I keep seeing this picture. Now the picture is from a movie... I think. Anyway I thought it was funny and I hope not to offend anyone.
Religion is the source of a lot of problems in the world. It is a growth for hatred and since (I'm only using God as an example) God is a loving all forgiving being... Wait does that really make sense? God is an all forgiving and loving being but is the source of so much hatred and very possibly terrorism. Now many people love to say that it's just Muslims but I honestly don't like it when people judge a religion of a few million from the actions of a few hundred.
Now to get back on topic of OP. I've thought about this many times. God is suppose to be all knowing, so why would he even let Lucifer exist and he would know about Eve and her odd ability to talk to snakes and craze for apples.
The reason why I put he in Bole is because when they say he doesn't that make it seem like God is a sexist? I just thought about that by the way, so I had no previous thought about it until now.
God made hell for the devil and all of his demons and not for man.
Followers of the satan whose are the djinn and human race are called to be demons. Thus you choose your destiny.
So all powerful, omnipotent and omniscient god needs to have a human sacrifice to give someone a second chance? I don't think so, I think this is just people making up a story.
To respond to the main question, I can think of two reasons why Hell would exist (assuming the conditions God exists and God is all-forgiving). 1. Forcing someone to go to Hell could be as bad as forcing them to go to heaven. For instance, I know many atheists who hope God doesn't exist because they think he is cruel and hypoctrical. Well, if he exists, I can't very well imagine heaven being a place where they would want to spend eternity. Assuming God is omnipresent, the only place to escape him is Hell. 2. Bringing someone into heaven that simply doesn't belong, such as a rapist, simply goes against justice. If God is a just god, he can't let us into heaven and then force us to live with a rapist.
Following these conditions, we would need to also assume that people worthy of heaven have the choice to reject God and that Hell isn't a place of eternal torture with a Devil dipping you in the fire. In fact, according to the Catholic belief, the chief punishment of Hell is eternal seperation from God. Well, if that's what you wanted, it isn't really a punishment, is it?
Assuming it exists, I don't think any of us could know what Hell is like, but I imagine it as simply a place without God. Should it exist, it may even be very similar to life on earth.
I'm not trying to make any assumptions, only provide some possible explanations to the thread's main question.
Assuming he is omnipresent you wouldn't be able to escape him even in hell.
Well (this being my guess), I assume the onipresence defined by Christianity refers to this life, and presumeably heaven, and is not intended to apply to Hell. Then again, my religious interpretations tend to be different than the norm. But if God is infinitely and permanently omnipresent, then I guess that would include Hell.
Well (this being my guess), I assume the onipresence defined by Christianity refers to this life, and presumeably heaven, and is not intended to apply to Hell. Then again, my religious interpretations tend to be different than the norm.
Well there are other inherent issues here with not being able to detect him, but that's getting off topic so I digress.
God claims to be a loving entity, loving all humans equally and only dishing out fair punishments in order to educate and guide his/her/its creations in the right direction when they stray from the path. Now, excluding that this conflicts with the idea of not interfering or influencing this world, that doesn't particularly matter because it's not a view supported by the majority of Christians anyway. We are still left with the fact that condemning people to eternity in Hell, a place completely separate from and devoid of god, is apparently seen as fair punishment - this does not allow for redemption of ones mistakes and I daresay that there's not going to be much of an education from it. This leaves us with the idea that god is not as loving as is claimed because, by nature of eternity, such a punishment as hell is cruel and unmerciful (not to mention imperfect - such a place as hell shouldn't exist, in Christian beliefs at least, as god is supposedly omnipresent and omnipotent). So, I think we've established that god is not benevolent, not in the way that one would expect from someone who is considered to be perfect - I therefore propose that god is either A. not benevolent (god could be considered to be ambivalent at the very best) or B. Not perfect (meaning that god could not exist in the form that many Christians seem to believe in).
God is forgiving and just. If you do good things in life you go to Heaven, if you do bad things and don't believe in Christ you go to hell. I'm a Christian and this is what my faith says and I'm not trying to start an argument.
God is forgiving and just. If you do good things in life you go to Heaven, if you do bad things and don't believe in Christ you go to hell.
These two sentences, together, don't they just exclude themselves? If he is forgiving, and if doing good things get you access to heaven, why do you need to believe in him? If you don't believe in him and do good things, and if he existed, couldn't you enter heaven as well?
The "everyone good goes to heaven when they die" policy was invented by the early Catholic Church to promote churchgoing and the policy of indulgence (pay the church for a get-out-of-hell card or, if you were wealthy enough, a ticket to heaven). They created the belief of a firey hell to enforce it. "Pay us or you will burn forever in torment" is quite an effective and persuasive sales pitch. Jesus states in the bible that people shouldn't profit from religion.
Matthew 21:12,13 And Jesus entered into the temple and threw out all those selling and buying in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. And he said to them: "It is written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but YOU are making it a cave of robbers."
god loves people but sometimes people hate him, if they don't repent for killing, raping someone etc. then he sends them to hell, you don't believe he would send them to heaven to **** and kill more people do you?
god loves people but sometimes people hate him, if they don't repent for killing, raping someone etc. then he sends them to hell, you don't believe he would send them to heaven to **** and kill more people do you?
"He has a special place full of fire and smoke and torture and anguish that he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever til the end of time! ...But he loves you."- George Carlin
The bible states that "God" has determined weather you go to heaven or hell before your even born. "God" knows everything, past, present, and FUTURE. If he knew the future why would he willing create people just to send them to hell or even create people like hitler, stailn, osama, and others?
