How do religious people cope with the existence of Hell?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Weird question: how do people who believe in the existence of eternal damnation cope with a) the role of an all-knowing deity of infinite benevolence who is quite happy to see a large swathe of humanity cast into eternal torment? and b) the guilt that comes with being part of the chosen few?

[°Leprechaun]

Good question. This belief has yet to die out. This life can be hell, so an eternal one is not hard for some to imagine. Certainly a deity that allows for such a thing is something that I can not believe in, and yet there are those for whom it is such a critical dogma that to believe otherwise in itself considered heresy, or so it would appear.

[°Leprechaun]

Although Christians are a majority in the USA, they are certainly not a majority of the world's population and if being something other than a Christian means eternal damnation it would
not be good news for the majority of the world.
Some Christians believe that many will literally burn in hell, which is not a merciful idea.

Yet, somehow, the mantra is that Christianity is "good news".

[RFayette]

This is by far the most challenging Christian doctrine, and I don't have a good answer for you.  Annihilationism makes sense to me, but we still have a problem even then with why few seem to be saved according to the Bible.   How do I reconcile this with a loving God?  I think the answer has to do with the justice of God, the capability to make choices, and the finality of our decisions. 

[TDAS04]

This is by far the most challenging Christian doctrine, and I don't have a good answer for you.  Annihilationism makes sense to me, but we still have a problem even then with why few seem to be saved according to the Bible.   How do I reconcile this with a loving God?  I think the answer has to do with the justice of God, the capability to make choices, and the finality of our decisions. 

You’re now an Annihilationist?

[Greatest I am]

Weird question: how do people who believe in the existence of eternal damnation cope with a) the role of an all-knowing deity of infinite benevolence who is quite happy to see a large swathe of humanity cast into eternal torment? and b) the guilt that comes with being part of the chosen few?

They mostly just ignore the immorality of their view and God and keep their eye on the prize of salvation that their religion has lied to them about.

This shows how little they follow the Golden Rule.

Have a look at the second link and see how the Christian love of hate keeps them from accepting the truth even from their own preachers who have stopped lying to them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF6I5VSZVqc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv_rmQuagpY

Hell is an obvious immoral construct yet Christians embrace it.

Regards
DL

[Kingpoleon]

Universalism?

Personally, I don’t think people who have heard of Jesus as their Savior, and who have learned His truths, and reject him in spite of all this can go to heaven. Other than that, it seems to me that there must be a choice between rejection and acceptance after death for those who have not heard. Universalism is the closest term for this.

[RFayette]

This is by far the most challenging Christian doctrine, and I don't have a good answer for you.  Annihilationism makes sense to me, but we still have a problem even then with why few seem to be saved according to the Bible.   How do I reconcile this with a loving God?  I think the answer has to do with the justice of God, the capability to make choices, and the finality of our decisions. 

You’re now an Annihilationist?

I've leaned toward this position for a while, to be frank.  I think one can make a good scriptural case for it, especially since Old Testament references to eternal destruction often refer to annihilation rather than literal burning forever such as in Isaiah 34. But to be honest, eternal conscious torment is just too difficult for me to stomach, though I certainly understand the Biblical case for it.

[TDAS04]

Good question from the OP.  I say that as a Christian—albeit a pretty liberal one—who believes in Jesus and has had a strong emotional attachment to him for some time.  I certainly love his moral teaching about loving one’s neighbor and helping the least among us, but I also accept his divinity and that his death and resurrection result in forgiveness for all of our sins—and I sincerely hope that it’s for all people.

The concept of the God I love, and who—I was taught—loves me, condemning some people to eternal suffering in hell may be just too unpleasant for me to accept, especially if eternal fate depends on whether or not an individual holds the correct beliefs or if God just decides who will be saved and who will be damned by deciding who will have faith and who will not.  It can seem like a damper on the joy of a loving Jesus getting you to heaven when so many people you like or love on Earth probably won’t be there.  This is a major reason I stay on the more liberal side of Christianity and don’t think I would be very happy in a conservative religious group.

Of course, many fundamentalist may doubt I’m a Christian for not believing God sends people to hell.  After all, they believe the Bible rejects universalism, and if I don’t believe in something the Bible says, they may think I’ve not truly accepted Christ—and thus—I’m going to you-know-where.

