Perhaps this can explain it.....
A person goes through life using the false teaching that there is a hell, as their way of letting off steam when they are hurt, abused or persecuted by others. They get a sense of righteous indignation and they feel better by thinking that anyone who upsets them will go to Hell and that God will punish them in eternal torment.
Then someone comes along and takes away their neat little method of getting past feeling bitter and vengeful which is their own pressure valve teaching that there is a Hell and in which they receive false satisfaction that God agrees with them. What are they going to do when they find out this is not true? Explode or tell the technician to get out of the kitchen and that their pressure cooker will not be exchanged for a new edition. How else are they going to feel better?
Not everyone is over joyed at this discovery that there is no pagan hell, because it serves a purpose in keeping in place the self justification in error of wishing others Hell for hurting them. Take that away and they will hate you or repent of their idol of false belief.
Repentance is the way to go but God is in charge of who He brings to repentance through His Goodness and Mercy.
All will repent in the end but some with more stripes, correction and more resistance to letting go of their false beliefs than others. As for those with less stripes and less resistance, it is for us to practice Mercy that God says is His method of judging us all. I know I need Mercy and Grace! Plenty of it continually.
I know that seeing it this way helps me to have pity on those who unconsciously and unknowingly depend on the false pain relief teachings of Babylon.
Peace be to you
Arcturus
Great Explanation Arcturus,
I'm especially referring to Paragraphs 1 & 2, regarding those who have in the past been hurt by others and desire their punishment, what better way to punish them for what they did to me, by having God sentence them to Eternal Hell-fire, their justification is that these individuals did this to ME and I want them punished, because I'm HURT. While in the emotional state of all this, what they don't realize is that the punishment they want them to receive exceeds the crime committed. We see this on a small scale in Bad Parenting Methods, A father will punish a child in excess of the gravity of the infraction, whereas some parents have an anything goes attitude in their response to their childs bad behavior. The parent that over reacts like the first one mentioned is usually hurting inside and is taking it out on the child.
All of us have the potential to react to some grave injustice against us by, at the very least, experiencing thoughts of the person that harmed us to " get theirs ", so to speak. We would do well to keep in mind the scenario you expressed in the above paragraphs(1 & 2), when some terrible act is commited against us. In my case, a grievous act commited against one of my Daughters would be my test, I'd include my wife in that, but because she's tougher than I am, the perpetrator against her would have his hands full. When our Minds and Hearts are completely filled by Gods' Spirit by whats' expressed at Romans. 12:(7-12), we will experience peace of mind. In your second paragraph, it's almost as if people are saying: " HOW DARE YOU TELL ME GOD ISN'T GOING TORTURE PEOPLE FOREVER FOR WHAT THEY DID TO ME " I used to respond to people by saying, We all have our own list of people we would want punished and all our lists differ, based on the personal injustices that we've received. God is running the show and he is in control, not us, HIS WILL BE DONE, NOT OURS, besides everyone of us is incapable of providing perfect and fair justice towards those that have deeply harmed us.
Your Brother in Christ, Samson.