Tuesday, January 13, 2009

H-E- Double Hockey Sticks

This first unit in our English class is going to get very personal very fast. I need you all the be open-minded, concientious in your replies and carry on an adult conversation. I am trusting that you can all do this and all participate so that we all learn and grow from this experience. We don't want anyone to walk away from this hurt or angry.

The question is...

Who goes to Hell? Who decides? Why do people go to Hell?

Think. Defend. Challenge. Expand.

31 comments:

TaylorS2009 said...

I don't think anyone goes to hell, or that there even is a hell, so no one decides anything. People just die, that's about it on that subject.

Rick Maestas said...

I believe a hell is created by everyone, and it is something people put themselves into. With thoughts like murder, adulterous behaviors, deception and hatred, we create an existence where our very soul suffers. I do not believe in a God that condemns his children, I believe each and every person was created by Him in His image and likness. Therefore, we don't take our bodies into paradise or the underworld after we die, we exist forever in spirit just like Him.

EricL2009 said...

I belive that people who go to hell are the ones that have hurt others and done pain on others and the people who dont desereve to go on to a better life. I think that people that have commeted first degree murder and people that have broken the law many times will go to Hell. I belive that our Lord and God and Jesus are the ones that look at people and decide if they have lived a good enough life to go on past the pearly gates. People go to hell becasue they have wronged others. People go to hell becasue they have continually done the wrong insted of the right.

DrewB2009 said...

I have grown up going to church and have made a personal choice to believe that Jesus Christ is my lord and savior. I am in no way against other religions or look down upon them, this is just the path I have chose for myself. Because of this, I believe that people who don't accept Jesus Christ as God are the people the one's who will go to hell. Therefore I believe that each person decides themselves whether they will go to hell or not. I am always open to new views on reliegion and do not mean to offend anybody so please don't take any comments that way.

AdrienneB2009 said...

I do not believe in hell but I do believe in punishment for wrong doings. I think whether we come back in another life or just float around or never be anything beyond death, we will pay. We decide if we go to hell or not. For some, it may rule by fear but for others it is justice. People may believe in hell as an incentive to be good during this life on earth.

KatieO2010 said...

I honestly have no idea about Hell, or Heaven for that matter. I was raised without religion but I'm not strictly atheist. I believe what makes most sense, but mostly I dont believe at all. Faith is not something something I have. So I'm really not qualified to speak on the matter of Hell. My gut instict is that there is no Hell, or rather no Hell after death.

shellim2009 said...

Who goes to Hell? Or does Hell even exist? That is something I've always wondered. Is Hell a literal place where people who are damned are doomed to reside for all of eternity? Or is it just a image used to scare subjects into submission of the ancient catholic chuch? I personally don't believe in the literal version of Hell and I do think that it is a term coined to scare people. I do believe in God and I do believe in a form of Heaven, but I don't think that God would 'want' to eternally be separated from his children. So why would he put in a place like this to harm his children. When you life without God, your life is in flames. Your soul is so lost and alone that it feels like flames are constantly licking at you. Living without God for EVER would be like Hell, even though I don't believe in the literal sense of the word.

SarahE2010 said...

I don't know exactly how I feel about who goes to hell... I don't think it is based on what religion you are though. I guess I believe that you do or don't go to hell based on what you have done throughout your life. The people who go to hell are, for lack of a better word, bad people.
I think that whatever Supreme Being there is/may be out there has a say in who goes to hell, but I don't think it is entirely their decision. I feel like the person has a major say on whether or not they go to hell. I think that if a person feels they deserve to go to hell, or feels they don't deserve to go to heaven, then when they die they will go to hell.
People go to hell based on the events in their lives. For example, if someone has committed a terrorist attack and killed thousands of people, then I believe they will go to hell. I feel that if they attempt to get forgiveness, and admit to their sins, that they will have a chance to not go to hell.
Honestly, I haven't thought much about what I believe.

Kim C. 2010 said...

Honestly I can't tell you who will or will not go to hell. If God exists I believe that is his decision. As man is flawed it's not likely that perfection is needed to obtain heaven however as far as I feel, people don't go to heaven because of good works but because of their choices towards morality.

Mackenzie said...
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Mackenzie said...

This is tough. But, like Drew, I have decided that Jesus died for me and what he says is the truth. Prepare yourself-I'm going to throw out a bible verse so don't freak- John 14:6: "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" From this verse I believe that the only way to get to heaven (spending eternity with God) is for someone to accept Jesus as their personal savior, and, on the flip side, if they don’t they would go to hell. I think that God gave us free choice so that we wouldn’t be forced to worship him and forced to do as he asks; we make the conscious choice ourselves. However, as much as God loves us and gives us many second chances, I don’t think he would let people that don’t care about him into his “house”, or whatever heaven is. It would be like having people who you know don’t like you sharing your room and using your stuff whenever they felt like it. Nobody would like that, not even God. So I don’t think God says, “You weren’t good enough, so you go to hell”, I think he would be more likely to say, “You didn’t want me and so here is a place where I’m not around. You got what you asked for,” even though it would hurt him to say it. I’m really not trying to step on any toes! This is just what I personally believe.

