Aswer to question about Hell.

[lionsforjesus]

While I was in a discussion with a person asking me why would God send us to hell, the thought ocurred to me listening to (Pastor David Jeramiah of Turning Point, Turning Point.com I think?) That God does not send us to Hell. I came back to that person and gave Him a better answer than my "I don't know why just yet" lame answer I gave Him. I wrote also ( Without God Life is Madness) and added the quote I heard and wrote my definition as well to this question just to cover all bases of God's work in me and to me.............here it is. This will help answer someones question because it answered mine. God is So Awsome.

"Nobody stands under the wrath of God, save those who have chosen to do so.
Hell is not a place created by God bent on getting even, but the alienation we choose for ourselves.
We are in fact the total sum of our choices, all who are in Hell chose it, Who deliberately pushed God out of out of their thinking and they were warned.
So those who chose to live for themselves and not for God, chose their own consequences.
God confirmed (or confirms) their choice."

(From Without GOD,Life is Madness by Richard White. nacwa.com)
And from inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

[GodChaser]

I have a friend who once claimed Christianity, but now worships Pagan. I was saddened beyond words to hear this, since she was my best friend in High School - went to youth group, church, etc together. At any rate, she said she didn't understand how God could send people of other religions to Hell simply for not accepting Christ when they were faithful to their religion their whole lives, just worshipping the same God a different way.

It took me a bit to understand how to reply to that.

I now understand - it isn't about worship. It is about Faith, it is about whether you chose to live your life your own way, or God's way.
Do you say "God you are so vast, wonderful and beyond my understanding - how do YOU want me to glorify, honor and worship you?"
Or do you say "God, you are so vast and wonderful - I am going to worship you my own way, because it 'feels right' to me, because it makes me feel good, because I want to, because I THINK it's the right way for me"

That is why worshipping God is not about "being a Christian", but about Faithfulness - about choosing to remain faithful to God and His will.

[DrRita]

lion for jesus, that is so true. It seems so logical when you take out all the garbage and just look at it from God's point of view. After all, the ball is in man's court so to speak. Here's the logical argument:


If God created man immortal and sin entered after the creation causing the separation of God and man, then where would the immortal go if he refused to go to be with God. God offers salvation (redemption and reconciliation) through Jesus Christ alone. The unredeemed sinner refuses God's offer because he doesn't want heaven and association with God, he wants his own universe, without God or with his own idea of God. If the immortal refuse to be associated with God in any way, after death that immortal soul has to go somewhere and since he doesn't want to be around God the only alternative is a place where God isn't: hell.

This may seem simplistic but this idea of worshiping self or a God of ones creation above the God of all creation, is the bait on Satan's hook. He sure catches a lot of "fish" with it.http://pages.prodigy.net/indianahawkeye/newpage29/8.gif

[lightninboy]

The topic is a good thing to think about, so we may be more comfortable with the facts. Your answer sounds something like C. S. Lewis's "The Great Divorce." Of course, not everyone has read much C. S. Lewis, and not everyone who did would agree with him on everything. Perhaps Lewis didn't preach hellfire enough to suit them.

[lionsforjesus]

"The Great Divorce" Is an exceptional piece of work. Man I loved that book. It really spoke to my heart on how hell was a tiny hole so microscopic and next to impossible to enter but those chose to do the impossible and entered it. Remember the midget chained to the tall man who was his personality or mask? I know Jesus said "broad is the way that leads to eternal destruction and narrow is the way that leads to eternal life" ( my paraphrase),
But C.S. Lewis expressed God's love as the Bible would put it apoligetically (if I spelled that right). Thanks for the encouragement you all :D

Ohter note:
I haven't been on in a while and I sure missed responding. I am unemployed at the moment and am hoping for a position God wants me in. I do not have the internet at home for the time being and am using a community computer. So If I am not on for a period of time just keep writing to me and I will get it eventually. I am working on getting my cell phone to recieve my emails. !thumbsup!

[Hisart]

Here's another way of looking at "God of Love" and Hell.

All will stand at the great "Throne of Judgement", great and small, jew and gentile. All will be asked one question, only one.


"What did you do with the gift of salvation/redemption that my Son, Jesus, paid for with His very life, when He died a hideous death on the cross becoming your very own sin?"

This is the only way to Hell, Denying Christ.

It's not about how you want to worship God, it's about the only key!
How many people get mad when their house key won't start the car? Nobody! Why? 'Cause it's the WRONG KEY! But when it comes to the door to Heaven, well people get cranked! "I don't want to give up my vices, so I'll worship God as a tree!" But guess what? You paid 30,60,100 thousand dollars for your house here! What makes you think that a house in Heaven won't cost you anything? Sure the mortgage is paid but, there's still taxes, insurance, and utilities! And the "Home owners group" still tells you what color you can paint your house!
Just my $.02 !thumbsup!
Hisart :cool:

[jvdoles]

God doesn't send anyone to hell--He lets them go.

