Belief in hell dips, but some say they've already been there

Mickey · **Joined:** Sun Aug 03, 2008 12:04 am **Posts:** 584

Have there been times in your life when you thought you were in hell on earth?

Quote:

Belief in hell dips, but some say they've already been there

8-18-08

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Ernie Long believes he has been to hell. He can even narrow it down to a particular moment.

His mother was dying of cancer. As she lay on her deathbed, he swiped her last $5 and the car keys from her purse, went out and got high. When he returned, she was dead.

Long goes quiet, thinking about it in the chapel of Guiding Light Mission in Grand Rapids, Mich. When he first moved to the homeless shelter, he recalls, he would wake up in the night haunted by what he'd done.

"The shame and guilt engulfed me," he says quietly. "I couldn't stop crying."

Today, Long is an intake supervisor for Guiding Light's recovery program. He believes Jesus saved him from the pit of hell and wants other men to be saved too, here and hereafter.

"I think hell is being in the absence of purpose," says Long, 64, who was addicted to crack cocaine before coming to Guiding Light two years ago. "When I had no purpose, no direction, I actually felt like I was living in hell."

For Long, hell is all too real -- a temporary torment in this life, an endless agony in the next. But for more and more Americans, hell is a myth.

In a survey released this summer by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, just 59 percent of 35,000 respondents said they believe in a hell "where people who have led bad lives, and die without being sorry, are eternally punished."
That's down from the 71 percent who said they believed in hell in a 2001 Gallup survey. And it is lower than the 74 percent who said they believe in heaven in the recent Pew poll.
Skepticism about hell is growing even in evangelical churches and seminaries, says one theologian here, a bastion of conservative evangelicalism.
"In a pluralistic, post-modern world, students are having a more difficult time with (the idea of) people going to hell forever because they didn't believe the right thing," says Mike Wittmer, professor of systematic theology at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary.

"That's the biggest question out there right now: `Would God send someone to hell if they were someone as good as me, but didn't believe what I believe?'" It was easier to believe in hell 20 years ago when missionaries tried to convert people in far-flung places, Wittmer says. In today's global village, many live next to good, non-Christian neighbors and wonder why an all-powerful, loving God wouldn't eventually empty out hell, Wittmer says.

"I've noticed in the last five years how that view is making inroads even in conservative churches, whereas five years ago it wasn't even uttered or discussed," he adds.

Complete article here

Comments?

Coolhermit · **Joined:** Sun Aug 03, 2008 12:33 am **Posts:** 533

Hell is Hull market on a wednesday morning when the kids are on school holidays. Layers of wobbly lard (parents and offspawn) blocking the path of earnest hermits as they (hermits) attempt to seek out bargains.

Roselyn · **Joined:** Thu Aug 07, 2008 6:57 am **Posts:** 1554

"wobbly lards". :lol:

Did you know that the US has an epidemic of "wobbly lards"? Yep, seems parents who are overweight are feeding their children to much food, food that they do not need. When a five year old weighs 120lbs., and his mom looks like a balloon ready to burst, that's what's called an unhealthy attitude. Little Johnny becomes aquainted with Type 2 diabetes, and even heart disease, and his mom and dad are already grave markers. It's a shame for sure that food has become so evil that its killing people in increasing numbers. And let us not forget all the additives that engorge the stomach and even the brain. People in America are known for not being able to think clearly. Could over eating be the problem? Fat cells destroying the brain?

Oh, sorry. The topic is about HELL after all. :lol:

But when a fat person cannot bend over, walk without wobbling about, can't sit in a normal sized chair, or board a plane because no seats are available to "fit them properly", then among all the other inconviences, I'd call that HELL.

.sola · **Joined:** Sat Aug 02, 2008 11:58 pm **Posts:** 315

59% is still a pretty high number of people who think that the world is divided into to two types of people; the worthy and the unworthy.

Boo · **Joined:** Sun Aug 03, 2008 8:46 pm **Posts:** 154

I agree .sola, it is still too high, but, it's a start and one can only hope that eventually, the belief in hell for all those who don't meet various religious requirements will fade away, forever. Won't happen in my time, but it's a start.

Jedi Mind Trick · **Joined:** Wed Aug 06, 2008 4:21 am **Posts:** 376

Coolhermit wrote:

Hell is Hull market on a wednesday morning when the kids are on school holidays. Layers of wobbly lard (parents and offspawn) blocking the path of earnest hermits as they (hermits) attempt to seek out bargains.

I'm a "wobbly lard".

Jedi Mind Trick · **Joined:** Wed Aug 06, 2008 4:21 am **Posts:** 376

As for Hell, I believe in it again. It is a state of mind that can affect you in this life and on into the afterlife. But it is certainly not the hell of Christian dogma. I've been in hell, I know it is real.

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Belief in hell dips, but some say they've already been there

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