Hell Archives - Life Hope

Is Hell self-chosen?

Ian Denness — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 02:12:56 +0000

Mention of Hell…?

That word can confront!

We know that some think they are already living in it. Strangely enough, such people seem to live in the comfortable West, from my observation.

What if Hell would be just in this life? What we do has consequences, so “yes”, it would be self-chosen, according to the choices we make. Or it could be due to circumstances outside our control, such as sickness, weather or accidents.

If Hell will be a reality in the life following this brief one, then what?

What could we do now to stop that being a personal horrible reality then?

Jesus rebuked Jewish religious hypocrites in front of him.

“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to Hell?

Matthew 23:33 (NIV)(http://www.laridian.com)

Jesus spoke more about Hell in the Bible than anyone else and in a way that shows that he understood it to be a real and specific place of punishment away from God.

Someone told me the following…

Hell – Real, Terrible, Avoidable

Avoidable? By just being “good”, or religious?

Not according to the Bible. The only way is to be forgiven by God for the way we have rejected or ignored him in our lives, as well as rejected or ignored the only way we can be forgiven and brought into happy relationship.

That way is through Jesus, taking our shame, punishment, and God’s wrath against us on our behalf. He did that, rescuing us, but we need to fully accept it and then live it.

What do you think?

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What will happen to me after I die?

Ian Denness — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 07:25:43 +0000

A great question!

Since everyone ends up dying, then it makes sense to ponder the question, don’t you think?

Benjamin Franklin apparently said: “… in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

Not everyone pays tax, but everyone gets to die!

So what happens next?

Nothing? Recycling? Come back as a unicorn? Heaven? Hell?

What have you decided? Is it a fixed thought, or waiting for more enlightenment?

I hope to end up in heaven. Not because I am any better than anyone else, but because I am forgiven by God. That happened when I accepted what Jesus did for me on the cross. He then came to life again, so I will be able to also.

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Which big questions of life do we try so hard to avoid and ignore?

Ian Denness — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 05:21:59 +0000

The Big Questions?

Different for everyone I suspect.

Maybe we have some respectable questions that we allow ourselves to mention to others.

And then some we keep nicely hidden and secret for just ourselves to wrestle with and worry about. Maybe that’s because if we admit to having them, and also having them very unanswered, then we would so easily expose our weakness and vulnerability.

However, wouldn’t it be good to get realistic answers, that in the long run, will prove to not let us down, but be truly true?

What are those hidden ones for you?

Try these

1. Where have we come from?

2. Why am I here?

3. How should I live?

4. What will happen to me after I die?

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Do you want eternal life?

Ian Denness — Sat, 21 Aug 2021 07:58:33 +0000

It would depend on whether eternal life for us was going to be positive or negative, wouldn’t it?

Location is everything!

I can’t imagine someone wanting eternal life, if for them it was going to be hell!

Then there is whether we think that reality will prove that there is, or isn’t, something after the grave.

It’s one thing to not want there to be eternal life, but another to think that if we are wrong, then we are in trouble.

I would definitely like to go to heaven. That is where the God of the Bible is. That is what Jesus has prepared for us through his sacrificing himself on the cross in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. He became my substitute, taking the wrath of God for me against my rebellion against God. I am so grateful for that!

Then, to prove it was true, God brought Jesus back to life again, just like the prediction.

I live to please Jesus, since he has done the unthinkable for me.

What do you think?

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Who goes to heaven? Is there a heaven?

Ian Denness — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 08:06:20 +0000

The statement opposite is one I presented for responses recently in the market, before the last lockdown happened for Covid.

**“Only bad* people go to heaven.” (*conditions apply)**

Most people who voted thought there was ‘no heaven’.

The second group said a ‘No’ to the statement.

A few of us voted for the statement being true.

What do you think?

Any idea why I went for that seemingly weird answer?

**The ‘*conditions apply’ is the key…**

If we see ourselves as created human beings owing our very life to the Creator God, then some things follow. If we also consider how we have rebelled against him, ignored him, bad-mouthed him, then you may see where the ‘bad’ people part of it comes.

As well, Jesus said,

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. [13] … For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matthew 9:12 (NIV) (http://www.laridian.com)

The patients who see themselves as being sick are the ones who go to the doctor. Those who think of themselves as being well, don’t, even though they really are sick. It parallels our perception of our actual spiritual state before God.

Forgiveness is the key to open the door to God’s heaven

In the same way, people who see themselves as needing God’s forgiveness, which is exactly what Jesus offers in full, are the ones who can go to heaven!

The Bible’s heaven promises to be wonderful, while Hell terrible. You could almost say that those who actually deeply love God go there, while those who don’t, find the other by default…

“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard,

and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—

1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV) (http://www.laridian.com)

What do you think?

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