Sure Tock, I’ll be glad to.Originally Posted by Tock
1) 1) What is Hell like? I don’t think anyone can tell you exactly detail for detail what Hell is like. I really don’t think anyone can truly comprehend it. My post was somewhat a description, but I will answer your more specific questions. Is it eternal? Yes, the Bible tells us that both Hell and Heaven are eternal. Is it painful (always)? Yes, it will be painful and I think it will always be painful. But the amount of pain and the type of pain is what I don’t think anyone completely understands. I would definitely think it would be emotionally painful. And to me, that would seem to be the deepest pain. (What I am about to say is just my own thoughts, not intending to scare people. I’m just trying to express it and the only way I can do it is to put myself in the situation. It’s going to look like a typical turn or burn type speech, but I can’t think how else to explain it). If I were in Hell, I would be thinking back over the times in my life that I did not give God a chance. I would remember the times I was invited to church and did not go. Or read something and just blocked it out. Or tried to ignore God with the hope that He wasn’t real. I would think about my mistakes over my lifetime and wonder why I didn’t change at various times in my life. I think I would spend eternity just thinking about what could have been. I personally think that would be the most painful part for me. (That’s all of that) Again, touching on the physical pain, I don’t think we understand that totally. I certainly don’t. But let’s twist one thing around. Let’s pretend we are God. So you create this human being. Made this person for a specific purpose and love this person tremendously. However, their whole life they ignore you, they curse you, and they won’t even try to find out who you are. No matter whom you bring into their life to tell them about you, they just don’t want to hear it and they try their best to tune you out. For years no matter what you do, they just don’t want to hear about you or what you did for them. Now you took the time to make this person and you aren’t going to just destroy your hard work. So you create a place of isolation for them. A place they never have to be with you or acknowledge you ever again. Is that fair? You see, two people are hurt in this situation. Not just the human, but God as well. Both suffer for eternity, but at the same time, the human is allowed to spend eternity without God just like they lived their life. So my question is, in the end…….who really suffers? Is it the human, who chooses not to learn about God and chooses to ignore Him, and for eternity never has to acknowledge Him, or is it God, who created the life, gets rejected over and over, and eventually gives the person eternal separation from Him? (That kind of answers the last question in the first section.)
2) 2) I kind of hit on this with the last part that I typed, but let me go a little further. Would it be moral for God to force someone who doesn’t want to acknowledge Him to be with Him? No It would be immoral to force someone to love Him and be with Him. Would it be moral for God to destroy someone that He created? No, I don’t think that would be fair either. Imagine this. There is this person that gets all of the attention no matter where he goes. You completely get overlooked no matter what. Now imagine being stuck with them for the rest of your life. No matter what happens, no matter what you do, no matter what you say, he gets all of the attention and all of the thanks for what you do. Would you be more miserable if you were forced to be with this person all the time or if you could live forever without ever having to be near this person?
3) 3) I need to read more on this to answer your question. I honestly don’t think they are judged until the end times, but I might be wrong. I haven’t seen anything that tells of the exact punishment though. I’m sorry I don’t have more info on this right now, but if anyone else knows, feel free to answer this question.
4) 4) Kind of a loaded question there? LOL Let me put it another way and you can decide. Would you rather have a best friend that is always there to protect you, love you, guide you, and forgive you when you screw up, or go alone to make your own decisions and always look out for yourself? Let me show you a bit of history that tells everything. 8/9/03 I made a post that I had accomplished everything in my life that I ever wanted to accomplish on my own (#10 on my list). Absolutely, 100% true. I wanted God to be in my life more (#5), but I wanted to make my own decisions and do my own thing. I made things in my life happen. I was living my life, my way. It wasn’t a good life though. I looked for happiness in a variety of things but never found it. I got into drugs for a while in my life, I slept around some, etc…. I was a “good guy”. I wasn’t robbing banks or anything, but no matter what I did, I just never found happiness. But you know what, I accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish. My life is different now bro. It honestly is. The last few months of my life have been unlike any in my life. I don’t need “things” or people to make me happy. I have begun to find happiness in some of the simplest things in life. I am finally able to start listening to God. I found that all of those things I was doing to make myself happy were just making me more miserable. All of the selfish things I did for myself, turned out to be counterproductive to what I was trying to do (finding happiness). Afterlife or no afterlife, I couldn’t be happier right now. It’s not always easy, I’m not trying to say that, but I am happy. I have this peace in my life that I can’t explain. So just in quality of life on earth in general, I love this life. Things that come in my life where I feel like God is involved is another layer. It’s amazing to see things happen that there is no explanation for besides God. Things I never dreamed of and never thought were possible. Some of shared, many I haven’t. Some are just too remarkable for most people to believe. But there’s nothing like waking up and wondering what could happen today that you never dreamed of. It’s a great feeling. I can’t describe Heaven, but if I can feel like I have at some of the best moments in the last few months, it will be amazing. The times I described as “not always easy” are even great. When I look back over my life and look at the hardest times in my life, I find that in the end they made me a better or stronger person. They were bad at the moment, but I see the benefit in them eventually. The bad things that have come into my life over the previous few months, I accepted much easier. I didn’t struggle with them near as much. I basically just trust that there is a reason and a purpose for it. I start praying asking for help/support, and ask to see the reason for it. Within no time the things I am going through are gone. And I see verses in my daily reading that just seem to apply so well to my experience. Or the pastor will preach a service that is dealing so closely with my experience that it is scary. So even my worst times seem great to me because I don’t suffer as much as in the past and I learn my lesson from it almost immediately instead of months later down the road. It’s a wonderful life that I wish I had years ago.
Reply With Quote