The faces of a sincere Hell believer

[Universalist Catholic]

There seems to be a large number of people who sincerely believe against the doctrine of Eternal Punishment.  There are also those who never really even thought about it, and not really sure to believe or not to believe it.  I remember I had the belief in Hell repressed.  I dont even think I thought about it too much.  And I cant say I sincerely believed it.  But there are also the sincere Hell Believers, and to believe in Eternal Punishment, you would have to be in a pretty bad state to sincerely believe in that doctrine.

Fear.  Many people only believe in ET out of fear of being lost forever.  And there are some hell believers who seem sincere, and want to save you.  They seem gentle.  I remember one man Ronald Reagen, who claimed he saw hell, and he begged people not to go there.  But then how can you love a being who would send you to the lake of fire forever? Maybe your only supposed to only serve God out of fear.  Wait a minute, you are commanded to Love God.  Perfect love casts out all fear.  Or people could still love God, but claim that there were forces beyond him that could not bring most people to salvation.  Thats pretty bad blasphemy.  Forces beyond God? I dont think so.

Hate.  Other people can believe in this doctrine to justify their hate of others.  IF there is someone you really dont like, what greater form of hate can exist than to watch them suffer forever and ever?

Selfishness.  There are many people who feel hell is a just reward for that person who never got involved in religion and enjoyed life to the fullest without any burdens from their church.  Then there is the ultra-religious man who doesnt enjoy life, because he does everything strictly to the letter or church burdens.  To a selfish person, why should the person who lived life to the fullest also be saved while the ulstra religious mand who did not live a very pleasurable life be equal to the other man.  Another person expressses that she couldnt wait for the coming of Christ, when she could practice Christianity without being mocked.  But the mocker deserves to suffer forever so I dont have to be made fun of.  And dont forget Tertullians wonderful quote against most people he didnt like.

Pride.  Another face to hell is the feeling that you were one of the select few who was chosen or were extremely righteous or chose the right religion.  If all humanity receives salvtion, that deflates their feeling of being special. It seems like some of our younger crowd of Born Again Christians on youtube are extremely proud of themselves for having make the right decision.  Some of their behavior on Youtube is downright arrogant.  They act like highschol punks trying to be cool by putting down those who do not see things their way.  If you ask me, they are just trying to feed a high ego.

[Lefein]

Universalist Catholic  :thumbsup:

There seems to be a large number of people who sincerely believe against the doctrine of Eternal Punishment.  There are also those who never really even thought about it, and not really sure to believe or not to believe it.  I remember I had the belief in Hell repressed.  I dont even think I thought about it too much.  And I cant say I sincerely believed it.  But there are also the sincere Hell Believers, and to believe in Eternal Punishment, you would have to be in a pretty bad state to sincerely believe in that doctrine.

I know that when I had sat down and thought about it, what Hell would be like if it did (and I believed at the time it did) exist, it was so horrendous, and so...indescribably gruesome.  ...*spirit barfs*

Hell, if it existed indeed as Eternal Damnation, and Eternal Separation from God, would be the nuthouse of Reality, where the rapist rapes, and is raped ceaselessly without even death to intercede between the exponential ruthlessness that is Perfect Darkness, forever perfecting its already perfectly evil trade.

People don't know what they are doing...when they say "Go to Hell!"  They really, really, really don't...

Fear.  Many people only believe in ET out of fear of being lost forever.  And there are some hell believers who seem sincere, and want to save you.  They seem gentle.  I remember one man Ronald Reagen, who claimed he saw hell, and he begged people not to go there.  But then how can you love a being who would send you to the lake of fire forever? Maybe your only supposed to only serve God out of fear.  Wait a minute, you are commanded to Love God.  Perfect love casts out all fear.  Or people could still love God, but claim that there were forces beyond him that could not bring most people to salvation.  Thats pretty bad blasphemy.  Forces beyond God? I dont think so.

Everything belongs to God, who will rob God of even one of his creations?  Certainly not the rebellious!

Hate.  Other people can believe in this doctrine to justify their hate of others.  IF there is someone you really dont like, what greater form of hate can exist than to watch them suffer forever and ever?

It is so easy for someone to "stop evangelising" or "ministering" to their non-believer friend when they become their enemies...Such clever excuses they have!  It is evil to hate your enemy, it is still murder.  God will not be the accomplice, or tool for murder.

Selfishness.  There are many people who feel hell is a just reward for that person who never got involved in religion and enjoyed life to the fullest without any burdens from their church.  Then there is the ultra-religious man who doesnt enjoy life, because he does everything strictly to the letter or church burdens.  To a selfish person, why should the person who lived life to the fullest also be saved while the ulstra religious mand who did not live a very pleasurable life be equal to the other man.  Another person expressses that she couldnt wait for the coming of Christ, when she could practice Christianity without being mocked.  But the mocker deserves to suffer forever so I dont have to be made fun of.  And dont forget Tertullians wonderful quote against most people he didnt like.

We are to be good stewards of all that God gives us.  God gives us our days, and we are to be good stewards both of the labours of our days, and of the celebrations of our days.  The fool who neglects to be a steward of celebration in the day, is a poor steward...And it is his own fault, not his neighbor's.

Pride.  Another face to hell is the feeling that you were one of the select few who was chosen or were extremely righteous or chose the right religion.  If all humanity receives salvtion, that deflates their feeling of being special. It seems like some of our younger crowd of Born Again Christians on youtube are extremely proud of themselves for having make the right decision.  Some of their behavior on Youtube is downright arrogant.  They act like highschol punks trying to be cool by putting down those who do not see things their way.  If you ask me, they are just trying to feed a high ego.

