How can we be happy when people we know will go to hell?

[Carriebuk]

deleted

 

[neilius73]

I don't think this is so. God is just and merciful. We only have a temporal lifespan; eternal damnation, condemnation or judgement is not a just punishment/reward for such.
Just my opinion. A lot of pastors, evangelists will use the 'Hell rap' to scare people into their religion. Be careful who you listen to.

 

[CrazyforYeshua]

Hell is scriptural, no way around it.
The Word also says there is no sorrow in Heaven. I don't know how that works when it comes to unsaved loved ones, I just know it's true.

 

[Nadiine]

I think all the time about my close family members who have died, and those who will die as in the future, who are not Christians. The Bible says they will go to hell. How can we be happy as Christians in that knowledge? Thinking of this torments me daily!

I know how you feel. I have thoughts like that too - I'm sure you'll get plenty of posts that deny Hell exists & that God is too loving to send people there forever, etc etc.
All I will say is, IT'S IN THE BIBLE everywhere as a sobering fact.

You know, it's really unproductive if you think about it. There's NOTHING we can do about our loved ones who reject Christ after they've gone...
You can't change anything, so it's pretty futile to continue thinking of it; - it might also be an attack that Satan is bringing against you to get your attn. on something unproductive and possibly destructive...

Aside from that, I don't think we're supposed to dwell on negative things like that becuz it steals our JOY in the Lord and I think it makes us unproductive over time. Those thoughts can really turn against God or truth if you let them... it can build doubt, bitterness, anger, etc.

Be careful where you let mind stay. Guard it.

Here's a verse that might help:

Phil. 4:8
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
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[Zecryphon]

I think all the time about my close family members who have died, and those who will die as in the future, who are not Christians. The Bible says they will go to hell. How can we be happy as Christians in that knowledge? Thinking of this torments me daily!

Thank you.

If this problem is causing you this level of distress, stop thinking about these people suffering an eternal torment in Hell and do something to change the path that they are on. Witness to them, Biblically, the way Jesus did. Use the law, the Ten Commandments, in your presentation of the gospel message. A great website for witnessing resources is: www.livingwaters.com, www.wayofthemaster.com and www.wayofthemasterradio.com A really great book that teaches you how to evangelize using the law, is Hell's Best Kept Secret by Ray Comfort, which can be ordered through any of the above sites or from your local bookstore if they don't have it in stock.

 

[Siderite]

I think that this is one of the hardest things to come to terms with. Particularly when this involves family members.

Thankfully, we will not know sorrow in heaven.

 

[Zecryphon]

'I don't think this is so. God is just and merciful."

Let's take a look at that statement shall we? What does God being just mean to you? To me it means that God must punish those who break His laws, the Ten Commandments.

Let's take a look at a hypothetical witness encounter. Let's say I'm witnessing to an unsaved person, using the law in my presentation of the Gospel message. Here's how it has typically played out in the past.

Me: Have you ever stolen anything, irregardless of value?

Unsaved person: Yes.

Me: What does that make you?

Unsaved person: A thief.

Me: Have you ever told a lie?

Unsaved person: Yep.

Me: What does that make you?

Unsaved person: A liar.

Me: Have you ever used God's name as a cuss word, or to express frustration or anger?

Unsaved person: Yes.

Me: This is a very serious offense called blasphemy. You have taken the name of the creator of everything in the universe, of you and me, and used it as a way to express anger and frustration.

Me: Have you ever looked at a woman and had a sexual thought about her?

Unsaved person: Oh yeah.

Me: Jesus said that any man who looks upon a woman with lust has comitted adultery with her alreadyin his heart.
Okay, so by your own admission, you are a thieving, lying, blasphemous, adulterer at heart and you have to stand before a holy and just God on Judgment Day. If God is just and must punish those who break His laws, where do you think you will end up, in Heaven or in Hell?

*Now anybody who is being honest will know that they are going to Hell, if God is just, because they have broken His laws.

Me: But God made a way for us to avoid going to Hell. He showed mercy by sending His son to die on a cross in our place, to take the punishment that we all have earned through our sin. So in order to receive the gift of salvation, you must repent of your sin, that means acknowlege that you are a sinner, confess it to God, tell him that you are sorry for the sin you have comitted, tell him you want to turn from that sin, and put your faith and trust in His son Jesus Christ, and you will be saved from God's wrath.

"We only have a temporal lifespan; eternal damnation, condemnation or judgement is not a just punishment/reward for such."

