Posted on 01/29/2015 7:26:35 AM PST by avenir
Hell is real, in some form or another.
Hell on earth is something every human being agrees exists. War tears families apart. Disease kills parents and leaves behind orphans. Famine neglects to feed the most vulnerable. Consumerism by the privileged fuels the ramifications of all of these things. Hell on earth–this is real.
Hell as a literal place of eternal conscious torment for those who never make a mental assent to the Four Spiritual Laws (1. God loves humans, 2. Humans are sinners, 3. Only Jesus saves sinners, 4. Accept Jesus to live eternally) is another perspective. People with this view, which includes most American Christians, have an obligation to tell as many nonbelievers as possible that they need Christ as a means of escape from hell. The God who died to save them is the God who will let them spend eternity in hell if they don’t acknowledge God’s grace. This puts lots of pressure on the faithful. It can at times lead to relational manipulation (more on that point in a moment).
Read more: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/thepangeablog/2015/01/27/giving-up-hell-for-a-year/#ixzz3QDrGRibm
From what I can tell it seems most FReeper believers firmly believe in eternal punishment—as I do, with a sob and a shudder—and won't find such a notion as Mr. Willems floats appealing. Still, this tempting thought is out there, chipping away at the seeming injustice of GOD in sentencing poor creatures to everlasting torment for what amounts to a pittance of years in disobedience. IMO only the natural mind—dulled or outright blinded by Satan—could find such a pathetic argument valid. Once the Spirit convicts of sin, we KNOW our desert is Hell. The same One who convicts, though, offers pardon! Good news!
We’re just guessing when we try to understand the Mind of God.
People spend eternity in hell for consciously sinning and rebelling against God. That they refuse to accept the grace of a Savior who can rescue them is their decision, not God's.
"My current view is that those who die without a connection to Christ are simply dead, without any awareness of any kind"
The cruelty of such a belief will consign those who agree to an eternity in Hell. He will be judged by a righteous God who isn't happy with false teachers and liars.
“People spend eternity in hell for consciously sinning and rebelling against God. That they refuse to accept the grace of a Savior who can rescue them is their decision, not God’s.”
Agreed.
“The cruelty of such a belief will consign those who agree to an eternity in Hell.”
You speak the truth, they have it backwards. Hell is just; lying about its reality, and keeping others from the free gift of eternal life, is not.
I wouldn’t say guessing exactly - because we are made in “God’s image” - and God created intelligence, personality, humor, etc. - and He gave us his Word.
But for sure, we only have an incomplete picture at best due to our limitations.
Many saints have been shown a vision of hell: St. Faustina, the children at Fatimaa come to mind.
Fatima
My views on hell, for what it is worth...
God is light, love, healing, hope, forgiveness...all things good are just aspects and reflections of Him. Hell is literally an eternal separation from God, a place of darkness, hate, pain, hopelessness, guilt and regret.
In the same way our minds cannot even fathom the awesome wonder of heaven, we cannot comprehend the horror of hell.
Heaven is going to be better than we can possible imagine. Hell is going to be much, much worse than our most horrific nightmares.
The Bible is also clear on one other point...those in hell know who is in heaven. Look to Jesus’ parable of the rich man and the beggar - the rich man, in hell, can see the beggar he ignored in life being comforted in heaven. I suspect that the awareness does not necessarily go both ways as heaven would become less wonderful if we could see the eternal suffering of those that we knew who rejected God and His Son.
sorry I thought this article was about moving out of the U.S....my bad
“Giving up Hell for a Year: How it could revolutionize our relationships”
If, by “giving up hell”, they mean “Reform your life and live so as to avoid hell at all costs”, then I’d applaud it (and humbly suggest that they raise the bar to be a bit higher than ‘a year’).
If, on the other hand, they mean “live as if hell didn’t exist, and try to muddle through by a mere humanist struggle to “be good”, then I’ll call this out as sheer insanity. One might as well say, “Let’s live as though gravity didn’t exist, so that people can learn to be careful around cliffs and holes for its OWN sake, rather than out of a craven fear of being hurt!”
It’s never a loving or kind act to lead people away from the true and the real.
“Every disease that submits to a cure shall be cured: but we will not call blue yellow to please those who insist on having jaundice, nor make a midden of the world’s garden for the sake of some who cannot abide the smell of roses.” -C.S. Lewis
I believe hell is a real place, and an eternal place. Created for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41).
I believe eternal life is a gift from God, occurs with a ‘salvation’ experience (Rom 6:23).
Jesus even talked about fearing God who has the ability to destroy not just the body but the soul in hell (Matt 10:28). I don’t think hell is an eternal punishment for people (because they haven’t been given the gift of eternal life).
Interesting quote from Lewis. I remember him saying “the doors of Hell are locked on the INSIDE” (maybe in The Problem of Pain?).
I haven’t re-read The Problem of Pain in a while, so I don’t remember; but he definitely references that same idea in The Great Divorce (from where the above quote came).
Jesus spoke more about the reality of hell than everyone else in the bible combined.
And He would know!
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