Really struggling with the idea of Hell

[TzephanYahu]

Hi @cerulean

Most of the people in this store will spend eternity in Hell." I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm going crazy.

There is reason to believe that Hell is not eternal torment for the human spirit, but that they are burnt up and extinguished out of existence. Rather, the fire of Hell burns eternally - principally for the fallen angels who already have eternal life.

This inference can be drawn from the Scripture as easily as the alternative common view that human spirits will burn forever.

As for the wicked being sent to Hell, whether to be extinguished or tormented forever, its understandable your heart breaks on the matter. But imagine Yahweh's heart on the matter? Do you think you know and love these people (who are strangers to you) more than He who saw them birth?

However, a line must be drawn in the sand, for the sake of justice. Or life in New Jerusalem would end up the same as here - corrupt with wickedness, selfishness and insubordination to the Creator. And, let's face it, in 2021 the world ain't a safe and righteous place - for children or the elderly.

There must be a closure to all things and it is a terrifying fate for the proud who wish to live in defiance to the Creator. That freedom and grace they have is drawing to a close.

But rather, think on the fate that awaits the saints and rejoice. Or think on what you might be able to do to reach those lost people. Turn your sadness into productiveness perhaps.

And once again, you can easily argue from Scripture that Hell burns eternally and angels burn eternally but the human soul is burnt up (extinguished/destroyed ). Who knows if that's right, but it makes sense to me as well.

I hope something in there helps.

Please take time to pour out your heart on the matter, in brutal honesty, before Yahweh. He knows what you've posted so hopefully you've said the same words to Him directly in prayer.

Love & Shalom

 

[Lawrence87]

I have heard some say that the presence and love of God is heaven to Christians, and torment to unbelievers who rejected Him in life.

 

[Gottservant]

Hell is the place, where we change our mind: about what sin means to us (selah)

 

[Mountainmike]

Perhaps turn the question on its head.
The idea of Self exclusion.

The choice not to accept communion with God or to cooperate with salvation by conforming to His rules. Satan and fallen angels chose that of free will. Permanent separation from God.

I've been a Christian for 3 and a half years, and for the first time, I'm starting to really wrestle with the idea of a loving God sending people to Hell. Throughout my life as a Christian, I've never questioned it. I've always thought, "Of course it's fair that God sends non-Christians to Hell! Their sins aren't paid for, so they have to take the punishment of their sins upon themselves." I never really allowed myself to think about the concept of eternal suffering too hard, because I was afraid that if I started questioning the fairness of this, I would end up leaving the faith. But recently I've started asking questions I've never let myself ask before, like: "Why do the damned suffer eternal punishment for temporal sins?" "If God knew the vast majority of people would end up in unbearable agony for all eternity, why did he ever create humankind?" "Why can't God just destroy the wicked on Judgement Day? Why keep them around for the sole purpose of torturing them?"

Today I was reading an article about the physical suffering of Jesus on the Cross, and couldn't help but think to myself, "the people in Hell will suffer just as much, if not more, than this. And while Jesus' physical torture lasted less than 24 hours, their torture will never end." I immediately tried to push this blasphemous thought out of my head, but it still lingers.

Now that I'm having these questions, it's getting much harder to walk with the Lord like I used to. It's very difficult to feel affection for God when I remember that He's going to sentence the vast majority of humanity to an eternity of unimaginable torture, with no hope of relief. I mean, how does this knowledge not drive us all insane? I can't even walk around Walmart anymore without constantly thinking to myself, "Most of the people in this store will spend eternity in Hell." I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm going crazy.

I know that no matter what my feelings tell me, my God is just and merciful. I understand that any punishment God hands out is perfectly fair. I know that He is not a sadistic monster, no matter how strongly I feel otherwise. So please do not read this post as me accusing God of those things, because I'm not. I just need to figure out how to reconcile my belief that God is good with my belief that God condemns 99% of people to eternal, conscious torment.

Sorry if this post is all jumbled or makes no sense, I'm really not in the right mental state to be forming coherent thoughts right now.

