How can we call God merciful if hell is real?

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   SwordofManticorEposted 11 years ago

   How can we call God merciful if hell is real?
   
   It has been estimated that there have been about 160 billion people who have lived and died from Adam until the present. It has also been estimated that only about 5 billion of these people have been believers in Jesus Christ. If God starts out with 160 billion people and loses 155 billion of them to eternal torture who He knew before time their destiny, how can we say that God is victorious and merciful?

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   renegadetoryposted 11 years ago

   Because then He would be an unjust God if people went unpunished for sinning.  There would be no point in following God's commandments because there would be no punishment for breaking them.

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      JThomp42posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Amen!!

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      Old Empresarioposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      According to the Laws of Moses, what is the proscribed punishment for one who breaks the 1st Commandment?

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      Disappearingheadposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      @ renegadetory. The point was that Jesus took the punishment for the whole of mankind, so there is no more to be meted out. If people still get punished for sinning, then Jesus mission was pointless.

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      JThomp42posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      DH.... Agreed!!

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   Lady Guinevereposted 11 years ago

   Well first thing is there were more people on the Earth besides Adam and Eve.  Second we were to REPLENISH the Earth but how if most of us do not know how many were on it before....and before what-the flood?  Then if you go and read the Bible for yourself without tutelage from clergy whose precept is to keep us in the dark at all costs, you will see there are 2 God's....one merciful and the other vengeful.  Those are HUMAN qualities, not of one who is supposed to be merciful and loving.  I think Jesus got tired of all the banter and finally told us just where God and who God is.  The church keeps that from their people.  Once you bring up the scripture (who put the numbers in front of the sentences so that people could take it out of context in the first place) we are told many different things.  Hell is where ROME threw all the dead bodies that were hung.  They needed to keep diseases from the other people so they had to burn those bodies in a trench.  The is Hell..the burning Lake opf Fire and so on and so forth.  It is npt a place of eternal torment....though the families of all those people were tormented for the rest of their lives.

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      CynthiAnnposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I disagree that there are 2 God. Our human qualities were bestowed on us from God (my opinion). Interesting answer though!

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   Old Empresarioposted 11 years ago

   Please don't open this can of worms. Christians came up with an answer to this theological conundrum about 1,600 years ago and have stuck to it. You're in their territory on this subject and it's ground on which they feel safe and encouraged. They'll always win this argument.

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      SwordofManticorEposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      They only think they win.

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      Disappearingheadposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      They can't win because its a doctrine built upon sand.

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      JThomp42posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      There are no winners. Only losers if they believe in universal salvation in which goes against every principle of the Holy Bible.

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      SwordofManticorEposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      J, if you want to start name calling, that is your choice.

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      JThomp42posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Who's name calling? I am not name calling?

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      SwordofManticorEposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Calling me a loser for my belief in Universal salvation.

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   Disappearingheadposted 11 years ago

   Christians have a schizophrenic view on this. If a Christian saw a person trapped in a burning car wreck, their compassion would drive them to try to pull the person out and douse the flames. If for whatever reason they failed, they believe God will personally torch them again for eternity. At this point a switch flicks in their brains and they proclaim that the filthy sinner got what they deserve.
   
   For a while they might ponder that maybe they are more compassionate than God because they would save, but God would burn. But then to justify their view on God, they trot out "My ways are not your ways says the Lord", or some other memory verse.

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      CynthiAnnposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Why was this considered the best answer? Hard to follow and doesn't make a lot of sense. It really sounds like you don't know a lot about what you're talking about, making rash statements like that.

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   Apostle Jackposted 11 years ago

   He is merciful to give humankind a chance and a choice that goes out to world population. Hell can be avoided by choice. If not for Christ the world would not have progress this far. But, by the mercy of God He gave us a chance to return to Him that hell will not be a consequence for us on judgment day.
   If there is no hell,then there is no heaven,and if there is no heaven,then there in no hell. Hell are for those that turn their backs to heaven.

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   Michele Travisposted 11 years ago

   That is not certain.  People who have died before Jesus came are going to come back for the 1,000 years.  In this time people will be taught about Jesus and God.  They will have the ability to chose to follow God.  They will have the choice.  That is probably the reason for the 1,000 years that satan is locked up..
   
   That is one of the reasons we can say that God is victorious and merciful to the end.  The people who lived before Christ, will still have the chance to chose to follow Him, and be forgiven.

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   manatita44posted 11 years ago

   Hell is real only in so far as our thoughts are sinful. One does not live an ungodly life and wake up after death in a celestial paradise forever. It is foolish to think so. The pure in heart shall see God. Still, God in His mercy has infinite patience and is always waiting for the stark atheists and non-believers. Everyone can change and will eventually do so.

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   CynthiAnnposted 11 years ago

   How many of these people were around before Christ?  We will all be called for judgment before God on Judgment Day. I believe that none of us can sit here and dictate who or who hasn't gone to hell. The Bible does say Christ is our ticket into Heaven. So really, the choice is up to us. What of the people in secluded indigenous tribes?  What of babies that die in the hospital when they are 2 days old? I believe the "official judgment" rests between God and each person.

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      SwordofManticorEposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Sorry Cynt, I just accidently deleted my answer. Let me ask you this. God who commands us to love, forgive and bless our enemies, but is incapable of doing the same to His? It sounds like double standards.

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      CynthiAnnposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You know, I can see your logic here, even if I don't agree with it. :-P  God doesn't deny us forgiveness when we ask for it. I don't go up to people that wronged me and just say, "I forgive you". I'd wait for them to tell me they are sorry.

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      SwordofManticorEposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      That is the problem right there. Why wait for them to be sorry. You dont have to go up to them and forgive them either. Just do it in your heart unconditionally. If you cant forgive them, how do you expect to be forgiven?

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      CynthiAnnposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Our love for our children reflects God's love for us.Discipline is an act of love.Can't expect kids to understand the difference between right and wrong if there are consequences.I believe if someone is in hell, it's a choice they made in their heart

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