RE: Can bible really be interpreted as if there is no torment but you cease to exist
February 5, 2012 at 12:02 am
(This post was last modified: February 5, 2012 at 12:15 am by Undeceived.)
(February 3, 2012 at 3:18 pm)Doubting Thomas Wrote:(February 2, 2012 at 9:59 pm)Undeceived Wrote: God doesn't want us in eternal torment.
BULLSHIT! Sorry, but why would the all-powerful and all-good creator of the entire universe create such a place and then cast souls into it? If he's all powerful and doesn't want people in eternal torment, then why can't he just get rid of Hell and not send anyone there?
Quote:That's why he sent his son Jesus to die in our stead. By giving into our selfish desires we choose and deserve eternal torment. But he takes our sentence and gives us eternal life. All we have to do is accept the gift.
And this is why God's plan is all fucked up. Instead of just saying, "You know what? I don't want to send anyone to Hell, so I'll just abolish and demolish the place, and never send anyone there to be tortured for eternity. Hey, I'm all-powerful, so I can do whatever I want," he came up with this convoluted idea of "OK, I'll knock up this virgin down there on earth and have my son tell people some things to do and get a bunch of people to follow him, but have the jealous church leaders have him killed so that I can remove this curse I put on humanity because the first two people I put down there disobeyed me even though I knew they would. But I'm not going to make it easy for people to find this path. I'll have people invent other religions to follow and make it so the only way people can keep me from torturing them for eternity is by reading and believing in a book that's extremely hard to figure out. Then I'll have the followers all keep bickering among each other which is the best way to worship me. But I'll never appear to everyone in person so they'll know exactly what I want of them."
It would be extremely easy for God not to send anyone to Hell if he really didn't want to.
Hell is a spiritual place, not one God has to go out of His way to create. The torment we receive would be within our souls, not external fire. And by rejecting God, we have chosen it. He gave us free will. This life is meant to divide people who are grateful for God's creating them and those who are not. If you are not grateful, you don't want to be in heaven anyway. You'd rather be sent to hell. Why should He force you into a particular place just because we aren't sure what's best for us?
God is perfectly good but he is also perfectly just. We do horrible things everyday (lie, hate, covet) that plague our conscience and rip apart our relationships. This isn't about what God is able to do. Sure, He could send us all to heaven. But why should He be compelled to? Take this analogy: Your wife cheats on you. Instead of saying, "I'm sorry," she tells you, "I hate you and I'd do it again a million times over." She did wrong, but why should you forgive her if she doesn't want to be forgiven? God is like the husband, and we are like the wife. All we have to do is repent-- that means say we're sorry and ask for His forgiveness. God understands our pride, and knows this isn't easy to accept. He made us and the Gospel is about His quest to win us back. He sent Jesus to earth as an example for what real love is. We are the Lost Son described in Luke 15:11-32. The father gives the son his inheritance the day he becomes an adult. The son runs off and squanders every last cent. Eventually he comes back, poor and bedraggled, and begs to be taken back into the home. Is his father angry? No. Instead, he holds a celebration, overjoyed at his son's return. God is the father. He gave us the gift of salvation long ago. Many of us take years to come around, but that doesn't lessen the reward when we do. He still waits, the feast in heaven set and ready for our arrival. That is, if we accept Jesus and what He did for us. Once we do, all our sin and guilt is washed away as if it never existed.