Is Hell ethical?

[Becky153]

Do ya know I'm a believer........but i still despair of this 'turn or burn' rubbish.................it doesnt say that people go to hell for an eternity anywhere in the bible from what i've gathered, so where do u get that from....? Your 'other words' or mere supposition..........mostof u lot cant even agree on what hell actually is but y'all have the 'truth' of it.............
God is love Neo.......quit putting him in a dogmatic box...........

Yes, God is love, but that doesn't mean that He won't punish us. The ones who haven't accepted Jesus cannot be wih God because He is so righteous. So where do they go? It says that they go to hell; also, the unrigheous WILL NOT inherit the kingdom of heaven.

 

[faster_jackrabbit]

also, the unrigheous WILL NOT inherit the kingdom of heaven.

I don't recall ever asking for it. But then I haven't asked for Never-never Land or Shangri-La either.

 

[Becky153]

It doesn't matter if you asked for it; if you are unrighteous there is no way you can get into heaven.

 

[faster_jackrabbit]

It doesn't matter if you asked for it; if you are unrighteous there is no way you can get into heaven.

Glad to hear it.

 

[Soul Searcher]

Yes, God is love, but that doesn't mean that He won't punish us.

But it does mean that eternal torture does not exist.

The ones who haven't accepted Jesus cannot be wih God because He is so righteous. So where do they go? It says that they go to hell; also, the unrigheous WILL NOT inherit the kingdom of heaven.

What does it mean to you to accept Jesus? What does righteous mean if not to do right e.g. obey the commandments. If God is righteous will he not do the same. e.g. Love his enemies, do good to them, not return evil for evil? Or does righteousness in God mean that which we would find abhorant in a human?

 

[daddypop82]

The problem comes when you try to interpret the word of God with a human mind. You are attempting to impose liberal morality onto the divine. It is OK (and very politically correct) to say that Muslims and Buddhists will get into heaven. But I got bad news for you:

"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice. And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." (John 5:28-29). In other words, after you die, you shall be brought back to account for your life. Did you read what the scripture said there? Those who have done evil shall be sent to hell for all eternity.

Now, you might be thinking to yourself "well, you know, I'm not such a bad guy. I'm no worse than anyone else". That would be your biggest mistake, sir. The problem is "there is no one righteous, no not one...for all have fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:10;3:23) This means that you, me and everyone else are tainted in the sight of the lord. On the day of judgment :"...there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known." There's no place to hide, you will stand in front of your creator and all your sins will be revealed.

Do you want to hear these words:

"Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41)

or do you want to be part of this:

"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." (1 Corinthians 2:9)

There ain't multiple paths to heaven. The bottom line is this, sir: you and everyobody else in the world are going to hell, and there's only one way to get out of it. False religions will not save you.

I'm asking you if you think it is ethical. You may say "What I think doesn't matter". Maybe so. But I'm asking you if YOU think sending people to Hell is ethical. What is your personal opinion on the ethicality of Hell? Don't give me God's opinion.

I find many Christians have difficulty reconciling their compassion with the Bible's condemnation. Do you?

 

[Valo]

In my opinion Hell is not ethical because we are all products of the world around us. We know what we've see and heard and our out look on life is frankly determined by our upbringing. Not every person is the same so to think they'd react to God in the same way is insane. We don't all have the same chance to be saved because our experiences in life predetermine the way we think and react. To send people to Hell for their upbringing in my opinion is wrong.

 

[*Starlight*]

Yes, God is love, but that doesn't mean that He won't punish us. The ones who haven't accepted Jesus cannot be wih God because He is so righteous. So where do they go? It says that they go to hell; also, the unrigheous WILL NOT inherit the kingdom of heaven.

Why would they have to go to hell? Wouldn't it be better and more loving to give them more opportunity to learn and grow spiritually, so that they will eventually accept God's love and become reunited with him? By the way, I believe that if someone is a kind and loving person, no matter what their religious beliefs are, they won't turn away from Jesus when he wants to take them to Heaven in the right time (no matter what Heaven is... a place, a state of mind, or the state of spiritual progression towards the Divine, or maybe something totally else, something which no human can even imagine).

Is being just and righteous measured by the amount of harm someone causes when punishing a person for doing something wrong? Many Christians seem to think so... They believe that God is perfectly just, so all his punishments must be infinite... But it just doesn't make sense! It's sadism, not justice.

no the bible is there. books, written by man. simple.

I agree with you! The Bible is a collection of books... written by people, and later compiled by people.

 

[LittleNipper]

I'm sure there have been many discussions of this topic before, but I'm gonna start it up again because I would like to hear what Christians have to say about it.

Note that this discussion assumes that Christianity and the Bible is the Truth, and that Heaven and Hell exist. This is for argument's sake only.

