I am 32 years old and have just recently accepted Jesus as my savior. However, I still have an awful struggle. I thought I would feel so happy and uplifted. I mean I do, but I also feel absolutely sick to my stomach... about Hell.
Based on Christian beliefs, and the fact that we must consciously make the decision for Jesus to save us, I cannot bear the fact that so many people have not done this. If this is the only way to Heaven, and everyone else will be eternally tormented, then most of my friends and family are on their way there... along with way too many other good people in this world.
Here are my questions. Does accepting Jesus really have to be a "conscious" decision? Can you accept him on a subconscious level too? What about all the truly good people in this world who live their lives helping others who are not religious? They are going to Hell anyway even though they have lived good lives? What about the people who are not shown the way? This does not seem right to me. Even after I personally have made the conscious decision, I still feel like if I hadn't maybe I still would have gone to heaven anyway. Does this make sense?
How do Christians deal with believing that so many people, are going to be tortured for all of eternity? It seems extremely unfair and unjust. It seems self centered of us to just accept that without feeling pain. It's like a heavy burden. If God is so loving why doesn't he do a better job at convincing everyone? For me personally, I feel too much of a burden to be really happy right now. I have so much compassion for others that the thought of them going to Hell hurts me deeply. Not just compassion for "good" people either, I even feel this for "bad" people. I don't feel like anyone deserves Hell if it is as bad as it is made out to be.
What can I do to find peace within myself? Please help me find peace.
Hello OpenEyes7,
I think that you feel this way because there is a good chance that you were not told the truth about sin and its ugliness. If you will be in prayer though, God will open your eyes to understanding.
A question I have: When you "made a decision for Christ," did the pastor or person counseling you say anything about sin? When you heard the Gospel preached, did you ever feel a conviciton of your wrongdoings and the great offense that it is to God? Or, as far as you were told, was it essentially jumping over from the line to hell in the line to heaven? It kind of sounds like that's what you were given.
If you weren't talked to honestly about sin, and about its true grievousness to God, then I can understand why hell makes no sense to you.
I want to give you some verses, and then you can take these into consideration of your questions on hell. These helped me understand, and no doubt these will help open your eyes brother.
Romans 3:10-12 - "A
s it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE."
Psalm 51:5 - "
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me."
Psalm 58:3 - "
The wicked are estranged from the womb; these who speak lies go astray from birth."
Isaiah 64:6 - "
For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away."
Jeremiah 17:9 - "
The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?"
Romans 6:23 - "
For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God"
John 6:44 - "
No man can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws Him."
You need to understand friend, sin is more than just that thing you have to apologize to God for, but is the essential reason for the existence of hell. If you look through these verses, you find the following things hold true:
Who is righteous? No one. Not even one.
Who seeks God? None.
Who is sinful? Every one, without exception.
How sinful? Exceedingly, that even their good works are sinful.
Do they love their sin? Yes. So much that they would never forsake their sin to come to Christ and live unless the Holy Spirit transforms them.
Since when are they sinful? Since birth. The very heart of the man is corrupt.
Who deserves hell? Everyone, without exception.
After properly absorbing this, consider the weight of the law of God.
Deuteronomy 27:26 - "
Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'"
Psalm 19:7 - "
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple."
Romans 10:5 - "
For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness."
Galatians 3:10 - "
Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them."
Hebrews 12:14 - "
Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord."
Matthew 5:48 - "
Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
There is more. Take a read through Romans 2 and you find that all men, Jew and Gentile, are cursed because of their inability to keep the perfect law of God. And the reason they cannot do it is because of the point made in the last set of verses; none is righteous, everyone is in rebellion and by nature possesses an evil, unbelieving heart. And so, the sentence to hell is a combination of both their utter sinfulness and wickedness (which God will not have in His sight) and theif failure to keep a perfectly good law perfectly. There is a sanctification, a degree of righteousness, a standard of holiness without which no one may stand in the presence of God or have eternal life.
How do you deal with it? Really, admit that the law of God is good, and God is perfectly just. By this standard, were God to let the whole human race go to hell, he would have been just to do it. If you can look into the hearts of men, you will find that there is no one who is good, no one who deserves eternal life, and no one who can make an argument to God that he deserves anything but eternal wrath.
For those who never heard the Gospel? They are under the same charge of wickedness, but those who died without the law will perish without the law (Romans 2:12). They will only be held accountable to the light of their conscience, but even they are cursed for failure to have perfect conformity to what they did know. The case is much more severe though for someone who grows up with the Gospel all his life. He knows more of the law of God, has much more light, much more accountability, much more exposure, and far more charges to answer for in which he cannot plead ignorance. They have rejected more light, which totals up to greater wickedness. That's why Christ said that it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gamorrah on the Day of Judgment than for the Jews who rejected Christ.
To make some clarifications though, the law of God was meant to show man his wickedness. The last verse I quoted, Matthew 5:48, are the very words of Jesus. It means sinlessness and flawlessness. He said that because we must understand the full weight of the law, and Paul confirms it in Galatians: Sinless perfection.
And then of course, no one meets that standard! Romans 3:10-12 says that itself. And of course, that was the point of Christ being crucified; to fulfill that standard of righteousness for believers. In this way, we do not need to fulfill the law, because it has been fulfilled for us. We have been made perfect by Christ before God.
However, people are not going to go to hell because they didn't make a choice to believe in Jesus, but because they are sinners who love their sin. A preacher named Paris Reidhead talked about an experience he had where he went to go evangelize to a tribe that never heard the Gospel before, thinking they were simply shrouded in ignorance, but when he got there he said they were "
monsters of iniquity!" He was surprised how much they actually knew about God, but the worst part is that they loved their sin so much that they refused to come to Christ, embracing the very cancer that was killing them. That is the case with all men who don't come. It's not that they don't come because they didn't have the smarts or the intelligence or the reasoning, but because they love their sin. Many who will never hear the Gospel will never come to Christ even if they did hear it for the reason that they love their sin too much. The case is so desperate that Jesus Christ said, "No man can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws Him" (John 6:44). That is, unless God first acted on the human heart, the wickedness of man is too great to allow him to come to Christ. But when you are drawn to Christ and you are born again, the sin stays behind. It does not come with you. The rest of your life becomes a quest to forsake and abandon sin, and to be conformed to the image of Christ. For this reason, because the sin must stay behind, most do not come to Christ.
If you can get these into your mind, you will understand why it is that hell is perfectly just for all without exception. And if you seek the Lord, you will find peace. Ask God to reveal these things to your heart, and to help you understand. He will.
Jake
