ANSWERS: 51
  • He doesn't, 'Jesus' died for our sins; 100% of us (apparently) go to 'heaven'.
  • Well if you want a Christian answer than all I can say is that I asked this question in church this week. I asked why God is such a selfish God, and I was told that we do not want him to be fair or we would all be in hell the first time we sinned in any way at all. Also the whole hell thing, is even a cake walk to what he did for us. That is why you are supposed to try your darndest to not go there. I don't know where you got the statistic of 70% because noone knows this. If you were looking for a more atheist approach to this question I cannot help you, but I will answer in the way I read the question!;)
  • Where did you get the figure 70%? It may well be higher than that, nobody knows. God doesn`t send anyone to hell, humans have free will. People make a conscience decision to choose Heaven or Hell. Unfortunaely many make the wrong choice.
  • Where did the 70% come from? Was there some kind of supernatural census?
  • First off, God so loved his children (all of mankind) that he sacrificed his only Begotten Son for us. His work and His glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Through Christ's sacrifice, all men are saved from the bonds of death. Life goes on. Eventually we'll all be resurrected. As for 70% of the world not accepting Christ, it doesn't all end here. Those who have the honest chance to accept Him and still reject Him are the only ones who need to worry. Everyone will be given a chance to accept Christ, whether in this life, or in the life to come. Our God is a loving God. He is also just. Hell doesn't have to last forever. We only need to acknowledge Him, and try our best to become closer to Him. But it is ultimately up to us. Because He gave us the option to choose. Sorry for the sermon-esque style of this answer...I generally stray away from this type of thing. But these are my honest beliefs, and I've received a confirmation of said beliefs through time and effort.
  • First of all, you don't know that 70% of the world is going to hell. I appreciate your attempts to work out the percentage by finding that all people who call themselves Christians number about 1/3 of the world's population ( I read it in a comment). But Jesus knows who are his, and and he is just, so I leave number crunching to Him. In reality, Jesus is pretty hard, in fact harder, on people who call themselves Christians than He is on people who don't know Him. In Matthew 7:21, He says "Not everyone who says to me "Lord!Lord!" will enter the Kingdom of heaven. Only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. For on that day many will come and say "Didn't we prophesy in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and do many wonders in Your name?"And I will say "Get away from me. I never knew you." Jesus does not brook hypocricsy, especially from those who say they are His. But I digress.... The second thing I want to ask is: how do you know Hell is a place of literal burning? Yes, fire is mentioned in the few places that do talk about hell, but so are the images of gnashing of teeth and crying. These seem to me to be more imagery: fire of suffering, crying of sadness and gnashing of teeth, mourning and regret. In the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, there seems to be an element of being alone and regretting, rather than buurning. I was even told by our senior pastor that there is some hell imagery dealing with cold. (can't say where in the Bible yet) Hell, therefore, seems more of a place of loneliness, isolation and sadness than literally burning, no matter what the great masters have done in their paintings. So who goes into this place of Godlessness, of loneliness of regret? The BIble is clear: it is those who say throughout their lives "I do not need you God. Get away from me. Leave me alone to live my life the way I want." As for who deserves it? We all do. Sin is falling short of God’s mark of perfection. If He did not put perfection as the entry level to heaven, then Heaven would end up just like earth: no justice, everyone doing what they want and causing hurt to others. Naturally, none of us can, by doing our Boy Scout good works, make up for all the wrong we have done, so theoretically, had God left it that way, there would have been no humans in heaven. But God didn’t leave it that way. He sent His perfect Son, Jesus, to be the sacrifice, the fall guy for the whole world, past present and future. Jesus’ death paid for Everyone’s sins. So, theoretically, 100% of the world can enter heaven, if they claim the gift of eternal life won for them by the death and resurrection of Jesus. For myself, I claimed it a long time ago. It seemed an offer too good to refuse. In the end, God grants their prayers. He leaves them alone. That is Hell.
  • I'd be interested in your sources for the assumptions you seem to be making. My assumptions are a little different. First, I don't believe God participates in where we go after death. I believe we are all divine spirits having a human experience. When I finish my learning experiences in this life I will return to learn, and teach, in another life. My "hell" will be having to repeat my lessons because I didn't learn them the first time around. There are those who don't seem to learn and those who seem to learn and grow. My goal is to learn, to teach and to grow. To the extent I am successful I will ultimately achieve unity with the Spirit of the Universe, or God. I figure I have a long way to go. Being burnt is a physical sensation which, when my body is discarded, ceases. No more physical sensations until I return in the next life.
  • I am glad you asked that question. I needed a good laugh. So many questions and so few are funny. If is a good start If God indicates your source is fractured. And Hell doesnt exist either. HoHo. more laughter. chuckle. hell is not waking up in heaven. hell is not waking up when you die. your spirit is nothing, empty. Only those who seek Our Father will find Him. If you dont seek, you dont find. and your spirit ends. period. and of course there are variations to the rule. He is a loving supreme being. He loves his children. Are you one of His Children?
