Pages 479-480 … choosing Hell
“It is NOT God who allows you to go to Hell. It is our own actions”
Goodness gracious! Here we are back at the topic of Hell again … (sigh) … Have you not listened to anything I have offered in this thread, Lucy? It seems that no matter what issue we cover and no matter how in depth we cover it, you simply wait a few days and then repeat exactly the same sentences that you offered in the first place … Fair enough … For those who are sincerely interested in a Biblically accurate & theologically non-contradictory analysis of Hell, feel free to go back to pages 266 to 295 of this treatise, where I comment on & illuminate every single verse in the entire Bible where Jesus even indirectly mentions such “damnation”. And, at the expense of being overly repetitive, I will also now offer the following short synopsis of what I have already shared so far on “Hell” … My dear Friend – once again – will you please listen to it this time?
* First of all, the only people who would ever truly choose to burn forever in Hell are clinically diagnosed masochists (for whom Hell wouldn’t even be considered a punishment) … As such, if your God is truly all-powerful (Otherwise, what’s the point?) then at the very least he allows gay “sinners” (and all the rest of us “mortal wrongdoers”) to suffer the drastically unjust consequences of their sins and burn forever – in effect “sending them to Hell” by keeping them there even after they beg & plead to leave … Lucy, it must be clear to you that a truly Loving Father does not allow any of His children to suffer the consequences of their mistakes for eternity. In truth, a sincerely Loving Father wouldn’t even stand by passively and let His children suffer the consequences of their mistakes for longer than even a few moments!
*Secondly, it is important to realize that God’s Grace is possibly far greater than you believe; that maybe The Apocalypse of Peter is correct – that maybe God eventually remembers His perfect mercy and calls us all Home (like the Prodigal Son was welcomed without condition or expectation or judgment in Luke 15:11-32) … And on top of that, it is actually plausible that there is no Hell at all! (seeing as how the Old Testament contains no concept of post-mortem damnation until the book of Daniel was written, and seeing as how Jesus was speaking of Gehenna when he spoke of “Hell” – an actual, real-life, garbage-burning dump outside the walls of Jerusalem in his day & time; a horrid location which served his sermons symbolically quite well – not the eternal place of torture & torment spouted from the pulpits of many a modern-day church!)
*Thirdly & finally, let’s set aside the problem of God punishing any of His children for the sin-engendering fallibility that He instilled in them in the first place; and let’s put aside the fact (even if He didn’t make gays gay) that an eternity of torment in Hell for even 85 full years of homosexual lust is anything but a just & fair punishment; that it is is anything but “reaping what one has sown” … Setting all that aside for a moment, I was wondering the following: If gays “choose” to go to Hell (by quite reasonably – albeit in this hypothetical quite incorrectly – assuming that no God could ever be either so prejudiced or so cruel), what happens once they get to Hell and choose to want to leave? … What happens, Lucy, when otherwise innocent sinners (just like you & yours) scream up to the all-knowing God for mercy (who, by His omniscient nature, will indeed clearly hear their cries)? … And what happens when they plead to Him the very reasonable defense that it was unfair for Him to damn them for fulfilling their natural, innate desires to love members of the same sex? … And what happens when the Christian sinners in Hell remind God that they had dedicated their lives to earnestly following Jesus Christ before they died? … And what happens when those who are “saved” in Heaven plead to God to have mercy on their sinning brethren’s quite understandable mistake(s)? Will the all-powerful heavenly Father reject those pleas and turn a cold & callous back upon His children who are suffering in torment? Will He really force homosexuals to remain in Hell forever, Lucy – or will He have mercy upon their Souls (Luke 6:36) and allow them to come and be with Him in Heaven? … I like to think the latter is far more likely, and it comforts me to know the The Apocalypse of Peter (a book that was considered valid Scripture for hundreds of years after the death of Jesus) feels the same way:
“My Father will give unto them all the life, the glory, and the Kingdom that passeth not away … It is because of them that have believed in me that I am come. It is also because of them that have believed in me, that, at their word, I shall have compassion for all men … Behold now what shall come upon them in the last days, when the day of God and the day of the decision of the judgment of God cometh. From the east unto the west shall all the children of men be gathered together before my Father that liveth forever. And He shall command Hell to open its bars of adamant and give up all that is therein.” ~ The Apocalypse of Peter (Coptic edition)
[Note as well the following: “ALL Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” ~ 2 Timothy 3:16]
P.S. Consider as well some of the Scriptures not later abandoned by the Catholic church:
“All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him” ~ Psalms 22:27
“The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast Love. The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.” ~ Psalms 145:8-9
“On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples … And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the Earth.” ~ Isaiah 25:6-8
“For everyone will be salted with fire.” ~ Jesus Christ (Mark 9:49)
“And all flesh shall see the salvation of God … And I, once I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ~ Jesus Christ (Luke 3:6 & John 12:32)
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