Reason we go to hell

[Ultima4257]

Hello,

I know this sounds like a pretty basic question, but hear me out. Do we go to hell for the sins we commit or the fact that we don't accept the pardon that Jesus gave us. My understanding is we go to hell for our sins, which is basically falling short of the glory of God. Is this a correct interpretation?

 

[KimberlyAA]

I think you go to hell for rejecting Jesus' pardon more than the sins you commit. We're all sinners but those who truly believe in His promise would tend to want to stay away from sin.

 

[oi_antz]

Hello,

I know this sounds like a pretty basic question, but hear me out. Do we go to hell for the sins we commit or the fact that we don't accept the pardon that Jesus gave us. My understanding is we go to hell for our sins, which is basically falling short of the glory of God. Is this a correct interpretation?

Here is what Jesus said about it:

31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy[c] angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
44 “Then they also will answer Him,[d] saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

If you read this passage you can see that what Jesus is doing is defining a clear criteria for what it means to be a sheep and what it means to be a goat. There are people who are extremely good sheep and there are others who are extremely notorious goats. Jesus says here that He will separate them, so if you are concerned about whether you are sheep or goat, then you need to ask for His help.

Here's a good passage to begin with:

24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

Pray about this verse and ask for God to give you wisdom.

 

[bling]

Sin is not the problem (unforgiven sin can be a huge problem).


Sin has purpose for the nonbeliever.


God does not want anyone to go to hell (a place of eventual inhalation), but unfortunately the fact of hell helps willing individuals to accept God’s help (Charity/Love/mercy/grace/forgiveness) and by seeing the huge debt sin creates (hell) that person can realize they are being forgiven of a huge debt and Jesus has taught us “…he that is forgiven much will Love much…” and that Godly type Love is what we are after. If we just got a slap on the hand for sinning that being forgiven of sin would be “being forgiven of little and we would love little” which is not the Godly type Love we desire.

 

[razeontherock]

Do we go to hell for the sins we commit or the fact that we don't accept the pardon that Jesus gave us.

Wow, heavy thought for the day, or is there an ongoing progression behind this? I don't want to negate anything anyone else has said so please don't take it that way, but what about accepting God Himself? And if that is kinda vague, then what about accepting Jesus Himself?

See, there are sins, but there is also sin. And the only way to get away from the latter, is by turning towards God. The only way you can do that is if you know Him. The question is, is His Presence something we enjoy and look forward to, or something we loathe? We can actively prepare our hearts and minds for the one we choose, but if we're not consciously doing that, we're likely on the wrong path, moving in the wrong direction.

 

[Ultima4257]

Wow, heavy thought for the day, or is there an ongoing progression behind this? I don't want to negate anything anyone else has said so please don't take it that way, but what about accepting God Himself? And if that is kinda vague, then what about accepting Jesus Himself?

Actually yes, their is a progression, but that will be for another post.


See, there are sins, but there is also sin. And the only way to get away from the latter, is by turning towards God. The only way you can do that is if you know Him. The question is, is His Presence something we enjoy and look forward to, or something we loathe? We can actively prepare our hearts and minds for the one we choose, but if we're not consciously doing that, we're likely on the wrong path, moving in the wrong direction.

Fair enough. However, I am thinking of this issue in the most basic of terms. From what I know the laws were given to us to show what sin was and the penalty for it. So if we go with that line of reasoning I think it would be fair to assume that violation of God's law, in other word sin, is the reason that we are seperated from God. If this is incorrect, please let me know.

 

[razeontherock]

I would say your observation is very astute:

(Isaiah 59:2) "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid [his] face from you, that he will not hear."

What else can we find in this same context?

"And he saw that [there was] no man, and wondered that [there was] no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
(Isaiah 59:17) For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance [for] clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke."

Can you recognize this as Ephesians 6? Can you recognize this as the garments of the High Priest? Can you accept that Paul didn't make up the idea of Jesus being our High Priest, giving us the full armor of God? And is it such a great leap to wind up with:

"I am persuaded, that neither death, [the final result of sin] nor life, ... nor things present, nor things to come, (Romans 8:39) nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

 

[Ultima4257]

Very good replies everyone. Here is my next question. Can we as human beings truly understand the holiness of God and how replusive sin is to Him?

 

[oi_antz]

Very good replies everyone. Here is my next question. Can we as human beings truly understand the holiness of God and how replusive sin is to Him?

I think we can, but only to the extent that is humanly possible to the individual.

For instance, how do you think Jesus must have felt when the ones He came to help chose to crucify Him and free Barabbas instead?

 

[bling]

Very good replies everyone. Here is my next question. Can we as human beings truly understand the holiness of God and how replusive sin is to Him?

Why does sin have to be so bad?

You and I probably live and associate with some big time sinners and have no problem, maybe God needs to read the book “I’m OK and Your OK”?

All mature adults sin, so why the big deal about it?

Sin is not a “problem” for God, it is us that need sin to be truly bad and in fact the worse it is and the more we realize it is bad the better for us.

It all goes back to the objective “obtaining Godly type Love so we can be like God himself and thus be able to Love God and secondly others with all our heart, soul, mind, and energy. The only way for humans to obtain this “love” is through acceptance of pure charity in the form of forgiveness so as Jesus has taught us “…he that is forgiven much will Love much…” The huge debt of sin helps us to realize we have been forgiven of much and thus can Love much.

 

[PureDose]

Hello,

I know this sounds like a pretty basic question, but hear me out. Do we go to hell for the sins we commit or the fact that we don't accept the pardon that Jesus gave us. My understanding is we go to hell for our sins, which is basically falling short of the glory of God. Is this a correct interpretation?

We are born in death, 'Jesus did not come to condemn, but to save and offer us salvation from death -- eternal life'.

 

[Girder of Loins]

Can we as human beings truly understand the holiness of God

I think we can grasp the concept, and maybe even reach the top of the iceberg, but until we are given our renewed bodies and a completely renewed mind, we will never fully understand the holiness of God. I mean, look at all the controversy between denominations right now.

and how replusive sin is to Him?

Sin is evil and unrighteous. Since God is righteous, sin is antithetical to His very nature. That is why the unclean cannot be present in heaven, as their spirits would be antithetical to His nature. Once we are clean, our spirits can reside in Heaven with Him forever.