Hell Past, Hell Present: Which do you prefer?

[pointus]

If you lived in the period of the Old Testament, you would have had NOTHING to fear about burning in the eternal flames of hell. Why? Because the notion of hell as a place of eternal punishment did not exist at that time. The eternal burning fireworks of hell, as punishment, did not exist until gentle Jesus, meek and mild makes his entry onto the Judean landscape.

Old Testament describes a notion of a place for the dead devoid of punishment, but this is a far cry from the burning fireworks, which did not enter popular imagination until Jesus gave it graphic illustration in the new Testament. So what reason did people living in the OT era have for been righteous, given that they were never subject to the threat of hellfire for not being righteous?

With the advent of the Jesus doctrine, the place of the dead takes a cruel and particularly wicked refurbishment from a place of mild repose to one of eternal punishment. Imagine the surprise of those souls who were already in hell before Jesus arrived and enjoying gentle relaxation. Upon Jesus's arrival, the sheep would have had to be separated from the goats, with the goats subjected to the newly introduced furnishings of fireworks. So much for the kind, meek, gentle and loving Jesus.

For more on the doctrine of hell, check the following links below;

http://www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/tbhell.html
http://www.religionfacts.com/christiani ... s/hell.htm

[Kurieuo]

With the advent of the Jesus doctrine, the place of the dead takes a cruel and particularly wicked refurbishment from a place of mild repose to one of eternal punishment. Imagine the surprise of those souls who were already in hell before Jesus arrived and enjoying gentle relaxation. Upon Jesus's arrival, the sheep would have had to be separated from the goats, with the goats subjected to the newly introduced furnishings of fireworks. So much for the kind, meek, gentle and loving Jesus.

Truth and reality is sometimes confronting. A lot of a literal understanding of Hell as actually consisting of physical flames and fire and being full of souls tortured by demons and so forth I believe came through the renaissance and various influential paintings and pictures.

You commit a fallacy in that because Christ deals with a horrible place in a serious manner (i.e., Hell), that He therefore desires such a fate to exist. For example, someone warning against running into a house on fire because you might catch on fire and burn a horrible death, you might as well also say to such a person, "so much for [being] kind, meek, gentle and loving." This logic clearly does not follow.

Anyone reading the NT will see Jesus treats the consequences of our decisions in this life in the hereafter in a very serious manner. I mean Christ saw His whole life and purpose revolving around this one point even to the point of freely dying on the cross. Christ put His life where His mouth was, which I think is more than you or many of us would do.

For more on the topic of a loving God and Hell I would recommend reading an impartial debate: Craig-Bradley Debate: Can a Loving God Send People to Hell?