If Jesus died to forgive us, then why is there a Hell?

There is something you don't seem to understand. The books of the Old Testament were before Jesus.

Do I think what they did was right? Well, it's like this. God told them to do it. He told them to do it because they were wicked and idolaters.

Do I think that it would be right now? God would not tell someone to do that now. If you don't understand the concept of Christ dying for our sins then you probably won't understand the difference between the old and new testaments.

14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;
15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant:
.16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
.17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. -
.18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
19 And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
.20 And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits. -
.21 And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.
22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate. -
.23 And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;
24 Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
.25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
.26 And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. 26 - Bread again by weight See ez0416.
.27 And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;
28 Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
.29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.
.31 And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.
32 And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
.33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
34 Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.
35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.
.36 And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.
37 And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
38 And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
.39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. -
.40 ¶ If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;
41 And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
.42 Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.
43 The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.
44 And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God.
45 But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD. -
.46 These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the LORD made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.

For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten. 6 Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun. (Ecclesiates 9: 5,6)

For the wages sin pays is death, but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord.(Romans 6:23)

Neologist, you just put it in quotes yourself.

...But the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord.

So, you think no matter what you do, say, or believe, you get a free ride? No consequences?

And by the way, Adam and Eve knew the rules. They knew not to eat of the forbidden fruit.

It seems to me that people try to blame God because they don't make the right choices in life.

In our society, you break the law, you get punished. Same concept.

Even the greatest mortal sin, being finite, could not merit eternal punishment.

And just where do you get that Lott's daughters were incestuous?

The plagues brought forth on the Egyptians were brough so that Pharoah would let God's people be free from slavery.

Now, what about this incestuous remark? Before I comment much more, I'd really like to know where that comes from.

:30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.

:31. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father [is] old, and [there is] not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:

:32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

:33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

:34 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, [and] lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

:35 And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

:36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

:37 And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same [is] the father of the Moabites unto this day.

:38 And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same [is] the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

Would you all please get this straight. I AM NOT TRYING TO CONVERT, SAVE YOUR SOUL, OR OTHERWISE CHANGE YOU!

I am just trying to have a discussion here. Sharing viewpoints without being rude. That's it.

Well, I will give you that one up to a point. You have to remember, the Old Testament was before Jesus. Laws were very different at that time.

I don't justify anything. Actually, never thought about it because the New Testament is what I live by.

I don't live by any laws of the Old Testament (except the Ten Commandments, of course.)

Maybe God had pity on us and thought we couldn't live up to His expectations, who knows.

The fact is, I live by the New Testament and follow Jesus Christ. And if Jesus is not mad at his Father for sacrificing him on the cross, why should I be? Jesus was perfect. I am not. If He hasn't got a problem with it, then neither do I.

No evidence God, any God exists? How do you account for life? Had to be something more powerful than you or me to create life, all life. And, if you are going to give me the Big Bang Theory, perhaps that's the way God did it?

Read the beautitudes. That's what being a Christian is about. And, you cannot tell me that anything in the beautitudes is anything but loving and forgiving.

What about Matthew 10:28?

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Do you then believe there is no punishment for sin? We just go through life and whatever happens here "stays here?"

If this were the case, why would afterlife beliefs even come into mind? If there were no punishment for evil deeds then why doesn't everyone just do evil?

Remember I said in a previous thread (or some other thread) that God says, if you are not for me you are against me? Well, it is part of my Christian belief that once the Rapture occurs there will be a period of Tribulation on the earth. Those not caught up in the Rapture will have the opportunity (another second chance) to accept salvation. During this Tribulation period, the Antichrist will take power. He will fool many into believing he is Christ and many will follow him. During the Antichrist's reign, he will insist that everyone take his mark (tattoo, computer chip, who knows exactly what it is), but without that mark you cannot buy, trade, sell, etc. Once a person has taken the mark, he will be filled with the spirit of the Antichrist and his heart will be hardened towards God. Man will turn against man, mother against daughter, father against son. Just as Judas was filled with the evil spirit when he betrayed Christ, loved ones will betray loved ones who do not carry the mark.

And yes, it is very hard for me to accept sometimes that people I care about may someday take the mark and turn against the ones they love. If regligions were all flowers and sugar then we'd all be clammering to grab onto them. Unfortunately, is is very hard sometimes to grasp the realities of some aspects of particular religions. That is one of the reasons I say I am a Christian and do not say Baptist, Catholic, etc. It is man who makes the particular laws, rules, guidelines in the literal church. God has set down these laws and rules and guidelines for His church.

I was watching MSNBC Investigates last night about The Mind of a Suicide Bomber. The suicide bombers believed that by carrying out their suicide mission and dying as a martyr they would 1) ensure they went to heaven; 2) ensure their families went to heaven; and 3) be married to 72 women in heaven. Now, to you and me, that more likely than not sounds a bit "out there" shall we say. We would probably ask ourselves, why would God want me to kill myself and innocent children (as seen recently in Iraq) so I can go to heaven. Is it worth it? Well, obviously, to them it is. So, to me having eternal life as Christ promised me, it is worth having to accept some of the things I wish were a bit different.

We all want to believe that no one will go to hell, no one will face eternal life in torment; but, in reality (IMO) that's just not the way it is.

Do you think it's easy for me to watch children be born with defects knowing that God can change all that? It's very hard sometimes knowing that God can "make" everything perfect with just a whisper and yet he does not do it. It's hard knowing children are infected with the AIDS virus that have nothing to do with sex or drugs. But, I can't begin to know the mind of God. I only know what I believe in my heart. And that is, God has a plan for all of us. He gave us free will to make choices in life.

Years back remember when so many things were tabboo? Children without marriage, tattoos, piercings, homosexuality, etc? God did not change his mind about these things. Society has become immune to them. We choose to believe that we are being loving and tolerant by accepting today what God has always said was wrong.

It is not God that has changed God's law. It is man who has rewritten them to bend to man's will.