Anonymous
Post 01/28/2015 09:16     Subject: Re:Do you believe in Hell?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm a Christian. I do not believe in hell, at least not in the way people have been coerced into believing. If you take the time to research the original Biblical text you'll find that nothing like "hell" is ever mentioned in the scripture. Here's a really easy to read link with some examples. http://www.thehypertexts.com/no%20hell%20in%20the%20bible.htm Do some research on the original meaning of the words that were later translated to mean "hell". They aren't even close.

The Hell we are warned about today didn't exist in Biblical times. "Hell" was created by powerful people as a means of control. Nothing more. Think about it logically. If you are a Christian, you know that God is all good. All loving. All compassion. He created you out from an abundance of love. As your Creator, He/She is incapable of causing you pain. Is there anything one of your children could do - anything at all - that would cause you to send him to an eternity of suffering an pain? God's love for us is even greater than the love we have for our children and for each other. He is author of love!

Fundamental Christianity is nothing short of religious abuse. I believe it has damaged many, many people (like the pp who is terrified of hell). Christianity is wonderful! Christ was a living example of God's perfect love. To be a Christian means to be "Christ-like". What could possibly be better than modeling your life after someone who was kind, compassionate, loving, forgiving, generous, enlightened .... All things we should strive to be. Being Christ-like has nothing to do with terrifying people into religious submission.

God is All-good. All-loving. All-powerful. Love. Light. Perfection. Grace. He created you and wants only your highest and best.


Fundamentalists, who depend solely on the Bible for their beliefs, definitely think Hell is a real place. How do you account for that, if it's not in the Bible?


It's in the Bible that they read. But if you go back and read scripture before it was translated and retranslated and before powerful people decided what should and should not be included, it's pretty clear that "hell" didn't exist in the way we are taught that it did.

Sorry, no. The Gospels are intact from when they written, in Greek, in the first century. And in them, Jesus discusses Hell numerous times. Yes, he uses some metaphor, but his descriptions of out darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth, eternal fire, torment, and everlasting conscious destruction should give anyone pause who claims to be a Christian but denies the reality of Hell. Hell is the backdrop of God's love for us. Hell was prepared for Satan and his angels, who rebelled even while in Heaven and fully aware of exactly who God is. Those who reject Christ are afforded this same eternal dwelling place with those who die in their sin without being forgiven by Christ, whose who ultimately cast their lot against God and with this angelic rebellion. It is God's great love for us that caused him to offer His son, Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh, as a sacrifice for us to save us from this fate.
Anonymous
Post 01/28/2015 09:08     Subject: Re:Do you believe in Hell?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm a Christian. I do not believe in hell, at least not in the way people have been coerced into believing. If you take the time to research the original Biblical text you'll find that nothing like "hell" is ever mentioned in the scripture. Here's a really easy to read link with some examples. http://www.thehypertexts.com/no%20hell%20in%20the%20bible.htm Do some research on the original meaning of the words that were later translated to mean "hell". They aren't even close.

The Hell we are warned about today didn't exist in Biblical times. "Hell" was created by powerful people as a means of control. Nothing more. Think about it logically. If you are a Christian, you know that God is all good. All loving. All compassion. He created you out from an abundance of love. As your Creator, He/She is incapable of causing you pain. Is there anything one of your children could do - anything at all - that would cause you to send him to an eternity of suffering an pain? God's love for us is even greater than the love we have for our children and for each other. He is author of love!

Fundamental Christianity is nothing short of religious abuse. I believe it has damaged many, many people (like the pp who is terrified of hell). Christianity is wonderful! Christ was a living example of God's perfect love. To be a Christian means to be "Christ-like". What could possibly be better than modeling your life after someone who was kind, compassionate, loving, forgiving, generous, enlightened .... All things we should strive to be. Being Christ-like has nothing to do with terrifying people into religious submission.

God is All-good. All-loving. All-powerful. Love. Light. Perfection. Grace. He created you and wants only your highest and best.


Nice, but sounds like you've decided to believe what's most comfortable for you - no hell, and a loving god who provided no punishment to people who do not follow him.