Yes it is. When you are shown that you have broken the laws of God, Hell is the punishment for breaking those Laws. That is God's standard, 'break my laws, go to Hell'. You earned it, all by yourself. Let's look at it another way. If you were standing before a judge and had been found guilty of breaking some laws in this country and told him in your defense, that you only broke a few laws, and that you were really a good person and your good deeds outweighed your bad deeds, would you really expect a just judge to let you go free? Just because you said you were a good person and you were sorry for what you had done? No! Of course not! Justice would not be served at all, if he just let you go. So why should we expect God to let us off the hook, just because we say we're sorry?

Following your line of thinking, Jesus didn't have to die on the cross to take our punishment. I mean, if God is just going to let us in to Heaven because He's so merciful, we don't need a savior. Because what are we being saved from? Without the law to convict you of your sin and show that you are guilty, the cross doesn't make any sense. If you have plaecd your trust in Jesus, why have you done so, if God is just mercy and love and is going to let you into Heaven regardless of what you've done in opposition to Him?

"Just my opinion. A lot of pastors, evangelists will use the 'Hell rap' to scare people into their religion. Be careful who you listen to."

Based upon your statements, I am going to beg you to reconsider your position on this whole doctrine of Hell. Jesus spoke more about Hell than He did about Heaven. Why do you think that is? Was He just trying to scare people into doing what is right? I don't think so.

 

[Nadiine]

If this problem is causing you this level of distress, stop thinking about these people suffering an eternal torment in Hell and do something to change the path that they are on. Witness to them, Biblically, the way Jesus did. Use the law, the Ten Commandments, in your presentation of the gospel message. A great website for witnessing resources is: www.livingwaters.com, www.wayofthemaster.com and www.wayofthemasterradio.com A really great book that teaches you how to evangelize using the law, is Hell's Best Kept Secret by Ray Comfort, which can be ordered through any of the above sites or from your local bookstore if they don't have it in stock.

K, I have to rep your post here... just the other day I watched "the Way of the Master", and they relayed the new statistics on large groups of people who accepted the Lord in one year.

As it boiled down with the "LOVE ONLY" (lack of witnessing about sin, penalties of sin etc), 90 out of the 100 FELL AWAY from their original committment to Christ.
10 out 100 actually last past one year... that's a horrible stat!
And this is all with the "love only" method of witnessing.

People MUST KNOW what they are being saved FROM in order to appreciate God's precious gift & realize the need for His precious sacrifice for us.

 

[Janester]

I think all the time about my close family members who have died, and those who will die as in the future, who are not Christians. The Bible says they will go to hell. How can we be happy as Christians in that knowledge? Thinking of this torments me daily!

Thank you.

I don't believe you're alone in your sorry for your loved ones who don't know Jesus.

When I'm stuck by this, it leads me to pray that the Lord would open their eyes to the truth so that they would know Him. As well as, praying that He would use me to share and represent Him in the way that would be most effective for them to know Him.

My prayer partner and I get together once a week to pray for our families, all believers and all unbelievers. We pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send out people to cross their path with the Good News of the Gospel and that they will be open to God's love and mercy. For believers, that we would be united in love as Jesus prayed in John 17.

I don't know the method God will use to 'wipe away all tears' but I trust that He will allow us to be released from all sorrow, including those we love who have died without knowing Him.

We have seen amazing answers to prayer on behalf of others and it's exciting to see how God works......most often in a way that we wouldn't have thought of. We also pray to represent Him in a way to them that allows Him to work most effectively in their hearts and minds.

 

[linssue55]

I think all the time about my close family members who have died, and those who will die as in the future, who are not Christians. The Bible says they will go to hell. How can we be happy as Christians in that knowledge? Thinking of this torments me daily!

Thank you.

The Lord DEMANDS our inner happiness, for this is His plan, to have the happiness that He has, and we are to share it regardless of outward circumstances. "Do not live for this world." Of course we are sad, but THEY are the one's that rejected this wonderful, perfect God man. He gave them every opportunity, and they still rejected it. It was NOT HIs or OUR doing.

 

[Zecryphon]

The Lord DEMANDS our inner happiness, for this is His plan, to have the happiness that He has, and we are to share it regardless of outward circumstances. "Do not live for this world." Of course we are sad, but THEY are the one's that rejected this wonderful, perfect God man. He gave them every opportunity, and they still rejected it. It was NOT HIs or OUR doing.

"Of course we are sad, but THEY are the one's that rejected this wonderful, perfect God man."

It would be good to know some of the reasons for their rejection of Jesus. Maybe they really are just ignorant of Him and all that He has done for them and why He has done these things.

