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> Why Will Hell Be So Full?, hell
ursula
post Jan 14 2008, 12:53 PM
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I hope someone can answer me cause I am very confused...Jesus died on the cross and suffered beyond ones wildest imagination..and yet it seems that half the creation either doesnt believe it or hasnt heard it or understood it...or wasnt taught about it...so it seems like such a precious waste to have to go through such suffering and so few acknowlege it...and yet as christians we believe that it is the only way to be saved from eternal damnation...so what about these people?? will they not go to heaven?? and have to go to hell?? and also what about the souls that lived before Jesus? what happens to them...I think there has to be another place they can go like maybe purgatory like the catholics believe...maybe they get a chance to hear the gospel...cause how could god send someone to hell whose never heard?????? i eagerly look forward to hear from you...
Ursula
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Glen
post Jan 14 2008, 08:01 PM
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Hi Ursula! This is a great question!

Romans 2:6-16 is one of the places the Bible gets close to explaining how God provides for people who have never heard of Jesus. According to the Bible, God is obvious from nature. The Law is written on our hearts. If anyone follows God, he is saved through Christ even if he hasn't heard of Christ. Those faithful followers of God who died before Christ was born will be greeting us in Heaven. Jesus said "anyone who asks-receives...seeks-finds...knocks-door opened." "God is not willing that any should perish."

From the totality of God's Word on the subject, it's clear to me that He has made provision for everyone who wishes to take part in His love forever. I suspect He may have some way for people who have not been given a chance during life, to choose Him after physical death, though this is not in Scripture. Rest in the fact that God is love and will deal with each human fairly.


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Glen


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ursula
post Jan 15 2008, 02:56 AM
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Dear Glen,
Hi, and thanks alot for your reply...BUT, if this is the case and some will be judged by their works then Jesus didnt have to die!!!! why go through all the trouble dying on a cross if half your creation can be judged on their works????? why not just judge ALL of them by what they done or havent done in the body???? and not go to the cross at all...so then why do we have to know about Jesus at all????????

Ursula..
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Glen
post Jan 15 2008, 09:06 AM
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Hi Ursula! A wise person once told me, "If God is small enough for us to understand, He isn't big enough to help us." For me, I find it difficult to ignore these two quotes from the Bible included in my last post: "anyone who asks-receives...seeks-finds...knocks-door opened." "God is not willing that any should perish." It's just much easier for me to accept what He said in the Bible and seek His help to understand it, than it is to try to find ways to criticize it. I'm not saying you've done this...just suggesting those of us who do, risk everything. We are the creatures, not the Creator. It's bad enough for us humans when we try to judge each other, but when we try to judge God...that's arrogant and dangerous.


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semi
post Jan 15 2008, 09:57 AM
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Ursula -

This is too deep a question to quickly answer and I need to be getting ready for a doctors appointment. There is a Passage that answers your question and I always have a hard time remembering where it is and as I am mostly blind, it is VERY difficult to find Verses that I'm looking for.

In effect, it tells us that those who know to do good and do not do it or know that to do a thing is bad but do it anyway, it is a sin - but for those who don't know, it is not. This would seem to suggest that the less one knows the better, however; if you think about it; we are being judged for our attitudes - not so much the physical things we do. After all, when we pass from the physical world into the spirit, we cannot take our works with us, we can only take what has been indelibly impressed upon our spirits. We are molding our spirits in this life.

Jesus mentions this also in the Olivet Discourse where he said that the servant who knew to do his Master's Will but did not will receive many stripes, but the servant who knows not to do his Master' Will; will be beaten with few. You see, it's a matter of responsibility.

This in turn shows us that punishments is not Eternal Damnation but only for so long as necessary to correct the problem. Yes, this does smack of Hell being more like "Purgatory" than the traditional Christian interpretation of Hell. But note that Hell is not eternal - as Hell itself is destroyed after the Millennial Kingdom (Rev. 20.14).