I'm not saying that at all. I believe that God set up our universe with natural laws. Unfortunately, we really do reap what we sow. Some people call that the Law of Circulation. What you put out comes back to you. I don't believe that people who are truly evil will go to "heaven" (whatever that means to you). However, not being with God does not equal spending an eternity roasting in a fire pit. I don't claim to know the answers. I think anyone who does needs to check his ego. However, I have spent a lot of time in prayer, meditation, thought, and study. Nothing at all about the God I know leads me to believe that He/She would ever send someone to an eternity of suffering.


What you've said seems only to support the notion that you've decided to believe what's most comfortable for you. You've given it a lot of thought, prayer, meditation and study and this is what YOU've come up with - fine - it's your notion. Others might come to the same personal conclusion after a similar process and others come to different conclusions, as evident in this discussion.

For instance, others say it doesn't make sense that a god would punish OR reward its creation and everything they know about biological life, indicates that it begins ends in a biological way, then ultimately becomes dust, through some type of decay - burial or incineration. Therefore they reject the notion of any kind of god.
Anonymous
Post 01/28/2015 09:02     Subject: Re:Do you believe in Hell?
No. I can't understand how people actually believe this crap. So weird.
Anonymous
Post 01/28/2015 08:55     Subject: Re:Do you believe in Hell?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm a Christian. I do not believe in hell, at least not in the way people have been coerced into believing. If you take the time to research the original Biblical text you'll find that nothing like "hell" is ever mentioned in the scripture. Here's a really easy to read link with some examples. http://www.thehypertexts.com/no%20hell%20in%20the%20bible.htm Do some research on the original meaning of the words that were later translated to mean "hell". They aren't even close.

The Hell we are warned about today didn't exist in Biblical times. "Hell" was created by powerful people as a means of control. Nothing more. Think about it logically. If you are a Christian, you know that God is all good. All loving. All compassion. He created you out from an abundance of love. As your Creator, He/She is incapable of causing you pain. Is there anything one of your children could do - anything at all - that would cause you to send him to an eternity of suffering an pain? God's love for us is even greater than the love we have for our children and for each other. He is author of love!

Fundamental Christianity is nothing short of religious abuse. I believe it has damaged many, many people (like the pp who is terrified of hell). Christianity is wonderful! Christ was a living example of God's perfect love. To be a Christian means to be "Christ-like". What could possibly be better than modeling your life after someone who was kind, compassionate, loving, forgiving, generous, enlightened .... All things we should strive to be. Being Christ-like has nothing to do with terrifying people into religious submission.

God is All-good. All-loving. All-powerful. Love. Light. Perfection. Grace. He created you and wants only your highest and best.


Nice, but sounds like you've decided to believe what's most comfortable for you - no hell, and a loving god who provided no punishment to people who do not follow him.


I'm not saying that at all. I believe that God set up our universe with natural laws. Unfortunately, we really do reap what we sow. Some people call that the Law of Circulation. What you put out comes back to you. I don't believe that people who are truly evil will go to "heaven" (whatever that means to you). However, not being with God does not equal spending an eternity roasting in a fire pit. I don't claim to know the answers. I think anyone who does needs to check his ego. However, I have spent a lot of time in prayer, meditation, thought, and study. Nothing at all about the God I know leads me to believe that He/She would ever send someone to an eternity of suffering.
Anonymous
Post 01/28/2015 08:50     Subject: Re:Do you believe in Hell?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm a Christian. I do not believe in hell, at least not in the way people have been coerced into believing. If you take the time to research the original Biblical text you'll find that nothing like "hell" is ever mentioned in the scripture. Here's a really easy to read link with some examples. http://www.thehypertexts.com/no%20hell%20in%20the%20bible.htm Do some research on the original meaning of the words that were later translated to mean "hell". They aren't even close.

The Hell we are warned about today didn't exist in Biblical times. "Hell" was created by powerful people as a means of control. Nothing more. Think about it logically. If you are a Christian, you know that God is all good. All loving. All compassion. He created you out from an abundance of love. As your Creator, He/She is incapable of causing you pain. Is there anything one of your children could do - anything at all - that would cause you to send him to an eternity of suffering an pain? God's love for us is even greater than the love we have for our children and for each other. He is author of love!

