Posted on 12/06/2004 12:44:58 PM PST by Lindykim
"Is it morally and theologically acceptable to hope anyone goes to hell? ... One...need not be a conservative Christian to believe in some form of hell for the evil. All one need be is a rational believer in a just God. For if there is a just God, it is inconceivable that those who do evil and those who do good have identical fates. A just God must care about justice, and since there is little justice in this world, there has to be in the next. And belief in the next world is also not confined to Christianity. As the Encyclopedia Judaica ... (edited largely by non-religious Jews) notes in the first sentence under the heading 'Afterlife,' 'Judaism has always believed in an afterlife.' ... Much of humanity has been adversely affected by modern-day terror. The lives of millions -- virtually all Palestinians and Israelis, for example -- have been terribly affected by Arafat. And there are hundreds of thousands of people whose lives have been destroyed or shattered by him. At the same time, other than a few sycophants enriched by some of the billions of dollars he embezzled from the Palestinians, no one has had a better life because Yasser Arafat lived. ... Yasser Arafat single-handedly made nihilistic acts of cruelty routine, even respectable. ... Thanks to him, the Palestinian name is identified among people of goodwill with barbarity just as the German name came to be associated with barbarity as a result of Hitler. ... Just as any decent human being would want good people to be rewarded in whatever existence there is after this life, they would want the cruelest of people to be punished. So, of course, I hope Yasser Arafat is in hell. ... If you think that is hard-hearted, consider the alternative, that one of the most corrupt and cruel human beings of the past half-century is resting in peace. Whoever isn't bothered by that is the one with the hard heart." --Dennis Prager
THE PRODIGAL SON
LUKE 15: 11-32
11 Then He said: "A certain man had two sons. 12And the younger of them said to his father, "Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.' So he divided to them his livelihood. 13And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
17"But when he came to himself, he said, "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants."'
20"And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21And the son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
22"But the father said to his servants, "Bring[2] out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' And they began to be merry.
25"Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27And he said to him, "Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.'
28"But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. 29So he answered and said to his father, "Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. 30But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.'
31"And he said to him, "Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 32It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found."'
Agreed that the Lord may do anything He chooses to do, but is there a scriptural basis for believing that He makes exceptions after death?
Another question is what happened to the millions who lived before the Gospels were preached. Did everybody go to Hell?
Rather sinister to see those names listed & it does seem likely those are in Hell.
well put, Jeff.
I Timothy 2: 1-4
Pray for Everyone
1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
AMEN
Precisely, Millie! You said,
'Yes, Christ died for all sins. Therefore, the issue is not sin, but what think ye of Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and ye shall be saved.'
Matthew 23:15
WF, it was the parable of the Prodigal Son that came to my mind, too.
Luke 15: 11-32.
more info at Posts 260 & 261.
sounds like that guy is a hatred-spewing hypocrite.
Lord, deal with him in a way that will stop his misrepresentation of Who You are.
thanks.
That's definitely true!
Good point. However, I try not to wish anyone dead.
Ideally, I say, "God, please do Your sovereign will in [so & so's] life." so that my petition is for Him to deal with them as He sees fit.
While it is true that he does not explicitly deny the possibility of exceptions for the unknowing, no one having a conversation such as this one falls into that category.
Secondly, he is quick to aid those who truly seek him. I hear many a story, and some first-hand, of Muslims, Bhuddists and others (simply looking at the world and its religious teachers and simply saying, "This cannot be") who prayed like Gideon for a sign, whereupon th Brothers were sent to speak with them
God is just.
Very well put, MWT! Thank you.
Frankly, I don't find anything that substantiates an eternal hell in scripture....the Lake of Fire is on the earth...then the earth is made new....no more lake of fire...
Of course, REAL Christians have no wish for anyone to go to hell....but we do get angry and upset with those who oppose God...those who's necks are hardened...
For example...not all democrats are evil...but...I will agree that all democrats are seriously confused and have psychological authority and parental issues.
I'm no theologian, nor do I play one on TV. Not a psychologist either for that matter.
I am a working class person who right now is up three minutes past my bedtime.
So I will leave the in-depth bible study and psych analysis in your capable hands.
Cheerio!
whoops, I read your question wrong. No. Sorry. God waited and got the last 4 out of Soddom. When he sent the rain again in Israel, he sent the prophet first to the rebellious king to call him yet several more times to repetance, pursuing him with love until the final moment. God does not "let" anyone go to hell, but they do go. This makes the witness more urgent, not less.
I thought Scripture explicitly did deny that possibility.
Secondly, he is quick to aid those who truly seek him. I hear many a story, and some first-hand, of Muslims, Bhuddists and others (simply looking at the world and its religious teachers and simply saying, "This cannot be") who prayed like Gideon for a sign, whereupon th Brothers were sent to speak with them
Will they still be happy in Heaven knowing that their nonchristian loved ones are in Hell forever?
God is just.
I wonder if the parents of a child who died unsaved could be happy in Heaven. Any thoughts?
whoops, I read your question wrong. No. Sorry. God waited and got the last 4 out of Soddom. When he sent the rain again in Israel, he sent the prophet first to the rebellious king to call him yet several more times to repetance, pursuing him with love until the final moment. God does not "let" anyone go to hell, but they do go. This makes the witness more urgent, not less.
Your answer is a little vague to me, but I think you said that none of the 2 million Khmer victims would have become Christians had they not been murdered. Am I correct?
Such converts are invariably zealous for their families' souls. That much is sure.
I wonder if the parents of a child who died unsaved could be happy in Heaven. Any thoughts?
No, but a verse: "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." Reveletion 7:17b
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