Why wouldn't God let people out of hell?

Many people believe that God is omnipotent and all-loving. If this is true, why would he not allow people out of hell? Christianity seems to take a very firm stance that a person (except Jesus, I guess) can never get out of hell once they end up there, but this doesn't seem to fit with the idea of an all-powerful God who loves everyone. If God is loving, why not forgive people for their mistake and let them into heaven? Or do you believe that God is somehow incapable of letting people out of hell? Does God stop loving people after they die?

 

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Because Hell is clearly a barbaric idea born of God's need for revenge, not punishment.

Punishment is undertaken in order to teach someone a lesson, to make one realize the wrongness of his/her actions. The hope is that the person will emerge better for having paid a price.

Revenge is punishment with the express purpose of inflicting pain. Whether or not the victim realizes or understands the reason is irrelevant. Revenge is taken for the benefit of the one inflicting the revenge.

Thus, since Hell has no rehabilitative function (being, in essence, forever without the chance of parole), it is merely revenge, and not the invention of any so-called "loving" God.

Most likely, Hell served as a great marketing tool for Christianity and it has continued that to this day. I know quite a few people who call themselves Christian merely because they want an insurance policy against Hell when they die.

Fear sells.

Josh

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"It's just a ride." - Bill Hicks
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C.S. Lewis speculates about hell in his book "the Great Divorce". He pictures a place where there is great misery and lonliness. However, anyone has the ability at any time to leave hell for heaven. The problem is that they do not want to leave.

 

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Just for the halibut.

 

Its simple....because along with everything else involving religion the concept of heaven and hell is man made and not directly related to any god that may exist.

The same way boogity man is created to scare childern into civilized behavior so was hell created to instill fear into the unruly man's heart.

Heaven and hell is on Earth...ask them man who begs for food in winter and the man who warms up by the fire place with his family.

 

There is also this slight logical error:

Jesus went to hell bearing all the sins of every man, woman and child who had been born, was alive and would be born for all eternity. He only spent a few days in hell.

Yet, if I go to hell bearing but my own sins, I'm to spend all eternity there. God shows favouritism too.

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The notion of "hell" in the Apostle's creed is different from hell that we speak of. Jesus died, was burried and freed those in limbo.

Hell by definition is eternal punishment. If you are speaking of punishment that is not eternal, then you mean purgatory. In this case, hell refers to the state and location of a soul that chose eternal punishment by either not wanting to be with God, in this case hell is directly chosen(some of the angels made choice), or doing actions that separate us from God. It is eternal becase only by the power of the holy Spirit can someone truly repent of their crimes commited, because to know guilt and sin for what it is must come from the spirit of truth. Since blasphemy against the holy Spirit is an eternal choice, there is nothing that can save them; their soul has rejected the only way. There's is also no way that the condition of their soul will improve because only God can heal someone.

 

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M*W: Some people choose to live in hell while they are on Earth. All they know is loneliness and hopelessness.

 

If it be the case that a person cannot leave hell once arrived, that fact is not based on the choice of God. It is the one who choses Hell who arrives there. While we are here, we are free to make choices and to amend bad choices; i.e., either "Thy will be done", or "My will be done". Once the threshold of death has been crossed, however, the selfishness of the individual damns himself; God condemns no one. The problem is not with God: it is with us. If we choose, we can have whatever we like; God will not stop us from having it. But our eternal salvation or damnation depends on our acceptance of His generous, free mercy. The only thing our wills are good for are giving them back to Him. God is Absolute Being; God is also Absolute Truth and Goodness. If, then, we leave that path--perferring falsehood to truth, perferring evil to good, preferring our selfishness to love--then, by default, we begin to unravel our own existence. Hell, then, is not a "place" where one is "trapped", but rather a state of non-entity. The choice is, essentially, "to be, or not to be?" If we choose to "be", then we shall find God and His Heaven; if we choose to "not-be", we have already damned ourselves.

As for your saying that Christianity takes a very firm stance on the alleged condemnation, perhaps you are referring to Protestant Christians/Fundamentalists. As a Roman Catholic--and a humble lover of theology--I know nothing of it.

And, yes, in a sense, God is incapable of letting people out of their Hell, not because He does not love them, but because He does love them. The reason is this: if He loves them, He will not force them into loving Him; but that is what Heaven is: loving Him. The hellish creature is the one who loves himself above and before God, and God cannot change the hellish creature's mind because He has given him free will--a will which may choose to either be with Him (i.e., Heaven) or be without Him (i.e., Hell). In this light, it may be safe to say that God is incapable of "letting" hellish creatures out of Hell; because the truth is, they do not want out of Hell.

Another point to be made is that a purely spiritual being is said to be eternal. Grant that premise, and it follows that when a purely spiritual being makes a choice, that choice holds forever and can never be altered. E.g., Lucifer is eternally evil and can never turn back because he has once made the choice of his own pride and hatred of matter (for Christ is part matter) over the love of God. We are given grace in Christ, however, while in the flesh to be bound within space and time to experience the loving mercy of God; for since we are bound by said "time", we are able to have chances given over and again to repent. But again, once we cross the threshold of death, depending on our state of mind and being before that departure outside of space and time, we are stepping out of time and into eternity, where, like the angels, we have only one choice: to say either Yes, or No. If we say Yes, then we have found Heaven. If we say No, then we are trapped in our Hell. Hell is not a physical place anymore than selfishness is a place. And Hell is, in fact, selfishness. Hell is anti-love, anti-God, pro-Self. And insofar as we are "Our Own Masters", it then follows that we are our own slaves. And Hell is essentially that: eternally slavery to myself, and by my own choice. God is, as you've said, all-loving. So why should He want to condemn anyone? Indeed, He does not condemn anyone at all: it is we who condemn ourselves. For we, to whom He has given free will illuminated by Reason, may either choose God, or not.