 

[zoidar]

I've been a Christian for 3 and a half years, and for the first time, I'm starting to really wrestle with the idea of a loving God sending people to Hell. Throughout my life as a Christian, I've never questioned it. I've always thought, "Of course it's fair that God sends non-Christians to Hell! Their sins aren't paid for, so they have to take the punishment of their sins upon themselves." I never really allowed myself to think about the concept of eternal suffering too hard, because I was afraid that if I started questioning the fairness of this, I would end up leaving the faith. But recently I've started asking questions I've never let myself ask before, like: "Why do the damned suffer eternal punishment for temporal sins?" "If God knew the vast majority of people would end up in unbearable agony for all eternity, why did he ever create humankind?" "Why can't God just destroy the wicked on Judgement Day? Why keep them around for the sole purpose of torturing them?"

Today I was reading an article about the physical suffering of Jesus on the Cross, and couldn't help but think to myself, "the people in Hell will suffer just as much, if not more, than this. And while Jesus' physical torture lasted less than 24 hours, their torture will never end." I immediately tried to push this blasphemous thought out of my head, but it still lingers.

Now that I'm having these questions, it's getting much harder to walk with the Lord like I used to. It's very difficult to feel affection for God when I remember that He's going to sentence the vast majority of humanity to an eternity of unimaginable torture, with no hope of relief. I mean, how does this knowledge not drive us all insane? I can't even walk around Walmart anymore without constantly thinking to myself, "Most of the people in this store will spend eternity in Hell." I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm going crazy.

I know that no matter what my feelings tell me, my God is just and merciful. I understand that any punishment God hands out is perfectly fair. I know that He is not a sadistic monster, no matter how strongly I feel otherwise. So please do not read this post as me accusing God of those things, because I'm not. I just need to figure out how to reconcile my belief that God is good with my belief that God condemns 99% of people to eternal, conscious torment.

Sorry if this post is all jumbled or makes no sense, I'm really not in the right mental state to be forming coherent thoughts right now.

Hi Cerulean,

What you write is very understandable to me. I too have struggled with this at times. I call it despair-attacks. I try to change focus to Christ, his love for us, that the message of Christ is a glorious and joyful message. We see it everywhere in the Bible, even angels sing in joy. The joy in Christ triumphs over thoughs of despair.

There are also some intellectual tools we can use. Judgement day has not come yet, and we don't know exactly how it will be that day. So why cry over what has yet not come? I think of it this way, each person will be responsible for her/his own life and judged accordingly. God will judge fairly. There are also the view that hell is eternal destruction. It's hard to know exacly, better leave it God.

I also like to share this short video with you:

 

[chilehed]

I've been a Christian for 3 and a half years, and for the first time, I'm starting to really wrestle with the idea of a loving God sending people to Hell.

I suggest that that's not the right way to frame what's happening. God gives everyone sufficient grace to make a free decision to die in his friendship or not, and if we decide not then that decision is honored.

God doesn't send us to hell, we send ourselves there.

 

[turkle]

Many great answers here. I thought that maybe an illustration might be helpful.

Imagine that you are a teen whose parents have died. A family who cares about you is willing to take you in to their home, a warm, inviting and secure place.

The family has values that they hold dear. As a result, there are many requirements with regard to your attitude and behavior. You, as a naturally rebellious and individualistic teen, reject the family because you don't want to live like them; you want to live your life as you please.

You are fostered out to a family who is willing to take you in, but they do so because it means they will receive income for their service. When you arrive, you are delighted to find that they allow you to do what ever you want with no restrictions. For a time, you enjoy your new found freedom and do as you choose.

Soon, however, you realize that this family cares absolutely nothing about you. Your value is the money they receive. Because it is a transactional relationship, they treat you horribly, or simply neglect even your most basic needs.

You realize, after a period of misery in your "freedom", that you have made a terrible mistake. The first family was loving and kind. You are tormented by the magnitude of your error, and wish fervently that you could go back and make the correct choice. Unfortunately, that is no longer possible. You are stuck in what is becoming an increasingly abusive home.

God is always inviting us to join Him. He never, ever "sends" people to hell, any more than the nice family sent the teenager you into foster care. When we reject His offer to join Him, there only remains the place where He is not, which is ruled by the enemy. But we are stubborn and want to do things our own way, and fail to realize that we are rejecting the best choice we could possibly make by doing so. We are tormented by our own ignorance and stupidity, but only regret it when it's too late. That is why Jesus said that the gate is narrow, and few choose it. It's not because they couldn't go through the narrow gate; they could have. But in pride and stubbornness they chose what, in the moment, appeared more palatable.