Assuming this, I believe it is completely and utterly unethical to send someone to Hell for holding non-Christian religious beliefs. This is because I believe all people, generally, have little say in what their religious beliefs are (i.e. it is a product of socialisation), and even once a person has matured to an age where they can 'reason' for themselves, their 'reasoning' and mindset will be hugely conditioned by their upbringing.

It is not ethical to send a Muslim, a Buddhist, an Atheist, indeed any adherent to a non-Christian religion, to Hell for something they had no choice over, and usually don't want any choice over (i.e. once a Muslim boy has become a mature adult, he usually still wants to be a Muslim, not a Christian).

If a Christian finds this determinism a little too set-in-stone, ask yourself: Could you give up Christanity now? Do you have the choice to become a non-Christian?

Obviously there are religious converts etc., but these people are equally at the mercy of their upbrining and past life experiences.

If acceptance of Jesus Christ is required to get into Heaven, then sending people to Hell for not accepting Christ because they happened to be born in a particular part of the world is totally unacceptable. A fair and just God would not do this to his own creations. It is simply too arbitrary.

To summarise, people who do not accept Jesus as Saviour should not be punished by God because one's religious beliefs are usually inculcated without one's consent and then become so ingrained that they cannot - and do not wish to be - changed.

Are you pro-choice or do you believe abortion is murder and should be stopped?

 

[Rosebaronet]

For those who have real concern about "hell" and "paradise" should go study The Book of Revealation, hell is not "eternal" but temporary resting place until judgement.

God does not send anyone to hell, sinner goes to hell by the choice of sin, do not for one moment, think that Christians are exempted from hell, no, if anything, Christians who received salvation and yet choose to ignore the words of God as spoken in the Bible might get their names bloted out in "book of life"

After the thousand year reign of Jesus Christ, there will be judgement for everyone, and that is when our merciful Lord gets to judge everyone on their merit, and He is merciful, and just, everyone should get a fair trial.

 

[LittleNipper]

GOD can do anything HE wants that brings glory to HIMSELF. Who are we that GOD should care about us at all------any more then you have concern for an ant you explode with a magnifying glass

 

[*Starlight*]

GOD can do anything HE wants that brings glory to HIMSELF. Who are we that GOD should care about us at all------any more then you have concern for an ant you explode with a magnifying glass

Exploding ants using a magnifying glass wouldn't bring any glory to me... Actually, it would be the opposite. In the same way burning people in hell wouldn't bring any glory to God, unless being a sadistic tormentor is considered glorious.

 

[Soul Searcher]

Exploding ants using a magnifying glass wouldn't bring any glory to me... Actually, it would be the opposite. In the same way burning people in hell wouldn't bring any glory to God, unless being a sadistic tormentor is considered glorious.

 

[Soul Searcher]

GOD can do anything HE wants that brings glory to HIMSELF. Who are we that GOD should care about us at all------any more then you have concern for an ant you explode with a magnifying glass

What would God do to a human that tortures people inflicting as much pain as possible for as long as possible?

If God is perfectly just and does do anything he wants such as torturing people would not his perfect justice cause him to send himself to hell for eternity?

 

[quatona]

GOD can do anything HE wants that brings glory to HIMSELF. Who are we that GOD should care about us at all------any more then you have concern for an ant you explode with a magnifying glass

That indeed tells me more about your god concept and your personal axioms than I wanted to know.

 

[crusadernoel]

I'm sure there have been many discussions of this topic before, but I'm gonna start it up again because I would like to hear what Christians have to say about it.

Note that this discussion assumes that Christianity and the Bible is the Truth, and that Heaven and Hell exist. This is for argument's sake only.

Assuming this, I believe it is completely and utterly unethical to send someone to Hell for holding non-Christian religious beliefs. This is because I believe all people, generally, have little say in what their religious beliefs are (i.e. it is a product of socialisation), and even once a person has matured to an age where they can 'reason' for themselves, their 'reasoning' and mindset will be hugely conditioned by their upbringing.

It is not ethical to send a Muslim, a Buddhist, an Atheist, indeed any adherent to a non-Christian religion, to Hell for something they had no choice over, and usually don't want any choice over (i.e. once a Muslim boy has become a mature adult, he usually still wants to be a Muslim, not a Christian).

If a Christian finds this determinism a little too set-in-stone, ask yourself: Could you give up Christanity now? Do you have the choice to become a non-Christian?

Obviously there are religious converts etc., but these people are equally at the mercy of their upbrining and past life experiences.

If acceptance of Jesus Christ is required to get into Heaven, then sending people to Hell for not accepting Christ because they happened to be born in a particular part of the world is totally unacceptable. A fair and just God would not do this to his own creations. It is simply too arbitrary.

To summarise, people who do not accept Jesus as Saviour should not be punished by God because one's religious beliefs are usually inculcated without one's consent and then become so ingrained that they cannot - and do not wish to be - changed.

Hell is all that the sinners deserve.