I tell lies to my children when I say "such and such a person is in heaven".
None of us know.
Is there a hell? Well certainly it exists here now on earth, just look around yourself, at your own life at times too.
Bible verse please?
Eternal punishment? From a loving God? Unlikely. Not even I would punish my children for all eternity, so do we believe God to be more petty than me?
You have a lack of understand of love and justice. You don't have the right to punish your children for eternity (nor do you have the power). It's a different story completely with God.
Jesus told many stories using the popular stories of the times. Then he would put a twist on the end, like he did with the Lazarus story. Do we believe God is literally a mother hen? Is the Kingdom of heaven actually a mustard seed?
Both taken way out of context. The kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed in the way it grows-- quickly. God is like a mother hen in the way He protects His children.
If Hell is not a literal place, then I say neither is Heaven! Jesus described Hell in the same language that He described Heaven. If one isn't real, neither is the other.
Satan may well be real, if so, Hell will be his home. Jesus took the keys off of him right? Giving Jesus the say on who goes there, not us! And Who Would Jesus Damn? Not a single mother [wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth]er, not even Hitler or Gearge Bush, maybe
He most certainly would.
So Hitler gets away with 6 million murders? Well, there's a good God-- One Who lets the bad guy win. That's dandy.
No. I chose not to. I chose to pose a much more interesting and relevant question (to me).
In general I don't do "have you ever" questions because my mind cannot process them; it gets stuck in a data loop; but in this case it's fairly simple because it's something everyone has done at least once.
I think it is pretty obvious that everyone alive has told a lie at least once in their lives, even if it was only at an age where they were too young to recognize that is what they had done. So yes, at some point in my life, I must have told a lie.
Why, am I on trial here?
Have you ever hated anyone?
This type of thinking is sufficient for many to reconsidere their ideas and even the Bible's ideas of just what hell and heaven are and what they are not.
Several here [WWMC] have rejected the traditional idea of eternal torment because of their own experiences. I disagree with eternal torment based on the Bible.
We all know that if there is an omnipotent God in control of every situation that our own experiences will mean nothing if the conclusions are different than His. If the Bible is His book inspired from Him. Does He tell us the Truth through the Bible? I believe He does if we will search rather than jump on a bandwagon.
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." Matt 6:33
Not so -- for if they told the truth concerning what they believed, then they told the truth, "this is what I believe".
Um, no. Jesus said there is one truth (I am the way, the truth, and the life) concerning getting to the Father. Guess what? A Buddhist is not telling the truth. He will not get to the Father.
There is a clear-cut (by God) difference between truth and lie.
Here's the evidence for Hell (below). Doesn't matter what any of us believe, only what God says. Guess what God says?
"Hell isn’t a place. This life is hell."
Skeptics who say this are trying to dismiss the reality of hell. They might like to think that life as we know it couldn’t get any worse, but the sufferings in this life will be heaven compared to the suffering in the next life—for those who die in their sins. This life is the closest thing to hell that Christians will ever know, and the closest thing to heaven that sinners will ever know. For a biblical description of hell, see Revelation 1:18 footnote.
There are three words translated "hell" in Scripture:
Gehenna (Greek): The place of punishment (Matthew 5:22,29; 10:28; and James 3:6)
Hades (Greek): The abode of the dead (Matthew 11:23; 16:18, Luke 16:23; Acts 2:27)
Sheol (Hebrew): The grave (Psalm 9:17; 16:10)
There are those who accept that hell is a place of punishment, but believe that the punishment is to be annihilated—to cease conscious existence. They can’t conceive that the punishment of the wicked will be conscious and eternal. If they are correct, then a man like Adolph Hitler, who was responsible for the deaths of millions, is being "punished" merely with eternal sleep. His fate is simply to return to the non-existent state he was in before he was born, where he doesn’t even know that he is being punished.
However, Scripture paints a different story. The rich man who found himself in hell (Luke 16:19–31) was conscious. He was able to feel pain, to thirst, and to experience remorse. He wasn’t asleep in the grave; he was in a place of "torment." If hell is a place of knowing nothing or a reference to the grave into which we go at death, Jesus' statements about hell make no sense. He said that if your hand, foot, or eye causes you to sin, it would be better to remove it than to "go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:43–48).
The Bible refers to the fate of the unsaved with such fearful words as the following:
"Shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:2)
"Everlasting punishment" (Mathew 25:46)
"Weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 24:51)
"Fire unquenchable" (Luke 3:17)
"Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish" (Romans 2:8,9)
"Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord" (2 Thessalonians 1:9)
"Eternal fire...the blackness of darkness for ever" (Jude 7,13)
Revelation 14:10,11 tells us the final, eternal destiny of the sinner: "He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone...the smoke of their torment ascended up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day or night."
