The concept of Hell backslid me into agnosticism again
For the last few months I tried learning more about Christ, praying every night, and really feeling this great inner peace trying to live how Christ wanted you to live. There is no doubt that Jesus' teachings on how to live are an excellent way to live life to the purest. Even as I slip back into agnosticism for now, I'll still try to abide by some of his guidelines until I convince myself to choose to be a believer or not.
But one notion always made me backslide. Hell.
At first, I feared that I would be one of the so called Christians that Christ would judge on Judgement Day and to tell me to depart from him even if I called him Lord. I realized I had to live by his commandments as well as repent. To make him Lord of my life, to live by his ways.
That's great, and I felt I was starting to kick some sin out of my life, but now I've come across a distressing predicament. My family's fate.
My family is your typical so called Christian family. Celebrate Easter, Christmas, have holy bread on Christmas Eve, they go to church maybe once a year just to have some food for the Eve blessed. But they don't really confess their faith or live like Jesus. My family is Catholic, so my mother will recite the Lord's prayer every night but I doubt she puts her heart into it sometimes, it's just repetitive and hollow.
Now as I understand it, THESE are the types of people Christ will tell to depart from him. So my own family that I love so much would suffer in hell for ETERNITY. I couldn't handle interacting with my family for a few days, just thinking of them being good family to me that they'd be one day burning forever. It got me angry. How could I enjoy heaven when every second of eternity they'd be suffering in hell? They did nothing wrong, they raised me with love, always offered to help no matter what. My mother even took my father's children he had with his deceased first wife.
She took them in out of love, they're still married today, and my family is close for the most part. I unconditionally love them, but how could God expect me to rejoice in heaven if they won't be with me?
I tried praying for them but nothing changes. I can't change their minds either, they actually thought I was joining a cult because I bought a crucifix necklace and a Bible. Can you believe that? That's how laid back their "Christian" lifestyle is.
Long story short, I'm sure all of you encountered this problem. Loved ones in hell. How can I enjoy heaven without them? Some say God will erase memories of my family so that I don't grieve. At that point, I'm not even ME anymore. Just a shell of what I was.
I also think the notion of ETERNAL damnation is what caused many people over the last 2000 years to truly fear the religion and not risk avoiding it. Zoroastrianism was almost a copy cat religion of Christianity/Judaism (if it wasn't first, that is), but its idea of universal salvation probably lead to a more laid back belief.
For the last few months I tried learning more about Christ, praying every night, and really feeling this great inner peace trying to live how Christ wanted you to live. There is no doubt that Jesus' teachings on how to live are an excellent way to live life to the purest. Even as I slip back into agnosticism for now, I'll still try to abide by some of his guidelines until I convince myself to choose to be a believer or not.
Being a Christian, a follower of Christ, isn't about having admiration for his life "guidelines" but having love for his person. Becoming a Christian doesn't occur simply because one attends a church, or is born into a "Christian" family, or happens to approve of some of the doctrines of Christianity. One becomes a Christian only one way:
Romans 10:9-13 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Did you believe and accept that Jesus is Lord - and not just Lord in a general sense but Lord of you personally? Did you believe and accept that Jesus is your Saviour from your sin? Did you believe that he died on a cross in payment of your sin and rose again from the dead? It is faith in these facts by which you obtain your salvation and truly become a Christian.
At first, I feared that I would be one of the so called Christians that Christ would judge on Judgement Day and to tell me to depart from him even if I called him Lord. I realized I had to live by his commandments as well as repent. To make him Lord of my life, to live by his ways.
But the Bible is very clear that we do so out of love for Christ, not out of fear.
1 John 4:18-19 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us.
1 John 5:2-3 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
My family is your typical so called Christian family. Celebrate Easter, Christmas, have holy bread on Christmas Eve, they go to church maybe once a year just to have some food for the Eve blessed. But they don't really confess their faith or live like Jesus. My family is Catholic, so my mother will recite the Lord's prayer every night but I doubt she puts her heart into it sometimes, it's just repetitive and hollow.
Now as I understand it, THESE are the types of people Christ will tell to depart from him. So my own family that I love so much would suffer in hell for ETERNITY. I couldn't handle interacting with my family for a few days, just thinking of them being good family to me that they'd be one day burning forever. It got me angry. How could I enjoy heaven when every second of eternity they'd be suffering in hell? They did nothing wrong...
No one is in hell because they are innocent of wrongdoing. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," the Bible says. And this is why people go to hell. Your family members won't be in hell because of the good things they did, but because of the bad things they did.
I'm sure your family is loving, and generous, and supportive of you, but God is perfectly holy and demands that same righteous, holy perfection from us. The only way we can obtain that kind of perfect righteousness, however, is through accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
So, let me ask you: If one of your family members comes down with a cold, do you refuse to be happy while they are sick? If one of the members of your family breaks a leg and is in hospital, do you refrain from enjoying anything till that family member is better? It should horrify you that your family members live in danger of eternal hell. It should provoke you to be praying for their salvation constantly and passionately. But you aren't responsible for their choices and you aren't obliged to suffer because they refused God's offer of salvation. They have the same freedom and the same opportunity to accept Christ that you do. God is not hiding the gift of salvation from them. He is not being unfair to them. They are simply choosing to reject His gift, which is their fault, not God's.
they raised me with love, always offered to help no matter what. My mother even took my father's children he had with his deceased first wife.
