Evidence for God from Science

crochet1949 wrote:God tells us about Both heaven and hell. How to be able to Be in heaven and how to stay Out of hell. And He's told us enough About hell that we know we don't want to end up there. He's given us salvation through Jesus Christ -- we Can accept That and share it with everyone who is willing to listen. It's up to the individual to either accept or reject salvation.

There is only This life to make an eternal decision -- because once a person Dies -- he's In eternity -- and there is the resurrection of the dead both of believers and non-believers.

What Has made me 'wonder' is Why people spend So much time researching about hell ie what actually happens as far as length of time of suffering, etc. And all the questions regarding how just or not God is for 'sending' people there. My response would be -- God doesn't send anyone to hell , but He Does know who will or won't accept Him -- when a person feels a concern for a certain group of people being in danger of Not hearing of salvation -- by all means Do something to meet that need. My sister and her husband did exactly that -- recently retired / came back to the States after spending 40 years ministering in Brazil. They Still correspond with their friends on Face Book in Brazilian Portugeese. My sister works with translating literature into that language.

But don't waste time / energy blaming God for all those people who you assume aren't hearing God's Word. Get in touch with a church that supports various missionaries in lots of countries. Send monitary funds to their mission board -- pray for them. Pray for those unknown people.

And be conscious of your neighbors / college classmates/ employees, etc. who might not be believers. Be willing to pray for them -- share with them as the opportunity presents itself.

abelcainsbrother wrote:Gehenna was a real place where people took their trash to be burned and the fire was always kept burning

Jac3510 wrote:

abelcainsbrother wrote:Gehenna was a real place where people took their trash to be burned and the fire was always kept burning

I've not been following this thread, but this line did jump out at me. Just FYI, this is more than likely a myth. Sort of like the popular idea that the high priest would enter the temple with a rope tied around his ankle so he could be pulled out if he died in the presence of God or like the idea that "the eye of the needle" was actually a small gate that camels could only go through if they were unloaded. Those kinds of myths are popular in biblical interpretation. The idea that Gehenna was a sort of perpetually burning dump is just one of those. It makes for a good story, and it seems to make sense of the biblical imagery about hell. But there's just no evidence that it is true. In fact, scholars are now pretty sure that it actually came from a rabbi in the thirteenth century named Kimchi. As a matter of fact, this isn't a terribly new point, with The Biblical Archeologist(49..3, pp. 188-89) saying way back in 1986 that the theory finds "no support in literary sources or archaeological data from the intertestamental or rabbinic periods. There is no evidence that the valley was, in fact, a garbage dump, and thus his explanation is insufficient."

That doesn't mean, by the way, that no trash was ever burned there. It's not surprising that we do, in fact, find some burned pieces in the valley, but nothing like what people tend to describe it as when they talk about the relationship between the Hinnom and Hell.

Take it for whatever you think it's worth.

Carry on.

Jac3510 wrote:I was going to offer a serious reply, but then I decided it is seriously not worth it. Every question you just asked is very easy answered. You don't need access to peer reviewed journal articles or scholarly books. Google is enough in this case, because that is just how widely known it is that what you are pushing is popular myth.

As I said, take it for whatever you think it's worth. I've informed you, and more importantly, I've informed people who are reading this thread. Gehenna was not and never was a perpetually burning garbage dump. Peace out!

abelcainsbrother wrote:

Jac3510 wrote:I was going to offer a serious reply, but then I decided it is seriously not worth it. Every question you just asked is very easy answered. You don't need access to peer reviewed journal articles or scholarly books. Google is enough in this case, because that is just how widely known it is that what you are pushing is popular myth.

As I said, take it for whatever you think it's worth. I've informed you, and more importantly, I've informed people who are reading this thread. Gehenna was not and never was a perpetually burning garbage dump. Peace out!

I think you've got me wrong because I can handle a serious reply but whatever I also know not to believe everything you read too,I'm not saying your wrong but Jesus used the word Gehenna for a reason,some people don't like the idea of eternal hell fire even Christians struggle with the issue,and I know some Christians teach hell is not a place of torment but I choose to believe the bible and it talks about fire in hell.

GEHENNA (Hebr. ; Greek, Γέεννα):
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6558-gehenna

The place where children were sacrificed to the god Moloch was originally in the "valley of the son of Hinnom," to the south of Jerusalem...

jpbg33 wrote:The bible says our knowledge is stupidity compared to God's and that hell is eternal. So if God says it is eternal then it is. To say that it is not eternal is to use our knowledge which God said isn't worth much.

Danieltwotwenty wrote: How can there be fire in hell if there is only darkness? God is light, the absence of God is darkness, hell is the absence of God, hence hell is darkness (or nothingness).