Do Sinners Really Go to Hell? (Split-- Theist Q&A)

[The Top Crusader]

What if God sends everyone who didn't accept him to Hell and there, it's Satan who tortures them and dies what he wants?

Well, if you ignore the part about hell existing to punish Lucifer and his fallen angels, that might work. >_> But they will be suffering there, not in charge.

[Marvin D.]

What if God sends everyone who didn't accept him to Hell and there, it's Satan who tortures them and dies what he wants?

Well, if you ignore the part about hell existing to punish Lucifer and his fallen angels, that might work. >_> But they will be suffering there, not in charge.

That's true, but for now at least, Satan and the demons roam around. .

[The Top Crusader]

Well, yeah, on earth, I doubt they want to go to prison early.

[Marvin D.]

So what if they keep all the unsaved there for now? And torture them?

[The Top Crusader]

I don't think Satan has anything to do with dealing judgment in the afterlife... I assume hell has self-sustaining torture or regular angels being mean. Satan only has a finite number of followers, I'd think he'd be better served by them being on earth... not to mention its clearly stated he has been given dominion over the earth, not hell... I doubt he could be there if he wanted to.

[Marvin D.]

Hell is his home, as is earth. .and if the angels are innumerable and 1/3 followed him, wouldn't that still be a lot?

[The Top Crusader]

Where does it say hell is his home again? >_>

[Marc.]

I'd philosophize about this, but I tend to steer away from my own theology and philosophy, as I'm not really good at that stuff. The other day I began thinking about God being outside of time, and ended up at the theory that God is this dude in a world like ours, and we're all in a videogame, and there are several worlds like ours. And God's name is something like Theodore, or Matthew, and he has fellow God gamers. Exactly. Nonsense. I almost laughed at myself when I realized where my thoughts had taken me. I try to read lots of different views and see which ones first line up with the Bible, and then make sense. I believe there is a hell, and I believe God sends people there, as the Bible says. It is my least favorite topic because it really puts me in a bad mood, but my preferences of discussion don't really matter. Argh, random babbling. It seems all I'm capable of when discussing serious topics.

[jelly]

Sounds like you're pretty much a philosopher in the making. Don't laugh off your thoughts and ideas, explore them!

[Marvin D.]

2 Peter 2:4 says the angels who sinned were cast into Hell, so wouldn't Satan have gone as well? And that time Jesus cast out the demons, they asked to not be sent to the pit. .Hell?

[Sherlock]

Let's do it together, Jelly.

Your logic is sound, bookworm. That is the first time I've ever heard such a theory.

Another similarly sympathetic view is the fate of babies who are born before they can be baptised, or young children who are brought up by parents with no religious views and have no knowledge of God.

Ultimately we don't know what happens, but I don't believe (as some apparently do) that they end up in Hell because that is "the only option." Like a previous poster mentioned, I think there's a lot more to it than we understand.

[ric]

2 Peter 2:4 says the angels who sinned were cast into Hell, so wouldn't Satan have gone as well? And that time Jesus cast out the demons, they asked to not be sent to the pit. .Hell?

Technically, the term used for hell is "tartarus" which (I believe) is not used elsewhere in the New Testament. I don't believe it's referring to hell.

Also, Satan is the Ruler of the Air. (Whatever that means...I don't think he's in hell.)

[Marvin D.]

2 Peter 2:4 says the angels who sinned were cast into Hell, so wouldn't Satan have gone as well? And that time Jesus cast out the demons, they asked to not be sent to the pit. .Hell?

Technically, the term used for hell is "tartarus" which (I believe) is not used elsewhere in the New Testament. I don't believe it's referring to hell.

Also, Satan is the Ruler of the Air. (Whatever that means...I don't think he's in hell.)

But he's also called Apollyon/Abbadon. .the prince of the bottomless pit.
Note: I do not say that I agree that Satan gets to torture those in Hell. .it's just a thought

[bookworm]

People don't go to Hell because they reject God. They go to Hell because they sin.

Yeah, that’s what I said. Sinning is rejecting God.

[Caswin]

On a side note: I've read a few posts in here about atheists "wanting" to separate themselves from God, as if it were a rebellion. Honestly, most atheists that I've heard from simply believe that there isn't a God from whom to be separate.

