Death, Heaven and Hell - Part 3

This has always been something that I find bewildering. People who claim to be "Christians", whom claim to know God personally and intimately believe that He would force people to burn for eternity. Hellfire is a very real teaching in the churches of Christendom. It is often the consequence of not attending church and paying your tithing. I view it as a threat. An empty threat. A lie. Allow me to illustrate:

Imagine, if you will, that you are a parent. You have a 7 year old son or daughter. Your kid then went and committed the most despicable act that you could ever think of - whatever it may be according to your sensibilities. It can be any act that deserves the worst consequence you would ever give them. Now, imagine that this consequence was you turning on a gas stove so the blue flame burned hot. You then take your child's hand and force it to make contact with the flame. Do you believe that the love you have for your child would allow you to punish them in this manner regardless of the act they committed? Would your love allow that? Now let's compare that love to God's love that He has for us. The Bible outright defined God as love at 1 John 4:8! God IS love. His love for us individually is greater than any love we could ever feel for anyone. His love is PERFECT. With this in mind, with our feeling of love and understanding of the love God has for us ask yourself this. Does it seem plausible or even possible that not only would God punish us by holding our hand to a burning hot flame for a one second, but that he would punish us by sending our ENTIRE BODY in the hottest of flame - not for a mere second - but for ETERNITY? Is that what God taught us love is? Is that how He teaches us to discipline? Are those the consequences of a loving parent?

ABSOLUTELY NOT. Yet, because Christendom actually has NO CLUE who God is, this is what they teach. Notice what Jehovah said about this "fear" of Him that has been instilled by false teachers:

"Jehovah said:..."their fear of me is based on commands of men that they have been taught."" - Isaiah 29:13 (NWT, DNKJB)

Seems as if Jehovah nailed that one on the head! The God of love (2 Corinthians 3:11) would not punish mankind in that way. That's not what He teaches us about Him or about what love is.

The idea of hell only exists due to poor translation. This link reveals the reasons that hell is not an appropriate translation. For example, Acts 2:27 in the error-riddled King James Version of the Bible claims that Jesus went to "hell" when he died:

"Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption."

Jesus, being the perfect Son of God, surely does not fit the requirements that would cause one to go to "hell". But, he did die. Obviously he didn't go to heaven either otherwise that would be one confusing twist in the story of his life, death, and resurrection. So where did he go? The grave. Which is an accurate translation of the Greek word "hai'des" and the Hebrew word "she'ol". W
I already touched on that in Part 2 of this entry. But for now here are some links that further prove that the fate of "bad people" is not an eternal tormenting in a fiery pit.

The Bible teaches us to worship Jehovah God out of love. If hell was really our destination for not worshipping Him then we would be motivated by fear, not love. And that is a sign of TRUE worship - worship motivated by love. Don't believe non-sense, believe what makes sense.

Part 1
Part 2