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To: Talisker

nope it doesn’t.

for those that never wanted anything to do with God when alive on earth, and thought how terrible and awful it would be to live according to God’s design as put forth in Scripture,

being forced to live in heaven, like that, for all eternity, would be hell for those people.

God doesn’t force Himself on people. He knocks at the door to get them to receive Him, in a number of ways, but if they don’ t want to, and want to stay separate from God, He respects them enough as people, not to force them to be with Him. He would rather all come to Him but it’s their decision.

it wouldn’t be a free choice, and what kind of God would He be, then?

if anything, the existence of Hell proves God doesn’t force people to accept Him if they don’t want to.


23 posted on 02/24/2014 10:01:31 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Secret Agent Man
for those that never wanted anything to do with God when alive on earth, and thought how terrible and awful it would be to live according to God’s design as put forth in Scripture, being forced to live in heaven, like that, for all eternity, would be hell for those people.

Depends on what you mean by heaven. Scripture is instruction for getting into heaven. It is not a description of heaven, except in the most general of terms. Shall the discipline last forever? Is there no release even in heaven? Or is heaven what pleases each person? Or is heaven he perfect collective, where everyone wants the same thing at all times?

Another question is whether it is possible to experience God's love and reject it. Or whether those who reject God, do so because they have never experienced it. It would seem that God's love is desireable over all other things. If that is true, then experiencing God's love should end the desire for anything else. If it doesn't, then God's love is somehow deficient in desireability, which is impossible.

But if people sin for lack of experiencing God's love, then who's fault is that? Shall God punish people forever because they never experienced God? In the alternative, shall God punish people forever because they found God's love deficient?

All of this becomes infinitely less important if hell is not infinite. If hell is not infinite, the focus shifts to the infinitude of God's love.

25 posted on 02/25/2014 2:20:46 AM PST by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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