"He gave them every opportunity, and they still rejected it. It was NOT HIs or OUR doing."

I believe that God gives us every opportunity to share the gospel with them. It is our doing if we do not present them with a sound gospel presentation or just rely on bringing them to church as a guest one Sunday and hope the pastor gets through to them. As you know, I believe in using the law to convict a person in their heart. If you present the gospel in this way, the only way I can see someone still rejecting Jesus is if they don't believe the Bible is true. I believe we must try everything we can think of to bring these people to Christ and to never give up on them, especially if they're family. Family members by the way are the hardest people to witness to, because unlike a stranger on the street or a screen name on the internet, you WILL see these people again.

 

[Zecryphon]

K, I have to rep your post here... just the other day I watched "the Way of the Master", and they relayed the new statistics on large groups of people who accepted the Lord in one year.

As it boiled down with the "LOVE ONLY" (lack of witnessing about sin, penalties of sin etc), 90 out of the 100 FELL AWAY from their original committment to Christ.
10 out 100 actually last past one year... that's a horrible stat!
And this is all with the "love only" method of witnessing.

People MUST KNOW what they are being saved FROM in order to appreciate God's precious gift & realize the need for His precious sacrifice for us.

"just the other day I watched "the Way of the Master", and they relayed the new statistics on large groups of people who accepted the Lord in one year."

::does happy dance of joy::

Yay! Another convert! LOL

"As it boiled down with the "LOVE ONLY" (lack of witnessing about sin, penalties of sin etc), 90 out of the 100 FELL AWAY from their original committment to Christ.
10 out 100 actually last past one year... that's a horrible stat!"

Yeah it really is. If you go out and buy Hell's Best Kept Secret you will read all about the stats Ray initially came across in the early 70's when he went looking for information about how many people were truly converted as opposed to those who were only saved for a little while, then became backsliders.

"And this is all with the "love only" method of witnessing."

Without the law, the cross makes no sense.

"People MUST KNOW what they are being saved FROM in order to appreciate God's precious gift & realize the need for His precious sacrifice for us."

Absolutely, because if you give a typical "love only" gospel presentation some obvious questions are just begging to be asked.

When I hear a typical "love only" gospel presenation, I put myself in the position of someone who knows absolutely nothing about Christianity and then some really obvious questions leap to mind. Such as: "what's a sin", "what am I being saved from", "why is God mad at me", "who's Jesus"? There is a major presupposition going on in most evangelical encounters and sermons these days, that it actually hurts the gospel presentation. We leave out the crucial points, because we just assume everybody knows who God is, who Jesus is, what sin is, what the law is and what it states. So for us to go through that stuff again is redundant and a waste of time. The sad thing is, that most people don't know about any of that stuff. That's why we need to tell them when we have the chance and we must also clear up any misconceptions they have about all of those topics too. Now in a witnessing encounter we only have a few minutes of their time, so we have to really have this presentation down to a science. Hell's Best Kept Secret by Ray Comfort gives you a few ways to present the Gospel effectively, within such a short period of time. Remember we're not after decisions for Jesus, but repentence on the part of the sinner we are witnessing to.

 

[linssue55]

"Of course we are sad, but THEY are the one's that rejected this wonderful, perfect God man."

It would be good to know some of the reasons for their rejection of Jesus. Maybe they really are just ignorant of Him and all that He has done for them and why He has done these things.

"He gave them every opportunity, and they still rejected it. It was NOT HIs or OUR doing."

I believe that God gives us every opportunity to share the gospel with them. It is our doing if we do not present them with a sound gospel presentation or just rely on bringing them to church as a guest one Sunday and hope the pastor gets through to them. As you know, I believe in using the law to convict a person in their heart. If you present the gospel in this way, the only way I can see someone still rejecting Jesus is if they don't believe the Bible is true. I believe we must try everything we can think of to bring these people to Christ and to never give up on them, especially if they're family. Family members by the way are the hardest people to witness to, because unlike a stranger on the street or a screen name on the internet, you WILL see these people again.

We do the best we can. People that were FACE to FACE with the Lord still rejected Him.

Hell will be full of people that reject the Lord. There are some that CANNOT and DO NOT want to be saved. Witnessing is what we are to do, but remember some WILL NOT choose for the Lord. God knew this billions of years ago, and ACCEPTED it, and He would want us to accept it to. SOME will never come to Christ. This is life, very sad, but very true.

 

[Zecryphon]

We do the best we can. People that were FACE to FACE with the Lord still rejected Him.

