Originally posted by Esau Cairn
JesusIsAlive why not just keep your opinions & beliefs to yourself & feel justified that at least you're going to Heaven?Why must you condemn everyone else who doesn't believe in God or Christianity for that matter?
Is there a certain quota for conversion that you & God must vilify?
Don't you understand that it's zealots like you that turn people away from religion?
If Heaven is full of self-righteous, single-minded people like yourself than that clearly goes against the "love,peace & paradise" that you describe Heaven to be.
Well, I care about people. For this reason it would be selfish and unloving for me to keep the gospel of salvation found only in Jesus Christ to myself.
I haven't condemned anyone. But I have warned many people about the reality of Hell because I care about people.
No, there's no quota.
Zealot? I'm just a believer in Christ Jesus who cares about people enough to tell them how to receive eternal life.
Self-righteous? Single-minded? Again, I am simply a person who cares about people. There's many people in Hell right now wishing that someone cared enough to tell them about Jesus but didn't. In fact, those in Hell for eternity are so hopeless that they have one--and only one--desire: to tell their families on earth who have a chance to repent from their sins to receive Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior before they die and end up in Hell forever.
Hell is real and it's torment goes on forever. There is no second chance once you die without Christ in your heart and life.
Below is a true story that Jesus Christ tells about Hell (or Hades):
Luke 16:19-31
New King James Version (NKJV)
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’
27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”
Believe it or not this rich man who died and went to Hell (Hades) is still there in torments. This man still desires for someone to dip the tip of their finger in water and cool his tongue because he is in torment caused by flame. This man is in such anguish, pain, agony, and discomfort that he doesn't even want his brothers to go to Hell. This rich man has no hope of ever getting out of Hell.
In addition to the physical torment can you imagine the mental torment that he must be experiencing? At least in this life if a person is in physical pain from let's say a terminal disease, they can die and be free from that pain. But this man is already dead. He can never be free from the torment he's experiencing. Have you ever hurt yourself really badly? Remember how much pain you were in? But eventually the pain went away and the injury healed. Maybe all you have is a scar. But you at least have relief from the pain. But this man will never have any relief from his torments. He can never go to sleep, he cannot get a drink of water, he cannot die, he cannot go crazy (yes, that would be a form of relief for him), he can't get any peace where he is not even for one second. He will be in Hell forever...
How long is forever?
Imagine if a slow flying pelican could fly through space and land on the sun without dying. Imagine that this special pelican had to empty every beach on earth one grain at a time. The pelican has to pick up one grain of sand in its beak, fly that grain to the sun (93 million miles one way), deposit that single, tiny grain, and fly back to earth (another 93 million miles). Pick up another grain and repeat this process until that one beach is empty.
Imagine in your mind how long that would take for this slow flying pelican to empty just one beach.
After this slow flying pelican empties that one beach remember that pelican still has thousands of other beaches to empty one grain at a time 186 million miles round trip for one grain of sand.
Now, I said all of that to say this: the rich man will not have even spent one day in eternity after the pelican empties just one beach (and there's 800,000 beaches on earth).