"My God would never create hell."
Those who say that are right: their "god" would never create hell, because he couldn’t. He doesn’t exist. He is a figment of their imagination, a god they have created to suit themselves. It’s called "idolatry," and it’s the oldest sin in the Book. Idolaters will not inherit the kingdom of God. The one true God, however, could and did create hell for those who reject His mercy. They will reap His just wrath.
"Could you be wrong in your claims about Judgment Day and the existence of hell?"
The existence of hell and the surety of the judgment are not the claims of fallible man. The Bible is the source of the claim, and it is utterly infallible. When someone becomes a Christian, he is admitting that he was in the wrong, and that God is justified in His declarations that we have sinned against Him.
However, let’s surmise for a moment that there is no Judgment Day and no hell. That would mean that the Bible is a huge hoax, in which more than forty authors collaborated (over a period of 3,000 years) to produce a document revealing God’s character as "just." They portrayed Him as a just judge, who warned that He would eventually punish murderers, rapists, liars, thieves, adulterers, etc. Each of those writers (who professed to be godly) therefore bore false witness, transgressing the very commandments they claimed to be true.
It would mean that Jesus Christ was a liar, and that all the claims He made about the reality of judgment were there-fore false. It would also mean that He gave His life in vain, as did multitudes of martyrs who have given their lives for the cause of Christ. Add to that the thought that if there is no ultimate justice, it means that the Creator of all things is unjust—that He sees murder and rape and couldn’t care less, making Him worse than a corrupt human judge who refuses to bring criminals to justice.
Here’s the good news, though, if there is no hell: You won’t know a thing after you die. It will be the end. No heaven, no hell. Just nothing. You won’t even realize that it’s good news.
Here’s the bad news if the Bible is right and that there is eternal justice: You will find yourself standing before the judgment throne of a holy God, who has seen every sin you have ever committed. Think of it. A holy and perfect Creator has seen your thought-life and every secret sin you have ever committed. You have a multitude of sins, and God must by nature carry out justice. Ask Him to remind you of the sins of your youth. Ask Him to bring to remembrance your secret sexual sins, the lies, the gossip, and other idle words. You may have forgotten your past sins, but God hasn’t. Hell will be your just desert (exactly what you deserve), and you will have no one to blame but yourself. This is the claim of the Bible. If you don’t believe it, it is still true. It will still happen.
Yet, there is good news—incredibly good news. We deserve judgment, but God offers us mercy through the cross. He paid our fine so that we could leave the courtroom. He destroyed the power of the grave for all who obey Him. Simply obey the gospel, and live. By doing that you will find out for yourself that the gospel is indeed the "gospel truth." Jesus said that if you obey Him, you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free (see John 8:31,32).
Get on your knees today, confess and forsake your sins. Tell God you are truly sorry, then trust the Savior as you would trust yourself to a parachute. Then you will find yourself in a terrible dilemma. You will know for certain that hell is a reality. When you get up the courage to warn people you care about, they will smile passively, and say, "Could you be wrong in your claims about Judgment Day and the existence of hell?"
"God is unfair in that Hitler and a dear old lady (who never accepted Jesus) will both go to hell."
Sinners often accuse God of being unjust, because they assume that everyone will receive the same punishment in hell. God’s judgment, however, will be according to righteousness (Acts 17:31). This verse shows that there will be degrees of punishment. See also Mark 6:11.
"Will people who have never heard the gospel all go to hell because they haven’t heard about Jesus Christ?"
No one will go to hell because they haven’t heard of Jesus Christ. The heathen will go to hell for murder, rape, adultery, lust, theft, lying, etc. Sin is not failing to hear the gospel. Rather, "sin is the transgression of the Law" (1 John 3:4). If we really care about the lost, we will become missionaries and take the good news of God’s forgiveness in Christ to them.
"You are using scare tactics by talking about hell and Judgment Day."
In the late 1980s, TV commercials in the U.S. asked, "What goes through the mind of a driver who is not wearing a seat belt in a head- n collision?" Then they showed a crash dummy having its head crushed by a steering wheel in a collision, and said, "The steering wheel!" Those were scare tactics, but no one complained because they were legitimate scare tactics. That’s what happens in a head-on collision if you are foolish enough to not put on a seat belt. To warn of hell is fearful, but it is absolutely legitimate, because the Bible says that it is a fearful thing for a sinner to fall into the hands of the living God.
(taken from the Evidence Bible)