  • i dont think he sends them to hell, we kinda chose that way ourselves. honestly i dont think i would be ready to go into heaven right now, meaning i still have to work on myself. i dont hink it would be just if i just got a "freepass" into heaven, the chance of salvation never ends, we turn away from it
  • Why do you assume that heaven is only for christians? Almost all religions believe in a surpreme being, so whether you call him God, The Great White Spirit, Mohammad, etc. we're all talking about the same being. The other religions believe that they are going to their version of heaven and that you are going to hell. Who's right or wrong? Nobody knows unless they're dead, and they aren't talking.
  • Why look at it as God SENDS people into hell? That's passing the buck, isn't it? Why not see it as people CHOOSING not to stop themselves going there. After all we have in the marvels of the universe and our own bodies signs to make us think, we’ve been sent prophets to warn us and guide us and we’ve been given free choice to believe, with no one forcing us to disbelieve. In HQ 41:53 God says “We will show them (mankind) our Signs in the horizons, and in their own selves, until it becomes clear to them that this is the Truth.” HQ 18:54 “…but man is, in most things, argumentative” HQ 16:107 “This is because they love the life of this world better than the Hereafter” HQ 12:103 “the majority of mankind will have no faith, however ardently thou dost desire (for them to have faith).”
  • first of all you need to understand what the hell of he bible really is. then at that point you will understand why most people that have died are actually in hell. the bible informs us that at death we are in a state of unconsciousness such as when we are asleep. this is why when jesus friend lazarus died and he spoke of him as resting his disciples thought he was sleeping. the actual account says: "lazarus our friend has gone to rest, but i am journeying there to awaken him from sleep." therefore the disciples said to him: "lord, if he has gone to rest, he will get well." jesus had spoken, however, about his death. but they imagined he was speaking about taking rest in sleep. (luke 11:11-13) so here jesus likened death to a peaceful sleep which humans succumb to eventually. now if lazarus being a good person had died and gone to heaven, why would jesus be worried about him? why couldn't he had told his family and friends, "don't worry about lazarus, i assure you he is in a better place then even i am at this moment." "in no way will i interfere, he is much better off now." had i been lazarus, and had i been sent to heaven, i would not have appreciated being brought down to earth after receiving the gift of going to heaven. however, at his resurrection he made no mention of being in a better place. why is this? simply stated lazarus was resting the peaceful sleep of death. he was neither in heaven nor was he sent to a fiery hell. the bible tells us that at death we are in a common tomb called in hebrew sheol, in greek this word is hades, and in latin that word is translated enfer, in english this tranlsates to hell. eclesiastes 9:5,6,10 says: "for 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. also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun. all that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising, nor knowledge nor wisdom in sheol, (greek-hades, latin-enfer, english-hell) the place to which you are going." simply stated hell is the symbolic common grave of the dead. also, contrary to the beleif that you cannot be freed from this place, the bible promises that in the future under christ's kingdom rule those asleep in the common grave of humanity will resurrect to life on earth to live in paradise-like conditions. for more information go to www. watchtower.org
  • Hell.. the only hell Im aware of is the "reality" known as "real life." With out getting into what modern physics has to say about the "realness" of such a reality or what the yogic, sufi,kabalist and countless other deep spiritual paths(including gnostic chrisianity ) all understand---I can say that its been my observance that Religion = Politics.. The sole agenda of any Religious/political sect is to confuse ,frighten and then convert, ..And the threat of "Eternal damnation has been a very effective campaign strategy.. But this kind of fear/hate based political rhetoric only muddys the waters of Grace and Absolute LOVE that is "God" ---- "nourishment" that is always available in abundance for anyone who wants it.. The Lunatics running around with bibles in there hand foaming at the mouth about hell and eternal damnation-Clearly have learned nothing.-- Thats assuming they have even read anything from any of the versions of the Bible.. In Just in the 4 gospels evangelized in the New Testanment one can find amazing guidance,and clarity -If u are willing to put the work into unveiling the secrets and truth of spirit contained in the words, and put into daily practice each one of these "gems" as u discover them..The Language of these is cryptic often contradictory and bizarre.. It is this way for a reason, and not suited for everyone,---There are many combinations of paths or ways which one can travel to gain higher awareness of the "reality" of "Gods" ever present love. --Just find some way to work on unlearning the Societal Programming that keeps u from what is most natural to your "essensial nature" - or "true being" behind the masks of identity and personality. I.E.---- gentleness, compassion, creativity., love, and non -judgement,etc -- As 4 hell..It my assesement that that to get to the "reality" of "heaven" One must first dwell within the mediocrity of this "real world" "reality"..HELL Any one preaching hate in the name of "god"is just turning away from Gods Love themselves .These creatures i suspect are are just characters playing leading roles as demons that co -create this hell on earth.for the benefit of my self and other "seekers" but that hypothesis i cannot verify as truth. Too all of you "demons" in this "Hell"-Including the Christian ones-- I thank u profoundly for the misery and suffering U have given me.. Your hate feeds my eternal youth-- and my faith grows stronger by the nanosecond- So by all means continue to bring it on.. and-- NO... God does not damn anyone.. of this I am sure.. but dont take my word for it .. find out for yourself..lol
  • I really wouldn't believe everything you hear
  • All I know is that in a very real sense, we create our own heaven or hell. Where you came up with 70% is anyone's guess.
