Why people reject the reality of Hell

[FineLinen]

God so greatly loved the world that He gave....

Why?

"That the world through Him might be saved."

Might be = sṓzō =

To save.
To deliver & protect.
To heal /preserve / make whole.

 

[frank sears]

People reject the reality of hell because they do not want hell to be a reality. The concept of hell is probably the most difficult part of the christian faith to understand, believe me, if I could honestly find a scripture that would remove hell, I would be all over it. It is not there! When I realized beyond any possible doubt, that the God of the Bible was really God, my first shock of reality was that most people were going to hell. It is horrible, but that is the way it is, there are probably some folks in this forum who will end up in hell.

 

[Der Alte]

...

God so greatly loved the world that He gave....
Why?
"That the world through Him might be saved."
Might be = sṓzō =
To save.
To deliver & protect.
To heal /preserve / make whole.

The ever present out-of-of-context proof text.

John 3:17
(17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.[sozo]​

The verb "sozo" is in the subjunctive mood. The subjunctive mood is the mood of potentiality and possibility. "might be saved" it is not a done deal. Let the screaming begin.
If John had intended to say it was a done deal, "shall be saved" he would have used the indicative mood as he did in Jn 10:9.

John 10:9​

(9) I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved [sozo], and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

ETA: FYI Simply opening Strong's and finding a translation you like is NOT proper exegesis. One must consider the tense, voice and mood of words. Which to date I have found UR folks cannot do that.

 

[FineLinen]

People reject the reality of hell because they do not want hell to be a reality. The concept of hell is probably the most difficult part of the christian faith to understand, believe me, if I could honestly find a scripture that would remove hell, I would be all over it. It is not there! When I realized beyond any possible doubt, that the God of the Bible was really God, my first shock of reality was that most people were going to hell. It is horrible, but that is the way it is, there are probably some folks in this forum who will end up in hell.

There are four hells (4), all of which are consummated in the triumphant Lord of reconciliation.

All hell is finalized in the Lake of Divinity, the Lake of theion & theioo.

 

[Der Alte]

...

There are four hells (4), all of which are consummated in the triumphant Lord of reconciliation.
All hell is finalized in the Lake of Divinity, the Lake of theion & theioo.

Most unfortunate that you are unable to provide any scripture to support these fine sounding words.
The words theion & theioo never occur with the words "hell" or "lake of fire."

 

[FineLinen]

There are four hells (4), all of which are consummated in the triumphant Lord of reconciliation.

All hell is finalized in the Lake of Divinity, the Lake of theion & theioo.

The Greek word theion translated brimstone is exactly the same word theion which means divine. Sulphur was sacred to the deity among the ancient Greeks; and was used to fumigate, to purify, and to cleanse and consecrate to the deity; for this purpose they burned it in their incense.

In Homer's Iliad (16:228), one is spoken of as purifying a goblet with fire and brimstone. The verb derived from theion is theioo which means to hallow, to make divine, or to dedicate to a god (See Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon, 1897 Edition).

To any Greek, or any trained in the Greek language, a lake of fire and brimstone would mean a lake of divine purification. The idea of judgment need not be excluded. Divine purification and divine consecration are the plain meaning in ancient Greek. In the ordinary explanation, the fundamental meaning of the word is completely left out, and nothing but eternal torment is associated with it.

Fire means heat and light. Brimstone means divine.

The Lake burning with fire and brimstone is, actually Divine heat (judgment), and light (illumination), producing a change! Is such a process eternal? All the laws of nature shout that it is not!

 

[Trivalee]

Salvation isn't something we do, it's something God, through Christ, has already done. In reality, we have all rejected the gospel on some level.

Why do you overlook the fact that one is required to embrace that sacrifice that was made on the cross before he can benefit and receive the free gift of salvation? Why do you pick and choose the parts of scripture that soothe and ignore the others like they don't exist?

 

[Trivalee]

These are in the Bible. I checked to make sure.

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

Romans 11:32
For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

Titus 2:11 ESV
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,

1 Timothy 4:10
That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.

1 John 4:14 NIV
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

1 Corinthians 15:22
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

Romans 5:15-16
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.

Romans 5:18-19
Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people,
so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.
19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners,
so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Colossians 1:19-20
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

1 Timothy 2:1-6
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.

Romans 3:24 NIV
and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Romans 9:16 NIV
It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

James 2:13 NIV
... Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Expedient perhaps that you ignored the equally numerous passages that point to belief in Christ as the foundation for redemption and mercy.

 

[Der Alte]

...

The Greek word theion translated brimstone is exactly the same word theion which means divine. Sulphur was sacred to the deity among the ancient Greeks; and was used to fumigate, to purify, and to cleanse and consecrate to the deity; for this purpose they burned it in their incense.

That theion was considered sacred by ancient cultures is irrelevant. Sulphur has no purifying properties.
Copied online. "Sulfur is also used to make fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, vulcanized rubber, and skin ointments."

In Homer's Iliad (16:228), one is spoken of as purifying a goblet with fire and brimstone. The verb derived from theion is theioo which means to hallow, to make divine, or to dedicate to a god (See Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon, 1897 Edition).