This is why Jesus told us to make disciples of everyone. We are to build relationships with people and encourage them to walk with Him, because He always stands at the door and knocks. It is up to us to invite Him in.

 

[Dorothy Mae]

I've been a Christian for 3 and a half years, and for the first time, I'm starting to really wrestle with the idea of a loving God sending people to Hell. Throughout my life as a Christian, I've never questioned it. I've always thought, "Of course it's fair that God sends non-Christians to Hell! Their sins aren't paid for, so they have to take the punishment of their sins upon themselves." I never really allowed myself to think about the concept of eternal suffering too hard, because I was afraid that if I started questioning the fairness of this, I would end up leaving the faith. But recently I've started asking questions I've never let myself ask before, like: "Why do the damned suffer eternal punishment for temporal sins?" "If God knew the vast majority of people would end up in unbearable agony for all eternity, why did he ever create humankind?" "Why can't God just destroy the wicked on Judgement Day? Why keep them around for the sole purpose of torturing them?"

Today I was reading an article about the physical suffering of Jesus on the Cross, and couldn't help but think to myself, "the people in Hell will suffer just as much, if not more, than this. And while Jesus' physical torture lasted less than 24 hours, their torture will never end." I immediately tried to push this blasphemous thought out of my head, but it still lingers.

Now that I'm having these questions, it's getting much harder to walk with the Lord like I used to. It's very difficult to feel affection for God when I remember that He's going to sentence the vast majority of humanity to an eternity of unimaginable torture, with no hope of relief. I mean, how does this knowledge not drive us all insane? I can't even walk around Walmart anymore without constantly thinking to myself, "Most of the people in this store will spend eternity in Hell." I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm going crazy.

I know that no matter what my feelings tell me, my God is just and merciful. I understand that any punishment God hands out is perfectly fair. I know that He is not a sadistic monster, no matter how strongly I feel otherwise. So please do not read this post as me accusing God of those things, because I'm not. I just need to figure out how to reconcile my belief that God is good with my belief that God condemns 99% of people to eternal, conscious torment.

Sorry if this post is all jumbled or makes no sense, I'm really not in the right mental state to be forming coherent thoughts right now.

What if the people don’t want to be where God is because they don’t like his ways of doing things?

 

[Freth]

I've been a Christian for 3 and a half years, and for the first time, I'm starting to really wrestle with the idea of a loving God sending people to Hell. Throughout my life as a Christian, I've never questioned it. I've always thought, "Of course it's fair that God sends non-Christians to Hell! Their sins aren't paid for, so they have to take the punishment of their sins upon themselves." I never really allowed myself to think about the concept of eternal suffering too hard, because I was afraid that if I started questioning the fairness of this, I would end up leaving the faith. But recently I've started asking questions I've never let myself ask before, like: "Why do the damned suffer eternal punishment for temporal sins?" "If God knew the vast majority of people would end up in unbearable agony for all eternity, why did he ever create humankind?" "Why can't God just destroy the wicked on Judgement Day? Why keep them around for the sole purpose of torturing them?"

Today I was reading an article about the physical suffering of Jesus on the Cross, and couldn't help but think to myself, "the people in Hell will suffer just as much, if not more, than this. And while Jesus' physical torture lasted less than 24 hours, their torture will never end." I immediately tried to push this blasphemous thought out of my head, but it still lingers.

Now that I'm having these questions, it's getting much harder to walk with the Lord like I used to. It's very difficult to feel affection for God when I remember that He's going to sentence the vast majority of humanity to an eternity of unimaginable torture, with no hope of relief. I mean, how does this knowledge not drive us all insane? I can't even walk around Walmart anymore without constantly thinking to myself, "Most of the people in this store will spend eternity in Hell." I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm going crazy.

I know that no matter what my feelings tell me, my God is just and merciful. I understand that any punishment God hands out is perfectly fair. I know that He is not a sadistic monster, no matter how strongly I feel otherwise. So please do not read this post as me accusing God of those things, because I'm not. I just need to figure out how to reconcile my belief that God is good with my belief that God condemns 99% of people to eternal, conscious torment.

Sorry if this post is all jumbled or makes no sense, I'm really not in the right mental state to be forming coherent thoughts right now.

I see it in simple terms.