  • Here U go, this Doctrine should get U "Squared Away" if U Really want the Answer U will read & study what I'm pulling out of what Scripture says. So if U don't like it blame the Bible, that is my primary source for this Doctrine. Enjoy! John THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD A. There are three major characteristics of the attributes of God. The attributes of God are eternal, functional, and directional. We can illustrate these characteristics of the attributes of God using the attribute of divine love. 1. The attributes of God are eternal. a. There never was a time when each member of the Trinity did not possess all of the divine attributes. b. Divine love is one of the eternal attributes of God. (1) Divine love is a part of divine integrity. Divine love is one of three divine attributes found in the integrity of God. (2) The love of God therefore must be compatible with the absolute attributes of divine essence, and it is. (3) Because God is absolute righteousness (perfect virtue and integrity), His divine love is totally devoid of any sin, any human good, altruism, or a source of any human reaction like bitterness, guilt, fear, or other sins of emotion. (4) Since God is perfect and eternal love, He does not fall in love. Nor can God's love be patronized by human works or compromised by any form of legalism or Christian activism. (5) God's love cannot be complicated by ignorance or absurdities, silliness or emotion. The spiritual life is thinking doctrine. (6) Since divine love is a part of the integrity of God, it functions in compatibility with divine righteousness and justice. Therefore God's love is infinitely greater than we can imagine or think, because it is based on God's righteousness and justice. (7) No matter what happens to the believer in time from the function of his self-determination, whether good or bad decisions, there is no greater security than the personal love of God for each one of us. God's love did the most for us in salvation. If God's love did the most for us in salvation, it can now do only more than the most. Therefore, His love keeps us forever. 2. The attributes of God are functional. The attributes of God function in action. Function is the action of the divine attributes. Functional means action or capacity for operation; the kind of action or activity of the love of God. Capacity and capability of operation of the love of God is what is meant by functional. The attributes of God are functional under three subcategories. a. The function of the love of God is personal toward each member of the Godhead. The action of divine love functions in personal love toward the other members of the Trinity. Personal love in God is His attitude toward perfect righteousness in the other members of the Trinity and toward every creature having the imputed righteousness of God. b. The function of the love of God is also impersonal toward all creatures without perfect righteousness. Jn 3:16, "For God loved the world so much that He gave His uniquely-born Son, that anyone who believes in Him shall never perish but have eternal life." c. The function of the love of God is also personal toward Himself in divine self-esteem. God loves His own righteousness and always has. This is the basis for spiritual self-esteem in the unique spiritual life of the Church Age. Divine self-esteem requires divine love as the subject and divine righteousness as the object. As you grow in grace you develop the only self-esteem which counts--the self-esteem based on humility or spiritual self-esteem. 3. The attributes of God are directional. Direction is the object of the divine attributes. The attributes of God must have a direction toward which they function. Anything that functions should have a direction. When the attributes of God function, they must do so in a direction. Direction is the result of the function of God's attributes. Direction also has three subcategories: the point of responsibility, the point of contact, and the point of reference. The doctrine of divine impersonal love is part of the functional category of the divine attribute and not part of the directional category of divine attributes. a. The point of responsibility in the attributes of God is the righteousness of God directed toward all sins of the human race. Responsibility denotes something within one's power to control. The integrity of God has the eternal capacity expressed in the righteousness of God in eternity past to know the knowable, including sin, and to program one PROM chip in the computer of divine decrees with all human sins of both cognizance and ignorance, along with the act of volition in every case that produces the sin. God the Father had the responsibility of knowing all sins of human history and programming them into the divine decrees and then imputing them to Christ on the Cross. Jesus Christ took the responsibility to do something about those sins. He made four decisions in eternity past: unlimited substitutionary atonement (He had to become true humanity), propitiation, reconciliation, and redemption. b. The point of contact in the attributes of God is the justice of God toward the unbeliever in salvation and toward the spiritual believer in divine blessing and toward the carnal believer in divine discipline. Contact with the unbeliever is our Lord's substitutionary atonement on the Cross, by which spiritually dead mankind entered into association with God through faith alone in Christ alone. The justice of God did something about judging our sins on the Cross, so that the point of contact for the unbeliever is faith alone in Christ alone. The filling of the Spirit is the basic function of the spiritual life which follows salvation. The justice of