Go To Church To Hear About Jesus? No Way!

[Earthling]

You really need to find another source for your propaganda. Especially when it comes to JWs. JWs don't believe in hell. 0%. Any other teaching of the JW's is going to be 100%. JW's don't differ among themselves regarding teachings of the Bible or related issues. 100% of JWs reject hell, reject evolution, reject homosexual behavior, reject abortion, etc.

 

[Skwim]

Actually, what surprises me the MOST is that 5% of ATHEISTS believe in Heaven and 3% belief in Hell. Agnostics have a great percent and of 14%/9%

That's amazing.

But agnostics are fence sitters, some of whom may be leaning quite close to Christian ideas.

.

 

[Skwim]

What I find most interesting is across all of them people believe less in eternal punishment.

Considering how people are prone to distancing themselves from the uncomfortable, or ignoring it completely, I don't find this odd at all.

​

.

 

[Jumi]

I highly doubt any difference would be significant.

All right. I'd just guess the belief in hell is going down in all groups.

In light of the following this is very strange.

The Catholic Teaching on Hell
by Fr. John Trigilio, PhD, ThD.

Q. Can people really go to Hell?

A. The existence of Heaven and Hell are formal doctrines of Christianity. Hell exists as does Heaven. Hell was created primarily for the fallen angels who rebelled against God and fought the Archangel Michael. Human beings have the potential or possibility of going to Hell because we also have the possibility and potential to go to Heaven (by God’s grace). (CCC #1035)
source.​

​

Yes, the Catholics still believe in hell. I first heard a protestant priest say that there's probably no good reason to believe in hell around 30 years ago. To be a priest in my country you need to have a masters degree in theology, so they would learn the history of the bible and so on... so hell's on it's way out.

A translated quote from where I live:

It seems that many modern churches have not heard of hell and the preachers avoid the whole thing.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

You really need to find another source for your propaganda. Especially when it comes to JWs. JWs don't believe in hell. 0%. Any other teaching of the JW's is going to be 100%. JW's don't differ among themselves regarding teachings of the Bible or related issues. 100% of JWs reject hell, reject evolution, reject homosexual behavior, reject abortion, etc.

I find what Jehovah's Witnesses believe is found at www.jw.org and www.jwbroadcasting

I find what is rejected is a literal hell fire, in other words, 'biblical hell' is just mankind's temporary grave.
Temporary grave until Resurrection Day meaning Jesus' coming 'millennium-long day' of governing over the Earth.
Temporary stone-cold grave for the sleeping dead because Jesus and the OT teach sleep in death:
- John 11:11-14; Psalms 6:5; Psalms 13:3; Psalms 115:17; Psalms 146:4; Isaiah 38:18; Ecclesiastes 9:5
KJV translated the word Gehenna into English as hell fire.
Gehenna was just a garbage pit outside of Jerusalem where things were destroyed Not burning forever.
Thus, Gehenna is a fitting word for destruction, as found at Psalms 92:7 the wicked will be destroyed forever.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

I believe in heaven and hell!

I wonder to which hell are you referring: The non-bilbical hell of burning forever, or the Bible's temporary grave ____
I also find believing in heaven, does Not necessarily mean heaven is for everyone because Jesus promised at Matthew 5:5 that humble meek people will inherit the Earth as found at Psalms 37:9-11.
So, besides heaven above, and the grave (temporary biblical hell), there is going to be everlasting life on Earth.

 

[Skwim]

A
Yes, the Catholics still believe in hell. I first heard a protestant priest say that there's probably no good reason to believe in hell around 30 years ago. To be a priest in my country you need to have a masters degree in theology, so they would learn the history of the bible and so on... so hell's on it's way out.

A translated quote from where I live:

In the USA "priest" is usually reserved for leaders in the Catholic, and sometimes Episcopal, faiths. The other Christian denominations generally call their leaders pastors or ministers.

.

 

[Skwim]

I wonder to which hell are you referring: The non-bilbical hell of burning forever, or the Bible's temporary grave ____

Hmmmm. . . . So what do you do with the following verses, just ignore them?.

Mark 9:43
43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.

Jude 1:7
7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

Matthew 13:50
50 They will put the bad people into the never-ending hell fire. There they will cry and make a noise with their teeth.'

Revelation 21:8
8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”​

.

 

[Kenny]

But agnostics are fence sitters, some of whom may be leaning quite close to Christian ideas.

.

Very wise of them! It's called "Open minded".

 

[Kenny]

Hmmmm. . . . So what do you do with the following verses, just ignore them?.