Hell will be full of people that reject the Lord. There are some that CANNOT and DO NOT want to be saved. Witnessing is what we are to do, but remember some WILL NOT choose for the Lord. God knew this billions of years ago, and ACCEPTED it, and He would want us to accept it to. SOME will never come to Christ. This is life, very sad, but very true.

"Hell will be full of people that reject the Lord."

This is sad, but true.

"There are some that CANNOT and DO NOT want to be saved."

I have not met anyone who does not want to go to Heaven. But I have met talked to a number of people who do not want anything to do with the God of the Bible, so they will not be saved.

"Witnessing is what we are to do, but remember some WILL NOT choose for the Lord."

I'm not looking for a decision when I witness. If they do choose Jesus on the spot, great, but I'm looking for them to be convicted in their heart and show repentence, more than anything else. All I'm really looking to do is plant a seed. As to what happens to that seed, I can not say, but I believe the only things that can happen to it were laid out in the parable of the sower.

"God knew this billions of years ago, and ACCEPTED it,"

Just out of curiosity, do you believe in predestination?

"and He would want us to accept it to.""

I have a hard time doing so, because it sounds too much like a rationalization for not doing everything we can possibly think of to bring people to repentence and faith in Jesus Christ so that they are saved.

"SOME will never come to Christ. This is life, very sad, but very true."

Indeed.

 

[ivory]

I think all the time about my close family members who have died, and those who will die as in the future, who are not Christians. The Bible says they will go to hell. How can we be happy as Christians in that knowledge? Thinking of this torments me daily!

Thank you.

We do not know if they received salvation or not. Everyone is in the presence of God at death, they may have recieved salvation on there dying bed. Those whom we think made it in might not have, and those who we would never think made it just might have, so use your faith to believe, they recieved salvation on their dying bed. (smile)

 

[newleaf]

I think all the time about my close family members who have died, and those who will die as in the future, who are not Christians. The Bible says they will go to hell. How can we be happy as Christians in that knowledge? Thinking of this torments me daily!

Thank you.

If this problem is causing you this level of distress, stop thinking about these people suffering an eternal torment in Hell and do something to change the path that they are on. Witness to them, Biblically, the way Jesus did.

I agree. What you'll find with many people who totally, always resist the word, is that the're very hostile towards God, as well as to Christians. I see a world that's full of evil crucifyers, who do deserve to go to a place of torment.
On the brighter side of things, God is patient with everyone, and does everything He can to save people. He even gave us His Son, who died a horrible death, so that they would be forgiven, and be with Him. All good comes from God.Without God, there can be no good, at all.

 

[SanctifiedKitty]

You dont have to be happy about it...I mean this shows you have compassion. Look at Paul and his urgency to reach the people. I actually get very emotional when thinking about people that havent accepted the Truth. Do your part as a christian and witness to them..help plant a seed that may eventually grow. Be joyful in your salvation and mourn for the lost.I'll pray for this.

 

[linssue55]

"Hell will be full of people that reject the Lord."

This is sad, but true.

"There are some that CANNOT and DO NOT want to be saved."

I have not met anyone who does not want to go to Heaven. But I have met talked to a number of people who do not want anything to do with the God of the Bible, so they will not be saved.

"Witnessing is what we are to do, but remember some WILL NOT choose for the Lord."

I'm not looking for a decision when I witness. If they do choose Jesus on the spot, great, but I'm looking for them to be convicted in their heart and show repentence, more than anything else. All I'm really looking to do is plant a seed. As to what happens to that seed, I can not say, but I believe the only things that can happen to it were laid out in the parable of the sower.

"God knew this billions of years ago, and ACCEPTED it,"

Just out of curiosity, do you believe in predestination?

"and He would want us to accept it to.""

I have a hard time doing so, because it sounds too much like a rationalization for not doing everything we can possibly think of to bring people to repentence and faith in Jesus Christ so that they are saved.

"SOME will never come to Christ. This is life, very sad, but very true."

Indeed.

God does NOT interfere with anyone's free will, this is a huge part of Predestination. Let's just say there will always be those that will reject God and/or His word. Let's just leave it at that.

 

[JonahII]

God makes every effort to keep people from going to hell. He wants everyone to repent, and takes no delight in the death of the wicked.

 

[MyLifeIsHis]

I really sympathize with the OP.

But we really don't know what our loved ones last thought was before they passed. It could of been of God and sorrow for their sins. When it comes to crunch time in ones life, we think or behave differently. Even if that crunch time in a nanosecond.

don't give up hope and dont dwell on the negative. God judges justly, we leave it in His hands. His wll be done.
His will is our will also, what ever that may be when it comes to loved ones that have died.