Irrelevant. Sulfur has no purifying properties.

To any Greek, or any trained in the Greek language, a lake of fire and brimstone would mean a lake of divine purification. The idea of judgment need not be excluded. Divine purification and divine consecration are the plain meaning in ancient Greek. In the ordinary explanation, the fundamental meaning of the word is completely left out, and nothing but eternal torment is associated with it.

Total nonsense.

Fire means heat and light. Brimstone means divine.

The Lake burning with fire and brimstone is, actually Divine heat (judgment), and light (illumination), producing a change! Is such a process eternal? All the laws of nature shout that it is not!

No, zero, none scripture to support this.

 

[FineLinen]

Expedient perhaps that you ignored the equally numerous passages that point to belief in Christ as the foundation for redemption and mercy.

The Master of reconciliation IS the foundation of our Father's love & grace!

God so greatly loved the world that He gave....

Why?

"That the world through Him might be saved."

Might be = sṓzō =

To save.

To deliver & protect.

To heal /preserve / make whole.

"For here is the way God loved the world—he gave his only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life. God did not send his Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Saviour and rescue it!" ~TPT

 

[Saint Steven]

I'm just responding to you.

Do you have any questions? I'm mostly getting rebuttals.

What do you best about hell?
(since you are fighting tooth and nail to preserve it)

 

[Lazarus Short]

People reject the reality of hell because they do not want hell to be a reality. The concept of hell is probably the most difficult part of the christian faith to understand, believe me, if I could honestly find a scripture that would remove hell, I would be all over it. It is not there! When I realized beyond any possible doubt, that the God of the Bible was really God, my first shock of reality was that most people were going to hell. It is horrible, but that is the way it is, there are probably some folks in this forum who will end up in hell.

My own read-through of the KJV found bad/dishonest translation in relation to "hell," a word, btw, not found in Latin, Greek or Hebrew. So I went on a search for "hell." I checked in the Oxford English Dictionary and found this:

Old English – hel

Old Frisian – helle, hille

Old Saxon – hellja, hella

Middle Dutch – helle

Old High German – helle

Old Norse – hel, heljar

Gothic – halja

Original Teutonic – halja

I can't help but wonder if the Greek "hades" is related, but don't know for sure.

I kept digging, knowing that the 1611 KJV has "hel" in it twice. I also knew that "Beowulf" (I have a bilingual copy) has "hell," "hel" and "hella." Since "Beowulf" is set in Denmark, I took a look at pagan Norse mythology...and found "Hel." She was their goddess/ogress of the afterlife ream of "Helheim" or "House of Hel," where they thought you went if you did not rate going to Valhalla. It reminds me of the Greek "Hades" who ruled over a place of the same name.

Now you know all you need to know about "hell." I'm sure a certain poster will call all this to be nonsense, but he has no choice but to do so.

 

[Lazarus Short]

I got curious about "hades," so I checked on it in the OED. There wasn't much there, but it did say the word only entered the English language about 1600 AD.

 

[Saint Steven]

Re: Matthew 21:31, Yeah, only because they have repented. Christ also says we must become more righteous than the pharisees.

Well of course.
But why did they repent before the religious leaders?

Saint Steven said: ↑
Matthew 21:31 NIV
... “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.

 

[Saint Steven]

It is horrible, but that is the way it is, there are probably some folks in this forum who will end up in hell.

Actually, everyone goes to "hell".

Mark 9:49
Everyone will be salted with fire.

Malachi 3:2
But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.

 

[Lazarus Short]

Actually, everyone goes to "hell".

I know what you mean there, but it's more nuanced than that: the Overcomers, those whose names are written in the Book of Life do not go into the LoF - at least, that is my understanding. Of course, that is not to say the LoF is "hell."

 

[Trivalee]

The Master of reconciliation IS the foundation of our Father's love & grace!

God so greatly loved the world that He gave....

Why?

"That the world through Him might be saved."

Might be = sṓzō =

To save.

To deliver & protect.

To heal /preserve / make whole.

"For here is the way God loved the world—he gave his only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life. God did not send his Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Saviour and rescue it!" ~TPT

Can God save a man that doesn't want to be saved?

 

[Saint Steven]

Can God save a man that doesn't want to be saved?

Yes, absolutely. It's not up to us to decide.

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

Romans 11:32
For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

Titus 2:11 ESV
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,

 

[Lazarus Short]

Can God save a man that doesn't want to be saved?

Consider what He did for Saul on the road to Damascus...or for Naaman...or the thief on the cross, the one who changed his mind...many others.

 

[All Becomes New]

Do you have any questions? I'm mostly getting rebuttals.

What do you best about hell?
(since you are fighting tooth and nail to preserve it)

Don't know if you saw, but I'm not interested in universalism. It's why I don't have questions for you.

It's not that I particularly "like" hell - I just think the Bible teaches not everyone will enter into heaven. Maybe you judge your theology based on what you like as I imagine many universalists do, but I try not to do that.