I think it was C. S. Lewis who said this (or something like it):

In the end there are only two kinds of people: 1. Those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and they enter heaven. 2. Those to whom God says, "Thy will be done," and they enter hell.
If people don't want God and His ways, He doesn't make them have to have them. But they will be miserable, for God is omnipotent and there is no such place where He is not present. Even in hell--God is there! It is His presence that makes it hell for those who are in rebellion to God--they do not want Him but they cannot avoid His presence. They are totally unprepared for the experience of His glory--for them the glory of God is an eternally tormenting flame.

But God cannot cease being who He is, and He cannot cease being omnipresent. And He will not veil His glory forever just because some people don't want it. He is, after all, God.

[dublinheart]

Aaah, this freedom of choice has so many facets to it. Sometimes, it makes me desire that God had created me more robotic- doing what is programmed into me. Yet, this is the desire of God-that we would love Him by choice and choose Him of our free will. After all, it is all His to do with as He pleases. This dying to self and aloowing Him to live in you is so hard. Thank God, it's a process and if we blow it one time it doesn't mean we've lost it forever. :)

[Hisart]

Ever notice how (almost) everything has only two choices? :)
Forward or back.
Left or right.
Up or down.
His way or not.
By God's grace we get only two, three would make us insane. :confused:
But they're all choices we make.
Choices we live with.
Choose this day who you will serve.
I'm addicted to Jesus! !thumbsup!
I choose life!
I took the highway to Hell for years, scenery is wild but the end it the pits!
God Bless!
Hisart :cool:

[Babe>Christ]

Hell was made for the Devil and his Angels. We were never intended to go there. But because some don't get saved. (ISA, 5v14) "Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and thier glory, and thier multitude, and thier pomp and he that rejoyceth, shall decend in to it." Jesus Came to save us from that terrible end. "Nothing shall seperate us from the LOVE of GOD.... the Gates of Hell shall NOT Prevail against it! WOOOOOOH! HALLELUIA PRAISE GOD GOES RIGHT THERE!
***Babe in Christ

[lightninboy]

Hisart said people are damned for only rejecting Christ. What about the unreached who go to hell?
jvdoles makes a good point you don't hear often about God being in hell. Psalm 139:8. But some people say that hell is eternal separation from God. I suppose the people are with the presence of God in hell, but they are out of fellowship with Him, and the result is figurative hellfire and practically literal hellfire if not literal hellfire.
http://www.communitybaptistchurch.com/articles/Why%20are%20people%20lost.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/8449/extent2.html
http://decapolis.com/faith_/pages/NeverHeardtheGospel.shtml
http://www.biblehelp.org/view_1.htm

http://wayoflife.org/fbns/unpardonable.htm
http://cliftondalecc.org/sermons/current/hell.asp
http://www-english.tamu.edu/pers/fac/bruthiaux/209/09%20sermon.htm
http://www.picknowl.com.au/homepages/rlister/calvin/calv5.htm
http://www.i-knowit.com/eternallife/index.cfm

http://www.birdangel.net/weblog/index.php?p=869
http://www.ebonmusings.org/atheism/books/greatdivorce.html
http://www.lambsplayers.org/aboutus/news/2002/news-052802.html
http://www.mbforum.ca/topic/334-0.html
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:x0rzkrk1pTgJ:scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-05292002-153921/unrestricted/etd.pdf+The+Great+Divorce+C.+S.+Lewis+heretic&hl=en
http://www.gospelgrace.com/falseprophets/cslewis/CSLewis.html
http://www.dornaslighthouse.com/hell.html
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-grace/hell-fire.html
http://www.bright.net/~bkrajcik/realityofhell.htm
http://www.bbie.org/WrestedScriptures/B03Hell/Revelation14v10-11and19v3and20v10.html
http://www.goodnewsaboutgod.com/studies/hellfire2.htm
http://www.bibleistrue.com/qna/qna30.htm
http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/hellunderfire.htm
http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/hellfire.htm

http://www.baptistpillar.com/bd0493.htm
http://what-the-hell-is-hell.com/FromHellsEternalDeath.htm
http://www.unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm
http://biblia.com/heaven/hell.htm
http://ontargetforchrist.com/websites_old/Old%20Site%202%20(10-15-04)/getontarget.html
http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/cs.htm
http://www.cornerstone1.org/dies.htm
http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/ICGCC/Lesson_Nineteen.shtml