Here is something to think about concerning faith:

This statement just about says it all. Do you have enough to ‘live by’…or do you constantly look for more?
As the new year begins keep in mind that God has provided more that we can ever ask for.

Yeah, so I’m writing my Extra credit for Philosophy class and decided, what the heck, why not share with the rest of the world…. Here ya’ go.

HUM1533 Extra Credit

Why God Sends People to Hell

This topic is extremely important to me, because, as a Christian I am almost pummeled with questions about how ‘unfair’ God is because people who live ‘good’ lives, and do the right thing (according to popular belief) will still go to hell as a result of an unfair—and by atheist standards unjust and ‘arrogant’—God. First, allow me to explain exactly what God intended by creating hell, hell was meant for demons (Satan, and other things that “go ‘bump’ in the night”). God did not intend for humans to go to hell, but because of the Fall of Man, when man embraced sin, they willfully embraced a slow death of mental, moral, and spiritual regression.

Many of the questions I am asked is why “God won’t just forgive if he truly is an all-powerful and all-loving God”. In order to answer this I must explain that God wanted us to be autonomous creatures, creatures with our own wills, thoughts, wants, desires etc. In order for us to be completely autonomous, he had to do something that is perceived as unjust, unfair, and cruel. But in reality, it is the greatest form of love God could ever give us. He had to allow us to make our own decisions, and with our decisions, come consequences.
What I mean by that is simple: God created man, God created man’s will, man’s will decided to push God away (by sinning), by pushing away God, man damns himself to hell. In that respect, I mean to say, that God firstly, cannot be in the presence of sin. That makes sense in that if God was a true and just God, untruth, and injustice would not be able to mix together (you cannot mix water with oil, they separate naturally) and therefore, if God is truth, God cannot have untrue things in His presence. (This must be the reason why in the Bible, when it talks about the seven things God hates the most, lying is mentioned twice.)

So by God giving man the free decision to embrace God, or to push him away, He gives man the decision whether or not to go to hell. God does not force, or punish people to hell. By their own decision they condemn themselves to hell, however, their misunderstanding of God, makes them be repulsed by an image of a God who shuns those who do what they want, and welcomes only those who are integrated into a cult of which people sit in back-breaking pews and listen to hellfire preachers condemn them for the smallest thing.

When in reality, those things that they see as legalistic and repugnant are just that. But because they only see what they have gleaned from other people’s opinions, beliefs, etc. they lose a sort of realism to what a real relationship with God is, and without the relationship, there is no understanding. In order for people to have a relationship, they must give their life to God (ironically, the same people who think that God is unjust and unfair are unwilling to make a fair trade of their life for His will, when we received His life for our salvation).

Back to the point, the reason why people have a misunderstanding of God, is because there is a corruption of the people within the Christian religion (I must note that even though I am a Christian, I am not part of the Christian religion, and abhor it to all degrees, I would consider myself closer to a disciple, rather than a Christian, giving everything to Christ, instead of just one day a week for fire-insurance.) in which they do not understand what God intended for humanity, and for hell. So because the populous has been given something that is misunderstood, they believe something misunderstood, (i.e.”All Christians demand you to ‘turn or burn’”) when in fact, most true Christians that do not confuse warnings from God into an existential convert all or they shall be damned religion (hence, why I abhor religion so much.) Even the Christian religion can be compared to Socrates’ Republic when talking about the individual corrupting the state.

When ‘Christians’ are misinformed, they believe such. When they believe the misinformation, they act on it, in order to act piously, hence the ‘hardcore Christians’ that demand immediate repentance from others’ sins so they do not become damned to hell immediately.
With so many misconceptions about Christianity, and the ‘Church’ it is hard for nonbelievers to accept what is almost constantly being changed in order to make people feel comfortable. People believe, and accept that you can get to heaven via works, which is a complete dichotomy from what the Bible says “I am the way, the Truth, and the Light, no one comes to the Father except by me.” From the believe that works can get you to heaven is spawned relativism, which corrupts even further the truth that God intended. It is not simply a matter of quoting scripture during church or showing how well versed one is in Biblical teachings, but a matter for the heart, to concern itself with knowing God, knowing God’s will for their life, and becoming more and more in tune with God. In the same sense, Plato’s definition of philosophy demands that we become more and more inclined with Truth, Justice, and moral-goodness; this is not a difficult connection to be made.

A far more complicated assumption is that you must always be using the Socratic Method in order to continue learning, and gleaning knowledge, in the same way, we (Christians) must continually plunge into the word of God, and learn everything and all we possibly can. In so much we must not forget that God wants us to know him, for us to rely on Him, and keep in contact with Him. When non-believers push themselves away from Christ, alienating Him from their lives and refusing to listen to Him, they (naturally) sin habitually, impulsively and willingly; and by doing this, they send themselves to hell. For if God were to forgive us for no reason, it would mean that we would not have a choice to accept, Him or reject him, we would have to accept him, because he forgave us already for whatever sins we had committed. By doing this God shows that he obviously is a loving, caring and awesome God simply by allowing us to reject him.