I know the answer may be apparent for some of you.....but what I'm looking for is any sort of scriptural evidence on this question.

Do men who are sent to Hell, still despise and hate God in their rebellion OR do they understand the error of their ways, seeing God's righteousness in their condemnation and their need for a perfect savior?

Thanks in advance for the help....

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Aaron Gauldin
Lutheran Church Missouri Synod
Illinois

I wouldn't want to speculate too much regarding the eternal state of the damned. But there is proof that, when God's wrath is being poured out on men in Revelation 16, their response to God's judgment was that they blasphemed the name of God (v. 9)...They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds (v. 11), and that Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great (v. 21). I can't imagine that men in hell would ever move beyond this response.

Not sure if this is helpful.

DTK

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Sola Scriptura est norma normans non normata
D. T. King, pastor
Christ Presbyterian Church (OPC)
Elkton, Maryland
Augustine (354-430): Therefore what He [i.e., Christ] has deigned to speak to us, we ought to believe that He meant us to understand. But if we do not understand He, being asked, gives understanding, who gave His Word unasked. NPNF1: Vol. VII, Tractates on John, Tractate XXII, §1.

I think my friend David is absolutely right. What would happen in hell that would cause men to love God, or even hate Him less?

Love is a virtue, and all vestigial remains of anything virtuous are removed in that perfectly wicked place.

While saints in heaven are perfected in their love for God and Christ, the damned in hell are perfected in their hatred for them both.

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Dr. Don Kistler

Yes, I think men in hell get more and more hellish. Their unregenerate God-hating natures are not only unchanged but now God is clearly the cause of their trouble and perhaps heaven is even visible to them as they are tormented.

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Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone

I do believe they go on hating God forever. The Scriptural evidence I believe warrants this conclusion is when Jesus refers to hell as a place where there is "gnashing of teeth." (Matt 8:12, etc.)

"Gnashing of teeth" was an expression not of pain or sorrow, but of furious anger and indignation.

So while it is true that every knee bow and every tongue WILL confess Christ, it is apparent to me that those condemned to hell will not do so willingly and they'll resent God forever for their punishment.

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Ben
Chaplain, US Army
Ft. Riley, KS
TE Ohio Valley Presbytery, PCA

Thank you so much for the help....this is the exact conclusion that I had come to, but many of the Arminians that I have conversed with believe that these men see God's righteousness in their condemnation.

But their opinion shouldn't be surprising since they believe that men can somehow control the movement of the Holy Spirit and its regeneration of souls. The damned would be no different than those on earth still in their rebellion and hatred of God because they still lack regeneration.

I don't know if they hate Him or not, but I do know they glorify Him - whether they like it or not.

I tell often tell people that everyone in hell says, "I belong here. This is justice and righteousness." But everyone in heaven says, "I don't belong here. This is not justice but can only be grace."

Consequently everyone glorifies Him.

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Kevin Guillory
Pastor
Redeemer Christian Congregation
Baltimore, MD

I don't interpret Scripture. Scripture
interprets itself. And in the process ...
Scripture interprets me!

I do believe everyone glorifies God... whether they like it or not. And while I would agree that people in heaven may indeed say or think something along the lines of what you posit, I don't believe that people in hell agree with God's sentence. I think they glorify God forever by demonstrating the justice of their eternal condemnation in their eternal anger and sense of injustice at God's perfect justice.

Make sense?

It makes perfect sense. It's just that I think the reality that hits them 1 second after their own personal deaths, the realization that all the Bible has said is true, makes them unable to acknowledge the truth.

But your approach is good also. I may have to think and pray about things a bit more.