God administers to the carnal believer family punishment for grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit. Heb 12:6, "Whom the Lord loves, He punishes, and He skins alive with a whip every son whom He receives." Punishment comes from the justice of God as our point of contact but the love of God is our point of reference after rebound. You are being loved by God when you are being punished by God. c. The point of reference in the attributes of God for the unique spiritual life of the Church Age is the love of God. Reference means to direct attention to something important, something of personal interest. Reference means recourse for the purpose of information. Reference means to endorse a person or course of action. The point of reference from the love of God directs attention to something important--the postsalvation spiritual life of the Church Age believer. The point of reference from the love of God provides something of personal interest--New Testament Bible doctrine. Point of reference means recourse or access to the infallible word of God from accurate Bible teaching for the purpose of information about the unique spiritual life of the Church Age. The point of reference endorses a course of action related to virtue-love and metabolization of Bible doctrine. The point of reference is the love of God, the sponsorer of the greatest life that ever existed. Since the love of God is the point of reference for the postsalvation spiritual life, it is imperative that the love of God be involved in our punishment when we are carnal. Whether we are carnal or spiritual God's personal love for us does not change. ABSOLUTE ATTRIBUTES: SPIRITUALITY, INFINITY, PERFECTION A. Spirituality: God's Life and Personality. 1. The true theistic concept of the universe is that the universe is composed of material and immaterial, having its source from God. 2. Matter is material, but God is immaterial, Jn 4:24, in contrast to all living creatures who are both material and immaterial, 2 Cor 4:7, 16. 3. Spirituality implies life. God is life, Jer 10:10; 1 Thes 1:9. God does not possess life as we do, but He is life, He lives. All life is from Him, but not of Him (as pantheism claims). God's life is eternal life, having no beginning and no end. God is eternal. Technically we have everlasting life. 4. The eternal life of God is imparted through Jesus Christ to all who believe in Him (Christ). Jn 3:36, 16, 5:24, 10:10, 14:6, 20:31; 1 Jn 5:11-12. 5. God is a person, Ex 3:14. personality connotes both self- consciousness and self-determination (God has a plan). 6. God recognizes Himself to be a person and as such He always acts rationally and logically. 7. Animals are conscious but not self-conscious. They have determination, but not self-determination. 8. Man is a person possessing to a limited degree self-consciousness and self-determination. But God is infinite personality with infinite self-consciousness and self-determination. 9. His absolute will and perfection characterize His motivation, design and execution of all that He does, Eph 1:9, 11. 10. God is to an absolute degree all that constitutes personality. He is Himself. He knows Himself to be beyond comparison with any other being. He has perfect, eternal personality. B. Infinity: Self-existence, Immutability, Unity. 1. God invented space and time and exists outside of these. By infinity is meant that God is without boundary or limitation. These, united with His perfection, are part of His character. 2. God can't tempt, be tempted, or sin. 3. God cannot be complicated with ignorance, absurdities or fantasies. God doesn't care for emotion. 4. Though God may be self-limited as in the case of the incarnate Christ in the Hypostatic Union under kenosis, His infinity is intensive rather than extensive. [God's personality is infinite and omnipresent but not in everything (extensive), as says pantheism]. 5. God has infinite energy and power, Ps 8:3. 6. Infinity characterizes all that God does: His integrity, love, veracity. 7. The divine motive is for His own pleasure and glory, but not His own self-praise. God recognizes His glory and claims it in the interest of absolute truth. Creatures are designed for His glorification. God's glory is the sum total of His attributes. 8. Because of this fact all things exist Ex 33:18; Ps 19:1; Isa 6:3; Mt 6:13; Acts 7:2; Rom 1:23, 9:23; Heb 1:3; 1 Pet 4:14. God's glory was before all creation, Jn 17:5. 9. Infinity involves three characteristics: self-existence, immutability, and unity or consistency. a. Self-existence. God exists eternally unsustained by Himself or by any other source. God can't be better or worse because of His character. JHWH means "self-existing One." God's existence is unalterable. God is the cause of all existence outside of Himself but there is no cause for Himself. b. Immutability. God is unchanging. He cannot change, cannot be better or worse than He is. The problem is that anthropomorphic representations of God in the Bible are misunderstood. They really represent the perfect attitude of God toward variations in man or history in human language, so that man can understand God's policy. God doesn't hate, get angry, change His mind, have hands or eyes. When man changes God seems to change, but in reality God is remaining consistent with His own essence. This can be illustrated by a weather vane, which changes direction depending on the direction of the wind, yet it is still a weather vane. Immutability is consistent with God's freedom and His ceaseless activity. God is free to do anything according to His own essence. Therefore, salvation is not God's second best, but a part of His eternal purpose. c. Unity. This means that all of the attributes of God are consistent with each other and there is never a compromise. When God blesses us His unity is not destroyed. "JHWH our Elohim is one JHWH," Deut 6:4. There is one perfect, infinite absolute Spirit, says Isa 44:6; Jn 5:44, 17:3; 1 Cor 8:4; 1 Tim 1:17. Unity applies only to divine essence, not to the persons of the Trinity. Your relationship with God is secure because it is based on God's consistency. C. Perfection: Truth, Love, Integrity. The intellect, character and affections of God are perfect. Divine perfection involves His truth, love, and integrity, which is perfect righteousness and justice. 