• God created man to live in harmony with His will, in obedience to His purpose.
• Man disobeyed God and reaped the consequences, which are just.
• The last six thousand years of human existence have shown that sin shouldn't exist.
• God gives us time to make a decision. Choose Him or not. All of us have to make a choice. We have an inheritance. We can either receive it or reject it.
• If we reject our inheritance, we have no further claim on our continued existence. Sin must go. Harmony in the universe has to be restored.
  
• God's love and mercy, even His longsuffering, is evident or we wouldn't exist. We never would've been created in the first place. We wouldn't have leisure time to make a choice.
• Many will perish of their own free will. It is not God being cruel, it is man rejecting God and His plan, which existed before creation, for us to be willing participants in His kingdom.

Happy Sabbath!

 

[Basil the Great]

If it makes you feel any better, Pope John Paul II, now a saint in the Catholic Church, taught that the terrible descriptions of Hell in the New Testament were not meant to be taken literally. Having said this, such was just his own personal view. Many Christians believe that Hell is not physical torture, but simply separation from God. The bottom line is that none of us really know.

I would also point out that many in the Eastern Orthodox Church believe that praying for the souls of those in Hades, aka those currently receiving a foretaste of Hell which will not be complete until the 2nd coming, helps to reduce their suffering and in a few rare cases, might even be able to move their fate from Hell to Heaven. They actually pray St. Basil's Third Kneeling Prayer every year at Pentecost, requesting that God provide comfort to the souls in Hades. The Catholics totally disagree with the practice of praying for those bound for Hell, though they have a somewhat like view concerning Purgatory, except that the souls in Purgatory are believed to eventually be going to Heaven.

Finally, there are a few Christians, not from any particular branch of Christendom, who believe that at the moment of death, God offers a last chance of salvation either to some souls or to all souls. While this is pure speculation, it is still a possibility.

 

[Mink61]

What if the people don’t want to be where God is because they don’t like his ways of doing things?

"If God would concede me His omnipotence for 24 hours, you would see how many changes I would make in the world. But if He gave me His wisdom too, I would leave things as they are.” J.M.L. Monsabre

Some people don't like God's way of doing things because they don't have His knowledge.

 

[Direct Driver]

"Of course it's fair that God sends non-Christians to Hell! Their sins aren't paid for, so they have to take the punishment of their sins upon themselves."

And the wages of sin is death. According to the bible itself.

Read this, it should help: Believe What the Jewish Apostles Taught -- Why Conditional Immortality Is True and Biblical

 

[Mink61]

I've been a Christian for 3 and a half years, and for the first time, I'm starting to really wrestle with the idea of a loving God sending people to Hell. Throughout my life as a Christian, I've never questioned it. I've always thought, "Of course it's fair that God sends non-Christians to Hell! Their sins aren't paid for, so they have to take the punishment of their sins upon themselves." I never really allowed myself to think about the concept of eternal suffering too hard, because I was afraid that if I started questioning the fairness of this, I would end up leaving the faith. But recently I've started asking questions I've never let myself ask before, like: "Why do the damned suffer eternal punishment for temporal sins?" "If God knew the vast majority of people would end up in unbearable agony for all eternity, why did he ever create humankind?" "Why can't God just destroy the wicked on Judgement Day? Why keep them around for the sole purpose of torturing them?"

Today I was reading an article about the physical suffering of Jesus on the Cross, and couldn't help but think to myself, "the people in Hell will suffer just as much, if not more, than this. And while Jesus' physical torture lasted less than 24 hours, their torture will never end." I immediately tried to push this blasphemous thought out of my head, but it still lingers.

Now that I'm having these questions, it's getting much harder to walk with the Lord like I used to. It's very difficult to feel affection for God when I remember that He's going to sentence the vast majority of humanity to an eternity of unimaginable torture, with no hope of relief. I mean, how does this knowledge not drive us all insane? I can't even walk around Walmart anymore without constantly thinking to myself, "Most of the people in this store will spend eternity in Hell." I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm going crazy.

I know that no matter what my feelings tell me, my God is just and merciful. I understand that any punishment God hands out is perfectly fair. I know that He is not a sadistic monster, no matter how strongly I feel otherwise. So please do not read this post as me accusing God of those things, because I'm not. I just need to figure out how to reconcile my belief that God is good with my belief that God condemns 99% of people to eternal, conscious torment.

Sorry if this post is all jumbled or makes no sense, I'm really not in the right mental state to be forming coherent thoughts right now.

God doesn't "send" us to hell.

