Why does God threaten people?

Question

If you don't believe in God, you will go to hell and get punished forever and ever.

Is this even legitimate? Why God threatens people?

Answer 1

"God" likes to use Hush-a-Boom!



People threaten people, that's how it works.

Answer 2

Pretend there is no God. Okay, you did well.



Now pretend there is a God.



Now- that brings up questions.



Pretend you are soverign God of the universe and you really did make this world with your father.



Why might you stay hidden, mate?



Think about your girl, sometimes youd like to see what she does when your not around.



God hides so you feel free to do whatever- - BUT



if you dont love him out of a sense of love, then at least you might come to tolerate him because of a sense of justice/fear.



No- its not the best reason and even scripture says that

"Perfect love drives fear away"



What do you say?

Answer 3

Your straw-man question has been duly noted.



Perhaps you could admit that you really don't know too much about God, and you would be interested in knowing why people go to hell. That would be a lot more honest than asking accusatory questions that have no answer.



It would be like if I were to ask you, "Why do you close the living room curtains before abusing your children?"



God doesn't "threaten" anybody. God lays down the law, He gives us the consequences for disobedience, then He allows us to make our own choices.



To assume that God threatens us, you should also accuse police for threatening to give you a ticket, or accuse judges for threatening to send you to prison if you break the law!



I have said it too many times to bother counting, but I will repeat myself yet again.



God sends people to hell for the same reason a judge sends criminals to prison - if they are guilty of breaking the Law!



Nobody will be in hell who doesn't deserve to be there, and nobody in hell will have to wonder WHY he or she is there.



If you have ever violated your conscience, which is a watered-down version of the Law (spiritually speaking), then you are guilty, period.



God owes you nothing! You have violated the Law, and you deserve the penalty, period.



HOWEVER - that's not the end of the story.



God is offering you an undeserved and unmerited pardon because Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty in your place - if you accept His offer and turn from your sins (i.e. repent).



God is not obligated to give you anything, but out of His great Love for you, in that while you were still a sinner in rebellion against God's Authority, Jesus already died on the cross in your place.



God isn't sending anybody to hell - He's trying to rescue them from hell, and you refuse His offer!



If you fell into a deep hole and you couldn't get out, and somebody threw a rope down to you, if you rejected his offer to rescue you and you died down in the hole, whose fault is it? According to YOUR theology, the guy with the rope is to blame!



If you had a cancer that was extremely and excruciatingly painful, inoperable, and somehow forced you to stay alive for the next 5 years, and then a doctor came along with a cure that he was giving away FREE, then if you rejected the doctor's offer and you suffered terribly for 5 years, whose fault would it be that you suffered for 5 years, then died? According to YOUR theology, it would be the doctor's fault!



If you sin, and deserve hell, and God is offering you an undeserved and unmerited pardon to get you out of hell if you would just TRUST Him, and you rejected His offer, then according to YOUR theology, it's GOD'S fault that you end up in hell!



Your theology is from the devil of hell, itself!



YOU are the one who is not legitimate. You go make riling accusations against God when He's offering you a way of escape!



"How can we escape judgement if we neglect so great a salvation?"

Answer 4

History has shown us many times and will continue to show us that fear is an infinitely more powerful tool than love.



All religion is based on fear of the unknown, so religious people try to project their own fears of the afterlife onto those who have none. Their other major fear is the fear of loneliness, it is much more comforting to believe that we are not alone in the universe (also why they keep trying to convert people).



If you don't believe in god, you cannot go to hell and you cannot sin. But you can commit immoral acts; there is a difference.

Answer 5

It isn't just believing in God. Accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior is also important.

God made a statement of truth. You are either for Him or against Him. There is no middle ground or way around it.

Answer 6

Hell is NOT a physical location. Here it is, plain and simple.



35 And also, all that has been spoken by our fathers until now. And behold, also, they spake that which was commanded them of the Lord; therefore, they are just and true.



36 And now, I say unto you, my brethren, that after ye have known and have been taught all these things, if ye should transgress and go contrary to that which has been spoken, that ye do withdraw yourselves from the Spirit of the Lord, that it may have no place in you to guide you in wisdom’s paths that ye may be blessed, prospered, and preserved—



37 I say unto you, that the man that doeth this, the same cometh out in open rebellion against God; therefore he listeth to obey the evil spirit, and becometh an enemy to all righteousness; therefore, the Lord has no place in him, for he dwelleth not in unholy temples.



38 Therefore if that man repenteth not, and remaineth and dieth an enemy to God, the demands of divine justice do awaken his immortal soul to a lively sense of his own guilt, which doth cause him to shrink from the presence of the Lord, and doth fill his breast with guilt, and pain, and anguish, which is like an unquenchable fire, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever.



39 And now I say unto you, that mercy hath no claim on that man; therefore his final doom is to endure a never-ending torment.

Answer 7

You were created for that purpose - to worship Him. So, if you waste your life on other things, what do you expect from Allah (God)? To put you in Paradise? That wouldn't be logical either, isn't it?

Answer 8

I think you need to go back and read it for yourself rather than forming your beliefs from second hand reports (often from people who haven't read it either).



Historically, whenever God acts against a people, he warns them first and gives them a chance to change before they are destroyed.

Answer 9

He gives you free choice. You can actually choose your destination. Christianity is not for the weak-minded.

Answer 10

Same reason I threaten my kids when they do something that could hurt them.

I love them.

Answer 11

Because he enjoys it. If he exists, that's the only explanation. Good thing he doesn't exist.