1. Truth. This is not merely veracity toward other persons, but God is true to Himself, His own essence, His character. Man says, "I speak the truth," but God says, "I am the truth," Jn 14:6. God does not hold the truth as being acquired. He is the truth from eternity past. In God every truth in every form of knowledge dwells in absoluteness. This accounts for the dogmatism of the Word of God. This attribute guarantees the genuineness of divine revelation, Deut 32:4; 1 Jn 5:20; Jn 6:32, 15:1; Heb 8:2. Bible doctrine, or truth, is the expression of His integrity. God's truth is directed toward Himself and revealed to us. God is never unfaithful to Himself. 2. Love. God is motivated by His love. Love is His problem solving device. Like all of divine attributes, love belongs to God's being. God is and always was love regardless of having an object to love. This is perfect love whether there is an occasion to bestow it or not, 1 Jn 4:8. Subjectively God loves His own integrity; objectively He loves the other members of the Trinity. God can only love God or another being with perfect righteousness. 3. Integrity. God is absolute integrity from all eternity past, Ex 15:11, 19:10-16; Isa 6:3. Man's relationship to God comes on the basis of His justice. We must adjust to the justice of God. This integrity is required of men, 2 Cor 7:1; 1 Thes 3:13, 4:7. God's integrity is maintained by His will. It is part of His unchangeable self. It includes perfect righteousness and justice, which is His perfection. RELATIVE ATTRIBUTES A. There are three categories of relative attributes: 1. Those related to time and space - eternity and immensity. 2. Those related to creation - omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence. 3. Those related to moral beings - veracity and faithfulness, mercy and goodness, and righteousness and justice. B. Relative Attributes Related to Time and Space. 1. Eternity. a. Eternity applied to God means He has always existed and always will exist. He has always existed totally apart from time. b. God is not subject to time, because He is the cause of time, Deut 32:40; Ps 90:2, 102:27; 1 Cor 2:7; Eph 1:4; 1 Tim 1:17. c. Both time and space, though without substance, are both objects of His creation. d. God is not in time but time is in God; He is the origin of time. e. God transcends all creation including time, therefore, has always existed. f. God is logical, therefore, He does not need to be chronological as we do, Rom 4:17. g. Time, which is finite, has both succession and duration. h. Eternity, which is infinite, has duration only. Time is a line of procedure, while eternity is a circle reaching into infinity. 2. Immensity. a. God is not subject to space. Like time, God created, invented, and caused space to exist. Rom 8:29. b. God cannot be more or less than what He is. c. In relation to space God is both imminent (in space) and transcendent (outside of space). d. Omnipresence is the term descriptive of space in relationship to God. Immensity is the term descriptive of God's relationship to space. e. Since God is the creator of space, if space were defined in boundaries, God would exceed those boundaries to infinity. C. Relative Attributes Related to Creation. 1. Omnipresence. a. God is personally present everywhere. The whole of God is in every place. b. This is not pantheism, since it denies the person of God. c. God, in the total of His essence, is without diffusion, expansion, multiplication, or division, and penetrates and fills the universe, Ps 139:7-8; Jer 23:23-24; Acts 17:27. d. God is also free to be local, as in the mountain with Moses, or in the Holy of Holies above the mercy seat. He is free to become flesh and dwell among us, Jn 1:14. 2. Omniscience. a. God is all wise. He knows perfectly and eternally all that is knowable, whether actual or possible. Ps 33:13-15, 139:2, 147:4; Mt 6:8, 10:29-30; Heb 4:3; Acts 15:8; Mal 3:16; Isa 46:9-10, 44:28. b. There are three factors of divine knowledge: (1) It is eternal, Acts 15:18. (2) It is incomprehensible, Rom 11:33. (3) It is wise, Eph 3:10. c. Every detail of creation and history is in God's mind at all times. d. Therefore the future is as perspicuous to God as the past. e. God foreknows the future. Since events take place according to His councils, He foreknows. But God's foreknowledge is not predetermination! He knows but doesn't interfere with your volition. f. God foreknows the functions of every free will. He foreknows what will be the choice of other beings. g. Likewise He may determine their choice by gracious influence through Bible doctrine, but He doesn't coerce. h. God's knowledge is not subject to development, reasoning, regretting, foreboding, or depression. 3. Omnipotence. a. God is all powerful, infinitely able to do all things which are the objects of His power within the range of His holy character or essence. However, He will not make right wrong, nor will He act foolishly, Isa 44:24; 2 Cor 4:6; Eph 1:19-21, 3:20; Heb 1:3. He will not abuse His power and compromise His justice. b. If God is limited at any time it is because of a self-limitation consistent with His own essence. God can do all He wills to do, but He may not will to do all He can. D. Relative Attributes Related to Moral Beings. 