Lastly, it seems you are taking the fear of god approach which would mean that we only pray for selfish means to appease a God rather than doing because we feel it is right. God never intended hell as a place for humans to go and in fact would never wish the evil on anyone because he himself would be considered evil. Man is responsible for sending himself to hell. Man must choose that path.
That is the point mate, bravo!
There isn't such a thing as Hell or Paradise. If you carefully read the New Testament you will understand that God use the words Hell and Paradise to explain what did humans did on Earth. In the Revelation of John, John is telling us the story about the fight between Archangel Michael - Seraphim and the Satan. As you can see, Lucifer was banish from the Heaven down to Earth so He can never came back. God first banish us (the humans) and then the Satan.!
We was having that chance to live in the Paradise here, but when we taste from the Tree of Knowledge we loose our minds and start to killing each other. That's why God banish us from Haven down to Earth. At the same time he banish the Satan who lose the fight against the Seraphim.
He can destroy us at any time, but He gave us chance to live with the Devil so we can start to learn what is difference between good and bad. That is the path to the Enlightenment!
I am glad you replied to sorryforthat the way you did. Personally I believe that the Bible clearly speaks about a real Heaven and Hell existing outside of this earthly life. Our life here, since the fall into sin, is more like the Purgatory of the Roman Catholic Church.
The speaking in the Revelation about the New Heavens and the New Earth is a clearer explanation of Heaven. It is a new universe that has different physical laws than this one - a different physics and science.
The Lake of Fire in the Revelation is a smelting pot that melts the eternal soul down into its component parts so that God gets His energy back. Since the soul is eternal, the tearing down of the soul is eternal as well. God can wait for eternity to be over, because He is outside, even, of eternity, although He is eternal at the same time.