Fundamental Christianity is nothing short of religious abuse. I believe it has damaged many, many people (like the pp who is terrified of hell). Christianity is wonderful! Christ was a living example of God's perfect love. To be a Christian means to be "Christ-like". What could possibly be better than modeling your life after someone who was kind, compassionate, loving, forgiving, generous, enlightened .... All things we should strive to be. Being Christ-like has nothing to do with terrifying people into religious submission.

God is All-good. All-loving. All-powerful. Love. Light. Perfection. Grace. He created you and wants only your highest and best.


Fundamentalists, who depend solely on the Bible for their beliefs, definitely think Hell is a real place. How do you account for that, if it's not in the Bible?


It's in the Bible that they read. But if you go back and read scripture before it was translated and retranslated and before powerful people decided what should and should not be included, it's pretty clear that "hell" didn't exist in the way we are taught that it did.
Anonymous
Post 01/28/2015 08:46     Subject: Do you believe in Hell?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am a Christian. Yes I believe in hell. It terrifies me, I worry about it all the time. Probably the biggest reason I won't have kids. The thought of my own child burning in hell and being on fire forever is too much for me.


Are you worried that you will go to hell?

Yes, I worry about it a lot. My rational mind feels like God wouldn't do that to us meaning how could he actually make us be on fire forever. That would be worse then what any human has done here on earth if you actually think about it. I know he is a loving God. But I still have an irrational fear of going to hell. It's something I need to get past if I ever want to go to heaven. I need to trust that God wouldn't hurt us like that.


People seem to be making up their own vision of heaven and hell, so maybe you could do that too, convincing yourself, as some have here, that heaven exists and hell doesn't.

Then there are others who don't believe in either heaven or hell, which logically seems more likely, but I realize that logic is not the driving factor here.
Anonymous
Post 01/28/2015 08:41     Subject: Re:Do you believe in Hell?
Anonymous wrote:I'm a Christian. I do not believe in hell, at least not in the way people have been coerced into believing. If you take the time to research the original Biblical text you'll find that nothing like "hell" is ever mentioned in the scripture. Here's a really easy to read link with some examples. http://www.thehypertexts.com/no%20hell%20in%20the%20bible.htm Do some research on the original meaning of the words that were later translated to mean "hell". They aren't even close.

The Hell we are warned about today didn't exist in Biblical times. "Hell" was created by powerful people as a means of control. Nothing more. Think about it logically. If you are a Christian, you know that God is all good. All loving. All compassion. He created you out from an abundance of love. As your Creator, He/She is incapable of causing you pain. Is there anything one of your children could do - anything at all - that would cause you to send him to an eternity of suffering an pain? God's love for us is even greater than the love we have for our children and for each other. He is author of love!

Fundamental Christianity is nothing short of religious abuse. I believe it has damaged many, many people (like the pp who is terrified of hell). Christianity is wonderful! Christ was a living example of God's perfect love. To be a Christian means to be "Christ-like". What could possibly be better than modeling your life after someone who was kind, compassionate, loving, forgiving, generous, enlightened .... All things we should strive to be. Being Christ-like has nothing to do with terrifying people into religious submission.

God is All-good. All-loving. All-powerful. Love. Light. Perfection. Grace. He created you and wants only your highest and best.


Nice, but sounds like you've decided to believe what's most comfortable for you - no hell, and a loving god who provided no punishment to people who do not follow him.
Anonymous
Post 01/28/2015 08:39     Subject: Re:Do you believe in Hell?
Anonymous wrote:I'm a Christian. I do not believe in hell, at least not in the way people have been coerced into believing. If you take the time to research the original Biblical text you'll find that nothing like "hell" is ever mentioned in the scripture. Here's a really easy to read link with some examples. http://www.thehypertexts.com/no%20hell%20in%20the%20bible.htm Do some research on the original meaning of the words that were later translated to mean "hell". They aren't even close.

The Hell we are warned about today didn't exist in Biblical times. "Hell" was created by powerful people as a means of control. Nothing more. Think about it logically. If you are a Christian, you know that God is all good. All loving. All compassion. He created you out from an abundance of love. As your Creator, He/She is incapable of causing you pain. Is there anything one of your children could do - anything at all - that would cause you to send him to an eternity of suffering an pain? God's love for us is even greater than the love we have for our children and for each other. He is author of love!

