The Evil of believing in Hell
Believing in hell is a lost - lost situation i.e. as opposed to win win situation. Hell may actually exist and so we must believe in its existence but the conventional idea that if you committed heavy sinful acts you will be punished by God by condemning you to hell.
What is wrong with this belief is the idea that God is punitive. But Christians knew that God is love.
The evil of believing in hell the conventional way is that it distort the idea of God as love. It makes God insult itself (i.e. creating lot of craps and evil in the world.) It encourage Christians to do good not because of the virtue of doing good but because of fear of hell.
Christians motivation should be love not fear. Yes hell exist but it exist because God is love,. The only reason why hell exist is that God love those souls in the hell so much - UNCONDITIONALLY.
Amen! I agree with this, God does everything for love, and we should obey and serve out of love as well. great job here!
ReplyDeleteIt's all down to the motivation of your action. If you act because of love then you are a true christian but if you act out of fear of hell then you don't know what salvation is all about. Thanks Mrsc for your comment.
ReplyDeleteAt some point in the past, God created the universe filled with intelligent angels who were given the freedom the love Him; and also gave them the freedom to turn away from Him. Lucifer ultimately decided to turn away and in a perfect universe and perfect angels, he enticed 1/3 of the angels to turn from God and follow him. Isaiah 14; Ezekiel 28; Revelation 12
ReplyDeleteThe word "hell" in the Bible refers to the grave. This is why in Revelation 20 even death and hell are cast into the lake of fire and consumed. The early church and popular culture have taken pagan concepts about punishment and created hell and purgatory in order to control the masses. But a perfect universe in the past will be free in the future of ALL pain, suffering, death Revelation 21:4; for "Death is swallowed up in victory" and "The last enemy (death) will also die" (1 Corinthians 15:26 & 51-57).
God will NOT have a special little corner in the universe where the redeemed can go and watch the eternal pain and suffering of their friends and relatives who did not accept his love and grace. This is the character of the Devil. This is how the Devil would operate things if he were in charge. In fact the history of this earth is a very real demonstration of how he would conduct the universe if given the chance. He is a crafty deceiver and a liar from the very beginning. He implied that God was the liar and that Eve would NOT really die. But in order to prove the Devil actually was the liar, God Himself, in the person of Jesus came and showed all the universe and all men what the results of sin really are - separation from the life-giver, which results in non-existence.
For sure the wicked WILL suffer for their sins, because Jesus Himself said that "God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not PERISH, but have everlasting life". Malachi 4 describes this perishing of the wicked:
"For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts…. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts."
How does He do this? The same glory that He reveals at the 2nd coming shines on ALL the earth. The righteous rejoice at the sight of their God, but the wicked call the rocks and mountains to fall on themselves. God's glory - His love and perfection - will consume the wicked, but is a source of life to the righteous.
God's perfect universe, as originally created before the great rebellion; will be in the future as it was before. Nothing will hurt or destroy in His holy mountain.