Why do some Christian sects think it is okay to tell someone "You're going to hell"?

[CatholicZ09]

I mean, who are we to judge who is going to heaven and who is going to hell? I see numerous street preachers hold signs such as “so & so is burning in hell!” Who are we to judge that? I never understood this line of thinking.

 

[ASimon]

I mean, who are we to judge who is going to heaven and who is going to hell? I see numerous street preachers hold signs such as “so & so is burning in hell!” Who are we to judge that? I never understood this line of thinking.

Quite often, the dogma makes it very simple to determine who is in hell and who isn’t. You can certainly make the argument that such proclamations are impolite, however.

 

[Im4It]

Quite often, the dogma makes it very simple to determine who is in hell and who isn’t. You can certainly make the argument that such proclamations are impolite, however.

Where in the bible does it even speak of hell (being an eternal fiery place)?

 

[AmateurPianist]

I mean, who are we to judge who is going to heaven and who is going to hell? I see numerous street preachers hold signs such as “so & so is burning in hell!” Who are we to judge that? I never understood this line of thinking.

Are you referring to the Westboro Baptist Church?

 

[TimothyH]

Quite often, the dogma makes it very simple to determine who is in hell and who isn’t. You can certainly make the argument that such proclamations are impolite, however.

In a universe where God is a big rule book in the sky, perhaps it would be simple.

But playing God, even in in the mind of atheist where God does not exist, is very dangerous.

-Tim-

 

[Darran]

In a universe where God is a big rule book in the sky, perhaps it would be simple.

But playing God, even in in the mind of atheist where God does not exist, is very dangerous.

-Tim-

Exactly. It’s said that it takes less than a hundredth of a second for the very worst person to turn to God and have their sins forgiven, for that reason none of us are able even to judge a wild murderer who has taken his own life.

Whether these people know it or not (as some do, to cut a bad figure for Christianity I’m sure - balanced by the ones who simply don’t know any better and think it’s a good thing to say) they are playing the usurper to God’s authority.

 

[LegoGE1947]

Where in the bible does it even speak of hell (being an eternal fiery place)?

Check out Jesus’ parable of “The Rich Man and Lazarus” (St.Luke 16:19-31).

 

[andy60]

I have always read judge not lest you be judged the same! Only one judge thats Jesus. We can help instruct others on how not to do things so they wont be damned but cant force them.

 

[LegoGE1947]

I mean, who are we to judge who is going to heaven and who is going to hell? I see numerous street preachers hold signs such as “so & so is burning in hell!” Who are we to judge that? I never understood this line of thinking.

I’ve been in churches (I use that term loosely) who seem to think they have the authority to determine who is in hell or heaven. Only God has that authority. Like you I can’t see the line of thinking at all. Of course we have the bible verse “By their fruits you shall know them.” So there is a possibility that people who have done lots of evil things in their lives such as Stalin, Hitler, Attila the Hun, Pope Alexander VI, Lenin, Osama bin Ladin, etc. may not be in heaven, but again even with these examples we simply do not know!

 

[Darran]

Check out Jesus’ parable of “The Rich Man and Lazarus” (St.Luke 16:19-31).

And the 12 references to Gehena in the NT (in the Hinnon Valley - also refered to as “the burning place”) where the followers of ba’al and cananite gods sacrificed by fire. As well as it being a rubbish tip for Jerusalem in later years, and no doubt wouldn’t be a stranger to fire then.

Matt.5:22 whoever calls someone "you fool" will be liable to Gehenna.
Matt.5:29 better to lose one of your members than that your whole body go into Gehenna.
Matt.5:30 better to lose one of your members than that your whole body go into Gehenna.
Matt.10:28 rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
Matt.18:9 better to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna.
Matt.23:15 Pharisees make a convert twice as much a child of Gehenna as themselves.
Matt.23:33 to Pharisees: you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to Gehenna?
Mark 9:43 better to enter life with one hand than with two hands to go to Gehenna.
Mark 9:45 better to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.
Mark 9:47 better to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna
Luke 12:5 Fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into Gehenna
James 3:6 the tongue is set on fire by Gehenna.

Fire is the best physical description of that spiritual suffering place, but I don’t understand, what makes you question that Im4It?

 

[JRKH]

I mean, who are we to judge who is going to heaven and who is going to hell? I see numerous street preachers hold signs such as “so & so is burning in hell!” Who are we to judge that? I never understood this line of thinking.