I'm not prepared to tackle the issue of Hell itself, but I think that it's an important distinction. (Actually, while I disagree with him on many, many things, including the idea that he was all that funny to begin with, George Carlin's spiel on Hell comes pretty close to my thoughts on the subject...)

[Christian A.]

People don't go to Hell because they reject God. They go to Hell because they sin.

Yeah, that’s what I said. Sinning is rejecting God.

Hmm. I'm not sure I would agree with that. Rejecting God is sinning, but I thought we were talking about rejecting Christ and His salvation. Someone can't reject that unless they've heard about Him. But I'm saying that they can still go to Hell because they've still sinned, and they still deserve eternal punishment.

[Astronomer]

Didn't Paul write somewhere that the law is written on every person's heart? That even those who haven't heard the gospel can still live according to it, by following their conscience? I think I remember reading that somewhere, but it might not have been in the Bible...

[Marvin D.]

People don't go to Hell because they reject God. They go to Hell because they sin.

Yeah, that’s what I said. Sinning is rejecting God.

Hmm. I'm not sure I would agree with that. Rejecting God is sinning, but I thought we were talking about rejecting Christ and His salvation. Someone can't reject that unless they've heard about Him. But I'm saying that they can still go to Hell because they've still sinned, and they still deserve eternal punishment.

Yes, but the gift of God is eternal life, which we get by calling on the name of God, to be saved, and those who haven't accepted Christ aren't going to Heaven.

[Christian A.]

People don't go to Hell because they reject God. They go to Hell because they sin.

Yeah, that’s what I said. Sinning is rejecting God.

Hmm. I'm not sure I would agree with that. Rejecting God is sinning, but I thought we were talking about rejecting Christ and His salvation. Someone can't reject that unless they've heard about Him. But I'm saying that they can still go to Hell because they've still sinned, and they still deserve eternal punishment.

Yes, but the gift of God is eternal life, which we get by calling on the name of God, to be saved, and those who haven't accepted Christ aren't going to Heaven.

But I'm saying that it's not the rejecting of Christ that's sending them to hell. If they haven't heard of Christ, they can't reject Him, so God couldn't hold them accountable for that. What I am saying is that sinners go to hell because they've sinned. Yes, for some, one of those sins is rejection of Christ. But those, say, in a remote tribe in Africa who haven't heard the gospel, go to hell, not because they rejected Christ, but because they committed sins, like idolatry, lying, theft, hatred, lust, etc.

Do you get what I'm saying?

[Sherlock]

People don't go to Hell because they reject God. They go to Hell because they sin.

Yeah, that’s what I said. Sinning is rejecting God.

Hmm. I'm not sure I would agree with that. Rejecting God is sinning, but I thought we were talking about rejecting Christ and His salvation. Someone can't reject that unless they've heard about Him. But I'm saying that they can still go to Hell because they've still sinned, and they still deserve eternal punishment.

Yes, but the gift of God is eternal life, which we get by calling on the name of God, to be saved, and those who haven't accepted Christ aren't going to Heaven.

But I'm saying that it's not the rejecting of Christ that's sending them to hell. If they haven't heard of Christ, they can't reject Him, so God couldn't hold them accountable for that. What I am saying is that sinners go to hell because they've sinned. Yes, for some, one of those sins is rejection of Christ. But those, say, in a remote tribe in Africa who haven't heard the gospel, go to hell, not because they rejected Christ, but because they committed sins, like idolatry, lying, theft, hatred, lust, etc.

Do you get what I'm saying?

There's some room for argument there, because I don't believe that ALL thieving, lying, idolatry, etc is automatically a sin. To have a sin, you have to 1) Know something is wrong objectively (e.g. thieving) and 2) choose to do it anyway. Now we can argue that all people have a conscience and can properly discern that certain acts are objectively sinful, but I would still argue that there is a lot of nuance, and we can't just say that people who haven't heard the Gospel and do these things are going straight to Hell. There's a lot more to it than that. There's a lot of grey areas even if it does have the effect of making Christianity and the rules we follow more nuanced and confusing. I think we get in a lot of trouble when we try to make rules like saying people go to Hell when they commit sins. How many sins? 1? 50? Is there a bright line rule? Does it apply to people who never know they should be forgiven because they have no knowledge of God or forgiveness of sin? There's a lot of questions, which I think we really can only speculate about.