Could you stand Heaven?

This thought just popped into my mind, and I'd like to hear Christian's responses to this:

One of my biggest problems(nay, my single biggest problem) with Christianity is the idea that anyone who doesn't adhere to it is damned to hell, to burn in the lake of fire for eternity, etc.; and I just thought of this:

Could you truly celebrate your everlasting life with God, while billions upon billions of people suffer in Hell? Would Jesus/God even WANT you to celebrate it? What if you spoke up about it? Spoke out to God, saying this is not right; would God throw you in with them?

If you think you could celebrate your new life in heaven and worship the God who did that; how do you justify that apathy towards those in Hell?

No doubt there is much tragedy when you think about those that will ultimately end up in hell. This is why so many Christians share the good news with others. We want to prevent that tragedy by leading people to their salvation.

I see it this way. Someone that commits premeditated murder in the US knows the penalty if caught yet they killed anyway. I don’t blame the Judge for their sentence, basically they send themselves to prison through their own action…they knew the consequences and made their choice. Not unlike a man that hears the word and rejects his salvation through Christ…he made his decision and has also decided his own fate. It’s just the way it is….

I agree with the the OP, i personally couldn't, come to think of it isnt that why Lucifer was tossed out of heaven in the first place? for opposing god? that sounds alot like what Hitler and Stalin and every dictator has done to solidify their power base, they got rid of any opposition.

reply to post by Core90


But isn’t it the same case at the moment here during life? How can you live life and celebrate things knowing that there are people being punished all around the world? Living in Pain and suffering every day?

Isn’t it the same situation?

Mikey

Mikey you hit it right on the head.

That shows you that only God cares because goodness is from him, its all grace which is love..

now....People choose hell, they choose seperation from God, even if God gave them repentance they wouldnt accept because they are hardened in their evil....

And the reason Lucifer is in hell because he had no humility... You see Hitler didnt creat his followers, God did.......

and so we owe God due worship for his goodness in creating us, and also he loved us so much that he sent his son to die for our wretched butts....


peace.

I know plenty of people who have turned away from Christianity due to Christians. Sometimes it was because they were racists, or bigots, or whatever. The message that reached them was corrupted, and the refused to follow it. Generally, for very good reasons based on their experiences. So does god punish them to? Or the folks who grew up being mistreated by Christians, forced to convert to Christianity?

reply to post by RuneSpider


That is a very sad and frustrating fact of society, abuses do happen and some abusers do try to associate themselves with Christianity. A Christian is one that follows the teachings of Jesus and accepts his salvation. A man or woman abusing others is not acting like a Christian and in many cases far from being a follower of Christ. As far as a racist Christian…that is a oxymoron, they are incompatible. That person cannot serve Jesus and evil so the person is not a Christian.

Yes, you need to accept Jesus Christ to find salvation, no way around that.

Hey guys, if you are in the paradise and your parents or your brothers are sent into the hell due to their sins ,would you still feel happy in the heaven with your God?Would you regard them as just criminals and never give a #


*Mod edit* Please don't circumvent the censors with creative spelling.

[edit on 27-2-2008 by dbates]

reply to post by Core90


Hi Core90/

Let's see what Scripture says...."...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." (Phil 2:12)
Why 'fear and trembling'?
The judgment that will occur at the end of one's life or rather, the end of the World ,after the Antichrist and the false prophet and his followers, get their sentencing, this will determine what will be for eternity....
The sentencing will be one's own 'soul' that cannot lie or hide.
If evil was what one enjoyed, then evil will be also in its fullness in hell.....suffering along with it, because there will be no consoling for the soul, because others of the same sin will also experience it's fullness to a greater/lesser degree for eternity...
Whilst in Heaven.......Gods Mercy will also be experienced for eternity....


Here is something of which you may think sounds a little crazy....
*St. Silouan* of Mt. Athos said, "Keep your mind in Hell and despair not."
Keep your mind in hell???
Yes, because it is an act of humbleness...to be proud and think that one is

If one thinks him/herself great and better then another, then why bother to change one's life.
When one is suffering physically or mentally,then death comes to mind,and one questions one's life which is temporarily here on earth.
It is when one is suffering any sort of ailment, that 'death' does come to mind!
If however all is good , then one forgets death and all seems well and perfect,that is why Christ said...."He that is unrighteous, let him do unrighteousness yet more; and he that is filthy,
let him he made filthy yet more.
And he that is righteous,
let him do righteousness yet more; and he that is holy,
let him be made holy yet more" (Apoc. 22:11)
Because the life one lives now in doing evil and knowing evil will not know another way but deal with this same evil in hell/they will experience it's fullness for eternity, which will be their own doing/want....one that does good and tries to better him/herself with goodness and righteousness, will experience the fullness of their goodness in Heaven.
As we are told in Scripture, that Heaven has many mansions/likewise hell has similar depending on the kind of life one has led.....
The Wisdom of Sirach says: "In all you do, remember the end of your life, and then you will never sin" (7,36).
"Remember the end of your life, and then you will never sin" (Wis. Sir. 7,36)
Memory of death~

Can anyone escape bodily death?
No, as we are told in Scripture......For "dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return" (Gen. 3,19).
"Till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken" (Gen. 3,19).
For this reason Christ came and each one of us has a choice to follow humbly in the teachings of Christ.

