Bible, Christian worldview

Do Christians want non-believers to go to Hell?

62 Comments

Of course not.  We spread the Good News because we want to obey Jesus and we want people to avoid eternal punishment.

But you wouldn’t know that by reading criticisms from some atheists.  They think we’re being big meanies by pointing out our belief in an eternal punishment for those who don’t repent and trust in Jesus.

They are missing something obvious, of course.  If we wanted people to go to Hell we’d do like the theological liberals and withhold the Gospel. We’d tell everyone that any path to God will do, or just to conceive God however you want him to be, etc. — basic fake Christian / Hindu / New Age / etc. beliefs.  Think of all the time and money we would save!  Think how much more popular we would be!

Oddly, these folks often give you the “But I like the definition [of being a Christian] being people trying to live according to the teachings of Jesus” view of Christianity as they are ignoring the reality of Hell, Jesus’ exclusivity and divinity, biblical teachings on marriage and the sanctity of human life, etc.  But Jesus’ teachings covered all those things.

How they conflate our warnings about Hell with their view that we want them to go to Hell is puzzling.  It is like saying that by warning people not to steal that you really want them to go to jail.

Jesus said Hell was real and He warned people how to avoid it.  He is the only way to salvation.  Here are a few verses on that topic.  I’ve got lots more if you need them!

John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Acts 4:11-12 He is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 16:30-31 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

1 John 2:23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

1 John 5:11-12 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Luke 10:16 “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

Luke 12:8-9 “I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.

John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”

John 8:24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.”

John 10:7-8 Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.

62 thoughts on “Do Christians want non-believers to go to Hell?”

  1. This is a good reminder. It’s like these people think that we are mean spirited because we stand for the truth… it’s the truth that doesn’t change. We are just holding to the truth and they want us to bend so they can feel good about themselves, yet, by doing that, we truly would be cruel.

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  2. I have always found it funny how they deride Christians and Christianity for making the claim that the only way is Jesus. As though they werent allowed to participate.

    But the claim that Christians who warn of hell are unloving is as nonsensical as saying only X vaccination will cure your disease is unloving. But if X is the only cure, why on earth would it be loving to tell you any thing will work? Isn’t lying a bad thing?

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  3. I don’t know how many times I’ve been accused of being unloving for presenting the Gospel that true Christianity (vs cult models) is the only way of avoiding eternal damnation. When I point out that trying to save people from Hell is the most loving thing one could do, I am told I am just intolerant of other beliefs! The only beliefs I am intolerant of are those belonging to people who pretend to be Christians and distort the Word to “prove” their cult or false system is actually true. I have little tolerance for any corruption of facts.

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    1. Glenn, I don’t accuse you for your beliefs. But I always believe that God will send me to Hell if I rejected Jesus. I know Jesus will spit in my face and to blame me for my false beliefs or any sins I had done. I know God is not a soft person to me. We all live in sin before a Righteous Holy God. Many people don’t wake up to hear the truth, it happens all over the world.

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  4. I’m with you, Glenn. I don’t especially like atheists (usually far too smug and arrogant in their unbelief), but I’ll live with that. I also don’t mind genuine believers of other faiths. But I have to admit, I generally detest those who call themselves Christians, yet deny and distort the facts of Christianity. A certain Oregonian “Reverend” comes to mind.

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  5. This would be the ideal situation, that our motives were always so clean and Christ-centered. I think part of why people are so turned off by the message of “vaccine X” is its method of delivery. I mean, the message itself is offensive in its own right, but unfortunately there are those who add to the stumbling block of the cross the stumbling blocks of rudeness, impatience, belligerence, and the like. Truth is important, undeniably and uncompromisingly so, but we cannot hope to be effective without gracious patience. I myself have fallen into trap of arrogance, where my own learning has puffed me up with knowledge to the point where compassion was squeezed out the window. Trying to tell people about the love of Christ in an unloving way is not effective persuasion =/.

    But yes, thank you for the reminder of why we should proclaim and defend the faith: obedience to Christ and genuine love for people. Ever so needed.

