Why are Christians so worried about going to Hell?

A Christian is a person who knows they have been set free from slavery to sin, and that they have been saved from God's wrath. They know that they are headed for heaven. The Holy Spirit in them bears witness with their spirit that they are now children of God, adopted into God's family, with heaven as their home. They know Jesus returned to heaven to prepare a place for his followers. They know their inheritance is in heaven. They know they are just passing though this world, on their way home.

They have no worry about maybe ending up in hell. Only those who might claim to be Christian but who have never actually become Christian (i.e. born of the Holy Spirit) would still be in fear. The Bible says that there is no fear in love, because fear has to do with punishment! Christians know that Jesus bore their punishment for them, in his body, on the cross! God will not punish twice! We are redeemed - forgiven - pardoned - bound for heaven!

That's not presumptuousness because Christians in the first century were told, "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6) Our confidence is not in ourselves, because we still continue to sin, but it's in Christ and His all-sufficiency. We believe the promises of God, and we have been promised that by faith and grace, we have passed over from judgment to life. It's happened.

Of course, we do find ourselves very concerned about those who laugh at the idea of hell, or who say it merely means the grave, when the Bible has Jesus warning of eternal anguish for those who die in their sins (John 8:23-24 and see Jesus' warnings about hell in Luke 16:19 to end.)

@DB: "One Word - JUSTICE! You see - I believe you might misunderstand the biblical concept of heaven / hell (and the gospel) as I once did. Remember, God is completely just, but not cruel..."

I think you've misunderstood the definition of the word 'cruel'. If he made everything, then he's being cruel to many people right this second.

"Here is the gospel…. Try to think of it like this** - God is good and gives us life in this world only (better than nothing!) Yet - He cannot allow sin to enter into the next world (or it will become war torn like this)."

'Sin' is not some juice or nerve gas. It is an action that a god (in theory) doesn't like. If god doesn't want people to do actions he doesn't like, then he shouldn't make certain people DESIRE to choose to do such actions, more than not doing them.

"You see - at the end of time, people who rejected Jesus (who is God visiting humanity) will have to pay for their own sins. And face it - we ALL have sinned."

So why exactly does someone who sinned but was lucky enough to believe in god escape god's torture, when someone who was unlucky enough not to believe in him, doesn't?

WHY exactly, is belief a virtue?

"He took my place and suffered for me."

Really? So the only punishment a sinner should have to go through is three measly days on a cross?

"God does allow substitution!"

How is substitution 'justice'?

"If a person does not accept the substitute – then they (after death) will suffer just as much as required for justice in their lives"

So he snuffs out the ignorant. How does he justify that?

"Does not God (who gave us a soul) have the right to extinguish it at the end of time?"

If he's an a**hole, sure. But why extinguish the lives of those unlucky enough not to believe in him, and extend the lives of those that are lucky enough to believe in him?

" In the real world (coming) imagine a world where everyone does right (since they follow God in this world and choose to do right now)."

You mean the kind of world god should have made in the first place?

" Imagine the greatest “WOW” moment in life and multiply that by 100."

Lol, 100. That's a bit of an insult to your god.

Christianity is not all about heaven and hell. Christians have a better, more rewarding life. Learning how to love each other and sacrifice our desires to please someone else reaps happiness. If you love someone so much then you want to be with them forever, that is what Christians feel about Jesus.

Christians are not worried about going to hell it is the lost that are on there way there. It is our responsibility to tell others about Christ that others may not end up in that terrible place for ever.

I'm catholic and you bring up a good point. And I agree with you 100%. Truth is we aren't supposed to be focused on Hell very much. We should be focused in pleasing The Lord. I don't worry about Hell too much and it annoys me when other "Christians" threaten other people with eternal damnation. Like you said, that's not what our religion is about.

Christians live for death. My mom is with a guy who's battened down the hatches and is riding out for death, too (financially). She's miserable. They're only in their 60's and she does most of the earnings (good, too). But that's the same miserable life Christians live.

They should have no fear only hope and love. Those that suppress and hate others will find out the hard way.

Because they break the 9th commandment several times each day. They fail to repent most of the time, so any sort of sudden, unexpected death might damn them.

The judeochristian faiths are about feeling miserable compared to the "might" of skydaddy jesus/yaweh/allah his "love" "mercy" and "compassion" and live threaten with hell as punishment for not kissing gawd's butt

Because we want to go to heaven.....would you want a real 1969 camaro rally sport or a hotwheel die cast model...jesus loves you..