We don't end up in hell because God doesn't love us; we end up there because WE don't love HIM.

 

[Mark Quayle]

I've been a Christian for 3 and a half years, and for the first time, I'm starting to really wrestle with the idea of a loving God sending people to Hell. Throughout my life as a Christian, I've never questioned it. I've always thought, "Of course it's fair that God sends non-Christians to Hell! Their sins aren't paid for, so they have to take the punishment of their sins upon themselves." I never really allowed myself to think about the concept of eternal suffering too hard, because I was afraid that if I started questioning the fairness of this, I would end up leaving the faith. But recently I've started asking questions I've never let myself ask before, like: "Why do the damned suffer eternal punishment for temporal sins?" "If God knew the vast majority of people would end up in unbearable agony for all eternity, why did he ever create humankind?" "Why can't God just destroy the wicked on Judgement Day? Why keep them around for the sole purpose of torturing them?"

Today I was reading an article about the physical suffering of Jesus on the Cross, and couldn't help but think to myself, "the people in Hell will suffer just as much, if not more, than this. And while Jesus' physical torture lasted less than 24 hours, their torture will never end." I immediately tried to push this blasphemous thought out of my head, but it still lingers.

It might help to get your terminology well in mind. There is a difference, for example, between 'torment' and 'torture'. I can't say I know enough to agree with several well known Christian teachers who seem to believe that in fact ones torment in hell is self-inflicted. But that thought may not comfort you.

But it's not just terminology and its related concepts you have wrong. The fact that sin may be committed during this temporal existence doesn't imply that the sin is temporal. After all, it IS committed against the Almighty Creator of all things --the Infinite God. Not only that, but the concept of eternity we take to mean 'for time without end' may be corrupted from what is unrelated to time. We know, for example, that Christ paid the same sin we would have paid --it was with far more than mere physical torture that he was stricken, yet as far as we observe time, he he has returned from the grave!

Now that I'm having these questions, it's getting much harder to walk with the Lord like I used to. It's very difficult to feel affection for God when I remember that He's going to sentence the vast majority of humanity to an eternity of unimaginable torture, with no hope of relief. I mean, how does this knowledge not drive us all insane? I can't even walk around Walmart anymore without constantly thinking to myself, "Most of the people in this store will spend eternity in Hell." I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm going crazy.

I know that no matter what my feelings tell me, my God is just and merciful. I understand that any punishment God hands out is perfectly fair. I know that He is not a sadistic monster, no matter how strongly I feel otherwise. So please do not read this post as me accusing God of those things, because I'm not. I just need to figure out how to reconcile my belief that God is good with my belief that God condemns 99% of people to eternal, conscious torment.

Sorry if this post is all jumbled or makes no sense, I'm really not in the right mental state to be forming coherent thoughts right now.

There is something that modern Christendom has built into Christian thought, the humanistic notion that humans are, in and of themselves, beings of dignity and worth (which strangely enough, they deny when it suits them), instead of the Biblical notion of their worth being based entirely on God's purpose and use of them, and in his assessment in them -- in other words, our worth is based entirely on God's good pleasure.As you have said, the judge of the whole world will indeed do what is right. So it is reasonable to assume that God sees things quite a bit differently, and with more involvement, than we do.

After years of fighting myself, I've come to a pretty firm conclusion that the person, perhaps the 'soul' (?), that we currently assess as worthy of respect and dignity by their simple humanity, will there hardly resemble the human we thought we knew, here on earth. We know that God will have removed himself from them --to me that implies all graces, all restraints on their corruption, all good things common to humanity --they will have no redeeming qualities about them to commend them to anyone.

Consider a form of annihilation, not that the soul no longer exists, but that it is no longer the person you loved. What resides in the LOF is of no worth; in fact, I think that as a soul in Heaven is raised above even the angels in God's economy, so the soul in perdition is even worse than the demons in its corruption from the image of God in which it was created. (Or do we feel empathy for the demons too? If we do, it seems to me there is reason to believe we don't know God very well, or have taken on the habit of assessing for ourselves what is what, instead of walking with God.)

Anyhow, I hope these thoughts may be of some worth to your perplexity. God is of that much more "reality" than we are, that he has not only the ability but the authority and duty to do exactly as he has said he will do, and to be loving and just to be doing so, and to be under no obligation to make any of us understand it. HE is who he is; it is we who are so small and stupid and self-important that we find him unacceptable.

