Well then this makes me about 100 times stupider than the second stupidest person ever, since I am struggling a significant amount with “The Problem of Hell.”
I worry greatly that I will be in Hell forever, since I am not certain whether God exists or not. And how could God send people to infinite punishment for finite sins? Because He is infinitely good? It just seems He is even sadistically punishing people. Maybe that will be my fate. Even 10 trillion years into my punishment, and infinity will not even have begun.
While I am convinced there is a hell,I pray that hell is empty.
John the baptist said,Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
Some believe that when Christ spent 3 days in hell,it was to preach the good news to those there.
The Bible states,That every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Christ is Lord.Through confession of that statemant we are saved.
I know there are those that will argue with me,and thats ok,I still pray that hell is empty.
I'd spend your time worrying about something else.
I know what you’re talking about, I’ve struggled with it a long time, and for a time I believed that the doctrine of Hell was an obliteration of one’s soul, because infinite torture was incompatible with the prince of peace. Especially when this is coupled with the Calvinist doctrine of predestination which is certainly taught throughout the new testament.
Frankly, I don’t know how to reconcile it in my mind, Jesus clearly taught hell, more than any other person in the Bible, on the other hand he came to earth as God/man to “save” us, but at the end there are those in hell.
God is graceful and omnipotent, he knows your heart and the Bible teaches that if you believe in Christ and that he was the sacrifice for your sins you are now a new creature, reborn in a congregation of the redeemed and have no fear of death or consequences of your actions in life.
Christ said that his Yolk was not heavy, it was easy, and it is easy, he is your sacrifice, you could not begin to pay the price for your sins, only He can....but yet he teaches us that there are those that are consigned to Hell, and frankly I’m at a loss as to how that happens.
“I am struggling a significant amount with “The Problem of Hell.”
Pastor Robert Morris recently gave a series about death and hell entitled “The End.” He explains hell very well explaned. Take it from him, you don’t want to go there.
The audio download is $5 for the whole series. Robert Morris is very easy to listen to and he addresses all of your concerns.
http://www.theblessedlife.com/series/products/end-audio-series-download-0
I’ll take a stab at this. First, God does not send anyone to hell; they choose hell by rejecting God. As a theologian once said, “The road to hell passes by the gates of heaven.” The essence of hell is the agonizing knowledge that you had the opportunity to choose heaven, but rejected it. The torment is psychological and emotional, not physical, and the descriptions of hell’s torment are metaphorical. God’s justice demands that those who reject Him receive what they elected. An even worse hell would be making people who hated Him live in His presence eternally. That people live eternally in hell is inextricably tied to His promise that humans have eternal souls. If He simply snuffed out those who rejected Him, then what guarantee is there that He will not likewise snuff out all others at some time? His promise must be eternal and unchangeable. Therefore, the promise of eternality must stand for both those who reject Him and those who accept Him.