Maybe the Bible does make it challenging to argue for universalism (though I’m skeptical if it really precludes the belief as much as some claim).  However, the idea that God sends people to be eternally tortured in hell seems to go against both the heart and mind.  One can say “Anne Frank was not saved because she didn’t have faith in Jesus Christ” or one can more bluntly state “Anne Frank went from Hitler’s ovens to God’s ovens.”  How can one not be appalled by such a notion?  Of course, there’s that thing about whatever God does is right, and even if it doesn’t seem right to us, it is right because God is God.  But of course it seems natural to be repulsed by the idea that God would impose eternal suffering on the victims of such horror, who seemingly suffered enough on Earth.

I also remember hearing about a Native American boy who witnessed much of his family get killed by American troops.  American missionaries told him he could go to heaven by believing in Christianity, but he replied that if Christianity is true, he doesn’t want to go to heaven because his family won’t be there.

I have been attending a few progressive mainline churches, which tend not to talk about hell much, if at all.  Some of them may even be open the possibility of universalism, even if they don’t take an official position.  I’ve currently been attending services at a progressive Lutheran (ELCA) church, where the pastor has stated that non-Christians also go to heaven and that Jesus died for all of our sins, and not even holding wrong religious beliefs can keep one from God’s grace.  I like these beliefs, and I choose to believe them, even though I’m never sure how anyone can be certain of any religious beliefs.

[Greatest I am]

Universalism?

Personally, I don’t think people who have heard of Jesus as their Savior, and who have learned His truths, and reject him in spite of all this can go to heaven. Other than that, it seems to me that there must be a choice between rejection and acceptance after death for those who have not heard. Universalism is the closest term for this.

Indeed, but there are few Universalist ideologies.

I chose Gnostic Christianity as my religion partially due to the fact that it had a Universalist ideology.

What truth do you see Jesus teaching?

Gnostic Christians follow his more esoteric and mystical teaching that resemble Buddhism but not the Rome created Jesus who is a pacifist and government promoting wimp.

This link speaks of the Roman created Jesus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUfGRN4HVrQ

This link speaks of the Jesus whose teachings I follow. You will see a striking difference. The Roman Jesus want to slave us to religions and governments for control purposes while the Jesus shown in this link wishes to free us from those control institutions.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alRNbesfXXw&feature=player_embedded

Let me know which Jesus you would follow.

Regards
DL

[Greatest I am]

Good question from the OP.  I say that as a Christian—albeit a pretty liberal one—who believes in Jesus and has had a strong emotional attachment to him for some time.  I certainly love his moral teaching about loving one’s neighbor and helping the least among us, but I also accept his divinity and that his death and resurrection result in forgiveness for all of our sins—and I sincerely hope that it’s for all people.

The concept of the God I love, and who—I was taught—loves me, condemning some people to eternal suffering in hell may be just too unpleasant for me to accept, especially if eternal fate depends on whether or not an individual holds the correct beliefs or if God just decides who will be saved and who will be damned by deciding who will have faith and who will not.  It can seem like a damper on the joy of a loving Jesus getting you to heaven when so many people you like or love on Earth probably won’t be there.  This is a major reason I stay on the more liberal side of Christianity and don’t think I would be very happy in a conservative religious group.

Of course, many fundamentalist may doubt I’m a Christian for not believing God sends people to hell.  After all, they believe the Bible rejects universalism, and if I don’t believe in something the Bible says, they may think I’ve not truly accepted Christ—and thus—I’m going to you-know-where.

Maybe the Bible does make it challenging to argue for universalism (though I’m skeptical if it really precludes the belief as much as some claim).  However, the idea that God sends people to be eternally tortured in hell seems to go against both the heart and mind.  One can say “Anne Frank was not saved because she didn’t have faith in Jesus Christ” or one can more bluntly state “Anne Frank went from Hitler’s ovens to God’s ovens.”  How can one not be appalled by such a notion?  Of course, there’s that thing about whatever God does is right, and even if it doesn’t seem right to us, it is right because God is God.  But of course it seems natural to be repulsed by the idea that God would impose eternal suffering on the victims of such horror, who seemingly suffered enough on Earth.

I also remember hearing about a Native American boy who witnessed much of his family get killed by American troops.  American missionaries told him he could go to heaven by believing in Christianity, but he replied that if Christianity is true, he doesn’t want to go to heaven because his family won’t be there.