Shalom.
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ursula
post Jan 15 2008, 12:38 PM
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dear glen,
hi...and thanks agian for your reply, you write to me that people can ask, seek, knock..but again i dont understand how can someone do these things who never heard the gospel...how can they know what to ask for ..seek etc...and then in another place that if one does seek to know or ask he is arrogant and critical of god...i dont think i am being critical to want to ask god what happens to the lost..nor do i feel i am judging god cause I DONT KNOW what happens to them...i want to know thats all...i know you have to prayerfully search the bible for truth but i dont have such a good grasp for certain topics to be able to understand a subject fully...i thought you are more knowledgable in scriptural matters and could provide me with a clear answer ...because i think if i can settle this in my mind it would help me in my evangelism...though i know that people need to be saved and i know that people go to hell that are not saved...somehow i find it hard to take that seriously...i cant believe they will actually go there..that makes it difficult to speak with much conviction in preaching to people and urging them to repent from sin ...in the back of my mind i think that there going to go to heaven and god wouldnt judge them then i find it difficult to speak in a convincing manner...i am not seeing the seriousness of people facing eternal damnation through not being saved....if we are rescuing those that are drowing in water and you think there is another way for them to get out ..then you wouldnt be so desperate or keen to actually go to there rescue...if you think its the only way you might jump in and get them....if you knew in your heart that a person without christ was really going to go to hell if you really believe it you would put more effort into your preahcing...devote more time ...if you believed it was the only way to get them out...and you would also speak with more passion...and your prayer life would be transformed..cuase you know that peoples salvation depends on them getting to know jesus and you would want to intercede for them and sort your life out so you are more christlike in your daily meeting with people to give them a reason for believing...but because i am not so convinced its the only way im not so devoted as i should be..im not really expressing the love of god as i should...and the compassion that i should...im not fully giving myself to god as i should...so if people never hear the gosple...where do they go??????? if i had this deep conviction that people did go to hell if they dont get saved..it might transform my life and maybe i would be in this world as christ was as he said we should be....you are to be in this world as i am...
do you see what i mean now...

ursula
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Glen
post Jan 15 2008, 03:46 PM
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Hi Ursula! Sorry I misunderstood you. When you use ?????? and !!!!! it seems like you're yelling a statement rather than asking a question. I've been praying about this issue and your question since my last post, so, be patient with me while I give you what went through my mind, because some of it is pretty basic, but it sets a foundation for the answer to your question.

God created us and, as our Creator/Father, set a rule for us to follow. We, through Adam, rejected Him as our Father, saying, in essence, "you have no authority over us."
Ever since then, we have all been born separate from God, and needing reconciliation. Also, ever since then, God has been speaking to any of us who would listen and, in faith, follow Him. His plan has been in existence since before creation...He knew we would reject Him and planned for Jesus to pay the price for our sins and reconcile everyone who believed, to God, regardless of their sins. This is why it was important for Christ to sacrifice Himself, as a testimony of how important each of us is to God. Christ died to save everyone who had faith in God, past, present and future. Salvation has always been through through Jesus Christ, by faith, not works. Even those before Christ (see Hebrews chapter 11). No one was saved by obedience to the Law, but their attempt to obey the Law was evidence of their faith, by which, Christ saved them.

So, when Paul writes in Romans 2:6, "God will give to each person according to what he has done," he is speaking of seeking the things of God, rather than seeking to follow evil. Look at the wording of vs 7&8. The one who has faith is the one who seeks to do the will of God. Really, the same rule applies to Christians and non-Christians...everyone sins and falls short...even Christians. It isn't where you've been, it's where you're headed, that counts. Seeking to do God's will, however He reveals it to you, is an act of faith that He will reward.

So, why is sharing Christ important? Because He is the living embodiment of God's plan to reconcile every human with Him and His love, to be with Him forever. Jesus is God's expression of love (Jn 3:16) and the power through whom we can gain that love again, personally. When I speak of sharing Christ, though, I don't recommend anyone try to, as you put it, "convince" another. No one comes to God except the Holy Spirit draw him. Instead, Jesus gave a great example of sharing Christ, by being a "friend of sinners." He shared love with the lost and preached against the religious leaders. Don't open a discussion about Jesus by telling someone they're going to hell. How can they hear your next point? Instead, wait until someone tells you they're "going through hell" right now. Then offer the love of Jesus as a solution to their problem instead of a condemnation of their lifestyle.


On wanting to know how God does things...no matter how much we want to know, God only tells us what we need to know. "Now we see as through a glass, darkly." When we're with Him in Heaven, we'll see clearly.

One last point going all the way back to your first post in this topic. The word Hell in the Bible just means grave. Spending eternity with or without God...that's the choice we face. Looking at Scripture as a whole, I trust God that no one will spend eternity without God unless they have actively made that choice. "There is nothing capricious in God's nature." So, "Hell" will only be full of people who got on the bus to go there. But, that's also why it's important that we, living out His love, show them the other bus.


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Love & Hugs,
Glen


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