Fundamental Christianity is nothing short of religious abuse. I believe it has damaged many, many people (like the pp who is terrified of hell). Christianity is wonderful! Christ was a living example of God's perfect love. To be a Christian means to be "Christ-like". What could possibly be better than modeling your life after someone who was kind, compassionate, loving, forgiving, generous, enlightened .... All things we should strive to be. Being Christ-like has nothing to do with terrifying people into religious submission.

God is All-good. All-loving. All-powerful. Love. Light. Perfection. Grace. He created you and wants only your highest and best.


Fundamentalists, who depend solely on the Bible for their beliefs, definitely think Hell is a real place. How do you account for that, if it's not in the Bible?
Anonymous
Post 01/28/2015 08:08     Subject: Do you believe in Hell?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Nope. I was raised by an Episcopalian mother who didn't believe in hell, either. She saw hell as merely the absence of God.

MERELY the absence of God?!


Not burning for eternity in the hell fire. More like you just go to sleep.
Anonymous
Post 01/28/2015 08:06     Subject: Re:Do you believe in Hell?
Nope. My Catholic mother raised me to believe that there is no such thing. Now that I'm an adult and think for myself, I absolutely don't believe in Hell (and don't believe in heaven either).
Anonymous
Post 01/28/2015 08:04     Subject: Re:Do you believe in Hell?
I'm a Christian. I do not believe in hell, at least not in the way people have been coerced into believing. If you take the time to research the original Biblical text you'll find that nothing like "hell" is ever mentioned in the scripture. Here's a really easy to read link with some examples. http://www.thehypertexts.com/no%20hell%20in%20the%20bible.htm Do some research on the original meaning of the words that were later translated to mean "hell". They aren't even close.

The Hell we are warned about today didn't exist in Biblical times. "Hell" was created by powerful people as a means of control. Nothing more. Think about it logically. If you are a Christian, you know that God is all good. All loving. All compassion. He created you out from an abundance of love. As your Creator, He/She is incapable of causing you pain. Is there anything one of your children could do - anything at all - that would cause you to send him to an eternity of suffering an pain? God's love for us is even greater than the love we have for our children and for each other. He is author of love!

Fundamental Christianity is nothing short of religious abuse. I believe it has damaged many, many people (like the pp who is terrified of hell). Christianity is wonderful! Christ was a living example of God's perfect love. To be a Christian means to be "Christ-like". What could possibly be better than modeling your life after someone who was kind, compassionate, loving, forgiving, generous, enlightened .... All things we should strive to be. Being Christ-like has nothing to do with terrifying people into religious submission.

God is All-good. All-loving. All-powerful. Love. Light. Perfection. Grace. He created you and wants only your highest and best.
Anonymous
Post 01/28/2015 07:44     Subject: Do you believe in Hell?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Nope. I was raised by an Episcopalian mother who didn't believe in hell, either. She saw hell as merely the absence of God.


This is what I believe about Hell - that it is distance from, or absence of God.

I was raised as a Catholic but worship in a Lutheran church, fwiw.


I was raised Catholic and this is what I believe, as well. I also believe that, if you are in Hell you do have the ability to leave, but you have to sincerely ask for God's foregiveness and assistance o save your soul. Not too many people in Hell would do that, but it does allow for your soul to continue o grow and learn, as I believe God intended.
Anonymous
Post 01/28/2015 07:39     Subject: Do you believe in Hell?
Anonymous wrote:Nope. I was raised by an Episcopalian mother who didn't believe in hell, either. She saw hell as merely the absence of God.


This is what I believe about Hell - that it is distance from, or absence of God.

I was raised as a Catholic but worship in a Lutheran church, fwiw.
Anonymous
Post 01/28/2015 06:51     Subject: Do you believe in Hell?
Anonymous wrote:Nope. I was raised by an Episcopalian mother who didn't believe in hell, either. She saw hell as merely the absence of God.

MERELY the absence of God?!
Anonymous
Post 01/28/2015 06:24     Subject: Do you believe in Hell?
Hell is other people. DCUM proved the wisdom of Sartre.