a moment to speak with God and tell
Him you'd like to take advantage of His son's death.

"He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of
the whole world." (1John 2:2)
_

 

[Beetow]

● Zech 1:5 . .Where are your forefathers now? And the prophets, do they live
forever?

My own father is gone, and the great preacher Billy Graham; he's gone too. My
favorite rock and roll guitar player during the years I was a teen-ager was Chuck
Berry. He's gone. When I was a sophomore in high school, me and a buddy went to
see "The Blob" starring a rather unknown actor at the time named Steve McQueen.
He's gone. My eldest brother entered the Catholic priesthood and anon became a
Friar. He's gone. My bestest friend ever, whom I'd known since the 2nd grade in
elementary school, is gone too; shot to death by law enforcement at only 37 years
old.

There's hardly a month goes by without someone passing away that at one time
was very important to me; a constant reminder that nobody lives forever and
neither will I. At my current age of 79, and diagnosed with esophageal cancer, I'll
be passing away not too long from now. Most of my life has already been lived and
I'm in the home stretch; heading for the exit. When I was a youngster, life's
horizon seemed forever far away; but now, looking at my deteriorating body, it
seems I'm walking on the horizon's edge.
_

 

[Beetow]

I would like it very much if my friends, associates, and loved ones down in Hades
were allowed visitor days in the afterlife because after they're transferred to the
lake of fire depicted at Rev 20:11-15, I may never get to be with them ever again.

Christians are sometimes asked how they can possibly be happy in Heaven while
aware that their loved ones are imprisoned in an eternity of suffering. Well; Rev
21:4 predicts there will neither sorrow nor tears in the future cosmos, apparently
made possible by starting over from scratch and leaving all else behind, including
memories of the past.

● Rev 21:5 . . He who was seated on the throne said: I am making everything new!
Then he said: Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.

* It could be that we will forget our favorite people, but they will never forget us.
_

 

[Beetow]

In the story told at Luke 16-19-31, the beggar Lazarus died and was carried by
angels to the afterlife. Curiously, the rich man's transportation isn't specified.

One of the most disturbing scenes I've yet to observe in a Hollywood movie occurs
in "GHOST" starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. When someone marked for
the wrong side of the afterlife passes away, these eerie phantoms emerge, having
the appearance of black oily smoke, uttering awful moans, and drag their panic
stricken captives down into the ground.

I don't know if that's how the rich man in Luke's story was transported, but if so; I
can well imagine just how shocking and horrifying it must've been for him at death
to suddenly be able to see menacing spirit creatures surrounding him with looks on
their faces that could only convey but one unmistakable intent; and I suspect those
sinister beings had been hovering around that poor man and stalking him every day
and night of his entire life without him knowing it and patiently waiting for the
green light to take him down.

So, I wonder if the angels that provided Lazarus transportation were not also
assigned as security to protect him from being shanghaied by something similar to
those dark mists.
_

 

[Beetow]

I obtain quite a bit of useful information from YouTube; for example how to replace
a microwave oven motor, resolve a computer issue, adjust an electric guitar's
intonation. and/or the proper way to position a lawnmower for an oil change.

I also tour the world with YouTube, visiting amazing man-made wonders and
natural wonders too. I will likely never travel and get to see those wonders for
myself as they really are before I'm dead; but out ahead is coming a one-thousand
year era on Earth wherein I've no doubt there will be plenty of opportunity to see
everything in the next life that I missed in this one.

● Rev 20:6 . . Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection.
The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of
Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

I suspect that God is keeping a massive, fully comprehensive library that can
satisfy all my curiosity-- an archive of information far exceeding the contents of the
great library of Alexandria. For example: how did the ancient Egyptians build the
pyramids? How did the people of Easter Island move those massive stone heads
into position? Is there an end to space; and if so, what's on the other side? Things
like that; but also nature's secrets too. How did nature fashion those remarkable
rock formations in Utah? Or carve out the Grand Canyon?

There are many mysteries like those that I sincerely hope to find answers to some
day. But people in Hell won't be allowed access to God's library. They will never get
answers to their deepest questions about the cosmos; nor be allowed to travel to all
the exotic places on Earth that they missed in this life before passing on to the
next.

Another benefit to the coming era is safety. I will have nothing to fear from the
animal kingdom like I do now, and plus; those of us who make the cut will be
immortal; so we won't fear heights, nor speed, nor any other risk. I love to explore,
but don't like to explore places that might cost me my life, lose an eye, or put me
in a wheel chair. Well; in the future, I'll be able to explore every corner of the globe
to my heart's content in perfect safety and thoroughly enjoy myself without
worrying about hazards associated with the journey like piranha, head hunters,
frost bite, hypothermia, violent storms, hijackers, terrorists, bandits, and/or
shipwreck.

One thing that prevents many of us from touring the world is old age. Well,
diminished capacity will never again be a factor dictating what I can eat and drink,
were I can go, nor whether I can make it.

● Rev 20:5-6 . . But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years
were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in
the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power.

People in Hell are not only in terrible discomfort, but they're also missing out on the
pleasures of adventure, discovery, and exploration; which are three very
stimulating activities that, just about everybody I've ever met would agree, make
one's existence worthwhile.
_