Denial of Hell

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NM505StKate said:
For me this begs the question why even have hell. As you said above god is “perfect love”. I don’t think anything with “perfect love” would want a being to be in eternal torment. Also if the demons are actually helping humans then they don’t have free will, they are just tools a “perfect love” god uses.
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Kate - God is perfect love. Hell is simply the rejection of that love.

For example: if an adult Child rejects his/her father’s love and is too proud to ask for forgiveness, that person will seperated from the tangible benefits of the father’s love. That doesn’t mean that the father still does not love his wayward child, but that the child has removed him/herself from the father’s influence.

The same is true with God. God gave BOTH the Angels and Humans free will to choose. The fallen angels (aka the devil and demons) chose to reject God’s plan and humans often choose to reject God’s plan too.

God’s plan was simply, create a universe where everyone was given the free will to accept Him or reject him because God knew that forcing everyone to be one way was not really living. Our life experiences, our failures, our successes, our lessons learned are what make us all unique. If we all followed God’s plan perfectly, we wouldn’t be unique.

God knew this and didn’t want “robots.” That’s why he gave us and the angels a choice, even though He knew what would happen. But, that’s why He also built in a “back up plan” by sending His only Begotten Son to us.
 
phil19034 said:
Kate - God is perfect love. Hell is simply the rejection of that love.

For example: if an adult Child rejects his/her father’s love and is too proud to ask for forgiveness, that person will seperated from the tangible benefits of the father’s love. That doesn’t mean that the father still does not love his wayward child, but that the child has removed him/herself from the father’s influence.

The same is true with God. God gave BOTH the Angels and Humans free will to choose. The fallen angels (aka the devil and demons) chose to reject God’s plan and humans often choose to reject God’s plan too.

God’s plan was simply, create a universe where everyone was given the free will to accept Him or reject him because God knew that forcing everyone to be one way was not really living. Our life experiences, our failures, our successes, our lessons learned are what make us all unique. If we all followed God’s plan perfectly, we wouldn’t be unique.

God knew this and didn’t want “robots.” That’s why he gave us and the angels a choice, even though He knew what would happen. But, that’s why He also built in a “back up plan” by sending His only Begotten Son to us.
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What about if God rejects some of us?
 
Lost_Sheep said:
What about if God rejects some of us?
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In a nut shell he won’t.

God never rejects us, we are the ones that walk away from him.
1 John 1:5-10
God Is Light
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness[a] at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth; 7 but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

A just God can’t reject us. But at the same time if He would force us to be with him in heaven he would no longer be just.
 
Bradski said:
That’s not answering the question. Which was: What crime deserves eternal punishment?
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I think the problem we are having here is how we define words.
I am assuming (if I am wrong please correct me) that when you use the term eternal punishment you are using it to mean if so and so “DID” this (past tense) then God sends them to Hell.
Well as a Catholic (now this is my own layman’s interpretation) we define it more as here are the rules You have 2 choices here. If you “DO” this (future tense) then you will be choosing to go to Hell. If you “DO NOT” do this (future tense) or are repentant of something you might do then you will be choosing not to go to Hell.
The rules have already been set in place the choice is ours. See the difference is God already knows if we are guilty or innocent, and we will be able to see our guilt or innocence on judgement day. It’s not like an earthly court. God doesn’t need to call in witnesses and hear expert testimony.

I think you are comparing apples and oranges when trying to compare an earthly crime with an eternal punishment. If someone commits murder here on earth they will most likely get life in prison or the death penalty. Basically, an eternal punishment thinking about it as being the rest of your existence on earth. If we have laws here on earth that when someone breaks they know they will most likely get an eternal punishment on earth, why when we break an eternal law do we feel it is unfair to receive an eternal punishment?

I hope I didn’t ramble to much, I think I might have gone a couple of directions with this.
 
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