God frustrates, and humiliates the proud.

You are an excellent vessel for wisdom Universalist catholic. ^^

[JohnnyCatholic12]

There seems to be a large number of people who sincerely believe against the doctrine of Eternal Punishment.  There are also those who never really even thought about it, and not really sure to believe or not to believe it.  I remember I had the belief in Hell repressed.  I dont even think I thought about it too much.  And I cant say I sincerely believed it.  But there are also the sincere Hell Believers, and to believe in Eternal Punishment, you would have to be in a pretty bad state to sincerely believe in that doctrine.

Fear.  Many people only believe in ET out of fear of being lost forever.  And there are some hell believers who seem sincere, and want to save you.  They seem gentle.  I remember one man Ronald Reagen, who claimed he saw hell, and he begged people not to go there.  But then how can you love a being who would send you to the lake of fire forever? Maybe your only supposed to only serve God out of fear.  Wait a minute, you are commanded to Love God.  Perfect love casts out all fear.  Or people could still love God, but claim that there were forces beyond him that could not bring most people to salvation.  Thats pretty bad blasphemy.  Forces beyond God? I dont think so.

Hate.  Other people can believe in this doctrine to justify their hate of others.  IF there is someone you really dont like, what greater form of hate can exist than to watch them suffer forever and ever?

Selfishness.  There are many people who feel hell is a just reward for that person who never got involved in religion and enjoyed life to the fullest without any burdens from their church.  Then there is the ultra-religious man who doesnt enjoy life, because he does everything strictly to the letter or church burdens.  To a selfish person, why should the person who lived life to the fullest also be saved while the ulstra religious mand who did not live a very pleasurable life be equal to the other man.  Another person expressses that she couldnt wait for the coming of Christ, when she could practice Christianity without being mocked.  But the mocker deserves to suffer forever so I dont have to be made fun of.  And dont forget Tertullians wonderful quote against most people he didnt like.

Pride.  Another face to hell is the feeling that you were one of the select few who was chosen or were extremely righteous or chose the right religion.  If all humanity receives salvtion, that deflates their feeling of being special. It seems like some of our younger crowd of Born Again Christians on youtube are extremely proud of themselves for having make the right decision.  Some of their behavior on Youtube is downright arrogant.  They act like highschol punks trying to be cool by putting down those who do not see things their way.  If you ask me, they are just trying to feed a high ego.

I know I was hooked by the cult of hell by fear.  It drove me to the brink of (near) insanity and was the cause of much undue mental, spiritual, and even physical pain growing up.  I would cry at night at the thought of my ("lukewarm") parents going to hell.  I had a reoccurring nightmare/daydream in which my dad was standing before Jesus as He sentenced by dad to hell.  The look of pain and sorrow on my dad's face almost brought me to screaming fits.  I would pray at night, no beg, get out of my bed, onto my knees at night and beg Jesus to spare my parents.  This all started when I was about 10.

Safe to say I never really developed a relationship with God.  I never really understood how people could speak of the "love" of God when He was going to be sending people to hell.  I lived in constant fear that my salvation was on shaky grounds.  I didn't really love God, I was scared to death of Him.  Thankfully the Lord has saved me from the trap of organized religion.

[santikos]

I must admit that when i thought hell was real i believed many were going there. I justified it by saying that God can do what he wants. Wow, how foolish of me.

[Lefein]

I believed it too, I even had a whole system on how it would work specifically, and what sort of things would go on there.  Ironically a large portion of it was correct - providing that Hell indeed was eternal separation from God, and existent.

...I do feel like an idiot sometimes, especially since I spread the doctrine in Atheistic corners.

[Ratpak05]

I was raised believing in hell but when I got older, the thought of hell drove me away from the church.  I could never believe that Ghandi, or someone like him was going to hell.  At one point I tried to believe that "God doesn't send people to hell, people choose to go there" -which is the classic free will argument - but I couldn't stomach it.  Before I discovered UR, I was very troubled by the idea of hell and almost quit.  Most of my family have become agnostiic/athiest over this issue and I was headed in the same direction.  Now I am at peace with it all.  I have been spending more time on other biblical ideas and I think I will start going to a local Methodist church that stresses the spiritual journey instead of strict belief in doctrine.

Most of the people I know believe in hell or they are agnostic.  The ones that believe in hell were raised in very fundamentalist churches and have a hard time talking to me about UR because it is so different than how they were raised.  There is almost a fear that talking to me about it will send them to hell.  It's sad though.  The ones with the most fear and the most "religious" are the least loving.  My agnostic friends act more like Christ, IMO, than my religious friends do.   

[Nil Recurring]

I'm right there with you Ratpak. I was agnostic for a time, because the idea of an eternal hell was at complete odds with what the Bible seemed to be saying about Jesus and God's mercy.

I discovered UR a few years ago, and read a bit on it, but never delved deeply into it. A couple months ago I was at the brink of completely throwing away any remaining faith, and pretty much just told God that if He was real and wanted me to serve him then I needed his help. And sure enough, the concept of Universalism started circulating in my head again, and I started devouring everything I could get my hands on.

Now I am stronger in my faith then i ever have been and have started spreading the REAL good news to friends and family, despite some considerable resistance.

[Beloved Servant]

beautiful.