Would You Want to be in Heaven if People You Loved were in Hell?

[Good-Ole-Rebel]

Forgive me, but that is how it strikes me. Things will be so blissful in heaven, that what would normally seem horrifying and unbearable, will feel okay. Drugs have that same effect, to anesthetize us to pain.


So the love you had for others in this life will be severed once you go to heaven? Our love for others gets severed completely, amputated and the wound cauterized? I don't think I can quite fathom that actually. What make this life good and beautiful, is love for others. That was the core teaching of Jesus, to love others as yourself. That's how I understand it anyway.


So the bonds of love will be broken by God for us so we won't feel them anymore?


I understand that Reality. But cutting off our love is the exact opposite of that, based upon my experience. It actually increases our love and our capacities for compassion. It becomes larger and more expansive, not severed and broken off.


So you are saying that while the thought of your parents who loved you and raised you being sent to hell may disturb you now, you'll be okay with it once God enters your heart and illuminates your mind in heaven? No, I can't believe that for a minute.


So, you're saying he'd have been okay with his mother and father being tortured in hell? That he would express frustration with her, like any child does with his parents from time to time, is on the same order of her soul being thrown into flames for eternity, and that he'd be fine with that? At you own worst with your parents, would you be okay with them being kidnapped and tortured by terrorists?


So "Perfect love casts out all sinners", is the takeaway here?


I think to equate your parents shortcommings in life with Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin's murderous rampangings, is something you may try to tell yourself they are comparable to to justify the idea of them going to hell, but I don't believe you believe that in your heart.

The reason I say that, is because I used to try to use that same "logic argument" when I was a fundamentalist, thinking about my parents in hell because they wouldn't accept the fundamentalist beliefs and doctrines I was trying to sell them. It didn't work for me. Love won out. Love saved me.

How it strikes you is not important to me. My point was not that it will be so 'blissful' as you say. It will be because we will know as we are known by God. Those earthly ties will not be a burden or grievance. Our, the Christian's, relations will be based upon the true reality of God and His people.

You do not understand the 'core teaching' of Jesus. Jesus had no problem in chastising His mother as "woman what have I to do with thee". (John 2:4) Or dismissing His earthly family completely. (Matt. 12:48-50) Did Adam and Eve love Cain? Of course. But Cain was not of God. (1 John 3:12) Did Isaac and Rebekah love Esau? Of course, But God hated him. (Mal. 1:2-3) (Rom. 9:13). Once Adam and Eve and Isaac and Rebekah were with the Lord, they would have the same understanding of their children that God did.

Yes, the Christian will not be restricted to the earthly ties any more. And the earthly ties will be understood so that there is no pain or grievance concerning those who were not believers. Adam will know that Cain was born of him and Eve. But he will also know that Cain was a child of the devil.

No, you don't understand that reality. You are not there. You are here. While here, the Christian loves those who are his children and family. That doesn't mean all of those will be believers. For those who are not, he doesn't quit loving them. He can't. But in that day, he will be able to sever that love as it no longer has any emotional affect upon him. In that day, he is not connected to them and knows them for who they are.

Whether my earthly parents loved me, does not play a role in this whatsoever. Whether I loved them does not play a role in this whatsoever. In that day, what plays a role is who am I to God.

If Jesus parents were non-believers , yes, He would have had no problem with them going to hell forever. But they weren't.

Well, yes. Perfect love, which will be recognized and experienced in that day, will not be directed to our earthly relations any more. It, love, will be directed to our true relations towards God, Christ, and Their family of believers.

My point with Stalin and Hitler or whoever you want to use, is that they loved. And someone loved them. That love does not detract from who they were. Don't you think that some of Hitlers and Stalins family were Christian. What do you expect them to feel in Heaven?

Good-Ole-Rebel

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Would you want to be in heaven if people you loved were in hell?

Would you want to be in heaven if all the dancing girls were in hell? That is to say, would you want to be in heaven if anyone -- anyone at all, regardless of your relationship to them -- were in hell?

Seems to me like the other people in Hell are a sunk cost: they're common to every option available, so they can't be a rational basis for choosing between alternatives.

So if it's just a matter of my own fate, I'd have to try to avoid Hell if I can.

However, if choosing Heaven means having to worship God or consider him benevolent, I'm not sure I'd be physically capable of it.

 

[Agent]

Isa.1
[1] The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzzi'ah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezeki'ah, kings of Judah.
[2] Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the LORD has spoken:
"Sons have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.
[3] The ox knows its owner,
and the *** its master's crib;
but Israel does not know,
my people does not understand."
[4] Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
sons who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the LORD,

 

[IndigoChild5559]

If someone were wicked, I wouldn't love them.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

As I believe in Purgatory, where I believe most people who weren't perfect but still had goodness in them go to be cleaned before Heaven, I think those who go to hell are beyond loving in the human sense. A person who is damned, in my view, is a person who maliciously violates others - human or non-human - with no regard for empathy, compassion, remorse or contrition. Sadistic psychopaths would be an example. I can think of many examples of the latter and no, you would not love these people but you may hope they miraculously have a change of heart before meeting their Maker.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I'm curious how societies who have "honor killings" as part of their culture define honor, as murdering your own family - especially children - obviously seems far more dishonorable than whatever arbitrary slight for which they were killed. It also seems to me that such families lacked a strong bond and a sense of love and empathy to begin with.

They have a collective view of honor and social reputation is highly regarded in those cultures. A tarnished family name is a real danger in those societies so they view it as necessary to take harsh measures to protect their reputation. It's why samarui would commit seppuku when they damaged their reputation.

 

[Good-Ole-Rebel]

If someone were wicked, I wouldn't love them.

What if it was your son?

Good-Ole-Rebel

 

[IndigoChild5559]

What if it was your son?

Good-Ole-Rebel

If my son were a serial killer, I would not love him. Sorry.

 

[Good-Ole-Rebel]

If my son were a serial killer, I would not love him. Sorry.

I don't believe you. Sorry.

Good-Ole-Rebel