Mark 9:43
43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.​

.

So... if it is so literal, as you suggest, why didn't anybody cut their hands or, in another verse, pluck out their eyes?

 

[Skwim]

So... if it is so literal, as you suggest, why didn't anybody cut their hands or, in another verse, pluck out their eyes?

Do you know for a fact that no one ever did? In any case, let's stay on topic.

.

 

[Kenny]

Do you know for a fact that no one ever did? In any case, let's stay on topic.

.

No one did... absolutely.

Isn't "Heaven - Hell" and belief in it the topic?

 

[Skwim]

No one did... absolutely.

Isn't "Heaven - Hell" and belief in it the topic?

Yes it is, but cutting their hands or, in another verse, plucking out their eyes is not.

.

 

[Jumi]

In the USA "priest" is usually reserved for leaders in the Catholic, and sometimes Episcopal, faiths. The other Christian denominations generally call their leaders pastors or ministers. .

Did not know that. Here they are mostly translated into English as priests or (rarely) women-priests if female. I'd assumed it's the same for most Evangelic Lutherans(the denom here), but now I'm not sure.

 

[viole]

I came across the following stats and found some of them kind of interesting.

1) 3% of atheists believe in Hell and 5% believe in Heaven. WHAT THE HELL'S WITH THAT???

2) More agnostics (9%) believe in Hell than do JWs (7%).

3) Fewer JWs (50%) believe in Heaven than any other Christian denomination believes in Heaven or Hell.

4) Only 40% of Jews believe in Heaven,

6) But most surprising of all, to me anyway, was that 15% of Christians don't believe in Heaven. And 30% don't believe in Hell.

​

The JWs aside because they only make up a small fraction of Christians, what's going on with the other denominations in that they can't do any better than convincing 85% of their congregants to believe in Heaven? And even Hell isn't scaring them that much; only 70% are buying it. Could it be, as has been sometimes asserted, that for many people church is more for socializing than getting right with god? Fifteen percent go to church not to hear about Jesus and such, but to hear about their neighbors.

Could this be why church attendance is plummeting, people are finding the religion irrelevant?

.

I heard about some polls that show that American nones are more religious than European Christians. On average.

Ciao

- viole

 

[Kenny]

Yes it is, but cutting their hands or, in another verse, plucking out their eyes is not.

.

Then, I can see where a Christian can believe there is no Hell, (as it can be interpreted as an analogy) or a Heaven, as that could be understood as the new earth.

But what is uninterpretable, in my view, is how an atheist can believe in a Hell or a Heaven. That is quite a contradiction, don't you think? How do you work around that position?

 

[Skwim]

But what is uninterpretable, in my view, is how an atheist can believe in a Hell or a Heaven. That is quite a contradiction, don't you think? How do you work around that position?

Ya got me. "Tis a puzzlement!"

.

 

[Dell]

I came across the following stats and found some of them kind of interesting.

1) 3% of atheists believe in Hell and 5% believe in Heaven. WHAT THE HELL'S WITH THAT???

2) More agnostics (9%) believe in Hell than do JWs (7%).

3) Fewer JWs (50%) believe in Heaven than any other Christian denomination believes in Heaven or Hell.

4) Only 40% of Jews believe in Heaven,

6) But most surprising of all, to me anyway, was that 15% of Christians don't believe in Heaven. And 30% don't believe in Hell.

​

The JWs aside because they only make up a small fraction of Christians, what's going on with the other denominations in that they can't do any better than convincing 85% of their congregants to believe in Heaven? And even Hell isn't scaring them that much; only 70% are buying it. Could it be, as has been sometimes asserted, that for many people church is more for socializing than getting right with god? Fifteen percent go to church not to hear about Jesus and such, but to hear about their neighbors.

Could this be why church attendance is plummeting, people are finding the religion irrelevant?

.

There must be some margin of error in this poll.... atheist that believe in the biblical heaven or hell has to be a mistake... Christians that don't believe in heaven sounds odd too...

 

[Skwim]

There must be some margin of error in this poll.... atheist that believe in the biblical heaven or hell has to be a mistake... Christians that don't believe in heaven sounds odd too...

Yeah, it does make one wonder. HERE is the article in which it appeared. And it's pretty much a given that some margin of error exists, but I don't recall any study, whether done by Pew, Gallup, or anyone else that's published for the lay audience ever including it.

.

 

[Watchmen]

Fascinating numbers. Not sure I have an answer to your question, but thanks for posting.