What did Jesus die for? What did he save us from? I don't believe in eternal torment in Hell. I don't believe a Just, Loving, Father in Heaven would do that to his Children. We are all sinners, every last one of us.
Jesus, the teacher, I understand. Jesus the loving brother and Lord, I understand. But Jesus the god who took upon himself all our sins, then died on the cross, to save us from eternal hell? I don't understand or believe that, at all. It just makes no sense to me.
Why? Why his suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane? Why his torture and murder at the hands of people he was teaching and helping? I think it was so he could give us the gifts of Repentance and Resurrection. He defeated Death, to give us all Eternal Life, new perfected bodies to live in forever. A gift to All of humanity, not just those who choose to believe and obey.
Justice isn't Just if it imposes such horrible consequences for disobedience, for breaking rules we never knowingly agreed to follow in the first place. I refuse to believe in a God who would torture His Children for the rest of their eternal existence for making bad choices.
We are all ignorant. No one knows Everything. So we are only able to do what we can, based on faith. We don't, and can't, know everything we would need to know in order to make an informed decision to agree to follow God's rules, thus becoming subject to whatever punishment results from breaking those rules.
Disobeying someone we never agreed to obey is not the same thing as disobeying someone we agreed to obey. To be punished harshly for disobeying someone we never agreed to obey is tantamount to being punished by an evil tyrant, a slave master. Are we slaves?!
If God truly gave us Free Will to make our own decisions, then he has no right to punish us for not doing what he wants us to do. To punish for disobedience makes a LIE of the idea that we have free will! Again I ask, Are We Slaves?!
Are we Free to choose God's path, or choose another path? If so then we deserve no eternal punishment for choosing another path. The only punishment we should have to deal with is our own conscience, our own guilt, for doing horrible things to each other. As long as we love and cherish each other, learn and grow, change and forgive ourselves and each other, there will be no such guilt.
Here's what I think actually happens when we die:
First we go to the Spirit Realm to await Resurrection. There we learn a great deal we never knew before. The bad people are kept separate from the good people, but it's not Heaven vs. Hell, it's just two different parts of the realm. No punishment, just waiting areas.
Then when we are all Resurrected into perfected bodies one day, we get sorted out into one of Three Kingdoms of Heaven. The Terrestrial Kingdom, the Telestial Kingdom, and the Celestial Kingdom. Each with their own level of Glory. God lives in the Celestial Kingdom, so only people with the purity necessary can live that close to Him. The rest live in the other Kingdoms. Yes, even the very WORST humans who ever lived, IHMO and belief, are going to Heaven. Better practice at forgiveness, you'll need that skill in abundance.
Murderers, rapists, etc. are going to live in the Terrestrial Kingdom, the lowest, but still not HELLISH, Kingdom of Heaven. Good people who have not done all that is required for the Celestial Kingdom will be in the Telestial Kingdom. That's the one I believe my Grandparents are going to, may they rest in peace.
I think Hell was invented by humans as a method of control, to use fear to make the masses obey them. I reject the concept, utterly. If that makes me a heretic, so be it. If that means I'm going to burn in hell for eternity, I'll burn and curse God the whole damn time. Because FRELL any "god" that would do that.
