The point of hell?

[Dr.J0sh]

What is the point of hell like why would god make it. Like why send people to eternal punishment. Not only that but some of the reasons you go to hell just don't seem just. Like finite mistakes for infinite punishment...

 

[Abandoned Barns]

I think you're likely to find many different answers to a question like this. No one has been there and come back to tell us, so to a very large extent our understanding is limited to our interpretation of scripture and/or the teaching of the specific church denomination to which we subscribe. I personally think that hell is necessary because there will always be those who choose to remain separated from God, so there also needs to be a place where God is not. To me it's about the choice to come to faith or not and has nothing to do with "mistakes", finite or otherwise. Again, it's just my $0.02, but if you think of hell as the place where God is not and you wish to remain separated from his love, then He doesn't choose to send you there - indeed you've already chosen to go yourself.

 

[JaapAap]

What is the point of hell like why would god make it. Like why send people to eternal punishment. Not only that but some of the reasons you go to hell just don't seem just. Like finite mistakes for infinite punishment...

You have a lifetime to decide who you want to spend eternity with, God or the devil. Hell is created for the devil. People can just accept the offer of Jesus and follow Him and go to heaven. If you reject that gift there's nothing He can do. It's only black and white. The devil is totally evil and God is totally holy. You need to get a new Godly nature to be able to live in His Presence otherwise someone will hide in the shaduw himself because all sins will be seen in His Light and it can't be done away without Christ's offer.
God hates sin because it destroys everything. All Adam did was eat an apple and look at the world now. Heaven isn't possible if there's people who sin.

 

[chilehed]

What is the point of hell like why would god make it. Like why send people to eternal punishment. Not only that but some of the reasons you go to hell just don't seem just. Like finite mistakes for infinite punishment...

God didn't make hell. We did that ourselves.

 

[oi_antz]

It's high time to see what the scriptures actually say.

 

[TheyCallMeDave]

What is the point of hell like why would god make it. Like why send people to eternal punishment. Not only that but some of the reasons you go to hell just don't seem just. Like finite mistakes for infinite punishment...

1. Rejecting God YOUR personal loving Creator all of ones life is an eternal crime ; not a temporary one.
2. You chose to not return your Creators love back to him , so you get greater distance from him (in eternity) which you wanted while living on Earth. Totally just.
3. Hell will be created (doesn't exist at present per the Bible) for ALL THOSE who were found to have contempt toward God and his love for all. This includes Satan, his demons, and all humans because they are all in the same Camp.

Can you please explain why any of the above is unjust when God has given all people A WAY to escape such a wretched eternity and offers a blissful completely enjoyable eternity thru him sending his Son to make way for the eradication of your many accumulated sins which are against God and Others ? Can you explain why not returning Gods love back to him is no big deal ? Thanks a lot.

 

[SarahsKnight]

It's high time to see what the scriptures actually say.

What is it they say, Oi?

 

[oi_antz]

What is it they say, Oi?

What I view is annihilation except for those who support the regime of the beast, who directly act to extinguish God's sovereignty on earth for once and all. Only those who take the mark and worship the beast are described as being tormented forever and ever. All other scriptures I have seen indicate destruction by fire. A second death after receiving eternal judgement. But this hell idea is not mine, clearly. It's a teaching that people believe because it forms the basis of their idea of salvation. It never really gets questioned. It should be questioned though, otherwise all we have is beliefs for the sake of belief. I encourage OP: test everything. Most common Christian faiths and beliefs are wildly divergent from the original faith and beliefs of the authors of the scriptures. This is why I said, it is high time scripture was consulted in this thread. This OP might be rightfully disgusted and turned away from the gospel of grace because of false doctrines, faith built on rote beliefs, the house built on sand, and he might never consider questioning the reliability of the beliefs that believers have heaped on him. However, if the truth prevails, OP might well be one who would come toward the light so that it can be seen that he loves the truth and cares about making sure the truth of God is properly known.

 

[SarahsKnight]

Well, I believe in literal life for believers and death for non-believers, too, Oi. I was just wondering what it was you were trying to imply in saying we should consult Scripture on this. I mean, people from all three views on this subject - traditionalism, conditionalism, and universalism - will undoubtably say what they believe ultimately comes from Scripture.

