Hell? Yes!
It is very common these days to think that God is such a nice guy He
could never toss anyone into Hell. I had that idea once too. But
this is just a gut reaction you get from people. If you actually
think about Hell, hell, it's a good idea!
There are three main points to look at regarding Hell. First, what
do we here on Earth do with people who refuse to behave themselves?
The worst ones, the thieves, the murderers, the rapists and so on
all get locked up in prison where they can't do any damage to the
majority of people who pretty much behave themselves. God simply
takes this idea one step further. Everyone who has even the
slightest inclination to be selfish, proud, arrogant, greedy and so
on, would, if they arrived in Heaven, ruin the place for everyone
else. The only way Heaven can be heavenly is if only perfect people
get in. So that's what God does. He only lets perfect people get
in. You might think that this excludes absolutely everyone but it
doesn't. God will make you over into a perfect person if that's
what you want. And the makeover is a free gift.
The second point is that God says that even one little sin will get
you into Hell FOREVER. Atheists always object that a God who would
torture you in Hell FOREVER is just not a very nice guy and so
either God doesn't exist OR if He does exist, they don't want
anything to do with such a bad guy. Since even one tiny sin will
get you into hell FOREVER, atheists say that just isn't fair.
They'll say the punishment should fit the crime. No one should be
punished forever for a little sin. That's the way punishment works
here on Earth. A lawbreaker gets a punishment that fits the crime but
after a certain amount of time the punishment ends. The more
serious the crime, the greater the punishment, but the punishment
always ends.
Of course, the reason one little sin will land you in Hell forever
is that nobody produces just one tiny little sin. Sinners have a
SELFISH NATURE that produces sin after sin. EVEN ONE little sin
shows that you have that selfish nature. You get to Hell for that
overall selfish nature and not for just one tiny little sin.
Sinners cannot even conceive of all the things they do that are
sinful. Christians don't always mention the fact that people have a
selfish nature so quite often people think that they can "pay for"
their sins by doing good deeds to make up for their bad deeds. This
obviously doesn't work since EVEN IF you could pay for a sin, your
sinful nature will eventually produce another sin. Then this makes
you unfit for Heaven.
The third point to look at regarding hell gives you the best
understanding of what God is really up to. It starts out with God
is a nice guy and He'll give you whatever you want. You know, God
just wants to make people happy! But when God looks at what you
want, the first thing He looks at is: "How do you want to relate to
everyone else?". There are only two choices. Choice number one is
to put yourself first and do whatever YOU think is best for YOU.
Everyone who is old enough will inevitably do this. God knows you
will. He wants you to learn about selfishness. He wants you to see
that a world full of selfish people is a mess. There is just no way
to fix it. He wants you to notice how bad other people are. And,
of course, He wants you to notice how bad YOU are. He wants you to
get sick of sin and decide to repent and trust in Him to run your
life.
The other choice you have about how you want to relate to everyone
else is to humble yourself and listen to God and do what He wants
you to do. Then things will turn out well for you and for
everyone else. God does, after all, have plans that are good for
you and everyone else. Again, God just really wants to make
everyone happy!
But now what happens if you make choice number one where you just
decide to have things your own way? You are, in effect, saying to
God, "God, I don't need you, so just leave me alone and let me run my
own life". Well, He will leave you alone. Here on Earth, God will
give you a sample of that kind of life. Atheists always complain
that if there is a God He ought to show himself. But if you don't
want anything to do with Him, just why should He show Himself to
YOU? Shouldn't He just let you go on thinking that He isn't there?
This is, after all, exactly what you want! You want a world without
Him. Here on Earth, God even made the world old and gave the world
Charles Darwin and the idea of evolution so that people who don't
want God can go and believe that life can develop and evolve by
chance. (PLUS something else is going on that is educational. God
is showing people who DO want God that there are people who DO NOT
want God.)
But now, God knows A LOT. He knows if you will never, ever, ever,
want anything to do with Him. In this case, He's going to give you
EXACTLY what you want FOREVER. He's going to give you a world where you
don't have to have ANYTHING to do with Him. In that world, He won't
give you a nice big house on a nice little planet. He won't give
you a job, a car, a vacation or anything at all! Why should He?
Your highest priority is that you don't want to have anything to do
with Him! Then, think, what if He went against your wishes and
tried to give you and everyone else who doesn't want anything to do
with Him some nice things anyway? The answer is that it would be
just like Earth is now, only worse. Everyone would be hating and
fighting each other and all the nice things would just end up
getting destroyed.
Then there is the idea that Hell is burning with fire and brimstone.
Critics always say that a God who throws people into a world of fire
and brimstone is just not a very nice guy. Now I have no idea if
the following idea is true. I have never found this anywhere in the
Bible so the following is just a guess. Here on Earth we have
people who "get all steamed up", get "hot under the collar", are
"hotheads", are "burning with anger" and are "burning with hate".
So I strongly suspect that the fires in Hell are caused by the
people who are there. They're burning with hate for their fate,
burning with hate for God and burning with hate for their neighbor.
I think they're creating the flames themselves.
So, even with a burning hot Hell that lasts forever, God is still a
nice guy. He's giving everyone EXACTLY what they want. Either a
world with Him or a world without Him. If giving everyone EXACTLY
what they want isn't fair, I want to hear about it!
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