How can a loving God send people to hell or allow suffering?
I don't understand.
HELL : There is this person called "the un-believer" or "infidel". This person makes the creator of all things mad, because this person doesn't give the creator any credit for all his work. Sometimes this person doesn't even acknowledge the creator's existence. This makes the creator really mad. So the creator tells this person that a really bad place called Hell has been created for he/she to stay in forever, and the only way this person can avoid Hell is to pledge their love, complete devotion, and worship to the creator for eternity. SUFFERING: This is easily explained as the following: Suffereing is the creator's way of testing believers to see if they really believe. Though the creator knows your thoughts, still a little testing never hurts. When this explaination doesn't cut it, the creator mentions how some of his actions are mysterious. If the believer is still wondering, the creator points out that the person needs to have more faith. When all else fails to persuade the person, the creator can still use the threat of Hell to make the person love him. 1
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So the creator is that vain, that he, an all powerful, all knowing entity needs us to worship him and give him credit, or else he will punish us for eternity? How human of him/it. "Suffereing is the creator's way of testing believers to see if they really believe" And what of those who suffer but have never heard of Christianity? There is no test to their belief there, simply suffering. "When this explaination doesn't cut it, the creator mentions how some of his actions are mysterious. " That one is always my favorite. 1
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I'm not sure how they would learn the error of their ways. Mere misbehavior isn't something I would severely punish my children for. However, in the eyes of a god if man has already abandoned me those who seek my help will find it. Those who don't are subject to the lake of fire. I'm not sure if you've heard of Dante's Inferno, but the way Hell was depicted it seems quite brutal and horrifying. This doesn't have anything to do with the debate, but I thought it was interesting. |