HELLFIRE: IS IT A MYTH OR DIVINE JUSTICE?

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HELLFIRE IS IT REAL? I started discussing this topic on Facebook group 'Followers of Christ' and there were a couple of people who contributed their knowledge of what hellfire is about. Here are sample opinion of members of "Followers of Christ":

Sylvester Simon: HELL/HELLFIRE: Is there a place call hellfire? Hellfire as we come to assume or believe is a place where sinners will be tortured 4 eva. Will God torture sinners in a burning fire? Some denomination believe there is hell others don't Eccl:3;19 says a man & a beast are the same, both live & die final. God is love, will he torture sinner? Heb9:27, after death is judgment, and then what? What do you think?

Antonio Bank Hell is real, but who created hellfire? I dont want to go there.If God created hell, how lovable is he?

Victor Eke Many things in life is confusing. At the end of the day, we shall find out the truth behind it all. Brethren, there is hell. Christ gave us a parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Believe it or not, there is Hell. But, is that hell meant for just sinners or it's meant for satan and it agents I don't know. 

Jeremy Brown Hell is when you invited to Kim house for greens and she don't use no fatback 

Sylvester Simon: I don't know, how many of you consider Hellfire as dead end for divine justice? Have you eva been tortured? I guess not. The sight of it is sickening. Can you then imagine a torture inflicted by God? Lets take a scene of this lil imagery. A person been roast on a hot iron place. In that excruciating agony, he screams for mercy, but no body listens, the torture goes on for hours, days, months, years without pause! Maybe in the dead of night while you are asleep you hear his cry for mercy, would you be merciful or not? I belief your heart will go for him no matter what crime he might have committed. I am not saying there is or there is no hellfire. I need your opinion. Please, if you can, asked your pastors, lets get some light on this.  

Kimberly Parker I don't think there is a place underground that are full of people burning. Hell can be a metaphor. The hell that bad people go to could be a hell that they create, could be a place that is void and dark, or it could be that they cease to exist. People who reek havoc on the innocent deserve to be punished. 

Jeremy Brown hell is real and its in kim stove.  

Sylvester Simon:These were some of the sample opinion about what many of us know about hell, or could describe hell to be like. However, have you ever seen someone tortured? We hope not, except perhaps in movies. Deliberate torture is sickening and abhorrent.  What, though, of torture inflicted by God? Can you imagine such a thing?  Yet, this is exactly what is implied by the teaching of hellfire.

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  Imagine, for a moment, the following horrific scene: A person is being roasted on a hot iron plate.  In his agony he screams for mercy, but nobody listens.  The torture goes on and on, hours after hours, days after days without pause!

  
  

  Whatever crime the victim may have committed, would not your heart go out to him? What of the one who ordered the torture?  Could he be a loving person? In no way! Love is merciful and shows pity.  A loving father may punish his children, but he would never torture them!

  
  

  Nevertheless, many religions teach that God tortures sinners in an eternal hellfire. This, it is claimed, is divine and eternal justice. 
  
  Hebrews 11:27 says that it's appointed unto man to die once and after this, judgment, in every judgment, once an accused is guilty, there is always a penalty. What is the penalty for our sins?  This will be look into later in this article. 
  
  If hellfire is part of divine justice, and if that is true, who created that terrible place of eternal torment? And who is responsible for the excruciating agonies inflicted there?  The answers would seem obvious.  If such a place really exists, then God would have to be the creator of it, and he would be responsible for what happens there. Can you accept that?  Many portions of the Bible speak of God being a symbol of love. 1 John 4:8 says 'God is love'.  He is love Himself.
  
  

  WHAT DID CHRIST SAY ABOUT HELL?
  
  

  What did Christ says about Hell.  He is the only one that came from above, so he knows what is and what shall be: Matthew 13:41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth
  
  There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth
  
  
  

  49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
  50 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

  Matthew 22:13, 24:51, 25:30 and Luke 13:28 these verses of the scripture all say the same thing. "...there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."

  
  
  

  After one dies what next?

  
  

  From the above scriptures, word spoken by our LORD JESUS, is there any mention of Hellfire? Yes/No.  ........................................... Leave your comment at the comment box, and in your heart.
  
  

  We still believe that the wicked will go to a fiery hell and be tormented forever.  Is this teaching logical?  The human life span is limited to about 70 - 90 years. If a man dies at 90, during his life time he perpetrated extreme wickedness for his whole lifetime, would everlasting torment be a just punishment? In our own eyes, this will be a grossly unjust to torment a man forever for the limited number of sins that he can commit in a lifetime.  But we are not God, and our ways are not His ways. 

  
  
  

  The Darkness will be thicker than this

  
  
  

  Who knows the truth about what happens after we die?  Only God can reveal this information, and he has done so in his written WORD the Bible, referred to above.  Here is some other things the Bible says: Eccl: 3:19 'As the beast dies, so the man dies; and they all have but one spirit...All are going to one place.  They have all come to be from the dust, and they are going to one place.  They have all come to e from the dust, and they are all returning to the dust.'  There is no mention here of a fiery hell. Human return to dust - to nonexistence-when they die.

  
  

  In order to be tormented, an individual has to be conscious. Are the dead conscious?  No. Eccl:9:5 "the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten."

  IS THE TEACHING OF HELLFIRE A HARMFUL TEACHING?

  Some pastors maintain that the teaching of hellfire is useful, true or not.  Why?  They say it serves as a deterrent to wrongdoing, that the fear of hellfire makes people rethink of their evil. Could this be true?  Well, in our secular world, is the rate in regions where people believe in hellfire lower than in other places?  Hardly!  In fact, the doctrine of hellfire is it very harmful or not?  One school of thought, or some denomination believe that the doctrine of hellfire is very harmful. Their reason being that, how would a person who believes that God torments people who have sinned view torture as something abhorrent?  Why should he? Those believing in a cruel god often become cruel like their  god.

  IS THERE PUNISHMENT FOR SIN?

  Does this mean that we are not punished for our sins? No, that is not the case.  Our holy God punishes sinners, but he does not torture them.  He says  in his Holy Book, that we shall give account of every idle word spoken, the wicked shall not go unpunished, everyone shall be rewarded according to his work on earth.  When sinners repent, he forgives them.  What is the punishment for sin?  The Bible gives a forthright answer: "The wages/reward/salaries/payment of sin is death" Rom. 6:23. Life is a gift from God.  When we sin we no longer deserve that gift, and we die, this is the reward when we sin.

  You may ask, 'How is that just?  Why, everyone dies!' That is true because we are all sinners. In effect, no one deserves life. "Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they ad all sinned." (Rom 5:12)

  
  

  At this point you may be thinking; 'if we all sin and so we all die, why should we try to be virtuous?  It seems that the wicked man is treated exactly the same as the man who tries to serve God.'   But that is not the case. Although we are all sinners, God forgives those who sincerely repent and try to change their ways.  

  
  
  

  IS THERE REWARD FOR THE GOOD

  
  

  We cease to exist when we die.  But that does not mean that everything is finished.  The faithful man Job knew that he would go to the grave (Sheol) when he died.  But listen to his prayer to God: "O that in Sheol you would keep me secret until your anger turns back, that you would set a time limit for me and remember me! If and able-bodied man dies can he live again?  You will call, and I myself shall answer you."  Job 14:13-15 

  
  Job believed that if he was faithful till death, he would be remembered by God and resurrected.  This was the belief of all of God's servants in ancient times.  Jesus himself confirmed this hope when he said "The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.

  
  

  HAVE YOU CHANGE YOUR OPINION AFTER READING THIS?   HELLFIRE IS IT REAL OR NOT?!  LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW.