Why do many Christians use the "you will burn in hell" statement? Isn't that being a mean person?

Question

I've seen it and heard it a thousand times or more.. You will burn in hell.. or even just, you are going to hell, which is the same, as they think you will burn in hell.. its' hot there so they say.

Isn't that such a mean thing to say? What would Jesus do? He would say you are going to burn in hell? Really? Christians... their actions boggles the mind.

Answer 1

Yes it's mean and according to many, not all of them (not all use the hell threat either), that's exactly what Jesus would say to..

My step-father/pastor, used to threaten me with it so frequently I wondered what was wrong with him if he didn't threaten me with it. The result was I now find the idea of hell to abhorrent and not worthy of a benevolent 100% good God. The Jews do not even believe in it and they were, and still are as far as they're concerned, God's chosen... now for some reason their not according to Christianity.



Hell is however, a very powerful and effective means of controlling people through fear.

Answer 2

If they say it in a mean way, of course they are speaking from the carnal flesh. But if they are speaking from a sincere heart, they are being straight with you. Sometimes it is hurtful... like when you go to the dentist, it sometimes hurts, but the dentist has to get in there and work on your teeth. I know I have a small mouth and the dentist has to put a clamp in my mouth to keep my jaws open. It gets very, very tiresome. 'N those needles hurt too. Shrug...



So if you are under conviction, if you are rebelling against the Holy Spirit, then you will deeply resent the truth. Also, in a lot of public schools these days, in colleges and universities, professors and teachers deceptively slip in teaching against the Holy Bible and it stirs up people when they get around Christians.



Well anyway, the Bible says... Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. John 8:32

And I want to know the truth so that I can avoid going to hell. I don't want to go there and I'm doing all that I know to do to not go there.

Answer 3

Christians don't usually know what they are supposed to believe because churches don't usually teach doctrines. In the 19th century Americans started moving west and three institutions went with them. There was vaudeville, traveling entertainment. There was lyceum, traveling education and culture. And there was the itinerant preacher, offering a new style of preaching called "hell fire and brim stone". It was very entertaining, only loosely based on scripture, and pastors didn't even try to compete. Instead they switched to preaching public morality and philosophy. Eventually an entire generation grew up not knowing the first thing about the religion they claimed to believe. Since about 1970 a few people have dedicated themselves to rediscovering what the bible actually says, but there is considerable resistance based on "faith of our fathers", which is to say a famously brainless devotion to faith for its own sake.

Answer 4

Not every Christian says that even if they all do believe that. The base of the Christian faith is that everyone deserves to go to hell, from Madonna to the pope to the famous preacher billy graham but by the grace of god there is one way we can escape our fate which is by accepting Jesus Christ as your savior. Now when someone tells you that you are going to he'll they are just being extremely blunt but every Christian believes that. This form of preaching was referred to as the fire and brimstone preaching which was very popular in the early formation of the American colonies. This form of preaching used our fate as a means to scare people into repenting. Now Christians have found much better ways of delivering their message which better follows Jesus's form of preaching which is much nicer. So yes it is kind of mean to say that but now you know the back ground of where and why people say that.

Answer 5

Actually to use that phrase even to say someone will be going to Hell in itself a mortal sin. Only God can judge us for our actual sins other people should not judge others for their actual sins and when someone condemns another person what they have done is made themselves as a god, they do not have the authority to condemn people rather condemnation comes from the very nature of sin itself it does not come from God.



Hell is something which should not be wished upon someone else even if they are your worst enemy.

Answer 6

Matt 11: 21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.



Matt 10:15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city...

28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.





just a few examples. Yes Jesus did warn that people would burn in hell.

Answer 7

I understand your frustration, however try to see it from their perspective. If you're a religious person and you REALLY believe that non-believers are going to "burn in hell," wouldn't trying to persuade other people away from that fate be a good thing to do? If they instead just apathetically left you to your own damnation, how would that help you?

Answer 8

The most celebrated name on this surface of the Earth, I think is the name Jesus.



Over 2,000 years ago Jesus was a MAN sent by GOD to a part of the world where the people refused to worship God - He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."[Matthew 15:24].



A key part of Jesus' message was that anyone who refuses to worship the 'One and only true God' will end up in hell - Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent [John 17:3]



If you carefully read the above 2 verses Matthew 15:24 and John 17:3 + mark 12:29-32 - you will notice that Jesus claimed "I was sent" and "sent by the only true God".



However, in 325 AD men decided to elevate and promote Jesus into God - so today Christians worships Jesus as God (paganism & idolatry) the same reason Jesus was sent to the Jews to warn them about hell!



If any Christian tells you, you are going to hell because you do not believe in Jesus the same way they do - assure them that anyone who dies worshipping Jesus as God will also end up in Hell.



Lo! whoso ascribeth partners (worship anyone or anything) unto Allah, for him Allah hath forbidden paradise. ***His abode is the Fire.*** For evil-doers there will be no helpers [Qur'an 5:72].



Hell is real and Jesus used a story (Rich man and Lazarus) to educate anyone with ears to hear.



So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because ***I am in agony in this fire.***'[Luke 16:24]

Answer 9

Do not generalize by saying only Christians do that,...most people who are bothered by ill mannered and abusive people usually utter those words in order to make them brats go away and get lost. You may have been that brat who was bothering somebody and he drove you away saying it. Feel better now ?

Answer 10

*Hell is the punch-line to the bad news of the law



Jesus typically preached on hell in the context of the law (Mt 5:22, 29, 30 18:9) and when rebuking the Pharisees and law-experts (Mt 23:15, 33). It’s like he was saying:



If you’re going to preach law, make sure you go the whole way and preach hell. If you’re going to preach carrots and sticks, make sure you’ve got the right Stick.



Hell is the cure for a watered-down law. Hell makes the law scary. The condemning ministry of the law reaches its ultimate expression in the eternal condemnation of hell.



*Hell is completely unnecessary



Nobody need go there and it is God’s will that nobody does! How do I know? I’ve seen the cross. I’ve seen the great lengths he has gone to make hell unnecessary. Hell is not for people but the devil and his angels (Mt 25:41). Those who choose to follow the devil are breaking their Father’s heart.



Like death in the Garden, hell is not what God wants. It’s something we choose against his most strenuous desires.



*Hell should not be used as a tool in evangelism



As I mentioned, Jesus preached hell in connection with the law. And those who prefer the bad news of the law to the good news of grace certainly need to hear about hell for it is the baddest news of all.



But to place hell at the center of the gospel is to mischaracterize God as a vengeful punisher who sends people to hell when in truth he is a loving Father who saves his kids from the hell of their own choices.



God didn’t create us to save us from hell. He made us so that we could share his life and enjoy him and each other. The purpose of life is not “escape hell.” Eternal life is knowing and experiencing God’s love both now and for all eternity.



Threatening people with hell is no way to invite them into a relationship with their Father who loves them and yearns for them. When we make hell part of our message, we appeal to people’s worst fears and insecurities. Instead of returning to God like the Prodigal Son they will draw back in fear like the Israelites at Mt. Sinai. Jesus wants no shot-gun weddings.



*The condemnation of hell has no place in the gospel of grace



Jesus’ gospel was not, “Come to God or you’ll burn in hell,” but “God’s kingdom is at hand and you can participate in it.” He was not interested in scaring the hell out of people but inviting all to enter the kingdom of heaven. His invitation still stands.



We haven’t been commissioned to preach the bad news of hell but the good news of the kingdom. As Darrin Hufford has said, “God never delights in people getting what they deserve. He is about saving us from what we deserve.” That’s grace. That’s the good news. And that’s the message the world most needs to hear.

Answer 11

I'm a christian and I do not say that.

Some do, but I dont.

Answer 12

There are all sorts of people in every religion.

Answer 13

I never hear that.