 

Several people here have suggested that we go to hell it's because we freely choose to go there by choosing to reject God's love and will. Are you suggesting that if someone dies and goes to hell they could simply cry out 'God, I'm sorry, I was wrong! Please forgive me let me into heaven!' that God would let them out of hell and into heaven?

 

You're getting around my question of 'why wouldn't an all-powerful and all-loving god let people out of hell' by suggesting that God isn't really all-powerful, since he doesn't have the power to let people out of hell.

Saying that God doesn't let people out of hell because he isn't capable of doing it makes sense, but it also implies that God isn't omnipotent.

 

Those in hell cannot seek true repentance from their crimes commited, because they have no way to have hope. If they have been judged unworthy to enter into heaven, then there is no way that their condition will improve in hell. Thus, any shows of weeping or calling out are not true repentance.

The notion of omnipotence must not preclude God's other virtues. While God could, indeed free those in hell, it would be forcing those in hell to love God.

 

While within the confines of space and time the human person has a lifetime of occasions to repent. But once the threshold is crossed into eternity, there is only one choice; for if a thing is eternal, it is unchangable. Therefore, one's going to hell or not is relative to the life lived on earth, or rather, it is relative to one's state of soul while still within time. That is to say that if a person began the process of becoming holy on earth, after death that progress towards holiness will begin to increase eternally; and if a person began the process of becoming evil on earth, after death that progress towards evil will begin to increase eternally. Again, once time is transcended, there is none but one decision: God/being, or not-God/not-being.

 

This, of course, depends on what you mean by all-loving. What Christians mean when they say that God is all-loving, is that, primarily, God is Love; that is, the Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father, and the Holy Spirit is, in fact, that Love between Father and Son. Additionally, God does not force anyone to love Him; though He does call them to love Him. That being said: by virtue of the fact that a person chooses to not love God, and given, as has been said, that God will not force anyone to love Him, then God cannot release a soul from Hell. For God cannot make a person do anything; they have to choose. If they are in Hell to begin with, it means that they did not want God, nor to be with Him or in Him. And again, He will not force them to change their mind if they do not so desire; therefore, because their damnation is their own choice, He cannot free them from Hell.

And this question in no way relates to God's omnipotence. God's omnipotence has to do with His being wholly present in all things created by Him, which has nothing to do with His ability or inability to "release a soul from Hell."

Also, see okinrus's reply above.

 

In order to answer this correctly
1st.. and formost .. "HELL" :we must explain what this is ? also people
in hell, ARE there because they rejected Jesus Christ and what he came for
Hence "to forgive them" , but people as they are people feel they don't
really need this, or just on the surface, but not realy ---> how they live
there lives. ( actions speak loader than words ). Everthing is relivent to
the bible. there is no forgiveness after death..
So ........---> people die,,, then in hell,,, then OOppssss.. I'm sorry
forgive me please. can I please come to heaven now ???
If I was to kill you. then after you were dead ,,, say opppss sorry
you can come back to life now I didn;t mean that ...

Hell--- is nothing more than eternal seperation from GOD himself...
this in itself is the torment , nashing of teeth because they had there chance ,, and in the FAAAARRR distance you can see people in heaven
and happy ....always in total darkness ( because he is the light ). always feeling lost ...
YES A PLACE OF EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT. everyone has a chance to
avoid this. If you are in Hell God no longer knows you..
Now for my big Question to you ,,,,,,, according to the good book
God is everywere, and there is no were, were God is not there....
SOOO>>>> this being an all truth .... where is hell???????
IT must be some where ... I know where it is BUt DO YOU ???

 

I cant answer i aint a christian but cool question gonna poll my co-workers tomarrow and post their answers!! sheesh big secret dont tell them

 

The answer has already been given, though it is a difficult one to understand, and perhaps accept.

Yes, people choose to go to Hell. No, God is not capable of bringing them out of Hell. If a person ever was capable of leaving Hell, of coming to the point of choice to accept God's forgiveness, and goodness, as well as being able to forgive himself, then that person was really in Purgatory (a Hell, that is not eternal), for those who are not in Purgatory, but rather Hell, are those who are so far gone in guilt and hatred of themselves and all else that they would never, of their own volition, choose forgiveness. God is incapable of bringing these people out of Hell because Heaven can only be obtained through free choice, just as Hell can only be had by free choice. The punishment of Hell, is self-punishment. The Judgement of God, is simply the recognition of the soul of the individual; it's inability to choose Heaven, not a condemnation in the sense that God SENDS people to Hell.

 

Yo Dudies,

Questions:

1. Did you have any control over your birth-i.e: time, place, parents?
2. Did you have any control over the supposed events in the Biblical Garden of Eden?
3. If you do not believe in the Christian god, do you go to "hell"?
4. Is the Christian god "all good"?

Allcare.

 

To answer your questions, stretched:

1. Not that I know of. I'm pretty sure I didn't, but hey, I may simply be forgetting about it.
2. Again, not that I know of. Frankly I don't see how that's possible. Perhaps you can present an idea that might suggest that we did.
3. Nope. There are plenty of people who have never heard of Christ. If they lived according to what they honestly believe to be good and true, then they're most likely in heaven.
4. If the Christian God is infinite, then yes. The Christian God is said to be infinite, therefore yes. The Christian God is said to be all-good, therefore yes. However, according to SOME (not all) silly beliefs of MANY (not all) Christians, I don't see how this could be so.

 

I can already see where you're going. Does that make me prescient?