Should Believers Fear Hell and God?

by leavingwt 18 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  leavingwt

  In today's USA Today, there is an article about Hell, written by author and reverend Oliver Thomas. I've quoted a few interesting portions, below. The entire article may be viewed at the link. His book is entitled, " 10 Things Your Minister Wants to Tell You: (But Can't, Because He Needs the Job)".

  Evidently, the Watchtower is not alone in proclaiming Hell to be cold, rather than hot.

  Should Believers Fear Hell — and God?

  . . .

  Most Americans still believe in hell. A 2009 poll by The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life put the number at 59%. A 2005 Fox News poll put it at 74%!

  Ask these folks why they cling to such a decidedly medieval notion, and they will tell you: Because the Bible teaches it!

  . . .

  Nowhere in the Hebrew Bible (Christian Old Testament) is the abode of the dead described as a place of eternal punishment.

  . . .

  Nearly every reference to "hell" that comes from the lips of Jesus is a mistranslation.

  The word translated as hell by the King James Bible is the word "Gehenna," literally "the valley of the sons of Hinnom." This notorious valley on the south side of Jerusalem was once the site of pagan sacrifices, including child sacrifice, and had been cursed by the prophets of Israel. By Jesus' day, it served as the garbage dump. It was a foul, noxious place where dogs roamed and fires burned. Jesus seized upon this vivid imagery in his sermons. He urged people to repent (literally "change your mind"), lest they end up in Gehenna (i.e. the garbage dump).

  . . .

  Now, I'm a pretty decent parent, and I'm married to an even better one. I can guarantee that if one of our daughters turned out to be a murderer, neither of us would respond by setting fire to her. We wouldn't torture her for a second, much less a trillion years. (Reality check: A trillion years is a mere droplet in the ocean of eternity.)

  Yet millions of Americans are laboring under the heavy psychological burden that if they don't believe the right things about God — or "accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior" as Evangelicals like to put it —they will burn in hell forever.

  . . .

  Because the kind of God Americans worship affects the kind of people we are. If that God is unjust when doling out punishment, it's likely we will be the same. If folks don't measure up to our standard, then, off with their heads.

  Though we may speak of such a God as loving — and as his devotees think of ourselves in a similar fashion — deep down, we know it's a sham.

  . . .

  http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2011-08-07-love-wins-afterlife-hell_n.htm
• 

  Vanderhoven7

  Thanks for the highlights and the article reference. Hell is actually one of my favourite subjects.

  "But the Greek word that is often translated "eternal" (aionos) — whether it is used to describe punishment or life — is better understood as a word of quality, not quantity. Punishment is only "eternal" (in the way that Americans understand that word) in the sense that it could be final."

  Not to challenge, but only elaborate.

  WHAT ABOUT ETERNAL FIRE: We've come across this imagery before. But does "eternal fire" clearly denote either conscious experience, or a continual burning flame which causes endless suffering? Or could "eternal fire" simply be a metaphor for eternal destruction? Interestingly, because something is eternal/everlasting in scripture does not necessitate endless perpetuity of action. For example, the scripture speaks of "Eternal Judgment", Hebrews 6:2, not in the sense that the final judgment scene will be reenacted day after day for eternity, but that a final judgment will be made that will have eternal consequences for the wicked.

  - Similarly, rather than denoting an endless process of ongoing

  torture, could "eternal fire" be descriptive of a destruction

  which is unending in the sense that it is eternally irreversible?

  - In other words, could the consequences of the fire be eternal

  and not the burning process itself?

  (From my manuscript - Eternal Torment:Image and Reality)
• 

  punkofnice

  Christians I've spoken to are divided on the subject of Hell with the over-riding thought being that if you accept Christ then there is no need to fear because you're saved from it.
• 

  leavingwt

  Would you drive more carefully if the punishment for speeding was a five-year prison sentence?
• 

  cptkirk

  leavingwt: this is a really good reference point on how misinformed the average person is. hell has got to be the most salient reference point on how deluded any given person's mind really is. why? because above all other biblical notions, hell is not only one of the easiest to disprove with scripture (as stated above by this reverend), but it's also the most egregious notion presented in the bible's entirety. ie. if the notion of hell does not impel you to reason on the scriptures, NOTHING WILL.

  again, the scriptures are clear on the derivation of hell. it was all contextual in regards to society of the EARTHLY REALM at that particular time.

  there is no more shocking idea you can articulate to another human being, greater than the deluded conception of hell.

  this duplicity wrapped up in a biblical notion called "hell", will really help anyone who is trying to decipher another man/woman's mental state. do they believe the sky is blue or do they believe the sky is orange? it separates those who believe what they want to regardless of what the facts say, and those who's beliefs are centered in reasoning.

  jw's seem to have their foot in both conceptions at this point. i'd guess this is one reason they are being caught in so many contradictions. they want to reason with you that the sky is orange. you prove to them that it's blue, and you are the devil. and yet they have books called "reasoning on the scriptures"...at some point they are going to have to just say 'reasoning is bad for you', or realize they are no different than those who gathered at the parthenon.

  leavingwt: those poll numbers really have blown my mind at this point, can that really be true? "most americans", not most americans that claim to be christian? just 'most americans'? good god.
• 

  PSacramento

  There is the "hell" of Jesus and 1st century Judaism and the "Hell" of John of patmos with the lake of buring fire.

  Two different things.

  As a believer is do NOT fear hell in any of it's "shape and forms" and I certainly do not fear God or Christ.

  I fear disappointing them and hurting them as I fear disappointing and hurting all those I love.
• 

  leavingwt

  leavingwt: those poll numbers really have blown my mind at this point, can that really be true? "most americans", not most americans that claim to be christian? just 'most americans'? good god.

  The numbers are real. Outside of the USA, it's mostly Muslims countries that are as high on God as we are.
• 

  leavingwt

  As a believer is do NOT fear hell in any of it's "shape and forms" and I certainly do not fear God or Christ.

  In your opinion, WHY do some believers fear Hell?
• 

  PSacramento

  In your opinion, WHY do some believers fear Hell?

  If they believe hell to be a place where those that sin and KNOW that they sin and are not repentive of their sins, go after they die, wouldn't YOU fear hell?

  I know I would, LOL !

  I think that fear is a great, albeit pointless, motivator for change an di say pointless because it is NOT needed and any chnage based on fear only works IF fear remains.
• 

  leavingwt

  bttt

  Am I the only person who found it surprising that USA Today, a major national newspaper, ran an article on Hell, that could have (essentially) been written by Watchtower?