From what I can tell it seems most FReeper believers firmly believe in eternal punishmentas I do, with a sob and a shudderand won't find such a notion as Mr. Willems floats appealing. Still, this tempting thought is out there, chipping away at the seeming injustice of GOD in sentencing poor creatures to everlasting torment for what amounts to a pittance of years in disobedience. IMO only the natural minddulled or outright blinded by Satancould find such a pathetic argument valid. Once the Spirit convicts of sin, we KNOW our desert is Hell. The same One who convicts, though, offers pardon! Good news!
We’re just guessing when we try to understand the Mind of God.
People spend eternity in hell for consciously sinning and rebelling against God. That they refuse to accept the grace of a Savior who can rescue them is their decision, not God's.
"My current view is that those who die without a connection to Christ are simply dead, without any awareness of any kind"
The cruelty of such a belief will consign those who agree to an eternity in Hell. He will be judged by a righteous God who isn't happy with false teachers and liars.
Many saints have been shown a vision of hell: St. Faustina, the children at Fatimaa come to mind.
My views on hell, for what it is worth...
God is light, love, healing, hope, forgiveness...all things good are just aspects and reflections of Him. Hell is literally an eternal separation from God, a place of darkness, hate, pain, hopelessness, guilt and regret.
In the same way our minds cannot even fathom the awesome wonder of heaven, we cannot comprehend the horror of hell.
Heaven is going to be better than we can possible imagine. Hell is going to be much, much worse than our most horrific nightmares.
The Bible is also clear on one other point...those in hell know who is in heaven. Look to Jesus’ parable of the rich man and the beggar - the rich man, in hell, can see the beggar he ignored in life being comforted in heaven. I suspect that the awareness does not necessarily go both ways as heaven would become less wonderful if we could see the eternal suffering of those that we knew who rejected God and His Son.
“Giving up Hell for a Year: How it could revolutionize our relationships”
If, by “giving up hell”, they mean “Reform your life and live so as to avoid hell at all costs”, then I’d applaud it (and humbly suggest that they raise the bar to be a bit higher than ‘a year’).
If, on the other hand, they mean “live as if hell didn’t exist, and try to muddle through by a mere humanist struggle to “be good”, then I’ll call this out as sheer insanity. One might as well say, “Let’s live as though gravity didn’t exist, so that people can learn to be careful around cliffs and holes for its OWN sake, rather than out of a craven fear of being hurt!”
It’s never a loving or kind act to lead people away from the true and the real.
“Every disease that submits to a cure shall be cured: but we will not call blue yellow to please those who insist on having jaundice, nor make a midden of the worlds garden for the sake of some who cannot abide the smell of roses.” -C.S. Lewis
I believe hell is a real place, and an eternal place. Created for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41).
I believe eternal life is a gift from God, occurs with a ‘salvation’ experience (Rom 6:23).
Jesus even talked about fearing God who has the ability to destroy not just the body but the soul in hell (Matt 10:28). I don’t think hell is an eternal punishment for people (because they haven’t been given the gift of eternal life).
Jesus spoke more about the reality of hell than everyone else in the bible combined.