I have been attending a few progressive mainline churches, which tend not to talk about hell much, if at all.  Some of them may even be open the possibility of universalism, even if they don’t take an official position.  I’ve currently been attending services at a progressive Lutheran (ELCA) church, where the pastor has stated that non-Christians also go to heaven and that Jesus died for all of our sins, and not even holding wrong religious beliefs can keep one from God’s grace.  I like these beliefs, and I choose to believe them, even though I’m never sure how anyone can be certain of any religious beliefs.

You can likely never know the certainty of some issues but with moral issues you can.

Should you not base which religion you follow based on morality?

If your morality is not your number one concern and reason for seeking a God, what is it?

On a moral note, as it pertains to Jesus as Messiah, please view this link and opine on the morality or lack of it with substitutionary atonement which you have to buy into if you follow the usual Jesus scapegoat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKNup9gEBdg

Regards
DL

[HillGoose]

Mormon, don't believe in hell

[°Leprechaun]

TDAS04..

Excellent, you are right on about that.

It's so sad that Christianity has become so perverted.

I was UU for over twenty years, because such ideas appealed to me, but like I have said in the past, whether or not there is an eternal hell "after death", we seem to be living on a very hellish planet. For five hundred years we have been living in Fantasyland, have any of you heard about that book?

[Enduro]

This is something that a lot of people have trouble understanding: God doesn't send anyone to Hell. Hell is your choice. When you decide how you're gonna live everyday, you decide if you're gonna have eternal damnation or eternal life.

He doesn't want anyone to go there, but He knows that those choices come with the free will He gave us.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

I'm ambivalent about the existence of a literal Hell, but I lean towards the theory that Christ's atonement defeated the powers of evil that bind mankind so that salvation might be available to all who choose it on their own free will, including those who lost God or didn't find God in this life.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

We are the lost sheep.  Christ is the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.

[Greatest I am]

This is something that a lot of people have trouble understanding: God doesn't send anyone to Hell. Hell is your choice. When you decide how you're gonna live everyday, you decide if you're gonna have eternal damnation or eternal life.

He doesn't want anyone to go there, but He knows that those choices come with the free will He gave us.

The free will you see is hogwash as you do not have the free will to not ever sin.

Christians are always trying to absolve God of moral culpability in the fall by whipping out their favorite "free will!", or “ it’s all man’s fault”.

That is "God gave us free will and it was our free willed choices that caused our fall. Hence God is not blameworthy."

But this simply avoids God's culpability as the author of Human Nature. Free will is only the ability to choose. It is not an explanation why anyone would want to choose "A" or "B" (bad or good action). An explanation for why Eve would even have the nature of "being vulnerable to being easily swayed by a serpent" and "desiring to eat a forbidden fruit" must lie in the nature God gave Eve in the first place. Hence God is culpable for deliberately making humans with a nature-inclined-to-fall, and "free will" means nothing as a response to this problem.

If all sin by nature then, the sin nature is dominant. If not, we would have at least some who would not sin. That being the case, for God to punish us for following the instincts and natures he put in us would be quite wrong.

You, my friend, have been listening to your lying clergy for so long that you may have forgotten how to think.

Regards
DL

[Greatest I am]

I'm ambivalent about the existence of a literal Hell, but I lean towards the theory that Christ's atonement defeated the powers of evil that bind mankind so that salvation might be available to all who choose it on their own free will, including those who lost God or didn't find God in this life.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

We are the lost sheep.  Christ is the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.

So you think that the murder of an innocent man instead of the punishing of the guilty is somehow a good and just way to forgive us, instead of just forgiving us outright.

How immoral of you.

No wonder this Bishop thinks your immoral ideology is what will  kill Christianity.

If your immoral scapegoat using mind let's you listen to a moral one, have a listen.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKNup9gEBdg

Regards
DL

[Greatest I am]

Christ is the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.

If you were a shepherd, would you lay down your life for your sheep and leave your family to suffer without you and make their own way?

If you would, you are not much of a good shepherd.

Regards
DL

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I cope with hell by having Greatest I am on ignore so I am not tormented by his ravings.

[Mr. Smith]

Mormon, don't believe in hell

[America's Sweetheart ❤/𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕭𝖔𝖔𝖙𝖞 𝖂𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖗]

Mormon Atheist, don't believe in hell