[Reality of] Hell

[Cappadocian]

I believe that Hell is only temporary. It is a place to go for correction. You see first-hand how much pain you caused in your life on earth that you had not felt sorry for. Unbelievers get all the proof they ever asked for/needed that God and Jesus do exist and they want them to be saved. When the person realizes this, repents of the sins they had been unrepentent of, and come to a belief and relationship in Christ, they ascend to heaven.

Given this, there may very well be people who are in hell for eternity. But these are only the people who are so set against Christ that they wouldn't believe in him if he was standing in front of them, or they were so heartless that they wouldn't care about the pain they caused. I don't think your mother fits either one of these, from what you described.

Heck, when I get to heaven, maybe my mansion will be right next to Stalin's or Hitler's. We can't know for sure, only they and God can.

This is exactly right. God is love and we all reunite with God after this life is over. It might be painful, but it will not be disgusting or unhallowed. Shannon, your mother is with God and God loves her, just as God loves every person, animal, and rock in the universe -- with an intense, searing, driving love. No one has to be a Christian to be loved by God and to be cared for by him.

Would you have mercy on your mother's soul if you were Lord God? Do you believe that God is less virtuous than you? Don't worry a second longer about your mother, because she is doing just fine.

 

[LloydK]

Hell doesn't even belong in the Bible. The old versions had it because they misinterpreted some phrases. But Hell wasn't in the original Old Testament and the newer Bibles are not mentioning it in the New Testament either, because of having better interpretations. So the Bible really is Good News, as the word "Gospel" means. See http://tentmaker.org .

 

[thispoorman]

Since this thread seems to have been "resurrected," I thought I'd put in a word.

To me, the whole idea that the world is a "neutral ground", or some kind of "test" or "school", and that after we die, we will "go" to one of two "locations," Heaven or Hell - to me, that whole construct is as archaic as the concept of a flat Earth. There is only one thing meaningful at all - whether, at any given time, you are "in God" or "out of God". That is, to me, the only meaningful way to "locate" myself vis-a-vis God. Any moral choice I make will point me in one direction or the other, and "the Day of Judgement is a court in perpetual session," as a wiser fella than myself, whose name I can't recall, said. Is there a Hell? There most certainly is, and you can find yourself in it at any moment. I have spent a great deal of time there myself, to my everlasting regret. The good news - the gospel - is that, through and in Christ, we have 1. no more impediments in the way of our access to God, and 2. the power of the Spirit to more and more impel us back into God. I know this, because right now I feel the Spirit - in a way I've not felt in some time - urging me away from my broken cisterns that held no water, and back toward the Fountain of life. I feel that now - in this season of my life - I'd like to live in Heaven again. And death doesn't change anything; death doesn't matter - that is one of the important messages of the Resurrection. Those in God, whether "on Earth" or In Heaven", experience the love of God as warmth, care, concern and healing - on their faces. Those who are facing or heading "out of" God, experience exactly the same love of God as burning fire, interference, persecution, and pain - beating on their backs like a whip. Our GOD is the only "consuming fire" there is. So what's your choice - right now?