Well certainly the street preacher declaring “so & so is burning in hell” is a bit over the top since it basically denies the possibility of a deathbed conversion. I suppose it depends on the particular sect of that particular preacher whether they even except the possibility of salvation without water baptism etc…

Likewise one can argue that declaring that someone is “Going to Hell” is a judgmental prediction and should be avoided…

However, I think that in most cases, the idea is to shock…To get people to examine and possibly turn toward the Lord. More of a “You’re going to hell unless…”
Personally I think that this sort of approach is counterproductive.
That it puts off far more people than it attracts, and of those put off, it tends to harden rather than soften their hearts and making it more difficult for for others who take a more measured approach.

Peace
James

 

[JustaServant]

I mean, who are we to judge who is going to heaven and who is going to hell? I see numerous street preachers hold signs such as “so & so is burning in hell!” Who are we to judge that? I never understood this line of thinking.

“For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Gen. 3:5 (KJV).

Malcolm Smith (a charismatic Episcopal priest) used to call the words of this verse, “ye shall be as gods”, ‘The Lie’. The idea being that wanting to be ‘like God’ is the foundation of Original Sin.
And what could be more ‘being like a god’, than having the knowledge of who goes to Heaven and who goes to Hell.
The ‘doctrine’ of ‘once saved, always saved’ (OSAS), otherwise known as ‘eternal security’ was a teaching I found hard to abandon when I crossed the Tiber. It is an enticing philosophy that attracts people into a web that is hard to get out of. Behind the doctrine, of course is the teaching that you and I can ‘know for sure’ that our destiny is Heaven. Or as fundamentalist preachers love to put it: ‘you’re as sure for Heaven as Jesus Himself!’
But this doctrine has a dark side. If I can ‘be sure’ who is going to Heaven (those who repeated a sinners prayer), than I can also be sure who is going to Hell (those who have not).
This ‘knowledge’ of who is destined for Hell not only plays into the ‘Lie’ (using Malcolm’s language), it also plays into a destructive psychological pattern.
A former Pentecostal pastor once recounted a strange service he attended once. The preacher was giving a sermon on Hell and began to name those he was ‘sure’ are either in Hell, or headed there. “They’re going to Hell! They’re going to Hell! They’re going to Hell!” the crowd began to chant over and over in a bizarre fashion.
There is a strange and sick satisfaction people have in ‘knowing’ their enemies are ‘burning in Hell’. It gives them a feeling of ‘justice’.
When some of the writings of Mother Teresa was made public, it revealed she had gone through (as St. John of the Cross did) a ‘dark night of the soul’.
Fundamentalists had a gleeful feeding frenzy. I remember one fundamentalist almost giddy with excitement: “See! This proves it! Mother Teresa is in Hell!!”. It is extremely important to fundamentalists that Mother Teresa be in Hell. If Mother Teresa is not burning in Hell, that would make their belief/doctrine false; hence she must be burning in Hell.
For extreme Calvinists, this gets into their theology that a portion of humankind is ‘predestined to Hell’.
A recent survey found 60% of born-again Christians say people were going to hell because they didn’t have the “right beliefs.” Whose beliefs are right is dependent upon the person you are talking to.
Catholics are told (many times with glee) that it is ‘certain’ they are going to Hell.
It reflects a lack of compassion, hope, and love. It feeds into a person’s unforgiveness and bitterness toward another. In dehumanizing them with the curse of “They’re going to Hell,” it relieves them of any responsibility.
The Pharisees of Jesus day had a saying (from ancient Jewish writings): “There is joy in Heaven when a sinner drops into Hell.” Jesus turned that around and said: “There is joy in heaven when a sinner repents.”
The Pharisees believed in a kind of ‘OSAS’. Obviously Jesus did not.
“ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
The Lie.

 

[Izdaari]

It is not ok. We don’t know who’s going where. Only God does. And I don’t think it’s good evangelism strategy either; it seems to turn off a lot more people than it wins over.

 

[grandfather]

I mean, who are we to judge who is going to heaven and who is going to hell? I see numerous street preachers hold signs such as “so & so is burning in hell!” Who are we to judge that? I never understood this line of thinking.

Why do some Christians believe it is ok to tell some people they are going to heaven?

 

[JLF2011]

This issue is one of the reasons I couldn’t continue to attend a nondenominational Christian church where I thought the pastor was excellent.

Too many members of the congregation believed they knew exactly how others would be judged by God. They were sure they were saved, and that they knew what things sent others to hell (mostly not proclaiming themselves “saved” with testimony, as far as I could tell). One woman called me “the voice of Satan” when I tried to have what I thought was intellectual discussion/analysis during a Bible study. Among the things I said that drove them crazy was that I didn’t see how I could say with certainty whether I was “saved.” I said I did the best I could to be a good Christian, but the final decision was God’s.

My children were in elementary/middle school at the time, and the older one came out of Sunday school distressed because her teacher told them that “pets go to hell.” At the time we had a number of elderly pets who predated our children, and we were losing much loved animal family members on a regular basis. The self-righteous proclamation about pets helped the final decision to leave.