1. Veracity and Faithfulness. a. God is infinite perfection in truth and faithfulness. God's truth is expressed to us in Bible doctrine. b. God honors doctrine in the soul of the believer with spiritual growth and blessing. c. God provides divine logistical support to the believer during his life regardless of how good or bad he is. 2. Mercy and Goodness. a. Mercy is grace in action. Mercy is infinite love in action toward the objects of divine affection, the expression of divine personal love toward the believer. b. God's judgments are perfect, demanding perfect righteousness. So God is not only absolute good in contrast to the policy of Satan which is evil, but He is also justice and righteousness. 3. Justice and Righteousness. a. This is infinite integrity acting toward others. God's perfect righteousness is perfect, therefore demands perfect righteousness. His judgments are perfect, therefore demanding perfection. Perfect righteousness demands Bible doctrine in the soul to understand His essence. b. Justice administers the penalty which righteousness demands. c. In perfect righteousness the divine love for integrity is revealed. In perfect righteousness divine love exists, but in justice divine love is expressed. d. In justice the divine hatred for sin is revealed. Justice demands justice. e. In the function of the essence of God divine perfect righteousness and justice always precede divine love. God cannot love personally that which is not perfect. f. God is not arbitrary in any way. Integrity demands integrity. perfect righteousness demands perfect righteousness. Justice demands justice. God's nature cannot change, we must change. He must demand integrity and punish both sin and evil as long as He is what He is. g. His penalties are not vindictive, but vindicating to His essence and person. With unchangeable sin and evil there is unchangeable condemnation and judgment. But in grace God provided through salvation all that He demands. And through Bible doctrine and the rebound technique, sin is handled for the believer. h. In relation to Himself, His personality and spirituality are supreme. But in relation to man, His integrity is supreme. E. Other Characteristics of God. 1. The freedom of God. God must be consistent with Himself. He cannot compromise His essence. The incarnation was the only way the free will of God could provide salvation for mankind. 2. The affection of God. These are anthropopathisms. God repents, Gen 6:6; loves and hates, Rom 9:13; gets angry, Rom 1:18; has scorn, Ps 2:4; has benevolence, Rom 8:32; has compassion, Lam 3:33. God is absolutely happy in Himself with absolute freedom from fear, anxiety, regret, foreboding, or annoyance. 3. The authority of God. a. God's absolute authority is over possible things and actual things. b. Over possible things God is sovereign in that He leaves them as only possible and not actual, or has destined them to be yet future. c. In this realm He renders no account to others but acts in conformity with His own perfect character. God isn't responsible to anyone. d. In relation to existing things God is the final and absolute authority, Ps 145:14; Mt 20:15; 1 Tim 6:15. e. The authority of God over creatures rests upon three facts: (1) Because God is the creator. This authority extends to every creature and to all things. However, it is restricted by His own perfection. The right to save or punish belongs to God, but He restricts it by His own essence. The right to discipline or reward the believer belongs to God but is restricted by His own essence. God is compelled to discipline the reversionist under the influence of evil, just as He is compelled to reward and bless the believer with maximum Bible doctrine in the soul. This is consistent with His own essence and plan. The creator's absolute and sovereign ownership of all things is contrasted with secondary rights which men recognize within the sphere of their own relationship. That is, the cattle, gold, silver all belong to God, Ps 50:10, even though men recognize among themselves the private ownership of property. This authority of God rests on His infinite perfection. (2) Because of redemption. God has purchased us; we are bought with a price. (3) Because of Bible doctrine. The authority of God is related to the amount of Bible doctrine in your soul. God's authority is paramount with the mature believer. The more metabolized doctrine you possess, the more authority God has over you. F. God's Essence Box. SOVEREIGNTY OMNISCIENCE RIGHTEOUSNESS OMNIPRESENCE JUSTICE OMNIPOTENCE LOVE IMMUTABILITY ETERNAL LIFE VERACITY. G. Summary of Divine Justice. 1. God is fair; it is impossible for God to be unfair. 2. Justice administers the penalty which perfect righteousness demands. Perfect righteousness and justice always go together, Deut 32:4; 2 Chr 19:7; Job 37:23; Ps 19:9, 50:6, 58:11, 89:14; Isa 45:21; Rom 3:26, 12:3; Heb 10:30-31. 3. Divine justice is portrayed in salvation. And the issue in salvation is divine justice accepted or rejected. 4. You get divine justice sooner or later. You get it sooner by believing in Christ. You get it later by the lake of fire. 5. Sin is not the issue in salvation, justice is. Because of propitiation, God is now free to pardon and justify sinful humanity who appropriates the saving grace of God by faith in Christ. God is free to save those who believe because of His justice. 6. The basis for the unbeliever's indictment at the Last Judgment is evil and human good, not sin, Rev 20:12-15. Evil produces more good than sin. Evil is Satan's policy. Justice prevailed at the cross and will again prevail at the Last Judgment. 
