|
Author
|
Topic: A Lesson on Hell
|
Carol Swenson
Admin
Member # 6929
|
posted
Why Would God Create a Person Who Would be Destined for Hell?
INTRODUCTION
Christianity claims that God knows everything. The theological term is "omniscience." There are some implications of this doctrine that non-believers find troubling or even unacceptable to the concept of a loving God. If God knows everything, then He knows that some people whom He creates will end up in hell. Why would God create people who are destined for hell? It turns out that there are many unstated assumptions in this question, which are not valid for Christianity. A related question, "Why wouldn't God just create everyone to enjoy the glory of heaven?" will also be answered.
Destined for hell / Predestined for hell
The first, and most prevalent, incorrect assumption is that a person who is destined for hell has been predestined for hell by God. This is false. People choose to go to hell rather than submit their lives to God. You have absolute free will within the confines of your personal ability. You can prove this to yourself. Determine two possible courses of action. They don't have to be big decisions, just any two possible actions. Assign each action to either "heads" or "tails." Flip the coin and do what whatever course chance decided. You can do this as many times as needed to determine that you do, indeed, have free will. Occasionally, do the opposite of what the coins tell you. Has God prevented you from doing anything? No!
God alone created you
The second incorrect assumption is that God alone has created you. You are the product of choices made by your parents. Therefore, God has not predestined you to be born at all. How can you blame Him for creating you to send you to hell?
This is not to say that God is not involved at all in the creation of life. The Bible says that once a new human life is made God creates a spirit within the fetus and knows us at that point, even calling some to serve Him from the womb.
People destined for hell have no earthly purpose
The third incorrect assumption is that a person destined for hell has no purpose in this life. This is also false. All people living have a purpose. Some people destined for hell will save other's lives, either intentionally or unintentionally. Others destined for hell will be helped, encouraged, and witnessed to by others who are destined for heaven. Those who follow God's plan are provided opportunities to help others in their spiritual path. If all people were on the same spiritual path, there would be nobody for God's people to help. God says that all are without excuse, so He provides witnesses of his plan to give them a chance to change their minds.
Rewards and punishment
Another possible assumption is that the only purpose of this life is to choose to follow God or reject Him. This is also false. This life is used as a measure of reward and punishment. All who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will go to heaven, but the amount of reward in heaven will be directly related to how closely each one followed God's will in his life. Likewise, all those who reject Jesus Christ will go to hell and will be punished to the degree of how much evil they committed in their life. This is why God allows people to make their own choices.
Skeptics might claim that God, in knowing all the choices a person would make, would not need to create all the people who would end up in hell. This question also has some underlying assumptions. The assumption is that since God knows all the answers, He would have no need of "running the experiment."
Just put the good people directly into heaven?
The assumption that God could just put the good people directly into heaven seems to be valid for God, but has some problems when applied to humans. For some reason, skeptics leave themselves out of the equation. They want God to run the thought experiment and put those souls who would make the right choice (believe in Jesus Christ) directly into heaven and not even create those who would reject Him. The problem is that God would then be liable to the accusation of rewarding some people more than others, since reward is proportional to good deeds done in life. Since there was no real life, how could God hand out rewards? Should He tell people what they would have done and let them be content with that? How would those souls know anything about life, goodness, and doing the right thing if they had never lived before? God could be considered to be unjust, since His actions would not be based upon choices made by real characters. Would God just put those fake memories into their heads? If He did so, God would be creating deceptions, which contradicts His perfect character.
When people think deeply about their "perfect" plan about what God "should have done," they realize that there are logical problems. What most people would create, as god, would be robots, since they would have no choice at all. Ever try loving your computer? It is not a very satisfying relationship. So it would be with the robots that skeptics would send directly into heaven.
CONCLUSION
The "problems" about the loving God of Christianity posed by the skeptics rests on invalid assumptions. Based on an invalid understanding of God's foreknowledge, they seek to avoid the consequences of their free will choice by offering a "solution" that violates the perfect character of God. Therefore, the "solution" would not be a valid solution for the God of Christianity.
(Rich Deem)
http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/destined.html
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
| IP: Logged | 
|
|
|
|
|
|
MentorsRiddle
Advanced Member
Member # 2108
|
posted
What do you beleive in Mr. Jack?
--------------------
With you I rise,
In you I sleep,
kneeling down I kiss your feet,
Grace abounds upon me now,
I once was lost
but now I'm found.
The gift of God dwells within,
To this love I now give in.
Posts: 1337 | From: Arkansas | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
|
|
jumpinjack
Advanced Member
Member # 7721
|
posted
KH:
I'd be interested in reading some of those posts from people who didn't "believe" in a "hell".
Posts: 221 | From: wichita, ks | Registered: May 2009
| IP: Logged |
|
|
|
|
MentorsRiddle
Advanced Member
Member # 2108
|
posted
Well, it certainly doesn't sound like a nice place to be.