 

[oi_antz]

Well, I believe in literal life for believers and death for non-believers, too, Oi. I was just wondering what it was you were trying to imply in saying we should consult Scripture on this. I mean, people from all three views on this subject - traditionalism, conditionalism, and universalism - will undoubtably say what they believe ultimately comes from Scripture.

But does it? That is why I said, consult scripture. Then as we gather in His name, the name of The Truth, He is in our midst. Then those who love the truth will recognise that what He says is true. Then we can all decide whether we love the truth, or whether we love our own life more. No mud slinging between ism's please, only a fully informed, honest look at the truth.

 

[Mediaeval]

What is the point of hell like why would god make it.

Purification.

 

[Emmy]

Dear DrJOsh. You had some good replies, hell is for those who do not want Heaven with God our Father. We choose to follow Jesus back to God, or end up in Outer Darkness without God`s Love or His Light. In Matthew 22: 35-40:
Jesus tells us: " The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The second is like it: love thy neighbour as thyself." In verse 40, we are told: " on these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." God is Love, and God wants loving sons and daughters. In Matthew 7: 7-10: we are told " ask and you shall receive," we ask for Love and Joy, then thank God and share all Love and Joy with our neighbour: all we know and all we meet, friends and not friends. God sees our loving efforts, and God will bless us.
The Bible also tells us: " Repent and be Born Again, " give up our selfish wishes and wants, and change to loving and caring. In Galatians 6: 7-8 we are told: " God will not be mocked, Man will get what he deserves, rewards and blessings for being kind and loving, and fitting consequences for being selfish and unloving. We all know God`s Law of
Justice, Good Things for all GOOD AND RIGHT, and ALL UNKIND AND HURTFUL THINGS for selfish and unloving and uncaring words or deeds. We reap what we sow. I say this with love, DrJOsh. Greetings from Emmy,, your sister in Christ.

 

[lutherangerman]

I believe in the salvation of all men. The bible calls Jesus the Savior of the World, and His cross outweighs all sins. Blessed are those who apply for salvation in this life here, but there is also salvation for the many others because like in the Book of Jonah, God has mercy on men generally. Remember the world war against the Nazis, Hitler was a christian and the Jews were not, yet according to hellfire theologies the Jews are damned for "not choosing Jesus" and Hitler could have been saved for "choosing Jesus". This would not be just and fair.

I perceive a God who created us all and sees Himself as our Father. That means he has loving sympathy for us and like a human father he would not torture anyone FOREVER, just apply limited punishment. In the Old Testament God decries fathers sacrificing their children to go through fire, and God is not a cheat or betrayer that he would later on do the same to other people. God instead is an example of goodness and wants to be known as such. We are asked to combat evil with good, and God does the same to us.

God's stated goal is to save everyone he loves, and he loves everyone so his goal is to save everyone. God is almighty to do all he wishes so he will realize his goal of saving all humans. Furthermore his gospel is a cosmic one because it also aims at saving our entire world, which will never be destroyed but be fully restored so that life on it can continue forever. God is almighty and all-wise so he can achieve that easily and in Christ it is also already finished, just like Jesus cried out on the cross.

God bless you!

 

[seashale76]

Disclaimer (Orthodox view insofar as I can adequately explain it. If it isn't adequately explained, the failing is mine. This is also something I repost quite frequently as the topic comes up quite frequently.)

What's heaven? What's hell? Think state rather than place.

Hebrews 12:29 says that God is a consuming fire.

God is the light of heaven and the fire of hell. God doesn't change for anyone. It's how we decide to relate to Him that makes the difference. Salvation (theosis) is becoming by grace what God is by nature- not becoming God in essence but participating in His energies. Simply put, if one is participating in God's energies, that is heaven, but if one is not, then that is hell. Think of the story of the three youths in the fiery furnace- they were able to walk around in the fire without being burned, while others couldn't even get near the fire without perishing.

CF used to have a wiki type thing that no longer exists, but this was on it:

The Orthodox teaching is that Heaven and Hell are the same "place", standing in front of God. The Judgment is individual perception, determined by one's relationship to God. This perception will determine whether or not one experiences it as paradise (Heaven) or agony (Hell) eternally .

