Choice..

[Tellyontellyon]

If God gave you a choice... you spend eternity in hell, but ALL others are then purified of their sinful nature and go to heaven... would you choose hell?

 

[Unqualified]

Jesus already did that. No one else can give their life and save humanity. Just pretend? Maybe for the church. But God wouldn’t allow it. Paul had that idea, but came to the same conclusion.

 

[Tellyontellyon]

Jesus already did that. No one else can give their life and save humanity. Just pretend? Maybe for the church. But God wouldn’t allow it. Paul had that idea, but came to the same conclusion.

This is just a hypothetical question... not a theological question lol

 

[2PhiloVoid]

If God gave you a choice... you spend eternity in hell, but ALL others are then purified of their sinful nature and go to heaven... would you choose hell?

Of course not. What kind of question is that?

Obviously, Jesus did something along those lines (not exactly that, but I think you get my drift).

Paul said he was at least partly willing to do something like that (With a Big "IF" being the operative condition, which can't be the case).

On my part, I'm just a run of the mill guy---not that bad, but admittedly not that courageous or good.

So, yeah. My answer is, "Of course not." Then again, we're not really dealing here with fictional hypotheticals and thinking that they're somehow relevant in all cases.

 

[Clare73]

If God gave you a choice... you spend eternity in hell, but ALL others are then purified of their sinful nature and go to heaven... would you choose hell?

You would have us to be holier than Jesus?

I'll let you know when I get as holy as Jesus. . .

 

[DragonFox91]

Then evil wins, can't do it, & neither did God choose it. It denies he's a just Judge.

 

[linux.poet]

Definitely not. I would rather save myself and let everyone else burn.

Which is precisely, I think, why it doesn't work. If you have the power to save everyone by condemning yourself, then you have the power to do the opposite of condemning everyone to save yourself. And most selfish human beings would choose the latter.

Ironically, this is a valuable lesson for people pleasers who self-harm on behalf of others: no amount of sacrificing yourself will save other people from anything temporal either, and to do so is enabling. People need to solve their own problems, in this case, by believing the Gospel. So no, I'm not going to sacrifice my eternal destiny to enable your unbelief. Too bad.

 

[Tellyontellyon]

Definitely not. I would rather save myself and let everyone else burn.

Which is precisely, I think, why it doesn't work. If you have the power to save everyone by condemning yourself, then you have the power to do the opposite of condemning everyone to save yourself. And most selfish human beings would choose the latter.

Ironically, this is a valuable lesson for people pleasers who self-harm on behalf of others: no amount of sacrificing yourself will save other people from anything temporal either, and to do so is enabling. People need to solve their own problems, in this case, by believing the Gospel. So no, I'm not going to sacrifice my eternal destiny to enable your unbelief. Too bad.

Actually no, that wasn't a choice in my little thought experiment. You can't condemn others to save yourself... My imaginary universe, my rules!

 

[Unqualified]

Actually no, that wasn't a choice in my little thought experiment. You can't condemn others to save yourself... My imaginary universe, my rules

So you are selfless enough to do that. Did the Buddha do that? Deep down in every Buddhist there is a need to save the world. (?). I can see your point then. Thank God you don’t have to. Jesus did it all. Imagine the savior of the world a Buddhist. Salvation is of the Jews.’ And you think we are all pretty selfish, don’t you.

 

[linux.poet]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that Buddhism believes that human beings are basically good, and that we have been corrupted by material things and animalistic desires. The Eightfold Path is a way to renounce said material things and pleasure, pain, hunger, sexuality, and so on - basically all the physical desires on the way to Nirvana.

Christianity, on the other hand, believes that human beings are basically evil due to the sin nature of mankind passed down from Adam. Not only do we not want to sacrifice ourselves, we believe that sacrificing ourselves is insufficient to save anyone.

Actually no, that wasn't a choice in my little thought experiment. You can't condemn others to save yourself... My imaginary universe, my rules!

Do you believe that you can create your own reality? If not, I would encourage you to consider how your thought experiment matches up with reality.

If your imaginary universe existed, I honestly would do nothing, because I don't want to go to hell, and especially not on behalf of others. I've been there, done that in this life, mate - sacrificing myself and my interests on behalf of others has only prolonged my suffering and accomplished nothing. Sometimes you have to shove people around to force them to comply with what you need. There's just no other way. And the last thing I need right now is more hell.

 

[Sketcher]

If God gave you a choice... you spend eternity in hell, but ALL others are then purified of their sinful nature and go to heaven... would you choose hell?

Nope.