Discussion on Hell: my biggest stumbling block

Zoness said:

I don't understand the concept of an eternal hell.

I get that rejecting God's love lands you eternal punishment (which seems a bit ironic to me) but what exactly is that rejection? A rejection of the Christian religion? A rejection of Orthodox, Catholicism or Protestantism? (dependent on sect viewpoint) An immoral life or a struggle with one particular sin?

Additionally the concept of hell from a Christian [Protestant, as I was mostly raised] perspective to me implies that God rather does intentionally send one to a place of literal suffering for not adhering to belief set strictly or living a strictly enough tuned life. I'm not sure how the Orthodox view varies but I don't understand the idea of a loving God torturing what is basically most of humanity that has ever existed, assuming you take a fairly hardline stance on it.

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rusmeister said:

We don't see it as punishment at all, Zoness. You're dragging in Western understandings which are N/A in Eastern Orthodoxy.

We reject the Protestant ideas, I myself was raised Baptist and left the Baptists in part for this very reason, the conclusion of an unloving God. We reject the idea of sin as "crime and punishment". It is much more "illness and healing".

We see us as having passions, sins we are sometimes unwilling to let go of. We believe in free will, that we are responsible for our actions, our decisions matter, and that God has made us, literally "free agents".

The trouble is, if we are free to choose what is good, we must also be free to choose what is bad, or it is not freedom. We believe that a great many people of all stripes will be saved. Being Orthodox is no free ticket. It just gives you the right ship and right guidance. But you are always free to jump off the ship, if you insist on it.

So God is a Physician as much as a Judge, and desires our healing. Again, the dwarves in "The Last Battle" are a great illustration of exactly how one can refuse heaven right on the doorstep.

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truthseeker32 said:

As long as it always remains possible for the individual to choose God, then I am okay with that. What I struggle with is the idea that once you die and get put in Hell that is it. Even if you feel sorry and wish to repent it is too late.

Thank you for the link.

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Zoness said:

An interesting (and I am guessing unpopular in the most militant alternatives of Christian belief) interpretation of what hell means. Though isn't it clearly seen as a place of torment? I can't imagine there being much healing going on there. I see what you are implying with free will, but what if someone's will changed? I don't see them being magically whisked away to even...that defeats the idea of an eternal hell.

Thanks

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