Here is a quote from an old Wikipedia article on the topic (that doesn't seem to be around anymore) that I thought explained it pretty well:

"For many ancient Christians, Hell was the same "place" as Heaven: living in the presence of God and directly experiencing God's love. Whether this was experienced as pleasure or torment depended on one's disposition towards God. St. Isaac of Syria wrote in Mystic Treatises: "... those who find themselves in Hell will be chastised by the scourge of love. How cruel and bitter this torment of love will be! For those who understand that they have sinned against love, undergo greater suffering than those produced by the most fearful tortures. The sorrow which takes hold of the heart, which has sinned against love, is more piercing than any other pain. It is not right to say that the sinners in Hell are deprived of the love of God ... But love acts in two ways, as suffering of the reproved, and as joy in the blessed!" This ancient view is still the doctrine of the Eastern Orthodox Church."

 

[Albion]

What is the point of hell like why would god make it. Like why send people to eternal punishment. Not only that but some of the reasons you go to hell just don't seem just. Like finite mistakes for infinite punishment...

We think of Hell as being created by God to punish people who didn't live right. It would be more accurate to say that God, being the epitome of goodness, cannot co-exist with depravity.

Satan and all his angels will, therefore, necessarily be outcast from God, just like evil humans, because they cannot--and probably do not want to--be in the presence of goodness. As the Bible says, you cannot have light and dark coexisting for they cannot share the same space and still be what they are.

 

[TheyCallMeDave]

Hell serves no logical purpose. The idea that God will push someone for all eternity for their sins is ridiculous.

To put it in perspective... if someone killed a member of your family and you were allowed to inflict the punishment by causing them pain and suffering, how long would it take for you to say, "ok, that's enough"? Even we, imperfect humans have a good sense of what is just and unjust, and yet we should believe that God would think it correct and righteous to burn someone for eternity for their sins? In any case, the Bible says that when you die, you are acquitted from your sins (Romans 6:7). After all, the punishment for sin is death (Romans 6:23). When Adam/Even sinned, they were told their punishment... death; back to the dust! So it really makes no sense.

Hell is generally translated from the words Sheol (Hebrew) and Hades (Greek), both of which simply mean 'the grave', or 'the pit'. Unfortunately, some translations render these words as 'hell' conveying the idea of a place of eternal fiery torment.

The Bible also speaks of Gehenna and links that to a literal place outside of Jerusalem's walls that was kept burning and was where rubbish, dead animals and dead people who didn't merit a proper burial were burned. The place itself and the use of it in the Bible signifies complete destruction from which no-one returns.

Hades (or Sheol) on the other hand is a place that a person can return from. Job wanted to be protected there until he could be brought back (Job 14:13); Jesus went there when he was dead for 3 days (Acts 2:21) and Revelation says that people will be brought out of there to be judged (Revelation 20:13,14). This makes sense since there is going to be a resurrection of the unrighteous (Acts 24:15).

The teaching of hell came from long before Christianity. The Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans all had strong beliefs in various forms of hell. But ignoring tradition and sticking to what the Bible says, it is clearly not a correct teaching.

Hell serves a good purpose , it is logical, it fills a great desire to be distanced from God according to the Persons volitional will, Jesus warned against it, and it will be the final eternal place for all those who gave God the finger -- this will include the nastiest and the typical Granma who casually went thru life without giving God any honor, praise, or thought about her sins. It will cover a large spectrum. And, no one has to find out the hard way about this truth.

 

[AvgJoe]

What is the point of hell like why would god make it. Like why send people to eternal punishment. Not only that but some of the reasons you go to hell just don't seem just. Like finite mistakes for infinite punishment...

Here is a thorough explanation of what hell is~~~> http://www.hellspassion.com/download/what-does-the-bible-say-about-hell.pdf

 

[anonymous person]

God didn't make hell. We did that ourselves.

Actually God did make hell. He prepared it for the devil and his angels.

But I get what you're saying. It was the choice of free moral agents to rebel against God which necessitated it's creation.

 

[chilehed]

Actually God did make hell. He prepared it for the devil and his angels.

That's essentially a claim that God created something evil, which his nature makes impossible. No, God more created hell than the sun creates shadows, which are actually created by that which blocks out the light. Before they were actualized by Satan, sin and hell were only theoretical possibilities as a logical consequence of the creation of good beings that posess the good of free will. They were not creations of God, but were formed by the creatures that rejected him.

 

[hedrick]

The OP asked the purpose of hell. In the OT, the prophets always talked about the punishment of evil. Victory over evil is part of the final victory of God which they predicted. I'm not convinced that there's the kind of detailed description of what happens to people that some get out of Scripture.