I couldn't imagine such a horrible place.
Thanks for the study and time in writing this post.
--------------------
With you I rise,
In you I sleep,
kneeling down I kiss your feet,
Grace abounds upon me now,
I once was lost
but now I'm found.
The gift of God dwells within,
To this love I now give in.
Posts: 1337 | From: Arkansas | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
|
|
practicalbibleteaching
Advanced Member
Member # 7755
|
posted
Let's examine Hell in the Bible by taking a look at the Hebrew and Greek words which are translated Hell.
OLD TESTAMENT: Sheol - Meaning, the world of the dead. Thirty-one times translated Hell, thirty times translated The Grave, and three times translated The Pit. Sheol in the Old Testament was the dwelling place of all those who had physically died, both saved and lost. It was most always spoken of in a negative sense and its division into two parts was not clearly seen. However, the righteous were promised deliverance from it.
NEW TESTAMENT: Hades - Meaning, the place of departed souls. It is the same place as the Old Testament Sheol. Ten times it is translated Hell and one time it is translated Grave, 1 Cor 15:55, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? In the New Testament we clearly see that Hades or Sheol at one time was divided into two distinct parts. Luke 16:19-31, Acts 2:25-31. Jesus Himself spent three days and nights in Hades. Jesus said in Matt 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. In these passages we have seen what Hades or Sheol (Hell) was like before the resurrection of Christ. But what about now? Eph 4:8-10 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) When Jesus rose from the dead he took the saints to the third heaven. We find this prophecy about hell in Isa 5:14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. Hades or Sheol is now a place reserved only for those who have rejected Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Gehenna - Meaning, the valley of the son of Hinnom, the place of everlasting punishment. Eleven times it is translated Hell, it is never translated death or the grave. Ten of the eleven times it's used, it's used by Jesus Christ Himself. He chose to use it to describe the place of punishment for those who reject God. The valley of the son of Hinnom was a literal place in the time of Christ just outside the wall of Jerusalem on the eastern side. In Old Testament times it was a place abominable acts. 2 Chron 28:1-3, 2 Chron 33:1-6. It was a place of human sacrifice to false gods. In the revival which took place under the rule of King Josiah it is said in 2 Kings 23:10 that ...he defiled Topheth (the altar upon which human sacrifices took place), which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. Josiah turned the valley of the son of Hinnom into a dump for unclean things. It became a place where the bodies of animals were dumped and unclean things were burned. This is what the valley was during the time of Christ. Because of the continual dumping it was a place where the worm never died and the fire never went out. That is what Jesus used to describe what Hell is like.
Tartarus - Meaning, the deepest abyss of Hell. It is used only one time. 2 Pet 2:4 ...God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. Evidently Tartarus is a special place in Hell where certain wicked angels are bound in chains until the day of judgment.
Let's look now at Bible descriptions of Hell.
1. A Place of Outer darkness. Matt 8:12 ...the children of the kingdom (the Jews which reject Christ) shall be cast out into outer darkness. Jesus is speaking not so much of physical light as He is spiritual light. 1 John 1:5 ...God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Hell is a place where people will be separated from God.
2. A Place of Unquenchable Fire. Mark 9:43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. In Hell the fire burns so hot and so strong that all the water on earth could not put it out.
3. A Place of Weeping. Matt 8:12 ...the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping. In Hell the weeping comes from the very depth of the soul yet there is no comfort.
4. A Place of Gnashing of Teeth. Matt 8:12 ...the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In Hell the pain is so terrible that people will grind their teeth in torment, but there will be no relief.
5. A Place Called The Bottomless Pit. Rev 9:1-2 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. In Hell there is no place to grab on to, no place to set your foot, a constant feeling of falling and insecurity. Because Hell is a bottomless pit, it is a place that will never be filled. There is room there for everyone. No one will split Hell wide open. People enter Hell totally unnoticed by everyone except God.
6. A Place of Terrible Torment. Rev 9:1-9, People in Hell are being tormented by these locusts right now.
7. A Place Where Punishment is Everlasting. After the battle of Armageddon we read the fate of the beast and the false prophet. Rev 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. After the 1,000 year reign of Christ we read of the fate of Satan. Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Those in Hell will suffer there until The Great White Throne Judgment where they will be judged and cast into an eternal Lake of Fire. Rev 20:11-15 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Since Hell is cast into the Lake of Fire we must imagine that the Lake of Fire will hold all the torments of Hell plus many more. Satan, the beast, the false prophet, and all those who reject Christ will suffer in the Lake of Fire for eternity without end.
--------------------
The Church of Jesus Christ is perfect for those who are not!
Posts: 53 | From: Tennessee | Registered: Jun 2009
| IP: Logged |
|
|
|
Printer-friendly view of this topic
