Is the God of the Bible a hypocrite?

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@QwertyGirl Hell is hard and difficult to understand. I understand where you’re coming from. I’d argue hell exists because of God’s infinite love and his mercy and because he would go any distance to forgive us. So consequently, anyone who rejects this infinite love at death is in hell by default.

No there is no direct comparison I can give you. But even if you repent discreetly and internally after living a life of great sin, without going to confession for instance, God will forgive you. However if you choose not to avail of this mercy during this life and at the hour of your death, you would have missed out on that opportunity to reconcile with God and it is your own conscience that will haunt you forever (as you say the soul is immortal). God wants to do everything to save you. But if you choose this suffering knowing that it is suffering and stay adamant, then you will go to hell yourself, despite God’s best efforts.

That is why hell exists and is so horrible. It is because heaven is so beautiful and God is so loving.
 
I understand the Church’s teaching on hell. I just disagree with it.

If there is a God and a heaven, I don’t believe the cord is cut when our human bodies die. Eternal life means just that to me (if it exists)…“Eternal”. It means we continue living, just in a different form. I don’t believe it is the end of the line for our souls to learn, grow, etc. just because our physical bodies die. Therefore, if God exists, I believe he continues working with us. That would not include making sure we wind up someplace, eternally, as the Church describes and explains hell.

I realize this isn’t what Catholics believe.
 
You’re describing some sort of purgatory. God gives our soul time to learn after we die but for that we must believe at least that he exists and that we are need of conversion.

Hell is saying no to any kind of spiritual growth. It is refusing God and grace altogether.
 
Just to clarify, we can in no way correct ourselves after death. But others can by way of suffrage help us get out of purgatory.
 
Not purgatory. I actually don’t discount the possibility of reincarnation.

I understand the Church teachings, but I am agnostic and tend to lead towards new-age beliefs.

I found the original question by the OP an interesting one, so engaged in the thread. I am going to bow out now because I don’t think I can offer much, moving forward.
 
QwertyGirl said:
I don’t believe it is the end of the line for our souls to learn, grow, etc. just because our physical bodies die. Therefore, if God exists, I believe he continues working with us. That would not include making sure we wind up someplace, eternally, as the Church describes and explains hell.
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Hell is separation from God. How exactly is it unfair or unloving on God’s part that a person who WANTS to be separated from God experiences just that — being separated from God?

People who DON’T WANT to be separated from God and on some level want to be with Him most likely don’t end up in hell.

What part of that do you not understand?
 
Imagine this.

A mortally wounded person comes across a physcian’s home on a hill. The doctor meets him at the door. He offers him his services, but bitterly refuses out of ignorance . Another mortally wounded person appears. This one refuses as well because they don’t believe in his kind of medicinal practice, but one that makes them comfortable. Finally, a third appears, and instead begs at the feet of the doctor. The doctor takes him in, and treats him. The doctor teaches the person medicine, that he might go and help the others who are wounded.
 
God doesn’t send anyone to Hell, though. All we know for certain about Hell is that it is eternal separation from Him, and that sin leads us there. If someone wants to avoid being eternally separated from Him, then they would do well to cease sinning.

If someone says that Hell is not a choice, then they’re mistaken. You can honor God with your lips all day, but if you’re not living according to the Light, then any love that you claim to have for Him is nonexistent. It’s universally accepted that actions speak louder than words, and this rule also applies to worship and service to God. Even if Hell “sounds bad”- like something we’d like to avoid, the only other alternative is Heaven, and a lot of the same people lamenting about Hell don’t seem to think too highly of its inverse.
 
St. Paul himself advised Christians to test everything in their search for truth. The folks who start these threads are simply doing just that. They are uncertain of the answers and are seeking them. Why do you shun them for this? Not everyone is as knowledgeable as you are.

Furthermore, nobody is forcing you to participate in this discussion. What’s stopping you from just scrolling past it?
 
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Thom18 said:
If someone wants to avoid being eternally separated from Him, then they would do well to cease sinning.
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Well, no matter how hard we try, we’ll never be able to cease sinning completely.

But God will forgive us our sins as long as we don’t completely turn our back on Him and ask for forgiveness.
 
stpurl said:
There are other mortal sins. Fornication, adultery. . . lots of ‘mentally healthy’ people commit those. So.
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Jesus died for sinners, I don’t believe that Jesus only died for righteous Catholics. Jesus forgave the adulterous woman who was about to be stoned, it did not say how long she had been in an adulterous relationship.

Jesus forgave the cripple before he healed him, the cripple had not asked for forgiveness, but Jesus knew that he needed to be forgiven as well.
 
Right, but you can’t just tailor your response directed to ‘the Christian God’ and only allow what you personally think are sins, and not what the "Christian God’ states are sins.
 
Thank you for your response, but since I did not make any statements that you are responding to (i.e. I never stated Jesus did NOT die for sinners, I never stated that "Jesus only died for ‘righteous Catholics’ etc.) I fail to see any relevance to your post as it is directed to ME.
 
I always think these discussions just go nowhere. There are people who are just completely dead set against God because of their own ideas and their minds are not open to change. All we can do is pray to the Holy Spirit for them to one day, perhaps when they actually meet God, get a better understanding. Until then, such conversations are simply a frustrating exercise for both people involved.
 
yammerGee said:
test everything in their search for truth
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I think the point was that the same question keeps coming up, and the answers tend to be the same, so if one simply uses the search function provided in the forum they can find all the truth they want.
 
stpurl said:
Right, but you can’t just tailor your response directed to ‘the Christian God’ and only allow what you personally think are sins, and not what the "Christian God’ states are sins.
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Sure I can.
 
TheLittleLady said:
If my child grew up and committed the most heinous crimes, I would still love my child. I would visit them in prison as often as possible, write them letters every day and work 3 jobs to make sure they had a full commissary account.
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Might it not be more just to put all that money towards reparations for your son’s victims (not that you are responsible for his actions)?
 
Well, the possibility exists that even though both parties do get frustrated, maybe seeds are being planted and will bear fruit. For sure, if somebody makes a claim calling out or implying God is a hypocrite, while it may get into various, “MY god would never punish”, “MY God is just and here is why”, “Well your god is wrong then” etc., at least if somebody keeps stating "God is just and here is why’, the ‘why’ may someday sink in.
 
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