 

[Dorothy Mae]

"If God would concede me His omnipotence for 24 hours, you would see how many changes I would make in the world. But if He gave me His wisdom too, I would leave things as they are.” J.M.L. Monsabre

Some people don't like God's way of doing things because they don't have His knowledge.

You forget that there are character issues involved. Knowledge doesn’t prevent people from doing wrong. People engage in activities that kill them or others and they know it.

People refrain from doing wrong by desiring goodness. It’s a character choice.

 

[Silverback]

I've been a Christian for 3 and a half years, and for the first time, I'm starting to really wrestle with the idea of a loving God sending people to Hell. Throughout my life as a Christian, I've never questioned it. I've always thought, "Of course it's fair that God sends non-Christians to Hell! Their sins aren't paid for, so they have to take the punishment of their sins upon themselves." I never really allowed myself to think about the concept of eternal suffering too hard, because I was afraid that if I started questioning the fairness of this, I would end up leaving the faith. But recently I've started asking questions I've never let myself ask before, like: "Why do the damned suffer eternal punishment for temporal sins?" "If God knew the vast majority of people would end up in unbearable agony for all eternity, why did he ever create humankind?" "Why can't God just destroy the wicked on Judgement Day? Why keep them around for the sole purpose of torturing them?"

Today I was reading an article about the physical suffering of Jesus on the Cross, and couldn't help but think to myself, "the people in Hell will suffer just as much, if not more, than this. And while Jesus' physical torture lasted less than 24 hours, their torture will never end." I immediately tried to push this blasphemous thought out of my head, but it still lingers.

Now that I'm having these questions, it's getting much harder to walk with the Lord like I used to. It's very difficult to feel affection for God when I remember that He's going to sentence the vast majority of humanity to an eternity of unimaginable torture, with no hope of relief. I mean, how does this knowledge not drive us all insane? I can't even walk around Walmart anymore without constantly thinking to myself, "Most of the people in this store will spend eternity in Hell." I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm going crazy.

I know that no matter what my feelings tell me, my God is just and merciful. I understand that any punishment God hands out is perfectly fair. I know that He is not a sadistic monster, no matter how strongly I feel otherwise. So please do not read this post as me accusing God of those things, because I'm not. I just need to figure out how to reconcile my belief that God is good with my belief that God condemns 99% of people to eternal, conscious torment.

Sorry if this post is all jumbled or makes no sense, I'm really not in the right mental state to be forming coherent thoughts right now.

All of us are justly condemned, everyone, but God has been gracious. Some people will be passed by and they will receive justice, others will receive mercy...no one receives injustice.

Faith is a gift of Gods grace, some people receive this gift, others do not. Our salvation is a done deal before our birth, remember the names of the saved were written in the book of life before the foundation of the world.

Christ defeated death, therefore the saved will be with him forever. Those receiving Gods grace, will endure to the end and ultimately receive salvation.

God does not reveal how he chose the saved, we only know it was not something special about anyone of us, certainly not our wealth, race, or our own righteousness...which is like filthy rags. However, our election was not a military muster either, where every 3rd person was chosen...sadly, Gods choice is a mystery, unknown to us.

Gods thoughts are not our thoughts, his ways are not our ways, but if God does something it is always just, right and fair.

God makes a choice for us, we don't choose to get saved, if we had to make that decision, while dead in our trespasses and sins, then it would be likely that know one would choose Christ, and he would have died for nothing.

 

[Dorothy Mae]

I've been a Christian for 3 and a half years, and for the first time, I'm starting to really wrestle with the idea of a loving God sending people to Hell. Throughout my life as a Christian, I've never questioned it. I've always thought, "Of course it's fair that God sends non-Christians to Hell! Their sins aren't paid for, so they have to take the punishment of their sins upon themselves." I never really allowed myself to think about the concept of eternal suffering too hard, because I was afraid that if I started questioning the fairness of this, I would end up leaving the faith. But recently I've started asking questions I've never let myself ask before, like: "Why do the damned suffer eternal punishment for temporal sins?" "If God knew the vast majority of people would end up in unbearable agony for all eternity, why did he ever create humankind?" "Why can't God just destroy the wicked on Judgement Day? Why keep them around for the sole purpose of torturing them?"