She took them in out of love, they're still married today, and my family is close for the most part. I unconditionally love them, but how could God expect me to rejoice in heaven if they won't be with me?
I think you underestimate the wonder and joy of being in heaven and the powerful impact of being directly in the presence of God. If you think the pangs of sorrow you might feel for your lost family could overwhelm all the joy that heaven brings, you don't really understand heaven.
God only does what is just and right - which includes how He deals with your family members. You will see this with perfect clarity when you stand before Him. You will see that God has only done right in the judgment He renders upon all those who do not love Him and have rejected His wondrous gift of salvation.
Long story short, I'm sure all of you encountered this problem. Loved ones in hell. How can I enjoy heaven without them? Some say God will erase memories of my family so that I don't grieve. At that point, I'm not even ME anymore. Just a shell of what I was.
I have relatives that I have no reason not to believe they are in hell, but why would that mean I'd want to join them?
God gave them a choice, and they chose foolishly. It would do no good for them or me to choose foolishly as well.
Luke 16 tells of a reals even that Jesus told us about, a rich man who was in hell after he died and is still there to this day awaiting judgment. One of his desires was that his family be warned of that place, not to go there as he did. It's a given that if your relatives, or mine for that matter, ever even cared for us, their desire would also be that we NOT follow them there. Respect their desires and repent of your own sins, then seek to warn others of the awaiting flames as well.
In my denomination (Orthodoxy) Heaven and Hell are the same thing;
The reunion of the soul with God.
The good and pure ones will experience this reunion as Heaven, while the evil and misotheists as Hell.
From what I hear, your family is nor evil nor misotheist so do not worry.
But denominations aside, do not worry about your loved ones.
God is just. He will not "send" anyone to Hell by mistake.
__________________ "Act as if everything is up to you, Pray as if everything is up to God" Me
"The world is not as we'd like it to be. And that is why we like it so much" Kino no Tabi
Abraham asked rhetorically, "will not the judge of the whole earth do what is right?"
When you make worship conditioned on what God does with your family, you are judging God. You are saying that you, the one He made, and now fallen, has more moral sensibility than He, the one who not only created you, but who came down here and freely submitted himself to a horrendous death on the cross for your sake.
Doesn't that sound seriously out of wack to you? It should.
I could prove to you that God by the word is far more understanding in His judgments than many Christians using that same word give Him credit for. But that's not the point. The point is whether you will trust God implicitly, not knowing the full picture. Whether you will say, You are worthy, and I will love you and I will walk with you even if I can't understand.
Otherwise you will remain on the outside, mouthing meaningless things like "Christ was a great moral teacher...", never having inner peace and a satisfied soul - and never letting Him "know" you.
Hell should make you skeptical of Christianity. There is NOTHING that Christians can say that can justify its "existence", especially "crimes" of apostasy. Just read these posts and seriously analyse them, any one of these posters that tries to rationalize it, makes it worst. I'm not going to go through these claims posted here (unless someone wishes to direct something at me) because if you're already somewhat skeptical, I think it'll take just a little scrutinizing on your behalf to see there claims as hogwash.
Heaven is one huge Love Feast, but that “Love” is not a selfish type of love, but a totally unselfish type of Love. While here on earth God has and is extending to all mature adults all the opportunities they need to accept or reject this Godly type Love. Those that continue to reject Godly type Love to the point of never wanting that kind of Love (they enjoy a selfish type of love only), those people would not be happy in heaven (it’s a Love Feast) nor will they like hell, but where else is there in the spiritual realm?
If they are not happy with the way heaven is, can God change it to a place of selfish type love (this seems to be the way Muhammad described it)? (Could God be in such a place?)
If you create a world with only selfish people (all the selfless people are with God) and no God what would that be like? Who would you want to send there?
The flames of hell cannot be put out but that does not mean everything that goes there will not burn up. The only people with eternal life will be found in heaven.
Hell should make you skeptical of Christianity. There is NOTHING that Christians can say that can justify its "existence", especially "crimes" of apostasy. Just read these posts and seriously analyse them, any one of these posters that tries to rationalize it, makes it worst. I'm not going to go through these claims posted here (unless someone wishes to direct something at me) because if you're already somewhat skeptical, I think it'll take just a little scrutinizing on your behalf to see there claims as hogwash.
You can read my comments and answer my questions and we can discuss.
Heaven is one huge Love Feast, but that “Love” is not a selfish type of love, but a totally unselfish type of Love. While here on earth God has and is extending to all mature adults all the opportunities they need to accept or reject this Godly type Love. Those that continue to reject Godly type Love to the point of never wanting that kind of Love (they enjoy a selfish type of love only), those people would not be happy in heaven (it’s a Love Feast) nor will they like hell, but where else is there in the spiritual realm?
If they are not happy with the way heaven is, can God change it to a place of selfish type love (this seems to be the way Muhammad described it)? (Could God be in such a place?)
If you create a world with only selfish people (all the selfless people are with God) and no God what would that be like? Who would you want to send there?
The flames of hell cannot be put out but that does not mean everything that goes there will not burn up. The only people with eternal life will be found in heaven.
Since you've ask me to respond I will. However I find your post extremely confusing. A few things need to be cleared up. Firstly, What is hell to YOU? What I mean by that is, do you actually believe in a place that exists to torment you for eternity or burn forever? What version of hell do you believe in? For instance, there are some that believe merely being separated from God in spirit is Hell. What is your view? Lets start with that, and move from there.
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