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  6. Kenneth E.Hagin been a christian and a protestant pastor of Rhema Bible training center, He been a christian and a pastor ALL his life, After ALL his christian ministry, He believe in Jesus and he is very close to him, he believed that Jesus will save him from Hell. But just before he is going to die in the year 2003, he gave us his very last Near death experiance testamony, he went straight to Hell and Jesus didn’t save him at all! Learn abou’t what happened to Kenneth E. Hagin, why a strong Christ believing old pastor ended up to go and live in total darkness? Iam a Christian and a Buddhist.

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      1. I believe in God who sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins. Iam a Protestant and I had been baptised. Iam like a Roman centurion or a samaritan to keel down in front of Jesus. Jesus wants me to stay away from Buddhism and to be a pure bred Christian? Doesn’t he? I want Jesus to understand that Buddha is not God, and I can help those Buddhists to come to know Jesus. God’s Love should reach to ALL people even those who rejected christ.

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      2. Patricia, you make no sense. In one paragraph, you claim to be a “Christian, Buddhist” then you claim you’re a Protestant. What are you? Are you here to stir up trouble or are you just confused? It just looks like you’re playing a game.
        ” I want Jesus to understand that Buddha is not God, and I can help those Buddhists to come to know Jesus.” What in the world are you saying here? Believe me, Jesus knows who Buddha is and Jesus knows Buddha isn’t God.

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      3. I think Kenneth Hagin is not a Real Christian, he probably is a false Teacher like Joseph Smith. That is why he go to Hell. Also some Christian Pastors are using Jesus for to make money and they distort God’s truth.

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  8. If you don’t believe in my speeches abou’t his testimony, I have to accept it. I cannot protest against you, but remember sometimes Jesus Christ says things that many christians do not want to hear it, he is telling the truth, Iam sorry abou’t that. I know other man who had a near death experiance and he died of cancer and when he died, he saw Jesus, Buddha, Krishna and others, he saw God and he asked the question to God and he says to God, ” Which religion is the best religion? Which one is right?”, and God answered to him with great love and God says ” I don’t care……………………………..”

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    1. Sorry, Patricia, that thought doesn’t agree with what the Bible says about God and His thoughts, so which is correct? Your friend, who was under the influence of drugs or the Bible which has proven to be true time and again? You’d better get off the fence right now and decide if you’re going to follow your feelings or the written Word of God. You aren’t both right, and you’re doomed if you continue on the way you’re going.

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    1. Yes, you will–for all eternity. Is that what you want? Or would you rather spend eternity in paradise with the most incredible Being that will ever exist–the One, True, and only God?

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      1. You are not showing me God’s love, You just insult me for Jesus Christ, but Iam not the one of the people who rejects Jesus. Iam not here to speak against christians. A lot of my friends are christians, and they are my good friends, and some of them are ill.Why I deserve to go to hell, is that because Buddhism is evil? I had enough with people’s opininons against me and I want to live alone with Loving God.

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      2. Too bad you can’t read my emotion in the written words, Patricia. I am showing you love. By pleading with you to repent and see that Jesus is the only way. Not a mix of Jesus and Buddhism, or mix of Jesus and Hinduism, or Jesus and whatever “spiritual” ideas anyone might try to believe.
        What does your Christian friends being ill have to do with anything?
        We all deserve to go to Hell, not because we’re not Christian, but because we have all broken God’s laws and sinned against the Holiness of God. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We cannot do enough to meet God’s standards on our own, so Jesus paid the price for us. You can want all you want to “live alone with Loving God”, but until you realize that Jesus alone is your atoning sacrifice and path to that Living with God, you will continue to be doomed to Hell. Just as all of us are. No one is condemned for being Buddist or whatever, we’re condemned for being unrepentant sinners-murderers, liars, idolaters, etc against a Righteous God.

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  10. God is not unfair, what all Jesus want is that we to understand Love and to care abou’t others, not just keep bothering abou’t Jesus’s saving work for us. Perhaps this is something Kenneth Hagin could not understand.

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  12. James Wood. I agree with you that we had sinned against God and we deserve to walk in darkness. Should we obey God and his laws, but Pharisees tried very hard to obey all of God’s laws, Pharisees believed that to obey all of God’s laws will sent them to heaven. Jesus says Pharisees are just hypocrites. Long time ago when I was a little girl, I was very frightened of a christian God and I thought God will send me to hell because Iam a sinner who did not obey his laws. I used to think that God is a distant angry God, and I always wanted to commit suicide to death in the eyes of God. And I saw the vision of a death Goddess and her name is Ixtab, Goddess of suicide and I had asked her to help me to commit suicide to death, and I refused to live as a sinner to go on to disobey God and his laws. Even that I believe that Jesus come to save me, but what will happen if this does not work for me. In this case, Kenneth Hagin’s NDE showed me that Jesus did not save him.

