Vitriol infests Rick Warren family’s grief

Pastor Rick Warren greets the audience
before a forum with the presidential nominees
at his Saddleback Church on Aug. 16, 2008.
Religion News Service
file photo by Ann Johansson.

(RNS)  Pastor Rick Warren, the best-known name in American evangelism after Rev. Billy Graham, lost his 27-year-old son, Matthew, to suicide on Friday (April 5).

In the days since, uncounted strangers have joined the 20,000 congregants who worship at the megachurch network “Pastor Rick” built in Southern California, Warren’s nearly 1 million Twitter followers and hundreds of thousands of Facebook followers in flooding social media with consolation and prayer.

“Kay and I are overwhelmed by your love, prayers, and kind words,” Warren tweeted on Sunday. “You are all encouraging our #brokenhearts.”

But a shocking number are taking the moment of media attention to lash out at Warren on their digital tom-toms. The attacks are aimed both at him personally and at his Christian message.

What Kind of God Would Condemn People to Eternal Torment?

by Tim Challies

If you haven’t been asked this question, you will. It’s the weightiest matter anyone will ever face. The key is to look at the question from a different angle—what kind of God would not condemn His enemies to an eternal hell?

How can you believe in a God who would condemn people to suffer the torments of hell eternally? I have been asked this question many times and, if you are a Christian, you probably have too. If you haven’t, you would do well to get working on an answer because the question may not be too far off. 

Hell is no laughing matter, despite cartoons and lampoons to the contrary. In all the world, in all eternity, there are few matters weightier than this one, and to every man and woman there is no issue more urgent.

You’re Asking the Wrong Question

How can you believe in a God who would condemn people to suffer the torments of hell eternally? I reply with a question of my own: “How can you believe in a God who would not?”

Just Rewards

A man who had died was waiting at the gates of heaven. He had lived a perfect life and had a clear idea in his mind what heaven would be like. He had foregone all the earthly pleasures and anxiously awaited his rewards in the World to Come.

As he was waiting, he saw a cloud pass by. As the cloud got closer, he saw people on the cloud having a great time. They were singing, dancing, and having great fun. They were dining on exquisite food, wearing the best clothes, and drinking the best wines, and laughter and merriment echoed throughout the sky. This must be the reward in the World to Come, he thought.

His escort arrived at the gate. The escort told the man that he had lived a good life and he was going to now take him to his new home. The man said, "If it is all the same to you, I would like to live on that cloud!"

Why Does Hell Have to be Forever?

Pastor Colin Smith

"And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Matthew 25:46

Isn't it reasonable that people should experience hell for a time, but then it comes to an end? You're going to be asked this question someday. How are you going to answer it?  

The reason hell goes on forever is because sinners never stop sinning. If you think sinning stops for the sinner at the end of this life, you haven't really understood the Bible's teaching about sin.

What the Bible teaches about sin

People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pains and sores. They did not repent of their deeds. Revelation 16:10-11

Experiencing the Cross: A Glimpse of Hell

Julie Barrier

I had the most remarkable encounter with God today. I was meditating upon Jesus on the cross, and, after decades of being a Christian, God revealed to me an aspect of Jesus’ suffering that I never understood or even considered. What was it truly like for Jesus to experience “hell” on the cross?

Jesus Became a Curse for Us?

R.C. Sproul

The key to understanding the cry of Jesus from the cross is found in Paul's letter to the Galatians: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree'" (Galatians 3:13, NIV).

To be cursed is to be removed from the presence of God, to be set outside the camp, to be cut off from His benefits. On the cross, Jesus was cursed. That is, He represented the Jewish nation of covenant breakers who were exposed to the curse and took the full measure of the curse on Himself. As the Lamb of God, the Sin Bearer, He was cut off from the presence of God.

On the cross, Jesus entered into the experience of forsakenness on our behalf. God turned His back on Jesus and cut Him off from all blessing, from all keeping, from all grace, and from all peace.

God is too holy to even look at iniquity. God the Father turned His back on the Son, cursing Him to the pit of hell while He hung on the cross. Here was the Son’s “descent into hell.” Here the fury of God raged against Him. His scream was the scream of the damned. For us.

Reflect on what Jesus did for you on Calvary. Give thanks for the Lamb of God who bore your sin.

Taken from “Treasuring Redemption’s Price” by Ligonier Ministries (used by permission).

http://www.jesus.org/death-and-resurrection/the-crucifixion/jesus-became-a-curse-for-us.html

How Hot Is Hell?

Life's Little Mysteries Staff 

 

Just how hot does it need to be in order to be "hotter than hell"?

First, let's try to figure out just where Hell is located. Most religions describe Hell as existing deep underground. Presumably, Hell is the same distance from New York as it is from Beijing as it is from London, so, for argument's sake, let's stick it at the center of the Earth, in the planet's super-hot, iron core.

Now, scientists have yet to directly measure the temperature of the Earth's inner core, but most estimates put it at somewhere between 9,000 and 11,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That's pretty hot. Hot enough, in fact, to melt that iron-alloy ball under normal conditions, but the constant weight of the rest of the planet pressing down on it keeps the core, which is about one third the size of the moon, solid. (Hot enough to melt iron, but apparently not quite hot enough to melt one's eternally-damned soul.)

[Read: How Much Does a Soul Weigh? ]

You might be wondering, "why is the center of the Earth so hot?" Well, it's the combination of two things. First, all the radioactive materials in the Earth generate heat. Second, there's the leftover heat from the formation of the planet. When all the matter that created Earth came together, it picked up kinetic energy as it did so. When it came to rest in a proto-Earth ball, that energy had to be conserved, and so it transformed into heat, which is still being slowly emitted. 

http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/1598-how-hot-hell.html

Do the mentally ill go to hell?

Posted by Jeff Lund on March 13, 2012 at 1:17pm in Religion and the Religious, Atheism and Atheists

• View Discussions

I had a christian tell me last week that according to christian belief, those afflicted with mental illness go to hell. I felt this was seriously out of line and informed the christian of a mental health clinic not far away that would accept his insurance. Of course he won't go because that would almost certainly damn his soul for all eternity. Is this really in their bible?

Reply by John Eisenhauer on March 13, 2012 at 2:34pm
While Bible does not explicitly mention "mental illness" - frankly that concept was foreign to the authors - a fundamental premise of Christianity is that belief is required to be saved.
John3:3-5 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
If the above means that acceptance of Christ's divinity is needed to be saved, what happens to a schizophrenic who believes he's Vishnu (thus rejecting Christ)? Or, what if he believes in Christ because of delusion? Is such a person freely accepting Christ ("born of the Spirit")? Or, what if he is so retarded as to preclude understanding the concept Christ?
John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
3:18 and many other passages are absolute, you believe or burn.
This single point invalidates Christianity. 

Reply by Ron Handlon on March 13, 2012 at 8:52pm
I looked this up and found that 'the Bible does not specifically say whether or not mentally ill people go to heaven. However, there is some biblical evidence that anyone who is not able to make a decision for salvation is covered by Christ’s death. This is similar to how it is commonly believed that children are automatically taken to heaven when they die until they reach the point in which they are able to make a decision for or against Christ.'
This was on a christian site - otherwise, it does sound reasonable... So you can tell your mentally ill christian friend that he can stop worrying... ;>}