I decided after that experience that a lot of people were attracted to the church because they wanted to determine the salvation status of themselves and others. Interestingly, the pastor wasn’t like that at all, but the congregants he attracted were. It was progressively uninspiring (and outrageous!) to me.

In their defense, though, I didn’t hear people criticizing Catholics, although there were quite a few parisioners who left the Catholic church and landed there.

 

[JustaServant]

I decided after that experience that a lot of people were attracted to the church because they wanted to determine the salvation status of themselves and others.

It gives them a kind of oneupmanship over others. An elitist view that says piously “I’m going to Heaven” and my enemy is “going to Hell”.
When you dig into the personal family issues of these types of people (as I did when I was a Baptist pastor), you find a line of broken relationships that still harbors a bitterness they feed off of.
“Knowing” (because your preacher said so) they are in Hell gives them a sense of justice.

 

[JRKH]

In fairness, I think it should be noted that much of the NT letters tends towards this idea of those in the church are saved and those outside are not.

St Paul in one of his letters (Corinthians??) passes a judgment on some things going on in the community including incest and other sinful things and encouraging the community to kick out the offenders.

The problem with these things is knowing where to draw the line and how to approach the various matters so that God’s Kingdom is built up, Scandal is avoided, and sin does not spread within the community.

The main thing to remember is that “you are going to hell” must always be preceded by, “if you continue on (some sinful) path…”
In other words, using an old computer programming phrase, it must always be an “If - then” statement.

Peace
James

 

[grandfather]

When Jesus tells certain pharisees that they are going to die in their sins, He is telling them they are going to hell. It is a terrifying piece of scripture. He also tells them that He came for sinners, but they say they have no sin, so they do not need Him.

What we can take from this helps form the Catholic doctrine of salvation. What matters is the condition of your soul at the moment of death. It does not matter what your sins are. Mercy will be yours if you recognize them and repent. Dying impeitent is the worst thing that can happen, and He is telling the pharisees He knows that is what they will do.

I do not know what anyone I know will do today, tomorrow or at the moment of their death. I do not know what I will do, much less someone else. All I know is that I have sinned and need mercy, or I will die in my sins and be lost. Only God knows the condition of a soul and the eternal destiny of a soul.

There was a booth at the county fair set up by some self ordained evangelical church. The sign above to attract people said, “Find out if you are going to heaven”.

When people approached the people manning the booth asked them if they had accepted Jesus as their personal savior and if they had a personal relationship with Him. If the answer was yes, they were told they were going to heaven. If the answer was no, they were asked to recite the sinners prayer asking Jesus into their hearts. If they did this they could know for sure they were going to heaven, were born again, that they were saved.

They approached me and asked me if I had a personal relationship with Jesus. I said I eat His body and drink His blood. They responded as the people did in the gospel. They went away.

This business or novel theology about getting saved, ironically, accepting Jesus as your personal savior and having a personal relationship with Him, is not found in scripture. When people came to faith and asked Saint Peter what should they do, he told them to be baptized, born again.

It is important to realize these misguided people are well intentioned. They believe what they are taught and form their ideas from their own reading of scripture.

 

[CompSciGuy]

It’s pretty simple really. In the scripture Jesus says “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. Whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Many Christians take this and other verses like it at face value, no exceptions.

I guess, then, one could ask “well what about a baptized and believing Catholic?” Well, there is a lot of disagreement as to whether Catholics are saved or not; more rabid forms of fundamentalism tend to think that everyone outside of their congregation is going to hell. And since everyone knows we are a bunch of Mary-worshipping heathens who worship the pope and follow the traditions of men, we can be pretty certain of our fate. Unless of course we believe what the fundamentalist evangelist tells us (assuming we choose the correct fundamentalist group to join!).

 

[LegoGE1947]

In fairness, I think it should be noted that much of the NT letters tends towards this idea of those in the church are saved and those outside are not.

St Paul in one of his letters (Corinthians??) passes a judgment on some things going on in the community including incest and other sinful things and encouraging the community to kick out the offenders.

The problem with these things is knowing where to draw the line and how to approach the various matters so that God’s Kingdom is built up, Scandal is avoided, and sin does not spread within the community.

The main thing to remember is that “you are going to hell” must always be preceded by, “if you continue on (some sinful) path…”
In other words, using an old computer programming phrase, it must always be an “If - then” statement.

Peace
James

That little word “IF” is the key here. God wants every one to repent and be with him forever in heaven But he won’t violate a person’s will. That’s what makes us different from all other creatures on earth after all. And that’s how God could say we are created in His likeness and image that part of us called “free will”