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  13. Patricia, I do not know what to say to you, anymore. You keep bringing in too many odd references to nothing. We do not obey God’s laws out of fear or trying to earn our way to Heaven, we do our best to follow God’s laws because we love Him and want to respect Him. Many Pharisees were hypocrites. Many Christians today are. So what? What is your point? I have no idea why you would want to commit suicide because you are afraid of God. That makes no sense. And you certainly didn’t see a god of suicide. If you saw anything, it was a demon of Satan. What in the world does Kenneth Hagin’s NDE? have to do with anything? I get that English isn’t your first language, but stick to a subject. Quit trying to bring up every little point you can think of that seems to relate to God somehow.

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  14. I have no confidence in God because He is angry God against us. The afterlife have many realms, The Earthbound realms, The realms of many hells, The Vast Void ( The region of black outer darkness) with the region of Misty edges, the Tunnel with light at the end, and the realms of Heaven. I hope Christians will pray for me and to ask God to forgive me, and I hope Jesus will come to save me and that I shall believe in him forever.

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    1. Patricia, I’m not sure you where you got the information about realms. I prayed that God will make you spiritually alive and that you will repent and trust in Jesus. I encourage you to read the Bible as much as you can.

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  15. Yes, I had read the whole Bible and I often read the Gospels. To learn abou’t the realms are very complex, many people with NDE ( Near death experiance) had seen these things. Everyone have different testimonies on thier NDE. For example, Howard Storm was an nasty Atheist who hates any religions, but when he had died, he was in the Misty places where he had been tortured and he cried out to Christ to come to him. So Christ did save him. When he been back to life, he became a preacher of the church. When I learn abou’t the realms of many Hells, I can call it the realm of nine hells including the Lake of fire. And it is difficult to tell who is in charge of these places even althrough that they are under the power of God almighty. In this case, There are some demons or rulers of darkness are called ” Gods of hell”, such as Yum cimil “Lord of death”. And one of the best example of rulers of darkness is King Yama and he is the King of Hell, the destoryer with all his friends which are the wardens of hell. (King Yama is found in Buddhist scriptures, and in many countries of Asia). King Yama told me if I don’t believe in Jesus Christ then I will go to hell. I think this is true, and I never dared to say that Buddha is better than Jesus, in fact no one is better than Jesus. And I must remember that Iam not alone.

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  16. I learnt abou’t the realms and the hells from many books, including different religious scriptures had told me abou’t these things.

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  18. If Jesus does not want me to be a Buddhist, but I can be a Christian and that I only to observe Buddhism and any other religions and any such beliefs. This does not mean that I have less interest in Christianity. But We should be careful with what we say abou’t other religions because sometimes we don’t understand them.

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    1. Hi Patricia,

      I agree that we should be careful — by which I mean accurate — in what we say about other religions. But as a Christian I know that Satan is behind all other religions. I understand enough about them to know they are false and to explain the differences between them and Christianity. But they tell me nothing about Jesus or anything spiritual that is of importance.

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  19. Let me give you the point, If Christians or the society says that Cults or sects are from satan, but they do not understand that some cult leaders are mental handicapped and that is not their fault, and they had been badly treated by others. Many mental handicapped people had been betrayed,abused and even tortured. They cried out for help and for Love from others. So why consider that mental handicapped people and thier faith are from satan? Why reject them? Jesus had told us, ” Love your enemies!”, Are you not listening to this? Those people had suffered a lot, they had been persecuted. Jesus wants us to love all people.

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    1. Hi Patricia — I think you have a false dichotomy there. Yes, we should love our human enemies, including handicapped people. But the % of false teachers who are mentally handicapped is probably very low, and even then they are still false teachers. So feel free to try and correct them while still having their long-term best interests at heart.

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    2. I would sincerely doubt that any cult leader is “mentally handicapped.” They know exactly what they are doing, and why. Studying cults for 40 years has shown me that cult leaders have common ambitions: To set themselves up as a supreme authority, to get rich, and to have as much sex as possible. There is no mental handicap with these goals – just evil intentions.

