why do bad people or non christians have to go to hell and be tortured, why can't they just cease to exist?
456769
Yes it is cruel.  "Hell" is nothing more than a "scare tactic" used by religious groups for thousands of years to keep people under control.  The christians believe that even if you spend your whole life helping people and avoid all sins; you will still BURN in HELL if you don't "accept" jesus christ as your lord and saviour.
879972
Doesn't sound just, does it?  Not that eternal suffering would be a just punishment for anyone, however good or evil they might be.
41216
No where.\nThere is no heaven or hell. Hell was used as a way to control people into doing good.
55430
There are many Christian groups that are nondenominational(they have no organized church) that go around. most tend to be strong on the you are damned to go to hell story. Thsi is probably why you cannot find the church they are coming from.\nP.S. from my experiance mormons and JW's do not say you are going to hell.
532331
long time ago in a far away land someone decided that people were living freely, doing just what they wanted, when they wanted and the government had to find a way to put\nthese people in place, so they thought of a story....lets make two places people can go when they die - the place for the good ones (who follow all the rules al the time) and the place for the bad ones (who don't follow the rules), then we threaten them with the bad place and they'll start following the rules, cause they wouldn't want to go there...you see, heaven and hell does not really exist. Come on our loving God put his own children in burning flame for eternity? Does that sound like the God you want to serve? Sounds a bit freeky to me. Truth is God loves everybody, every single one of us and there is only one destination for all of us, which is heaven, but if we were to know that - we'll stop following the "rules". Do you honestly think any one of us "deserve" to go to heaven? Nope...but ALL of us will be there one day and ALL of us will be happy! That's the real truth if you were wondering ; )\nTake care!
659413
You are 100% correct only God has the right to "damn people to hell"\nIf you look at the majority of religions there is always a standard for a person to live up to in order to achieve a reward. We have that in our natural world so why would it be so strange to have this set of standards in the spiritual world?\n\nIf I see a person robbing a bank I can say "you are going to jail for that act" I am in no way judging them I am telling them what the law says about that action and its normal results. \nIt will be the same with the bible for example if you believe it to be God's Word you can tell a person "according to the bible that act will damn you" and then you will not be judging in any way you are just telling them what the bible says about that action.\n\nHope this helps
81448
in the end, destruction is final but the consequences are eternal...it will not take long to destroy people who are evil..it is the evil soul (mind, will emotions)that is burned up. The spirit returns to God.
1159277
People usually use Hell to inspire FEAR.  If you do not believe in Jesus Christ, don't worry... When you get to hell, you will know he is real...
319709
For many people Christianity meant torture and death.\n\nFrom the Crusades to the Inquisition and before and beyond, people have miss used the teachings of Jesus to gain power and hurt others.  \n\nThe sad fact is that what we have left of Christianity today is all that was allowed to survive by the evil and greedy.  The true Jesus would have crucified himself earlier if he knew it would come to this BS.
437385
Duh!u go to hell.  the only reason being because only god has the right to take your life and you can only repent if you're alive you cant repent when youre dead thats why people tell you to repent before you die so you can get to heaven
899389
As children we envision a devil who sits among the flames and sticks our burning body with his pitchfork.  We think we are hurting so badly from the constant burning that is neverending.  That's enough to make a child at least try to keep the Ten Commandments.  \n\nWhen we grow up, we can hardly believe in that concept anymore as we believe God has a plan for "hell" and the way it will be.  I have no idea about what hell is going to be like.  Some people say we are living it.  If we didn't believe there was a punishment for unrelenting evil people, there would probably be more because there is nothing to dying and just not exist anymore.
1032990
Being good is not enough and not even for a christian. We can't continue in sin and expect God to reward us Heaven. God is not willing to turn his back on us if we do the right thing and that's serve him wholeheartedly. God is merciful and forgiven but we must repent and turn away from that lifestyle or sin.
567250
First, I believe you cease to exist.  Then, if there is a God then he must be a just god.  I raised 4 children.  When they misbehaved they got punished.  But I never burned them nor did I punish them for the rest of their lives.  If the bible is true then I am made in god's image.  Unjust punishment is repulsive to me.  The thought of burning people actually was something the pagans did, casting their children into the fire before their god Mo'lech.  The bible says that was something that never came up into his (God's) heart.  (Jer. 32:35)  If that is true then HELL must be something religious leaders invented to scare their partitioners into following THEIR laws. (i.e. contributions)\n\nThe bible says the wage sin pays is death (Romans 6:23).  Therefore, whoever dies has paid for their sin.  Why would they be punished after suffering death?  Doesn't seem just to me.  What's more astounding is the thought of no parole.  Suffer eternity for what you did in only one lifetime?  I thought God was supposed to be just.\n\nSo, I know (believe) that at death you simply sleep a sleep from which there is no dreaming nor awakening.
778432
I consider myself Christian, born and raised. My family has never been strict about it though. I don't believe that non-believers will go to hell. I do however believe that if you KILL, rape, or lead a life without morals, that you will suffer in your own hell that you caused others.
953016
I don't believe that all nonchristians will go to Hell, for that exact reason.  I cannot accept the idea that millions of innocents could be condemned to eternal suffering just because they didn't get the message.
646299
Hell isn't a place, and neither is heaven.  Imagine a "god" so cruel that he would condemn people to hell forever just for not understanding or knowing him or for being misled into the "wrong" religion.\n\nOr think about it from a physical point of view.  By physics principles, the universe is slowly running down.  Hell couldn't burn forever.\n\nReligion is there to comfort people.  It shouldn't be taken literally because it has no foundation in reality.
21490
God doesn't want to send anyone to Hell He made Hell for satan and his followers. God doesn't "send" you to Hell. You go there because of your sin. And with sin you can't be near God. So you spend eternal separation from Him. God loves you and he wants you to go to heaven but he loved you so much that he gave you the will to choose if you wanted to worship and love him. So before Jesus died for our sins it was very hard to get into heaven. So God died for His world that He created and made a way into heaven. And that is Jesus. The Way, the Truth, and the Light.