I was raised a Catholic and believe you me, the fear of hell was a real and which many times kept me in check.
Children don't have a chance to ever find themselves in hell, parents certainly can, the ones who taught the parents can certainly end up in hell. Under Christian rules a child should be able to comment on a parent's behavior, or a Church's behavior as being capable of getting that person a trip to hell.
As I grew older the same fear remained but with a question mark.
Hopefully that included reading all the relevant verses in the NT and the verses about prison in the OT, some are about death and others are about hell.
I converted to a Baptist of which my major education in the bible begun.
Is hell absent? It is a little harder to get into hell than most of what I have heard from some 'so called experts'. Nor is it as long as some pretend it is.
Hell still being a major issue of contention.
It is a temporary prison for those will be there for the 1,000 years.
The fire in hell is eternal. Time spent there is not eternal. During that time all people are in 1 of 3 places, alive ( going back to Adam, certain qualifications needed), in death ( those who did not qualify for the 1st group, they are sound asleep and they are released from death at the GWT), the worst of man ( going back to Adam). Different from death in that these are aware of where they are, and of who put them there. These are basically ones who thought they were stronger than God, even Satan is there in plain sight.
God sent Jonah to that place for a few days. After that Jonah did what God asked of him. He didn't like doing it but it was better than the alternative. In Jonah's case it worked out fine because the people listened, so Jonah's message didn't have the results Jonah expected.
Understanding hell was my quest because my inner thoughts led me to believe that there was more to hell then what I was taught.
Or in your particular case 'less'. It wouldn't surprise me that a lot that claim to be Christians will end up there. His return means those that say they are first to be separated, then unbelievers. If death seals up past sins, so does being in hell. When the ones are made alive at Judgment Day they are standing there in clean clothes.
I have since gained understanding of hell and the fear of it is no longer there.
The Jews also don't fear hell, they think they are exempt from it, to some extent that is true, all Israel is alive for the 1,000 years. Jesus is said to have the keys before the 144,000 are sealed. I don't see anything to indicate they wouldn't be able to spend some time there should they deserve that place, like the ones from the temple especially. In that place a few days would be as bad as the full 1,000.
From that point on, I never condemn anyone to going to hell because they don't believe as I do, or even if they don't believe in God.
Do you think the last ones in Matthew 25 are exempt from hell?
Because of the word hell and all that it was made out to be, the many false teaching about God, I never wavered from my faith in God, but instead became stronger in faith.
Hell is like a dustpan, when God sweeps the earth only the wicked end up in the dust-pan. That dust is no discarded, it is put in a place for a little bit of time.
Though fear doesn't have to be your #1 reason for being a believer you shouldn't lose sight that our death is not a barrier to him, it is to Satan, after he kills your body he can do nothing more to you. That is not so with God.
Yes, I had serious problems with the stories of Israel killing off cities of people as they went into the promised land as commanded by God, so it reads.
Did you ever do a 'family-tree' type of thing for those people, most can be traced back to one of Noah's sons. Since most were related and some were called giants it is more than possible that the ones being killed were not pacifists when it came to inflicting violence on others. At least when God took land it was from the strongest, not the weakest.
What I failed to see is how those stories related to the spiritual message it gives.
It doesn't have one, the lesson is, if God has to kick some ass He will, wiping out the giants was one such time. Taking female captive and taking them for wives helps increase numbers.
In order to enter the promised land (Promised land is the land of rest, a place where God is found and peace of heart) there must be killing away (peeling away, a better choice of words) of the existing worldliness that kept us bondage to the world and neglect of God.
He already set the boundaries for the first piece of land He will claim, moving the ones He doesn't want there is part of claiming the land.
The message is very graphic in word, but the meaning is very precise in the spiritual to mean the same thing.
His words are very graphic for a lot of different subjects, not just hell. It is also probably one of the least covered subjects.
Traveling through the wilderness (Way of escape through through trials and tribulations as knowledge is gained of the true God) is the journey out of the land of bondage (Egypt which was slavery to).
It's one thing to not get caught up in things that are false promises of finding enjoyment, it is quite another to be able to look around and not see anybody caught up in those things.
Because we go through hell (Wilderness) we either learn who the true God is, or we learn to reject Him all together.
The 5th trump is a fairly good opening description of hell, nobody is at that point of torment yet>
The ones who reject Him don't make it to the promised land. (Again, the promised land is a place where the soul rests, rests in the comfort of the almighty, where peace in times of trouble is taken in stride with the hopes of a better life after this one.)
Some are there because a certain number has already been determined to be there. That doesn't mean they are exempt from being alive for the new earth.
So, if one bad experiences in life due to religious people, graphic bible stories, and or no answers to any or all of your supposed prayers, then one is still considered to be in the wilderness journey of life.
Even a believer can still hit their finger with a hammer, and it hurts just as much.
That is what all those stories depict, and though some of them may have happened for real, the message is still all the same spiritually.
A parable is a spiritual message, doing some landscaping is just that, moving physical things around.
If one can not see spiritually, then the message in those stories can not mean nothing more than what it says.
A spiritual resurrection leaves a lot of dead people still in the ground, as one example.
Understanding has to be forthcoming while we are on the wilderness journey, for the very difficulties of life, the hardships, the disasters of human relationships and of nature, are all part of the learning.
Such is life.
God knows full well the sufferings, for He Him self made the playing field along with all the rules.
I don't think it is God when as soon as the gas price goes up I also start hitting more red lights.
That is why His compassion is so great that nothing we do can stain it.
Somebody sure stained His name.