  • I have never heard it better said than by Mark Twain: ...a God who could make good children as easily a bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave is angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice, and invented hell--mouths mercy, and invented hell--mouths Golden Rules and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people, and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites his poor abused slave to worship him! - The Mysterious Stranger To reply to your question - no one deserves it.
  • Very good point and that is why the difficulty for most of us in the modern world is that the old-fashioned idea of God has become incredible or implausible. When we look through our telescopes and microscopes, or when we just look at nature, we have a problem. Somehow the idea of God we get from the holy scriptures doesn't seem to fit the world around us, just as you wouldn't ascribe a composition by The Beatles to The Stones. The style of God venerated in the church, mosque, or synagogue seems completely different from the style of the natural universe. It's hard to conceive of the author of one as the author of the other.
  • Forget about loving gods or bible bullies, forget about percentages and forget about hell: the soul does not exist, once the body dies, the person is gone, it ceases to exist.If you think there is a ghost running the machinery of your brain, well it is time to visit the shrink.
  • Are your kids in jail?
  • Hell is a myth. http://www.tentmaker.org/articles/jesusteachingonhell.html
  • He does NOT send us, we choose it by NOT choosing Him. There are two paths, His and Satans.
  • There is no god. There is no evidence of a god's existance. Hell doesn't exist, maybe Iraq comes close, or north dakota.
  • Where did you come up with 70% of the world's population??
  • What makes you think hell has to do with burning??? How do YOU picture hell, if you think it exists?
  • So you say they can prove things using only indirect proof. Things don't have to have hard evidence then? That would contradict your earlier statement. My question to you now would be quite simple...Is it possible that known science is simply, what God has allowed us to learn? As far as the different religions feeling a certain way, is it not also possible that God is allowing people to feel this way since they are trying to find him and he's rewarding their efforts of being on track to truth?
  • There's our way, and then there's Gods' way. He wants us to trade up. Sin stands in the way. We send ourselves to hell when we don't accept His offer. Once there, there is no repentance, no changing your mind.
  • Don't throw the baby (God) out with the bathwater (bilge about God torturing people).
  • I do not find a place where hell is said to be eternal. The bible says "everlasting" and "forever", but eternity is given only to the saved, because He imparts eternal life unto them. Hell is not eternal because it is separation from the eternal God. Without God nothing can be, the scriptures tell us that. So there will be a time period for hell. Also hell isnt yet thrown into the pit of fire. That happens at a time spoken of in revelations. When that happens yes hell will be a place judged, as well as a place for the separated. Unbelievers are given a choice by free moral agency to accept eternal life. They are offered that in Jesus Christ. If they do not want it God does not force it. He does warn them however that outside of Him and His Kingdon all things will pass away. They are free to reject Him, and that has its reward.
  • God let out a report the other day saying that heaven is having renovations, so for the next 6 months no one will be allowed in, but after that the capacity will be increased to 200,000 slots.
  • This is an issue that bothers many people, and it stems from an incomplete understanding of three things: the nature of God, the nature of man, and the nature of sin. As fallen, sinful human beings, the nature of God is a difficult concept for us to fathom. We tend to see God as a kind, merciful Being whose love for us overrides and overshadows all His other attributes. Of course God is loving, kind and merciful, but He is first and foremost a holy and righteous God. So holy is He, in fact, that He cannot tolerate sin. He is a God whose anger burns against the wicked and those who disobey Him (Isaiah 5:25; Hosea 8:5; Zechariah 10:3). He is not only a loving God; He is love itself! But the Bible also tells us that He hates all manner of sin (Proverbs 6:16-19). And, while He is merciful, there are limits to His mercy. “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7). Man, in his unregenerate state, is corrupted by sin, and that sin is always directly against God. When David sinned by committing adultery with Bathsheba and having Uriah murdered, he responded by praying something interesting: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4). Since David had sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah, how could he claim to have only sinned against God? The realities of eternal damnation, eternal hell, eternal punishment are frightening and rightly so. But this is for the good of the sinner, that he might, indeed, be terrified. While this may sound grim (and it is!), there is good news. God loves us (John 3:16) and wants us to be saved from hell (2 Peter 3:9). But because God is also just and righteous, He cannot allow our sin to go unpunished. Someone has to pay for it. In His great mercy and love, God provided His own payment for our sin. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for our sins by dying on the cross for us.
  • That is the reason I would never teach my children that. I remember being a child and hearing, You know how bad it hurts to burn yourself so can you imagine burning for all eternity. What a horrible vision for a child to imagine! And the only people who would deserve it are pedifiles and murderers. But to think you would go there, just for not following the bible EXACTLY! If you are a good person you would go to heaven if there is one so...
