Question 3 of 13 Concerning the Validity of Religion
Since the inception of religion, sinners and nonbelievers have been threatened with an eternity spent in hell, an unimaginable place of pain and suffering, with no chance of reprieve. But how realistic is the idea of hell? Is it a real place or simply a threat used by religious leaders to get people to behave or to conform to their beliefs?
How Could a Loving God Condemn Imperfect
Beings,
Like Us, to an Eternity of Hell?
If
hell is really like the Bible describes – “a lake of fire,” “the place of
eternal torment with weeping and gnashing of teeth” – how could any sentient
being deserve that sort of eternal punishment?
What happened to God’s love, mercy and forgiveness? Hell is cruel and unusual punishment to the
highest possible magnitude. And, according to how most religious followers
believe, many good people are going to suffer forever in hell. Christians, for
example, believe that one must be born again, or accept Jesus Christ as their
personal savior, in order to be saved or spend eternity in heaven, not hell.
What if at the end of someone’s life their only sin was not believing in God or
not accepting Christ but otherwise was a good person and model citizen? I visualize cases where individuals could be
evil their entire lives but accept Christ on their deathbed and therefore,
according to what many believe, spend eternity in heaven instead of hell, where
they rightly belong, based on how they lived their life. Cases like this seem
completely plausible according to Christian faith and imply that God is unjust.
However, how could a perfect being be unjust?
Many
followers argue that it’s not God who condemns us to hell, but that we condemn
ourselves through our choices in life. God instilled in us free will, so we are
free to choose to follow and accept God or not. I have a difficult time with
this line of reasoning. Doesn’t God judge us?
If God wanted to He could save everyone, which seems like the right
thing for God to do, since He supposedly loves us so much. And human free will
is incompatible with God’s omniscience. If God is truly omniscient, then He
knows the future, which means He knows who is going to heaven and hell. And if
He already knows this, then what power do we have to alter our life course? There are some who believe they were saved by
God’s direct intervention in their lives. If this is true, then why would God
intervene in some peoples’ lives and not others? Once again, this would make God appear
unfair, as God should not play favorites.
I
believe that hell was characterized by early religions as the worst place
imaginable in an attempt to scare people into converting to their particular
religion and to threaten followers to do good and stick to church doctrine – to
toe the line, you might say. The concept of hell is just another good example
of how religion plays on our natural fears and longings in order to build and
sustain itself.
Religion, as you stated, is the ultimate tool for social control. They are in the business of fear. Without it...they have nothing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, Josh. My goal is to get people to think more critically about religion -- just like they should think about everything.
ReplyDeleteI have been a christian since I was 11. Many of the thing's mentioned above are thing's that all of us must ponder once in a while. I definately want to read The Big Picture. Sound's like something that could certainly get one to thinking.
ReplyDeleteTammy, I think that anyone can benefit from reading the book, as it forces people to think, especially if they are open to looking at things in a different way. The book challenges popular beliefs, like religion. I believe that we should all be critical thinkers, and those of us in education, especially, should promote critical thinking in our students. The motto is, question everything.
ReplyDeleteHey Mr. Mason, the doors of hell are locked for eternity from the inside of a persons heart, not by God. When people get to the judgement seat, they aren't going to want to spend an eternity with God because they don't care about him. There isn't anyone in hell right now who doesn't want to be there (and they stay wanting that for eternity).
ReplyDeleteAlso, the fire and brimestone talked about in the Bible is probably metaphorical for something much much much worse. I find it interesting that hell is depicted as fire, and Jesus describes himself in John chapter 5 as the "living water" to the woman at the well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmTAotnklKI
Watch this video on hell by Timothy Keller. He's the main pastor at Redeemer church in New York. He has about 5000 members and most of the members there are single, 20 year old young professionals.
And I should add that even if the fire and brimestone is real, the pain in hell that comes from fire and brimestone is infinitely smaller than the pain felt by sheer separation from God. Hell is something I've thought about a lot for the last five years and the reason is I've been trying to figure out what Jesus went through for me on the cross (he went through hell, not the place but the condition).
DeleteHey, Brandon, thanks for commenting. I will watch the video and respond back to you.
ReplyDelete