LaurenB2009 said...

Personally I don’t believe in any type of afterlife, heaven or hell. Even after going to a catholic school for 9 years no one has ever given me enough proof or reason to believe. So I don’t think anyone goes to hell. Therefore no ‘super being’ decides where we go after death. For many, to think about life just ending when we die and having no where for our soul to continue living is a scary thought. This is why I believe everyone just needs to live life to get the most out of it. Even if a heaven or hell does exist I don't think I'm in any position to decide who goes where after we die.

“Love the life you live, live the life you love.”
-Bob Marley

KatieM2009 said...

In my views someone who goes against what ever religious beliefs they have or act agaisnt their religious leaders and do not ask for forgivness. The religious leader figure decides who goes to hell. I think people go to hell to be punished for doing wrong in their life for what ever reason that maybe.

BrittneyW said...

I believe that the people that go to Hell are the people who reject God and do not accept him as their Lord and Savior. Just like Mackenzie and Drew, I have made a personal commitment to God. I believe everyone chooses this path or not and that determines whether you are accepted into Heaven. I do not believe God wants his children to go to Hell, but he gave us freedom of choice and with that choice, if we deny him, we will be sent to Hell. However, I believe that if someone has not heard of Jesus or is not of age, they are still able to go to Heaven because they have not had a chance to make that decision.

HaileyM2009 said...

I believe there is a hell. I also believe that we put ourselves into it simply by rejecting Jesus Christ. It has nothing to do with your sins or what you've done or how you live. It is from God's awesome power that we are saved from hell, not condemned to hell. We do that to ourselves by rejecting God (if we don't want him then why would he send us to heaven??).
Just like Drew, Kenzie, and Brittney, I have a relationship with God. I realize that I suck and that HE is the reason I have any hope of not going to hell.

"Saving is all God's idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish. We don't play the major role." -Ephesians 2:8ish in the Message

"Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)

I agree with Kenzie when she said, "I don’t think he would let people that don’t care about him into his “house”, or whatever heaven is" and that God doesn't think "'You weren’t good enough, so you go to hell,' I think he would be more likely to say, 'You didn’t want me and so here is a place where I’m not around. You got what you asked for,' even though it would hurt him to say it.

This is simply my humble opinion.

Unknown said...
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Lauren L said...

These questions are very difficult to answer I always contradict myself when I answer these questions. I dont know if there really is a hell. But I believe there is a place where people go when they have turned against god. I believe in god and believe he helps create miracles. I dont go to church and dont know much about the bible. I believe people decide their own fate by the actions they do in life.

Unknown said...

Who goes to Hell? Who decides? Why do people go to Hell?

I believe there is both a spiritual and a literal Hell. The concept of Hell was never even mentioned until the New Testament by Jesus. The word that He used was a literal place. So when He used this word the people he was talking to got a picture of an actual, literal place which used to be a dump outside the wall of Jerusalem. I also believe in a spiritual Hell, and that Jesus died to keep the people that not only believe in Him but love Him from going there. So here we go with stepping on the toes, but I believe that if a person doesn’t believe in what Jesus did for them then they are against Him and they will go to Hell. This is the only thing that decides who goes to Heaven or Hell, not any acts, good or bad. The reason Christians are called to do good things for people is because it is a way to love God by loving them, NOT to get them into Heaven.

I do not believe that Hell is an invention of the church to scare people into being good. The reason behind this is that Hell is only said or referred to ten times in the Bible and only in the New Testament. Heaven is said 42 (the actual word, not even counting the times it is referred to). To me this says that God would rather us WANT to go to Heaven then be scared of going to Hell.

Anna P2009 said...

I don't know if there is a hell. I have been raised catholic and like Drew, Mackenzie, and Brittney I have accepted Jesus as my Lord and savior, but when it comes down to if there is a hell. I truly don't know. Shelli makes a great point in saying that God would not want to be separated from his children, but I have to wonder about the people who rape and kill. All the serial killers and mass murderers; what happens to them? They have broken one or more of the commandments so do they deserve to with God? I know that it is harsh but in the case of the evil doers I hope there is a hell. But not a hell like most imagine with the torture and flames. I think that hell should be like heaven in The Five People You Meet in Heaven,. In this hell I believe that the evil doer needs to go around and talk to people so that they see the bad deeds they did and feel remorse for there actions, so that they are able to accept God’s Love into their lives.

JakeF said...