Today I was reading an article about the physical suffering of Jesus on the Cross, and couldn't help but think to myself, "the people in Hell will suffer just as much, if not more, than this. And while Jesus' physical torture lasted less than 24 hours, their torture will never end." I immediately tried to push this blasphemous thought out of my head, but it still lingers.

Now that I'm having these questions, it's getting much harder to walk with the Lord like I used to. It's very difficult to feel affection for God when I remember that He's going to sentence the vast majority of humanity to an eternity of unimaginable torture, with no hope of relief. I mean, how does this knowledge not drive us all insane? I can't even walk around Walmart anymore without constantly thinking to myself, "Most of the people in this store will spend eternity in Hell." I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm going crazy.

I know that no matter what my feelings tell me, my God is just and merciful. I understand that any punishment God hands out is perfectly fair. I know that He is not a sadistic monster, no matter how strongly I feel otherwise. So please do not read this post as me accusing God of those things, because I'm not. I just need to figure out how to reconcile my belief that God is good with my belief that God condemns 99% of people to eternal, conscious torment.

Sorry if this post is all jumbled or makes no sense, I'm really not in the right mental state to be forming coherent thoughts right now.

Cerulean, I’m going to suggest something that you might consider. That is that the Enemy is accusing God of doing evil and you are listening to him. This is evident in your finding it difficult to feel affection for God. This shows me that the Enemy, that old Accuser is at it again.

I assure you God is just and this can be seen not just blindly believed. But one does have to start believing He is at first. Understanding comes later.

 

[Dorothy Mae]

All of us are justly condemned, everyone, but God has been gracious. Some people will be passed by and they will receive justice, others will receive mercy...no one receives injustice.

Faith is a gift of Gods grace, some people receive this gift, others do not. Our salvation is a done deal before our birth, remember the names of the saved were written in the book of life before the foundation of the world.

Christ defeated death, therefore the saved will be with him forever. Those receiving Gods grace, will endure to the end and ultimately receive salvation.

God does not reveal how he chose the saved, we only know it was not something special about anyone of us, certainly not our wealth, race, or our own righteousness...which is like filthy rags. However, our election was not a military muster either, where every 3rd person was chosen...sadly, Gods choice is a mystery, unknown to us.

Gods thoughts are not our thoughts, his ways are not our ways, but if God does something it is always just, right and fair.

God makes a choice for us, we don't choose to get saved, if we had to make that decision, while dead in our trespasses and sins, then it would be likely that know one would choose Christ, and he would have died for nothing.

Very cruel and not true

 

[Shrewd Manager]

Glad to hear you're questioning the eternal conscious torment doctrine. It really doesn't make any sense, it is a viciously stupid half-baked concept indeed. Jesus does not save from sin and death only to condemn most ppl to an unimaginably worse fate. That would be very bad news, toxic demonic doctrine and spiritual terrorism, and responsible for untold misery throughout history. Not to mention it entails Jesus failing in his mission of salvation. But so many professing Christians cling to it because it suits their pride. What does Jesus say to those who preach it?

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. (Mt 23:15)

Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? (Mt 23:33)

So we see how our Lord saves his most trenchant criticism for those who threaten others with the torments of hell. He corrects the error in several passages, eg Matthew 10:28-33 - Fear He who can destroy body and soul in hell, but fear not because you are worth more than many sparrows to God, who has all your hairs numbered. And Mark 9:49-50 - everyone will be salted with fire, and salt is good. Hell/ Gehenna is corrective, it's there to SET RIGHT not GET EVEN.

Don't worry, God is good, He is the saviour of ALL mankind, especially those who believe. That's the total victory of Christ, as promised by God throughout scripture, notably in Isaiah 45:23, reiterated in Romans 14:11 and Philippians 2:10-11 and consummated in the final chapters of Revelation, when God will make all things new (Rev 21:5) and be all in all (1 Cor 15:28).

 

[Lukaris]

I believe when reading John 3:16-21 & John 5:22-30 can be helpful. In John 5:29, the Lord separates the good from the bad in a more brief way than the parable of the sheep & goats in Matthew 25:31-46 although it is the same. God knows who is good or not; we are not to judge & hope for the salvation of another as our own ( Matthew 7:1-12). Remember the Lord praised the Good Samaritan simply by his virtue ( Luke 10:25-37).


Side note, re judging others, we should not be marshmallows & not ever rebuke sinners but also be careful & forgiving as we try to live our faith.