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      1. I agree with you, Glenn, But the Catholic Church, Politics and even protestant churches has these crimes too, didn’t you know abou’t the scandal of pedophile catholic priests that happened in many countries of the world?

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      5. I HOPE I never join them!!, may the power of God to protect me against ALL the temptations!!!

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      7. I think probably about 89% of people in the world don’t believe in Jesus and they are in danger to go to Hell. Jesus love us and he cried for us, he don’t want us to go to hell. But if we reject him ( if we don’t believe in Jesus) then we will not be saved. I pray for unbelievers, Jesus always been crying for them.

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      8. God does not want anyone to go to Hell, that is why he gave his son Jesus, his word the Bible and the holy spirit to us. This is good news for us! But sadly not everyone understand this.

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      9. I agree that Cults are dangerous and evil but we all live in an evil corrupted World. But you have been warned, you are saying Cults are evil but your words are poison which will cause some people to become victims of Demon possession. Because Satan and his demons wanted people to think Cults are evil, so that Satan make a plan to get people to feel guilty and to condemn themselves before God.

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      10. Ross,
        Would you please explain where particular words above are “poison” and cause people to become “victims of Demon possession”?

        And why would Satan want people to think cults are evil? I think he’d want people to think cults are good and have the truth, so that people would be led away from Christ! Cults ARE evil to God.

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      11. Satan is very very tricky on us. Satan pretends that cults are good and have the truth. What ALL Satan wants me to do is simply to condemn myself for my false beliefs and Satan wants me to believe that God will condemn me for my False Religion and everything. Satan wants God to call me a idiot of my Stupid False Religion. Satan will destroy me, The Devil will come to steal, to kill and to DESTROY!!!!!

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  21. I understand that not all Cult Leaders are mental handicapped, the best example of a Cult Leader who is mental handicapped is Marshall Applewhite who is the founder of heaven’s gate. Applewhite had suffered the mental illness called schizophrenia. It is very very sad story abou’t this sick man. I tell you, the catholic church had the scandal of pedophile catholic priests and protestant churches had them too. OK, You say whatever you like to insult against me, You do whatever you like to say my speeches are wrong. You had done enough to hurt me in every way. You can force me to be a pure bred christians whatever you like. I had never been a member of such cults. I had studied many different religions.

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    1. I don’t think ANY cult leaders are “mentally handicapped” because they all have rational decisions for what they do. Applewhite was NOT “mentally ill,” because, contrary to what psychobabblers will tell you, there is no such thing as “mental illness”; the mind is intangible and can not be ill. Whether or not there is such thing as schizophrenia is also debated in the psych industry. That man was evil, wicked and deceived, but he acted totally rational within his belief system.

      Don’t try to get cult leader off the hook for the evil they cause.

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    1. I’m sorry to hear that you are sad. Can you not see in the Bible what to do for Jesus? Obey his commands. Tell others the truth about him. Don’t dabble in false religions.

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  23. Note; I had learnt a lot abou’t the scandal of pedophile catholic priests including those in the protestant churches, there are abou’t 30 million children are victims of pedophile catholic priests, and 6 million children committed suicide caused by pedophile priests. and Vatican is very powerful, very rich and corrupt. The catholic church was responsible for mass genocide, tortured and killed abou’t 400 million people in our history of the world. Some protestant pastors are pedophiles too, and some pastors are corrupt. Both the catholic church and protestant churches had committed so many crimes including to use drugs and to rape women.

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    1. Hi Patricia — I think we will agree that the pedophile priests — and any other pedophiles, for that matter — are evil. The leaders of the Catholic church — and many Protestant organizations, and secular organizations like Penn State and Planned Parenthood — have hidden all sorts of sex crimes. They are evil, too.

      But none of that disproves Christianity.

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  25. Iam crying now, it is not just false religions are idols, money is the idol too. Everything that we have in world are idols. I can feel that Jesus just wanted me to have nothing, he even don’t want me to have a boyfriend, that I never had a boyfriend for 35 years, he even don’t want me to have horses. Jesus sees me as a sinner and he is not happy with me, don’t he? He will leave me to go to hell, so is that what all he wanted on me? Why on earth God had created me? In most of my life, I did not enjoy my life at all. It is better for me to die for Jesus.

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