tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249562148347343834.post6994072062823302418..comments2008-11-12T03:15:36.936-08:00Comments on Theology For Everyone: Hell - I hate this topic!mathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06021021393534322418noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249562148347343834.post-55122517519747619172008-11-12T03:15:00.000-08:002008-11-12T03:15:00.000-08:00this post is boss. so are all your coments! i agre...this post is boss. so are all your coments! i agree with you guys and think youve highlighted whats important when considering hell. that actualy were called to introduce people to God not hell. all i would say is that i gave my life to Jesus after a play called heaven and hell. the play worked i think because it gave me a clear understanding of what my options were if i continued to reject Jesus with my life. and actually wether rightly or wrongly it scared me a little. so i wonder whether, like matt has said, people need to know a little about what their saved from. as well as saved for and to. <BR/>hmm that was garbled, i just wanted to contribute!<BR/>AledAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249562148347343834.post-53292525082111414522008-10-14T07:52:00.000-07:002008-10-14T07:52:00.000-07:00really well put.I agree that we aren't called to t...really well put.<BR/><BR/><BR/>I agree that we aren't called to think about hell too much at all. The problem for the people on alpha could be put as follows:<BR/><BR/>'Given that our number one call is to love God and love people (as you say), how do we make sense of that in relation to an afterlife'?<BR/><BR/>I agree that ultimately its a hypothesis about what happens to us in the future, and that we have our hands more than full with all the crap in the world at the moment.AND that we must deal with this crap as part of loving each other.<BR/><BR/>But I think the reason it was important for me to get clear what I mean by hell was because the entire idea of being saved depends on how we characterise hell. Christians are saved, but saved from what? From themselves? from sin? from hell? From all sorts of things I guess. But for me the question was -'given that God has saved me from 'hell' (and other things) it would be helpful for me to establish as best I can what the nature of this awful state/place is that I have been saved from. Thats how I came to the conclusion that whatever hell is, it is a place cut off from Gods presence. I have been saved from not being in Gods presence.<BR/><BR/>Of course, loving each other is critical and I'm glad you brought it up. But I would be weary of undermining the doctrine of hell, I think its essential for understanding our own salvation.<BR/>However, I do agree very strongly that if you consider hell outside of the boundaries of loving God and loving people, then it is deeply unhelpful. I would never really bring up hell unless I was asked about it, and thats why I wrote the hell post. <BR/><BR/><BR/>Thanks alot Dave!mathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06021021393534322418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249562148347343834.post-63819701009812970012008-10-13T16:39:00.000-07:002008-10-13T16:39:00.000-07:00The reason that I don't like talking about hell to...The reason that I don't like talking about hell too much (i don't mean not at all, just not too much) is that whatever it is, it's not somewhere either I or anyone in their right mind wants to be. It is also not something we were particularly called to think about much in the Bible. We were never particularly called to warn others about it. We <I>were</I> called to love God, and love people. That for me is the greatest challenge. I don't want anyone going that way, but equally, if they are, that should not affect my duty of loving them. <BR/><BR/>I suppose this thinking is similar to a guy I once interviewed on the topic of Global Warming. He is known by the press as a "Climate Change Skeptic". He isn't at all. He knows that it is happening, but believes that there is not a huge amount that we can do about it. He thinks that things like hunger, aids, typhoid etc, are far far far more pressing needs. Those things are killing people now and are the things that our media, government, and public should be focusing time energy and money on fixing. They are tangible, and within our reality now. They are not a theory of what might happen in the future. Which, in all honesty, is what hell sort of is.<BR/><BR/>But, Hell exists. Some people will end up in that place/state. But I want to devote my life to loving people and loving God, and hopefully through doing those things, introduce those <I>people </I> i love, to the <I>God</I> i love, and they will start a relationship with each other. I believe that we are called to do no more or less than that.Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11618037909979414317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249562148347343834.post-45863149099707357912008-10-08T05:21:00.000-07:002008-10-08T05:21:00.000-07:00Yes, I tend to take a step back from saying direct...Yes, I tend to take a step back from saying directly what I think hell will be like because I think scripture leaves it pretty ambiguous. I agree though that regret will probably be one of the main feelings of hell. A state rather than a place. Nicely put!<BR/><BR/>I think that Christianity is a scandal because it makes a joke of our efforts to get to heaven/be good. In that sense there is nothing we can 'do' as such. We can only respond to a God who already has a hand outstretched to us in the person of Jesus. I guess that is still doing something. Scripture (to me) does seem to say though that if we actively reject Christ then we will not receive eternal life. I think it would be dishonest to Christianity and scripture to deny this. <BR/>Cheers patmathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06021021393534322418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249562148347343834.post-35401609953383295112008-10-02T08:40:00.000-07:002008-10-02T08:40:00.000-07:00Excellent post!For me Hell has been a subject whic...Excellent post!<BR/><BR/>For me Hell has been a subject which has constantly been running through my head. Really it is THE subject isn't it. The faith of Christianity talks mainly of 'Saving' people, we are all, as Christians, above all concerned about what happens to us when we die, and concerned about what happens to others. Our friends, our family.<BR/><BR/>I think I've, after years of personal soul searching, come to belief that while "hell" does it exist, but only in an abstract way. I think the promise of Jesus is that we don't really "die" we are reborn and have eternal life etc etc etc. If you don't meet whatever criteria we deem adequate to make it into 'heaven', or eternal life with God, we truly "die" We are no more, the soul of that person simply ceases to be. And that place of not existing has to be "hell" because you aren't with God in eternal life, a state which would be "heaven" I really don't beleive God punushes people by sending them to a firey, tortuous hell, hell isn't like that and God certainly isn't. You get eternal life or you don't. It would "heaven" to get it and "hell" not to. I guess I think that "heaven" and "hell" describe two states you could exist in following death, not two places...<BR/><BR/>It's that criteria which can cause all the raging argument and discussion. What do you have to do to get into heaven? What earthly pursuits excludes you from eternal life? That's a much bigger discussion.<BR/><BR/>I'm sure I'll change my mind on this though...anywho, great blog!P-Dochttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16680570727319353862noreply@blogger.com