God Wasn't Joking
Posted on 11/03/2014 5:02:42 AM PST by Sam's Army
The idea that the Bible declares hell a real and literal place is no more valid than the toxic lie that the Bible condemns homosexuality.
Yet the idea that hell is real persists. Why? Because over the centuries those in positions of power within the institutions of Christianity have methodically, relentlessly, and with great art used the doctrine of hell to exploit the innate fear of death that is harbored by one and all.
Show me a Christian terrified of hell, and I’ll show you a Christian ready to pay good money for the assurance that he is not going there.
If you don’t think the “doctrine” of hell is about the accrual of money and power, then … then God bless your naiveté.
For the rest of us, it’s certainly worth asking what a Christianity without hell would look like. Well …
A Christianity without hell would be literally fearless.
A Christianity without hell would have nothing to recommend it but the constant and unending love of God. It would allow Christians to point upward to God’s love—but never downward to His/Her wrath.
A Christianity without hell would be largely unevangelical, since there would be nothing to save anyone from.
A Christianity without hell would trust that God’s loving benevolence towards all people (emphasis on all) extends beyond this life and into the next.
Bringing peace about the afterlife, a Christianity without hell would free Christians to fully embrace this life, to heed Christ’s commandment to in this life love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
In short, a Christianity without hell would be a fearless, trusting, loving, divinely inspired source of good in the world.
And this Christianity would be more biblical—would be truer to not just the words but the very spirit of Christianity—than any Christianity that posits the reality of hell.
I want that Christianity. I insist upon that Christianity.
Tell me I’m not alone.
Has this dude never read Paul? I think it's clear that our ticket to Heaven has BEEN PAID IN FULL - to any of us who have accepted it.
Wonder if John Lennon has revised that notion.
The Apostle John was alone as he scrawled the Revelation in the dimly lit cave on Patmos, but he knew that eternity lay before him, and he knew that God was with him even in that aloneness. That is the kind of faith I desire to have not a load of hooey like this author wants.
Freegards
LEX
um...
I don’t even know where to begin.
But one thing is certain.
Some will be WITH God in the afterlife, and some will be APART from God in the afterlife.
Being apart from God = Hell.
End of discussion.
Well, he is right that the concept of hell and homosexual condemnation have the same validity.
Absolutely agree.
I agree, but that’s not the point, to me.
Christianity isn’t the only religion with Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. Most religions have these concepts and teach values and morals based on them or attaining entry to them.
Even the Ancient Greeks had Hades (Purgatory), Tartarus (Hell) and the Elysian Fields (Heaven).
I want that Christianity. I insist upon that Christianity.
A god of his own making.
Show me a Christian terrified of hell
Climbing up on the desk, now raising both hands and waving them in the air, jumping up and down while yelling:
"OVER HERE!!! THAT WOULD BE ME!!!"
I am "POOPING LITTLE GREEN APPLES IN MY PANTS" TERRIFIED!!
Okay...I'm better now...sorry for that uncharacteristic outburst.
I wonder how this guy thinks God should deal with unrepentant evil? Is he a Rob Bell fan or a Joel Osteen, “your best life now” believer?
He is using the indulgence scam run by the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages to justify his twisted theology.
Christianity is self-correcting. Martin Luther called them out on it, and eventually they quit doing it.
Another person who wants to create God in his own image.
>>I want that Christianity. I insist upon that Christianity.
I insist upon money growing from trees, and my own private castle in the clouds.
In this life, people choose heaven or hell. People go to heaven because they love God and want to submit to him. They go to hell because they want to live their lives with meaninglessness, through instant gratification and separated from God. They think that is more fun during this vapor of life on earth. People who want to go to hell will go there. God gives people what they want..If you want to be God and savior for yourself, you can go for it. God does not want anyone to perish and has told us how not to go there. But if we choose the prideful self-centeredness of our own hearts rather than the peace and eternal rest we can have through Christ, then God will judge our violation and rejection of him. I believe in Hell and have come to find relief in the thought as I witness greater and greater evil going on in the world, many times protected by the world’s claimed systems of justice which are anything but. It is a comforting thought that justice will be brought against true evil, if not here, then in the next world.
Leftists detest personal accountability. That’s why they hate Christianity and why they like communism.
They want a utopia where somehow all the benefits remain available without putting in any effort.
Christianity is a hard sell because it requires the believer to surrender control of his life to the perfect love that is Christ. A fellow can no longer be selfish.
Kinda ironic that the only way communism could ever work, is that EVERYONE would have to be completely unselfish.
Jesus describes the Day of Judgment in Matthew 25:41, when God will pronounce His judgment on the unrighteous: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Jesus tells us there is a Hell. He knows. We believe it.
An important cue is that, while the word Hell or hell is always a noun, when used as a proper name, to reflect a real place, like Heaven, Hell is capitalized. Those who use it in lower case subconsciously try to strip it of that distinction.
Often the biggest critics of the ideas of Heaven and Hell are the Jews, who recognize neither as real places, only as vague abstracts. Because recognizing Heaven and Hell as real is uniquely Christian, though it bears some resemblance to similar evil domains in some other religions.
In this case, a “progressive Christian” is almost an oxymoron, equating Christianity with socialism, and such people even see God and Jesus as unnecessary to their faith, which puts mankind at the center of the universe.
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