Loved Ones In Hell

[The Sum of Awe]

For those who believe in everlasting hell after death, how could someone take comfort in heaven while somebody they care about is in hell?

I see possible options, and their problems:

1) Loved ones of those who are saved are also saved.
Would it make sense for someone to have an automatic card into Heaven just because someone that cares about them is saved?

Also, wouldn't it imply for their loved ones as well? If not, the question repeats. If so, then almost everybody, if not everybody would go to heaven anyways.

2) We will trust God that it is for the best
Something smells like brainwash! It seems awful that you, too, think someone you love deserves this torment.

3) God will erase it from our memories
Again, brainwashing. This is pretty sick that God will make you forget about a loved one that will be tortured for eternity.

If you believe there is a hell and that people go there when they are not saved, it's very likely that someone you hold empathy for is not saved and will not enter heaven. How do you cope with this thought?

 

[Glaurung]

For those who believe in everlasting hell after death, how could someone take comfort in heaven while somebody they care about is in hell?

You're assuming that we carry our same earthly attachments of this life into the next. Earthly attachments are a cause of suffering, which can't occur in the presence of joy and love itself. The greatest joys of this life are but a pale shadow compared to the presence of God.

If you believe there is a hell and that people go there when they are not saved, it's very likely that someone you hold empathy for is not saved and will not enter heaven. How do you cope with this thought?

Every person is responsible for their own destiny, it is not up for us to cope with anything but to do our best for our own salvation.

Of course, it is still nonetheless good and right to hope for the salvation of all.

 

[Sleeppy]

Replace "Hell" with "Prison".. What do you think, Sum?

 

[Sha'irullah]

Religions like Christianity and Islam tend to promote a very high level of cognitive disassociation when it comes to morality. Such religions of course are void of promoting character development as well because the adherents are talk to constantly make double thinks.
Being a hypocrite does not promote any character and without character one cannot have any developed sense of morals or emotional stability. Christians for example have the violent and atrocious Old Testament and the loving Jesus of the new Testament. Trying to rationalize and compartmentalize this will only lead to confusion.

A noticeable response is the debate between Hamza Tzortzis and Lawrence Krauss in which Krauss asks Hamza if his parents are going to hell because they are not Muslim. I cannot recall the response but it was pathetic.

 

[Estro Felino]

You know what? Dante's divine comedy has definitely influenced popular culture.
and it certainly has influenced the Church, as for the vision of Hell.

I don't think that Hell is a place of torture. Not necessarily.
When we die, we enter our soul. and our soul can be filled with hatred or filled with love.

So we don't receive any punishment (nor award). we just get what we are and what we have given in life.

But of course...if you are a murderer and you killed people...the remorse will be hitting your cranium like an eternal hammer. That's what people mean by eternal torture

 

[Thana]

God is everything to me. I trust Him implicitly not only with my life but with all life.

Understanding that dispels any need to justify it.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

1) we do not share the sins of others.
2) hell is not a place.
3) universal salvation suggests that we all die sinners, but that we all repent and are forgiven, however long that might take.
4) Hell fire has no association with God.

 

[Amechania]

Let them burn. More potato salad for me.

 

[Maldini]

This is yet another reason why the idea of a hell or heaven is extremely ludicrous.

 

[Estro Felino]

1) we do not share the sins of others.
2) hell is not a place.
3) universal salvation suggests that we all die sinners, but that we all repent and are forgiven, however long that might take.
4) Hell fire has no association with God.

I totally agree with you. as for the last statement, I would add that Hellfire is just something allegorical to describe remorse.

btw...I read you are an Anglican and a Heretic. I am a Catholic and a Heretic too, so maybe we believe in the same things.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

You're assuming that we carry our same earthly attachments of this life into the next. Earthly attachments are a cause of suffering, which can't occur in the presence of joy and love itself. The greatest joys of this life are but a pale shadow compared to the presence of God.



Every person is responsible for their own destiny, it is not up for us to cope with anything but to do our best for our own salvation.

Of course, it is still nonetheless good and right to hope for the salvation of all.

I definitely can understand that. But I am unsure it's correct to call love an earthly desire.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

Replace "Hell" with "Prison".. What do you think, Sum?

