Hell: Is It A Threat Or A Warning

[aaronclark1989]

When Damnationists use Hell as a tool to try and get people to believe what they believe are they make a threat or a warning?

[Beloved Servant]

They're using lies and witchcraft.

[WhiteWings]

When Damnationists use Hell as a tool to try and get people to believe what they believe are they make a threat or a warning?

They are just revealing their pagan roots.

[jabcat]

When Damnationists use Hell as a tool to try and get people to believe what they believe are they make a threat or a warning?

I think it depends on many things.  The individual person, their attitudes, upbringing, own fears and weakness, etc.

I've known many loving, kind, gentle believers in ET, who sincerely thought they had to believe in eternal torment to be faithful to God and to what they truly believed His Word teaches.  I'd guess they're often mostly sincerely warning.   

On the other hand, there are some mean, ill-tempered, angry - and even mentally disturbed folks who believe in ET - who either threaten out of their own confused "twistedness", or do so to strictly frighten and/or control people.

I've seen both kinds (and I've "rubbed shoulders" with thousands through the years in orthodoxy) and honestly, I believe most fall into the first group.    :2c:


"There but for the grace of God go I" - attributed to John Bradford circa 1510–1555

[sheila]

   to me, hell is this temporal realm....satan's time is short.......THANK GOD!!!

   I concur with Jabcatr posts...for the most part it is a fear based threat.   Now,there are consequences in the reap what you sow,principle,in this realm

  but I hate the supposition and assasination of OUR FATHER'S character and loving nature.   some are saved through mercy and some through fear

     some children heed His voice due to their painful expierences when they didn't[hard lesson] some seek His guidance and counsel coz they know He will lead them

  in the right way.   Personally, I have learned,grown from both :mblush:

    the Holy spirit told me when I was young...you can pay attention and learn the easier way..or not..and learn the hard way..but learn you will

    He disciplines all He receives as sons and daughters.....sorry if this is a little off topic...

[micah7:9]

Hell: is more a human idea, perhaps closer to a threat than a warning. The Lord God certainly did not know of it...

CAIN WAS NEVER WARNED BY GOD OF ENDLESS PUNISHMENT

Notice very carefully God's conversation with Cain:

"But unto Cain and to his offering He [God] had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why are you wroth? And why is your countenance fallen? If you do well, shall you not be accepted? And if you do not well, SIN lies at the door. And unto you shall be his desire, and you shall rule over him" (Gen. 4:5-7.)

God warned Cain that if he did not do well, that sin would be at his door. But did God say "endless torment and punishment would be at his door?" No.

"And Cain talked with Abel, his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel your brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? And He said, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries unto Me from the ground.

And now are you cursed from the earth which has opened her mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand: When you till the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto you her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shall you be in the earth" (Verses 8-12.)

Did God threaten Cain with "endless punishment in some subterranean hellhole of torture in fire?" No.

[jabcat]

Good posts sheila and micah   :thumbsup:

[WhiteWings]

Hell: is more a human idea, perhaps closer to a threat than a warning.

I think it's both Micah.
Some ETs truely believe it and warn you to save you from hell.
But for some threating is a tool to win a debate.
For others threatning was a tool to control the masses. (and earn money)

[thinktank]

Also some say hell, because its in scripture. An universalist can also use hell.

I think its unscriptural for an universalist to remove punishment or differing states of existence altogether.

[micah7:9]

Also some say hell, because its in scripture. An universalist can also use hell.

I think its unscriptural for an universalist to remove punishment or differing states of existence altogether.

I have not found, at least not on this forum or any other universalist writings that remove punishment.

[thinktank]

Also some say hell, because its in scripture. An universalist can also use hell.

I think its unscriptural for an universalist to remove punishment or differing states of existence altogether.

I have not found, at least not on this forum or any other universalist writings that remove punishment.

I'm not a fan of saying/using the word hell, because it conjures up images of afterlife barbecue roasting to a lot.

It is challenging to use different words, but hell can mean a multitude of things,and people can use it for destruction type events, such as the "flooding was hell"

[Nathan]

Also some say hell, because its in scripture. An universalist can also use hell.

I think its unscriptural for an universalist to remove punishment or differing states of existence altogether.

I have not found, at least not on this forum or any other universalist writings that remove punishment.

Yes you have . . .because "I" am one of them.  I believe if we are truly redeemed by the cross as we claim we are, and God casts our sin as far as the east is from the west . . . why would we then choose to hold on to the belief that the cross can cover the power of sin, but not the punishment for it?  Didn't Jesus go through enough to cover my punishment as well?  Is that not why I am healed by his stripes?  The punishment that my inability to live a pure life demands payment for has been accounted for completely.  There are no conditions.  It's not the cross . . .plus a form of distress for an unknown amount of time . . .

And I agree with WW on the idea as to whether it's a warning or a threat.  I believe it's a warning to those who agree that eternal torment exists and a threat toward those who don't.  Neither one is Good News.  Neither is the idea of any form of punishment.  What is Grace then? 

Keep in mind, that is pertaining to what goes on over on the other side.  In "this" realm, there are definitely consequences for making bad choices.  Rejecting Christ leaves us in the bondage of our carnality all over again. 

The one thing I see clearly about God is, he does nothing half way.  Redemption is either there completely or it isn't.  You're either saved or your not.  It's either the entire world or it's none of it.  He's the beginning and the end, He's ALL in ALL.  He left nothing undone or incomplete. 

When Jesus died on the cross he didn't say "Okay, I've done my part, now you do yours . . ."  In fact Scripture even points to the fact that God didn't make a covenant with man because he knows man is incapable of keeping it.  But instead, he made a covenant with himself to redeem man back to himself.  I personally think, believing in "spiritual" punishment is an impossiblity.  Spirit is life, there is no punishment in life and neither is there punishment in spirit.

my  :2c:

[micah7:9]

Hell: is more a human idea, perhaps closer to a threat than a warning.

I think it's both Micah.
Some ETs truely believe it and warn you to save you from hell.
But for some threating is a tool to win a debate.
For others threatning was a tool to control the masses. (and earn money)

"Some ETs truely believe it and warn you to save you from hell."
And that is to there sorrow until they are brought to the understanding that a God of love had no such in His thoughts.

"But for some threating is a tool to win a debate."
Winning that debate, even in exasperation, is so truly a loss, for nothing has been truly won at all.

"For others threatning was a tool to control the masses. (and earn money)"
Now you have stuck pay dirt. You have rung the bell, but alas there is no prize.