Frank Goad
Well-Known Member
Why did God make humans.If he knew from the start some would go to hell?I ask this because if God is all knowing.He knew some people were going to hell and some weren't.From the very beginning.
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
Why did God make humans.If he knew from the start some would go to hell?I ask this because if God is all knowing.He knew some people were going to hell and some weren't.From the very beginning.
I've attempted to illustrate in another thread, but "Hell" is a concept that has been built from various pre-existing cultural notions and given a very fear-based control twist. Needless to say it has all gotten far out of hand, serves the Church more than it does the god of Abraham, and the more one learns about the history of the doctrines surrounding "Hell", the less one fears it.Why did God make humans.If he knew from the start some would go to hell?
God is creating a kingdom and he wants only people who will be good citizens to enjoy the benefits of living in his kingdom. Those who will not be good citizens will not be allowed to enter the kingdom.
What is hell but the distancing from God which people have chosen and lived their lives accordingly.
The same goes for the angels God created while knowing that some would rebel against Him and end up distancing themselves from Him.
He is the source of life and the closer we are to God the more life we have and the more of God's glory and beauty we can reflect.
The further we distance ourselves from Him the more dead spiritually we become and the less glory of God we can reflect.
Some people seem to want to run from God and it is their choice.
I can understand it to an extent because we all have that in us, the desire to be our own boss, to do our own thing.
God knows all things and could see what would happen and decided that taking everything into consideration it was worth it for the sake of those who do not turn from God.
But just what hell is,,,,,,,,,,,our ideas of hell can colour how we might answer your question.
I personally do not see it as a place where God torments people forever as punishment.
Whatever it is I trust God that it will be both just and merciful and that those who are not there will understand why and accept God's judgement as right and good.
What is hell but the distancing from God which people have chosen and lived their lives accordingly.
Sorry to disappoint you but no one will be getting by in hell. Hell is a place of destruction. Those who go there will be burned up. Not something anyone should look forward to.That's fine, then. The people who most loudly insist they are destined for heaven are the people I would least want to spend eternity with. I guess I'll be happily getting by in hell, along with all the other creative types, scientists, freethinkers, visionaries, edgy artists and musicians, etc.
Hel is the grave and Home of the Dead, a realm of comfort and final rest. What you're referring to is Abbadon, yet no one there is "burned up". It's simply obliteration. Yet if the alternative is bumping elbows with Yahweh's best and dimmest zealots, yeet me home to eternal nothingness.Hell is a place of destruction. Those who go there will be burned up. Not something anyone should look forward to.
That's fine, then. The people who most loudly insist they are destined for heaven are the people I would least want to spend eternity with. I guess I'll be happily getting by in hell, along with all the other creative types, scientists, freethinkers, visionaries, edgy artists and musicians, etc.
C.S. Lewis "Great Divorce" was all about that thought.
So then for an atheist, you think hell will just be more of the same? We can just be happy somewhere with like-minded people and carry on with whatever we enjoy as we did in our corporeal lives? Sounds pretty great. It seems like you acknowledge that this is just your personal subjective opinion about what you want hell to be, though, so I'm not sure why you or anyone else would believe it? Just because it's emotionally appealing?
I wish you the best of luck and hope you are happy there.Hel is the grave and Home of the Dead, a realm of comfort and final rest. What you're referring to is Abbadon, yet no one there is "burned up". It's simply obliteration. Yet if the alternative is bumping elbows with Yahweh's best and dimmest zealots, yeet me home to eternal nothingness.
It is not a question of creativity or scientific acumen or freedom of thought or visionaries or artistic talent etc unless you have a very negative opinion of people you think might end up in the Kingdom.
Even if you are evil along with the others who end up outside the Kingdom, I doubt that you would want to spend eternity with other evil people even if they are really talented.
Sorry to disappoint you but no one will be getting by in hell. Hell is a place of destruction. Those who go there will be burned up. Not something anyone should look forward to.
The problem is that Christians define evil as "being human but not believing in and worshipping the Christian god" since we're all sinners who deserve hell by default. Most people in the world don't consider this definition to be "evil" or worthy of punishment, let alone infinite punishment, and most of those people are what I would consider good. So, I expect I would want to spend eternity with other people I consider good, for precisely the reason you consider them evil.
Realize too, that under standard Christian theology, a terrible, racist, misogynist, deranged psychopathic murderer could sincerely repent on his deathbed and then go to heaven. (Or can god not save criminals? Should we tell the prison ministries?) As far I can tell, there is no relation to someone's character and their ultimate destination based on this model. The filter seems based only on obedience, gullibility, and a capacity for subservient groveling. I don't see much of a moral differentiation there, but I wouldn't want to hang out with such people either way. I would rather be with the non-believers, the vast majority of which would be kind, wonderful people.
No, I don't think that hell will just be more of the same. I don't know what hell will be but I know it will be hell.
Even if it ends in complete annihilation the path there will probably not be a pleasant one.
I might even involve the withdrawing of those blessings from God that we have now for those who have rejected God.
But judgement is not up to me.
To give human a chance to realize that if they do not fix their own wrongdoing so they can be saved. Unfortunatly not every human will understand this. And only God could forgive them and take them home then...Why did God make humans.If he knew from the start some would go to hell?I ask this because if God is all knowing.He knew some people were going to hell and some weren't.From the very beginning.
Sorry but you did not get the right message. There is nothing to get used to. Destroyed means destroyed, burned up. non existence. If you think you can get used to that then good luck to you.Under this model, I expect I'd get used to the discomfort after a few million years. That or all the scientists would have engineered some air conditioning down there. We humans are adaptable. Then it would be a great place, full of people will intellectual integrity, creativity, and a better moral character than the Christian god. It couldn't be worse than worshipping a psychopathic monster for all eternity, while surrounded by gullible, judgmental, sanctimonious little monsters.