  • The problem with this question is the fact that it shows another victim of the lie created by the early church which completely twisted the original doctrine of the bible. I'm an Atheist but before becoming one I came to realize (via learning Hebrew, seeing the Judaic principles behind the Tanach [referred to ignorantly as the Old Testament], Greek, and church history) that the bible doesn't teach the nonsense heard of over today's pulpits. The bible clearly teaches that people go to Sheol when they die rather good or bad and that is simply the "GRAVE" in english. Talk to some Jews and Rabbis are even Messianic Jews who understand Hebrew and not this westernized crap and you'll see. Christianity makes the bible worst than what it actually is BUT there was a reason behind that back in the early day.
  • yeah what is god, some big meany or something?
  • I think that is a best question best posed to God himself. I am interested in the source of your statistics, 70% ?
  • God doesn't send anyone to hell just for the fun of it...they deserve it. Just like God does not inflict people with disease and does not take our loved ones from us sooner than we like.
  • Jesus doesn't send people to hell. They choose to be sent there. He gives EVERYONE the opportunity to be saved from sin. You just have to decide whether you believe in him or not.
  • Very few will go to hell. There are degrees of glory in heaven other than Our Father's presence. Most will wind up there. Cain and Judas and a few like them will go to Hell, where their torment will be AS a lake of fire and brimstone. (metaphor indicating degree of torment, not a literal description of it.)
  • They send themselves to hell.
  • where did you get seventy percent from? It doesn't take much to get into heaven - you just have to put your trust in Jesus. That's all. You just have to ask, and if you truly mean it, you'll go to heaven. God gives us many chances to turn to Him - probably more than we realize. He doesn't send us to hell or heaven - it's up to us to make that choice. He doesn't want anyone to go to hell, but He is a fair and just God, and though it pains Him, He has to give people what they deserve, and not believing gets you to hell.
  • Don't you just love religions they want to send everyone to hell.
  • imagine that 70% of the world is sending its ownself into eternal death...(better %age than the pop. of Noah's day, they would not HEAR either..:) HE will throw them into a lake of fire, as HE promised HE'd never destroy them with water again...but from my reasoning of Revelation...the eternal torment is reserved for Satan , his demons, the false prophets and the false teachers... HE is loving..and long with patience....HE wishes no man to perish, but hey, the wicked and disobediant can't be allowed into Paradise...that's the Plan... imagine that:)
  • If you go to hell it is you who sent you there. God's will is that all be saved. I believe that if because God is a loving God hell is not a place of burning forever and ever. It is where you go for the 2nd death the death of the soul. ----------- Where do you get the 70% from?
  • God doesn't send anyone to Hell...we each make our choice...those who go to Hell are responsible for the choice they made.
  • 1) I would rather inverse the statement: A God who would be sending 70% of the word's population to Hell (as most of us imagine Hell: eternal torture) would certainly not be a loving god. I think it would not be a loving god either if it were sending only 1% to Hell. So either it is not a loving god or something in that description is wrong. 2) "Christian theologians Thomas Aquinas and Jonathan Edwards wrote that the saved in heaven will delight in the suffering of the damned. Hell, however, doesn't fit modern, humanitarian concepts of punishment because it can't deter the unbeliever nor rehabilitate the damned, this however, does not affect the Christian belief which places Biblical teaching above the ideas of society. Some Christian believers have come to downplay the punishment of hell. Universalists teach that salvation is for all. Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh-day Adventists, though they have among the strictest rules on how to conduct their lives, teach that sinners are destroyed rather than tortured forever." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterlife
  • The Bible says that God is just. Meaning he's fair, and sends the ones who deny him to hell. Everyone has a choice of salvation.
  • God CREATED us....all He wants is for us to love and worship Him, and come to Him when we have problems. He loved us so much that He came to earth to be with us in the flesh...to suffer the same things we suffer-loneliness, hunger, thirst, anger, sadness, etc...so that by Him suffering the same things that we suffer-we can come to Him when we need comfort! No other "god" ever did that! Jesus suffered unbelievable agony on the cross, so that our sins can be forgiven,and we can come to the Father through His sacrifice. Yes, He IS a loving God, but He is also the Judge of all things. Unbelief in what He did for us will result in Hell. It's a wonderful gift He gave us! He ADORES His children and just wants to love on us and spend time with us!
  • those people were given free will to either accept God and his son or not and they choose not to. God gave people free will. jesus said no one comes to the father but by me. God cant look upon sin above all else he is holy that's why he sent jesus. and nonbelievers call US shallow minded, please!
  • Where'd you get that statistic?
  • He allows to go not "sends" people to Hell because that is what they chose during life. Don't blame God for your bad choices.
  • A lot of people deserve that! The world is f'd up cause of the 70% or more that are messing it up. I guess if you're in that 70%, it wouldn't seem fair now would it?

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