LOL, so you think that “jail” or the death penalty should not be mentioned to criminals. come on , wake up.
why define fear as a bad thing...it's healthy to have fear when appropriate. ...it protects, warns and lets us know we likely need to change direction.
God would have all to be saved and be with Him...that's His plan. He finds no pleasure whatsoever in the death of the wicked....rather that they would come to Him thru Christ and be in eternity with Him...but it's a choice.
The choice is to be with God or eternally forever separated from God.....and it's a choice of each individual.
re: “Why did there have to be any description of hell in the bible? It seems that it’s primary purpose would be to frighten people into accepting Jesus, which wouldn’t seem to be a legitimate reason to accept Christ. So why not just leave hell out of the bible rather than seemingly use it as a sort of emotional blackmail to accept Christ.”
Good question. Look at it this way, if hell exists, NOT telling mankind about how to avoid it would be against God’s character. He tells us exactly how serious sin is by what Jesus endured on the cross, the death he died, the burial he experienced - sin separates us from God. Sin is a choice we make. The ultimate sin is rejecting Jesus, Who is God in the flesh, Who took our just punishment. He endured the death and punishment we deserved Himself in our behalf.
If we reject His provision, we face the ultimate consequences ourselves.
We don’t consider it illegitimate when a doctor informs us the truth about our medical condition and the consequences if we choose to refuse the treatment/cure for that condition. We shouldn’t consider it illegitimate if God informs us of our true spiritual condition and the ultimate consequences of that condition if we refuse His cure.
Sometimes it takes both positive and negative reinforcement.
Let's analyze this perspective for a moment.
Heb 10:26-27 (26) For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, (27) But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
We observe there is a different perspective of God when we are not in fellowship with Him, compared to when we are in fellowship with Him.
When out of fellowship, when we have sin which has not yet been forgiven, we recognize that even angels who disobeyed Him are condemned to the Lake of Fire and see no reason why we shouldn't also be so judged. We look to God appealing for grace.
When we are in fellowship, we aren't anticipating He will punish us, but that He loves us and has forgiven us.
In God's brilliant Plan, unlike the angels, we have been condemned prior to having eternal life. The payment for sin has been performed once and forever covers us. This is why in a moment's notice, we can receive salvation instantly. It happens at forgiveness of our sins, which happens when we face Him, looking at our sins and accepting the Perfect Sacrifice made by Christ to cover those sins, placing them in His hands.
Sin was dealt with in God's Plan at the Cross. It has been covered eternally. This is not the situation with good and evil.
The consequences of evil must be dealt with in time, not instantly, at this stage in His Plan.
God ad in His Plan, doesn't have to face evil in His presence for all eternity, nor does He have to submit us to its presence after the Great White Throne Judgment.
It has been said that the age of humanity is the appeals trial for the Adversary and the fallen angels. The very reason why some think eternal damnation might be too severe a judgment, have also been provided this record of human history to show the Creation that His Judgment is perfect and righteous and just. It also likely will show all through faith in Him, that the natural consequence of rebellion from Him leads to consequences so vile, that there is no other viable alternative than eternal damnation in the Lake of Fire. This includes those who choose to believe independently from God.
It isn't so much a prompting by extortion for us to believe in Christ, as that might be the perspective of somebody not thinking through faith in Christ. Rather, accepting what He provides, it manifests His love for ALL mankind, such that nobody has an excuse for not accepting what He provides.
“Why did there have to be any description of hell in the bible? It seems that it’s primary purpose would be to frighten people into accepting Jesus, which wouldn’t seem to be a legitimate reason to accept Christ. So why not just leave hell out of the bible rather than seemingly use it as a sort of emotional blackmail to accept Christ.”
Well, it is first necessary to know how it is that God saves His elect before you talk about “emotional blackmail.”
Salvation is the work of God, from beginning, middle and end:
Joh_15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
It is God who “chooses” who will be drawn, and who will not be drawn.
Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is the work of God, who before the foundation of the world elected us to salvation according to His own good purpose:
Rom 8:29-30 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (30) Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
A person does not save himself, or come to a saving belief in God by his own good judgment. He whom God predestinates is called, and whom God calls He justifies and glorifies. It is never “he called, man answered, and therefore he is predestinated.” Instead, they believe BECAUSE they are ordained, and not the other way around:
Act_13:48 ... and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
And why is that? Because man, of himself, is utterly depraved and incapable of seeking God.
Rom 3:9-19 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; (10) As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: (11) There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (12) They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. (13) Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: (14) Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: (15) Their feet are swift to shed blood: (16) Destruction and misery are in their ways: (17) And the way of peace have they not known: (18) There is no fear of God before their eyes. (19) Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Even our highest ideals of goodness and righteousness is, in the sight of God, filthy rags:
Isa_64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Until you understand your own depravity, you will never understand the existence of hell. It is not “emotional blackmail,” as who is trying to blackmail you? It is God who calls and effectually delivers you. But God hates sin, and rightfully so, and this is the judgment He has called for, also from the foundation of the world, for the devil, his angels, and all Satan’s children. And why not? To those of us who believe in God, and know that God has saved us and snatched us from the fires, is not the end result that we hate and fear sin, and as a result more greatly bemoan our own inability to save ourselves and to bless the God who hates sin and, yet, is merciful to us though we deserve it not?
Rom 9:22-25 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: (23) And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, (24) Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? (25) As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
To know the truth is the pleasure of all Christians, and the truth is we are evil. But, blessed is the Lord who had mercy on me, a sinner!
For me, Hell is in the Bible for two reasons:
1. It helps to know your tormentors aren’t going to end up in the same place you are.
2. Power sometimes gives people the idea that things will always be the way they are. In fact the only worthwhile thing my Lutheran priest regarded the power of Rome.
Most Roman roads were marked by a stone symbol of the goddess Nike (goddess of victory). The stone carving was in the shape of an upside down acute triangle, with the long angle of the sculpted sign pointing the way down the road.
It’s from that stone sign that the very recognizable corporate symbol came for the manufacturer Nike. (The swoosh).
He said that never would it have been imagined that these symbols of Roman victory would be replaced by the Crucifix, but it has been.
Hell is there to remind the very pissed off that anything we could dream up in the way of retribution couldn’t come close to what God may have in store. It’s there to remind us that no earthly power lasts forever.
It’s there to remind us that Salvation is a gift, and not a capitulation, or act of weakness.
Hell isn’t a loaded gun pointed at everybody’s temple’s.
The deal is this - Love Him or don’t. It’s your choice.
God’s not a rapist. If you love Him, He’ll love you back. If you don’t love God, He doesn’t have to love you, though He’d prefer it.
Not everybody makes it to the next round. The frustration within me, and perhaps in many others, is that we know so little about the nature of the conflict. Some can accept that we don’t know, and go along with the plan. Others resent not knowing, and as such, act accordingly.
If we knew the entire nature of the conflict, I’m not sure our belief would be voluntary any more. Certainly, based on the empirical evidence, Hell, obviously, isn’t scary enough to make Salvation the obvious course.