That's an interesting way to view it. It's true that if someone I care deeply about is in prison for a reason I find reasonable, then I will not be against the idea of them being in prison. I still, however, would feel concerned about their condition, and by the common understanding of the place it is contradicting to be concerned in Heaven.

I can see how people could understand why they are in hell, but being content with the fact is something I can't aside from; being brainwashed, or else the 'love' has not ever been true.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

God is everything to me. I trust Him implicitly not only with my life but with all life.

Understanding that dispels any need to justify it.

It may be possible for people to understand the justice of the situation, but I don't see a way that people can emotionally get around the state their loved ones are in.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

and by the common understanding of the place it is contradicting to be concerned in Heaven.

No, it isn't.

 

[Brinne]

I know proxy baptism is a some thing in some denominations (mainly in the LDS though if I recall correctly) so there's always that.

I'm a believer in reincarnation so I can't really answer this properly but I felt I'd throw my two cents in.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

No, it isn't.

How can there be discomfort in eternal bliss?

 

[Sleeppy]

That's an interesting way to view it. It's true that if someone I care deeply about is in prison for a reason I find reasonable, then I will not be against the idea of them being in prison. I still, however, would feel concerned about their condition, and by the common understanding of the place it is contradicting to be concerned in Heaven.

I can see how people could understand why they are in hell, but being content with the fact is something I can't aside from; being brainwashed, or else the 'love' has not ever been true.

I understand what you're saying, which is why I presented that analogy.. I don't particularly like prisons, neither do I like hell. I understand why they exist.

Eventually, we will become socially adept at handling ourselves and our neighbors, to the point where prisons become unnecessary. We will have medications, and surgeries, and psychologies capable of eradicating certain unwanted behaviors efficiently.


Hell is as misunderstood as humans are. It's a very natural, human condition to believe in free will. We have limited perception. We don't necessarily understand the full scope of our actions, and so we certainly don't understand the full scope of our reactions- or the reactions of the outside world. We are individuals, so we are inclined to care for ourselves before others. We are accustomed to it; we love ourselves before anything, or anyone else. Empathy is only possible because of our ability to identify ourselves in others; to find commonality. These people who are sending others to hell, are in hell. They're identifying behaviors in themselves or in those close to themselves, and attempting to disassociate from them; self hate. Hopelessness and helplessness are natural to human ignorance, and so we recreate these hopeless, helpless ideas.

We hand out life sentences, and eternal torment-- because we haven't fully understood how to reverse these conditions in ourselves.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

How can there be discomfort in eternal bliss?

I was talking about concern. In Catholicism, for example, the Saints and the Angels pray for those on Earth and in Purgatory.

 

[Amechania]

Seems like we want to own each others misery. We can't really but we feel released from he'll if we can pretend to care. In the end we are each alone in the face of eternity
. All Jesus would ask is that we cling to the illusion of love . He promises he will make it a reality. No he'll but what we cling to.

 

[CompleteSubmission]

For those who believe in everlasting hell after death, how could someone take comfort in heaven while somebody they care about is in hell?

I see possible options, and their problems:

1) Loved ones of those who are saved are also saved.
Would it make sense for someone to have an automatic card into Heaven just because someone that cares about them is saved?

Also, wouldn't it imply for their loved ones as well? If not, the question repeats. If so, then almost everybody, if not everybody would go to heaven anyways.

2) We will trust God that it is for the best
Something smells like brainwash! It seems awful that you, too, think someone you love deserves this torment.

3) God will erase it from our memories
Again, brainwashing. This is pretty sick that God will make you forget about a loved one that will be tortured for eternity.

If you believe there is a hell and that people go there when they are not saved, it's very likely that someone you hold empathy for is not saved and will not enter heaven. How do you cope with this thought?

Its hard, my heart aches when i think some of my family members not making it and even myself...but i think that if you follow his commandments and rules and you pray and talk to him on a daily basis and thank him for the things that he has given you, he allows you to get closer to him and to comprehend his words in a way that you never could comprehend before, God willing..he does as he pleases. My point is...when you develop this closeness and live your life by his rules, you start to love him more then your father, mother, sister..any family member...sure you still pray for your family because its the right thing to do and its human nature to love them, especially when you are trying to please God, it is a commandment to honor thy mother and thy father and keep close family ties. I continue to pray for them and I try to set a good example in hopes that God will open their hearts and guide them and continue to guide me on the straight path.