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
I'm not sniping at you.
I'm sniping at the other poster who seems to think that hoping fro eternal damnation is a GOOD thing.
The fact that he's a newbie doesn't improve my opinion of him.
The decision to send someone to Hell is wholly in the hands of God. If He wishes to damn someone, no power on Heaven or Earth can prevent Him, and likewise if He wanted to save someone. Given the God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent, His decision on an individual's condemnation is by definition just.
To hope that someone is damned is to hope that God judges him worthy of such damnation. Again, since God's judgment is infallible on this matter (and on every other matter), to say "I hope he goes to Hell" is equivalent to saying "I hope that his conduct justifies damnation." In other words, if you hope that Osama bin Laden goes to hell, you are hoping that in God's rulebook slaughtering 3,000 innocents is sufficient to keep one from Heaven.
So it's just a statement of preference regarding the unknowable mind of God. I see nothing morally objectionable about that.
But again, keep in mind that I'm not a Christian and do not believe in the Christian God.
I would think so. Now, helping them along might be another matter ;-)
Alas, yes.
The difference between the hijackers and a typical law-abiding good person, is small, in God's eyes.
And we all fall short of the Glory of God, which is what matters.
So, if he died for everyone's sins, all are going to Heaven, right?
I think only those who accept that Jesus died for their sins will go to heaven, so that excludes some people. (The Jewish people, I have no idea, that is a mystery to me, but I think they get a second chance somewhere along the line)
We have free will. If we all automatically went to heaven, there would be no need for free will or for redemtion!
How do you know he didn't?
I think the point is that, though deserving of hell, God took mercy upon us. We should recognize that we are unworthy as any other, and instead of wishing damnation on them, hope for a deathbed conversion.
Remember, we will be judged by the measure we use to judge others. Even terrorist madmen.
SD
Presuming God's forgiveness/mercy.
Which is a sin in itself.
I'm confident he isnt going to be in Heaven f'n that place up before I get there. He's where he asked to be...near his god.
Very well put. Since we know that God wills all men to be saved, then it is literally ungodly for us to wish them damned. Yasser Arafat, among other dreadful examples, may be in Hell, but our job was to pray for his conversion.
One of the hardest things to "internalize" about Christianity, I think, is that *anyone* can be forgiven if he sincerely repents, no matter what he has done.
KidGlock wrote:
But something bothers me about "Christians" who want people to go to hell more than God wants them there.
Presumption.
Respectfully, as a Christian who is not Catholic.
What is purgatory? and where is it mentioned in the Bible?
It's a long-time "southern culture" joke, now growing into iconic status on FR, thanks to the Undead Thread :-).
So it would be wrong to hope that Hitler and Stalin are in hell? Is it wrong to hope that UNREPENTANT evil-doers recieve eternal justice?
Ooh, that's a good one ... can I get that in Latin, DC?
Thanks. But that didn't ring a bell and I looked up "presumption" in the CCC and the definition didn't match what I described. But I appreciate your input.
Thanks for your comment.
Maybe it's just me, though.
For me, one of the most reassuring things about Christian belief is the assurance -- the blessed assurance -- that God's love is so great, and his desire for the salvation of every soul so expansive, that He is willing to give His own life so that even the most wretched of sinners can be saved.
I take great comfort in knowing that the only non-forgiveable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
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