[TheRealThing]

Do you believe in a literal "hell"  that non-believers are headed for after they pass from this Earth?  


According to a 2014 Pew Research poll,   58% of Americans believe in hell.   This number , along with those who believe in heaven, has been trending down for the last couple of decades. A poll that i saw from the late nineties had  71% of Americans expressing a belief in hell.  The number varies quite a bit from religion to religion and even among Christian sects(shocker!).  Only  7% of Jevohah Witnesses believe in hell. 

What about you?   DO you believe people are headed for a literal hell when they die?  Why do you really  think  people believe in hell?



Here's an interesting opinion piece from the NYT entitled "Why Do People Believe in Hell?"   According to the author, a religious scholar, the idea of eternal damnation is neither biblically, philosophically nor morally justified. But for many it retains a psychological allure.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/opini...bible.html

Wow, just noticed that this is my  666th post  and my  66th  thread !  Odd.    Is that  a  sign that I may be headed for hell ?

Of course, the deniers of God are going to deny the judgment and the existence of Hell. Men are foolish enough to contradict just about anything that God has said in His Holy Word. That doesn't make them brave or wise. "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." Psalms 14:1

"But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:8

"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." - Matthew 10:28

As far as polls go--- You know, every man woman and child could theoretically state that they don't accept as real, the concept of Hell. And of course, if there is no Hell then likely there is no Heaven, and everything is as they say; relative. But the vast numbers of folks who deny eternity, in and of themselves, don't imply any sort of likelihood of legitimacy. In fact the opposite of that case happens to be the truth--

13 “Enter ye in at the strait gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be who go in thereat.
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

So we can pick a pretty accurate margin of those who are right against those who are wrong. I say when the Lord says only a few will find it, it would be safe to say 3 out of a hundred might well be stretching it. Is that fair? Well in that case I would say men ought to limit their opinions about the Almighty to what He has actually said. Certainly not what those who deny Him say. The Bible in other words. Because I can assure that polls where the Lord is concerned, don't amount to a speck of dust blowing in the wind.

But look at it like this. History always coincides with the Biblical accounts of same. We have the Bible, God's revealed Word. God has said that He is Holy, Perfect. And that His Word is Perfect. I'll put that which God has said against the things man has said any day, and literally twice on Sunday.

One thing is certain, there can only be two possibilities. God is real and we will one day stand before Him. Or the whole thing is as Darwin said, and we rose up through impossible odds from the slime. Those who bow before Him know the truth already, because He has revealed it to them.

Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God—
9 not by works, lest any man should boast.

In other words it is the Lord Who visits sufficient faith upon us so as to confer belief. It is His gift. All we bring to the table is our own need.   One more thing--- Romans Chap 1 tells us that God has revealed Himself to every man through His creation of the universe. And our conscience bears witness to this fact within us. No man, will have any excuse for rebelling against the Sovereignty of God.