According to a recent survey, those who believe in hell are significantly less happy than those who do not. That is perhaps not too surprising. After all, most of us who do believe in hell would probably be more pleased if our lives were in actual fact so horrible. But the survey also showed that those who actually believed in both were happier with their occupations, sought greater meaning in their work and strove for greatness.
The problem is that those who think in both are necessarily the minority. Therefore, the future might hold not only heaven or hell, but also a combination of the two. It is the conviction that the majority of humanity will find a combination of the two. This is exactly where the problem lies.
Those who want to limit God in the Bible must interpret the existence of hell within the confines of the biblical scriptures. Some, personally, do not believe that hell exists in and of itself, outside of the Genesis account and the crucifixion of Jesus. Many do not think there is any doubt that there is a personage known as Jesus, who is God-like in every manner, even in His dying and rising from the grave.
Many do not believe that there is a distinct doctrine of heaven and hell in the biblical scriptures. Therefore, anyone who limits God in the Bible must necessarily also limit God in the future. And anyone who limits God in the future is a limitation on what might occur in the future. If this is the case, then we are not really talking about the future of mankind, but about the future of Christianity.
There are many possible interpretations for the existence of hell in the biblical scriptures. Some people think of hell as a place of torment for babies and those who do not accept Jesus Christ as their savior. On the other hand, there are some who think of hell as a place of reward for those who worship the devil and do not accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Some people also think of hell as a place of separation for the unfaithful who betray their fellow Christians and do what is right in the eyes of God. And, finally, there are some who interpret hell as a place of punishment for the unrepentant Christians who have left the Christian faith and refuse to turn back.
All of these views are inconsistent with the dictionary definition of the word “hell,” which is “a place of torment in torment.” In light of all this, it appears that hell and eternity are not related, and we certainly do not have to limit God in our thoughts when He makes use of the Word of God to speak in His heavenly realms. Instead of thinking of hell as part of God’s will and plan for the earth, we could rather see hell as something that men have invented, and perhaps leave it to the men and women of the earth to maintain, although they may enjoy it for a while.
In some opinion, the best definition of hell is that it is the divine judgment of the universal conscience of sin. When man sinfully tries to overthrow God’s righteous plan for His people, He brings into being hell as the final result of that failure. Man is then subjected for eternity to the torments of this hell, suffering unending consequences through each new level of hell until he is purified in the spirit and prepared to rise again into the presence of God. If we are to believe that the bible teaches the truth in regard to hell and how it should be viewed, then we must also accept that man is accountable for his own salvation, and that God has no concerns with whether we remain in paradise or hell (revelation 16:1-2).
Some annihilationists claim that there is a different meaning for the words “eternity” and “hell.” According to them, hell is the place where man is subjected to punishment that is a part of the new testament, while heaven is the place where we go after we have finished our earthly work. Some personally prefer to view the new testament as teaching that hell is the conscious destruction of a person for their own transgression, which is part of God’s plan for eternity. This is contrary to any notion of hell, which is nothing more than the state of being that we were born into. God’s word does not say anything about being “born again,” only that we get a new life through the end of our earthly existence. God’s will for mankind concerning the end of their earthly lives holds true regardless of whether we believe in Him or not.
Some annihilationists claim that there is a different meaning for the words “eternity” and “hell.” According to them, hell is the place where man is subjected to punishment that is a part of the new testament, while heaven is the place where we go after we have finished our earthly work. Some personally prefer to view the new testament as teaching that hell is the conscious destruction of a person for their own transgression, which is part of God’s plan for eternity. This is contrary to any notion of hell, which is nothing more than the state of being that we were born into. God’s word does not say anything about being “born again,” only that we get a new life through the end of our earthly existence. God’s will for mankind concerning the end of their earthly lives holds true regardless of whether we believe in Him or not.
Lot many people do not believe in the existence of hell or heaven. Hell and heaven are created to scare only those people who exploit the other members of the community in which every one lives. Basically, The punishments in Hell and rewards in heaven as prescribed in the religious texts are material in nature which can be experienced by physical body only. when some one dies his material body gets destroyed. how can a dead person enjoy or suffer without a body. After death the only object which remains is soul. All religions believe that soul is indestructible. It is completely free from all he senses. soul cannot be punished or rewarded. Hinduism believes in rebirth where the soul takes another form, according to the Karmic principle. The soul takes on the karma of previous birth. Whereas the thoughts of Abrahamic faiths are not clear about the concept of rebirth. In view of the above contradictions, the concept of hell and heaven are just imaginary and have no logic behind their existence. In Hinduism the thought is that every individual soul shall merge with the super consciousness called parabrahma, through a definite process of realization and this process is called salvation.