Why Don't More People Warn Me That I'm Going To Hell?

Great Debates
1

I heard someone say this the other day, and it got me thinking…

I’m not much of a religion expert, so let me start by making some assumptions:

  1. All Christians believe in Christ as their saviour
  2. All Christians believe in the existence of Hell
  3. All Christians believe that Hell is the worst possible place to go, and being sent there is the worst possible thing that can happen to a person
  4. All Christians believe that all non-believers will eventually go to Hell

So, having said that…

If a person wanders onto the street and into the path of an oncoming truck, 98% of the population would either shout out a warning or run into the street to push that person out of the way. We would do that because getting hit by a truck is a pretty nasty thing to happen to a person.

So, if going to Hell is infinitely worse than getting hit by a truck, why do most Christians that I meet not care that I am going to Hell? Most, in fact all, of the Christians I meet are nice people who keep their religion to themselves. If so many people profess to be Christians, why aren’t the Christians doing more to proselytize me? Shouldn’t the fact that I’m going to Hell give them nightmares?

Thanks,
Greg

2

That assumption is incorrect. A quick search will turn up a number of recent threads explaining the issue in depth.

3

Most people probably either don’t believe you’re going to hell, don’t care, or are too polite to go up to a stranger and tell them they’re going to hell or proselytize you.

4

Point number two is also incorrect. Not all Christians believe in hell.

5

That’s kind of my point. Why should I care if someone is about to get hit by a truck? I care because I don’t want to see someone else get needlessly hurt.

I see that there was a similar thread a while back, so I should’ve searched for it first.

-Greg

6

Getting hit by a truck is an accident. Going to hell is something you are actively doing (as far as christians are concerned). You choose not to be a christian. Kinda like telling a smoker that smoking causes cancer…if they don’t know by now then they are a lost cause.

7

Would constantly being told by Christians that you’re going to Hell make you more likely to embrace Christ? No? Well that’s why I don’t do it.

8

Interesting. I suppose that would mean that I could also choose to be a Christian, i.e., that I could choose to believe in God. I’m not sure that’s true. How would that work, exactly?

9

I assume they believe you already know it. It’s like you see the truck coming, so no reason to yell out.

10

I agree with ITR.

I tried to post something about this to another thread but the internet ate it. To me, and many Lutherans, Jesus-as-God sits in judgment and decides who does and does not go to Hell. It isn’t my job, so to speak, to say where you are going - my job is what we call the “Great C’s” (Great Commission and Greatest Commandment). Considering how bad I am at those, I won’t even hazard a guess what your future holds. Heaven may be filled with all kinds of people with all kinds of beliefs and I may burn eternally; I just don’t know for sure.

Telling you “you may be headed for Hell” isn’t my department -------- but since you brought it up, consider that Heaven is open to you. That is more what my job description asks for)

(a subtle Great Commission attempt in the offering)

11

You convert to Christianity and join a Christian denomination and follow the rules of the denomination.

12

That’s a good answer. makes me thing of my pop and his smoking. But I’ve always thought that a death, even a death from cancer, doesn’t compare to what Hell has in store for me. Isn’t it really painful and nasty and… eternal? But I see what you’re saying and agree with you.

-Greg

13

Because the point is not being told it, the point is coming to believe it. Quality of argument, not quantity. And the average person only has so much time in their lives - taking out working to live and whatever other duties they might have - to get out the word.

14

Going up to a stranger and telling them they’re going to hell isn’t polite?

You mean, on top of everything else, Westboro Baptist Church also isn’t polite??

That’s it, they’re off my Christmas list!

15

That just begs the question. Isn’t converting to Christianity another way of saying “belief in God?”

16

GregH, all the assumptions in your OP are wrong. I’ll take 'em one by one.

Not all Xtians mean the same thing by the word savior. To my father, for instance, the Passion was a literal atonement; he thinks that all humans merit eternal damnation in their natural state, and that Christ suffered and died to take the punishment we all deserve. My sort-of-pastor, by contrast, thinks that God is not, in fact, eternally pissed at humanity, and that the Passion’s purpose was to demonstrate his love for us; in other words, Christ’s sacrifice was to let humans see that reconciliation with God is available, but was not itself required for that reconciliation.

Not all Xtians mean the same thing by Hell. My father, again, thinks Hell is a literal, physical place in the bowels of the Earth, to which the unsaved dead are consigned to eternity for bodily torment–burning without being consumed, being eaten by worms, endless Full House marathons,and so forth. My sort-of-pastor would say that Hell is a metaphor for being separated from God by choice, but that no physical torment is involved, and that getting sprung from Hell requires only wanting to be with God.

See above. Some Xtians would say nobody is condemned to Hell forever.

Some Xtians believe that Xtianity is one of many possible paths that can lead to salvation. Also, some believe in double predestination–that is, the notion that at the beginning of time, God determined who would be saved and who would be damned, and that it’s impossible for a mortal to go from one category to the other. The Elect are irresistably drawn to God; the non-Elect can never get there no matter how hard they try. Thus, if someone is not a member of the Elect, it does no good to try to save them from Hell.

And that’s just off the top of my head. I hope you can see that the variety of different beliefs among Xtians may account for different attitudes on warning people away from damnation and Hell.

17

If you’re serious about “How do I come to belief?” I’ll offer an answer.

Try to. Pray to God and ask for help believing. Find a church you like and attend, regularly, and get involved. Talk to other believers. Ask them why they have faith and where it comes from. Read the New Testament, not for literary critique but consider that it was written specifically for you and ask yourself what it’s telling you.

I don’t think you’ll do this, because I don’t think you want to believe. But that’s the way.

18

As I wrote above, that’s not necessarily so. Some Xtians believe in double-predestination, which means persons who are not members of the Elect are going to go to Hell no matter what they do.

19

What I’m serious about is how anyone can choose to believe or *not *to believe in God.

There’s the rub. Praying to a God I don’t believe in is a psychotic act, in my opinion. Just as denying a God I do believe in would be.

I’m talking about belief, not faith. Surely you have to belief in God in order to have faith in him.

I won’t, but not because I don’t want to believe. I don’t think it’s possible to will oneself into or out of belief.

20

That’s the best, most concise answer I’ve seen to that question. I’ve seen a few attempts to answer that question. I may have tried myself (not on the SDMB) in that past. It may be because it’s so difficult to pin down. I’m copying & pasting this in an e-mail to myself (with proper Skammer credit) for future reference.