I’m not one who has any religion, and I don’t particularly believe in GOD so any type of higher level being. Although I don’t believe in the being I believe in the idea. And that idea is religion in general. For what ever religion some one is involved in, it has beliefs and guidelines to live along within the belief of the religion. SO for me I look at it like this, the people who participate in their religion and live by it are the ones who decide. If some one “sins” and doesn’t follow what they believe in then they them selves would be sending their spirit to a very unhappy afterlife. But if they live the life they want to with out crossing their “code” and die with a clean conscious then they will proceed onto what they deserve. So for me if some one is to go to Hell it is because they made it that way, they know they had done bad and hadn’t fixed and they condemn themselves to the forsaken land.

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...
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Pat said...

I personally don’t believe hell really exists. I think hell was just made up to contain the values of a group of people. To me religion is guidelines to how you should try and live your life. It shows the good from the bad and I believe heaven and hell are metaphors for those values. It is a visual for people to understand the difference. I believe hell has been blown out of proportion over the years and taken way too literally. If there was a hell I would imagine it to be more of a cold dark place rather than a bright, hot, flaming place.

KendraS2009 said...

I believe that people who defy religion go to hell. God is the one who decides. It is not for other people to judge or decide who goes to hell. People who live a good life and try to do the right thing go to heaven.

mollyp2010 said...

Im not sure what happens after we die, but I think that heaven and hell are ideas that people made up to make themselves feel better about death. Death isnt as scary if there is a possiblility of going somewhere great afterwards. Also I think that these ideas are just used to make people lead a better, more wholesome and good life.- which I think is a good thing, but I just dont believe in heaven and hell especially when there are so, so many other people out there that belive different things in different religions.

SaraB2009 said...

I grew up not going to church every sunday. So I am not very educated on the issue of who goes to hell. I do not believe that there is a hell, and I do not know what happens to us when we die, I believe that there is something like recarnation.

KaitlanW2009 said...

I am a Christian, and I believe in both Heaven and Hell. Part of what I think makes Hell so terrible is the fact that you are torn away from God for eternity, you are forever shunned by someone you love. I don't believe though, that God sends people there often, or because of anger; I feel that God only turns his back on people when he is forced to. He cannot be in the presence of evil, therefore when anyone of his children commits a sin he is forced to turn his back on them. I don't believe that God is an angry God who would want to intentionally hurt his children, I believe that he gave us the right to choose our own paths and those who know him and deliberately choose to turn their backs to him, I believe he is forced to do the same. But I also believe in forgiveness, so I believe that there a very few number of people that actually go to Hell, though I think it exists.

jordan s said...

I believe that God created all people differently, we are diverse for a reason, nobody was mistakenly created, there is a purpose behind our diversity. Despite all of these differences, we find similarities among ourselves as people and allow ourselves to work together, governing ourselves under concepts such as all people are to be treated equally. I believe this same principle exists in the afterlife. Despite what one does in their Earthly life, there is no "ultimate sin" which blocks one from the afterlife. All things considered sin are seen as immoral in todays society, but if Jesus died for our sins, for our forgiveness, then everyone becomes equal again in the face of death, in forgiveness.

TomB said...

without delving too deeply into my personal beliefs, i'll suffice to say that i do not believe in one specific religion, but bits and pieces of any and all faiths. Religions are all, in essence, paths to a moral enlightenment, suggested ways to live the best way that we can, and all religions have worth, without a doubt. those people who choose to live selfish lives, committing "sins" without regard to the wellbeing of their fellow man know that what they do is wrong, despite however they justify it, and those people will, in their experience after life, be punished. and when they believe they have suffered to the point of true redemption, they'll go onward to a more fulfilling experience. People decide if they will go to hell, according to their personal belief, be it heaven, hell, nirvana, reincarnation, becoming a ghost or rotting in the ground, everyone eventually repents for their "sins".

KendraS2009 said...

I am Catholic and I grew up going to Church every Sunday. I went to a Catholic school, All Souls, for ten years. I believe in Heaven and Hell. Most of all I believe that it is God's business to judge us and that too many people on Earth judge other people. It is not for anyone but God to judge who is a good person or who is not. I feel like I am one of the few people in class, based on what everyone has said, who believes in a fiery burning Hell to go as punishment for actions we have done on Earth and turning away from God. If we don't want to be with God, then we won't be and we will burn in Hell for all eternity. This should make us want to start a relationship with God and stay close to Him always. Also, it should motivate us to do the right thing on Earth because our time on Earthis shorter than it will be in Heaven.

Anna P2009 said...

The other day I was talking to my parents about the discussion we had and jokingly my dad said, "What if this is hell?" Of course he meant my life cause he was teasing me, but I looked more into it and considered a different meaning. What if our life on earth is our hell? Making our way through life is difficult and no one gets through unscathed. No one was handed an easy life. We all work hard in our own way. Once we made it through this hell, then we move on to a more peaceful place.