"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Mt. 12,40). Moreover, does not the ascension of the prophet Elijah (cf. II Kings 2,11-12) cultivate in people the hope of resurrection? [4]
In the face of Death~

Table of Contents~Mystery of Death~Ancient Christianity

And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. (St. Luke 18:9-14)

Thus, when they do good, they should always remember Jesus’ admonition to His disciples,

So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. (St. Luke 17:10)

Be humble......
"It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb 9:27).

St. John of the Ladder devoted an entire chapter to the concept of the Rememberance of Death. Here are a few examples of how the Desert Fathers approached this subject:

2. The remembrance of death is a daily death; and the remembrance of our departure is an hourly sighing or groaning.

4. As of all foods, bread is the most essential, so the thought of death is the most necessary of all works. the remembrance of death amongst those in the midst of society gives birth to distress and meditation, and even more, to despondency. But amongst those who are free from noise, it produces the putting aside of cares and constant prayer and guarding of the mind. But these same virtues both produce the remembrance of death, and are also produced by it.
Orthodox 'death literature'
St John of the ladder,reposed in the Lord in the year 603 and his teachings are known to all Christians!

Many Fathers teach the same teachings of Early Christianity on 'Life after death'....If one is feeling sick, one goes to the doctor for help.....Likewise, when one wants to know what is being said in the Gospel, one goes to the Fathers of the church.Ancient Christianity began with the teachings of Jesus Christ and passed down to the Apostles who passed it down to us!

As it is written in the Gospels///Christ gave us His Apostles as His way of governing as the first overseers, or Bishops, and they, in turn, set apart trusted elders (I Tim 2:15)

God "glorified those who glorify Him" (I Kings 2:30),
that He is "wondrous in His saints" (Psalm. 67:35) for this reason we have the teachings of the Holy Fathers of Ancient Christianity!
Prayers are always helpful.... "the prayer of a righteous man availeth much"(James 5:16)
For the dead in Christ are not dead, but are passed from death into life" (John 11:26, 5:24).
"I will dwell in them" (11 Cor.6:16) and, by grace and adoption, they shall be called gods (John 10:34-35)gods, not God!

Eternally in Hell?
Eternally in Heaven?
One's own choice is determined by one's own life lived now!

IX
helen

*
www.fatheralexander.org...The life and teachings of elder Siluan of Mount Athos

There is no burning Hell. Due to symbolism in the Scriptures, people often take it literally to mean something aside from what is meant to drive home the point. In an example, I will show you why people believe in a burning Hell; then I will show you what the burning Hell they conceive really is.

“When the 1,000 years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea. They came up over the surface of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city. Then fire came down from heaven and consumed them. The Devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelation 20:7-10 (HCSB)

Hell is not fire and brimstone. Hell is an abyss. It is total and complete darkness, solitude and separation from God and all others. It’s solitary confinement in the Spirit Realm and there is no escaping it. Think about it. When you die you leave the container we are in while on the Physical Plane which is your physical body. When you leave that container you are then transformed into your Spiritual Body. Fire and brimstone are physical elements that cannot harm a spiritual body. So what would the point would there be in Hell being fire and brimstone if it cannot harm you?

The above Scripture’s 10th verse is where the misconception arises. To fully understand the torment of forever, you have to understand what the “lake of fire” really symbolizes. That is given without symbolism.

Now let’s look at Revelation 20:14-15 “Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And anyone not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire".

So, what is the Lake of Fire? “This is the second death, the lake of fire.” The “second death” is a death of annihilation from existence. You don’t get reanimation from that death. You have simply been completely destroyed, and are out of creation’s existence; that also means out of Yahweh’s memory, for He is the one with the power to reanimate.

Because of eternal annihilation, they have lost the chance to live for eternity; but it does not mean they are in a place of actual torment. The torment is what Satan and his demons feel right now. They know they cannot be forgiven, because the fall from perfection is one you cannot climb back up to under Yahweh’s Sovereign Laws. Mankind is under secondary sin from the first human couple that were perfect. Adam and Eve cannot climb back up to perfection either, so they too are lost just like Satan and his angels that fell from perfection.

That’s the reason the Ransom Sacrifice had to come through someone perfect that had not sinned. Neither Adam, nor Eve qualified to take the sin away they had committed; and Christ could not forgive their trespass against Yahweh’s Laws, because just like the fallen angels, they to had fallen from a position they could not ever go back to. That’s why we offspring of the first humans were redeemed through Christ; because he accepted the secondary sin that we are all born into, unto himself. It did not make him imperfect; instead, he bore that sin unto death on the Cross, for those that have faith in him and his Father.