Why you believe what you believe I

[Rían]

I picked up one more kid, dropped off 5, and am down to 1 kid at home - and I have one whole hour to Moot! Thank goodness for crockpots and bean soup on cold days!

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

What is Hell? Is Hell part of God? Are Heaven and Hell two sides of the same coin? If you go to Hell, can you "get out"?

Is Hell the way we redeem ourselves of sin? If so, what's Purgatory then?

I think I pretty much answered the Hell questions. And we don't know all details - but we know the important details I don't see any indication that once a person is in the "final" Hell that they can get out. There are several types/concepts of Hell in the Bible - one from the OT, "Sheol", is basically "The place of the dead" - there wasn't really a concept of Heaven in OT times, yet there is still some vague distinction between the place of the righteous and the wicked.
In the NT, there is a name, "Hades", that's similar to Sheol, and refers to basically the region of the departed, with reference to the intermediate state between death and the resurrection. There's also "Gehenna", which is the eternal hell.
Purgatory is a term used by the Catholic church, so I won't discuss it. I see no basis for the existence of Purgatory, tho. And the Bible seems very consistent that once a person is in Hell, thru their own choices, he/she will not come out. And this seems linked to the idea that our myriad small, daily choices are making eternal marks on our souls - like how you can influence the growth of a mighty tree by small, daily pressure. And after millions of choices, it comes to the place where it is no use to offer any further chances for salvation, because it has been chosen against millions of times - there is NO chance of it being accepted.

About sin, if a baby dies 1 second after it's born, (and committed no sins in that second), wouldn't it be sinless?

It would still have sin nature, altho it might be sinless. On this question, there is very little in the Bible - there are 2 verses that I know of that speak to this in kind of an indirect way, and both indicate that the baby will be in Heaven. There's the issue of the age of accountability, and there's a part in the OT where King David's infant son died, and he says that he will be with his son one day. I think the important thing on questions like this is that I see, over and over, that God is entirely just, and entirely loving, so I can assume that He will act in a just and loving manner in situations like this.

What denomination are you? (I'm just curious, you don't have to answer. )

I grew up in the Methodist church. I've also attended a Presbyterian church. However, I've found that IMO, the best churches are what's called non-denominational. The denominations (Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Catholic, etc.) IMO have been too corrupted by legalism, etc.
I found, while I was talking with Janny once, that this term, "non-denominational" isn't a familiar one in England, and perhaps it's not in Canada, either, so I'll describe it a bit. Denominational churches (Methodist, etc.) are accountable to regional and national headquarters. Non-denominational churches are their own entity. The chuch leadership follows the Biblical model of being lead by "elders" - men who model a high degree of integrity in their lives. There is usually a head pastor who does the teaching, but he is subject to the elders' authority. My particular church is several thousand members. Many, if not most, non-denominational churches are quite large - membership in the thousands. Personally I think it's because people are tired of the (I'm sorry to say) hypocrisy that is typically in denominational churches, and come to where the Bible is being taught clearly and without apology.

What did you study in University, and does it affect your worldview? (I'm studying forestry, and that has had a deep affect on my worldview, I was just wondering if you experienced a similar thing.)

I've always enjoyed math (or "maths", as I think you would say ) and science, esp. physics. I was a physics major at Uni for a year, then switched over to computer science when I hit electricty (altho I loved mechanics and optics, I never liked electricity and magnetism, and I also realized that the job market for physics graduates was not exactly hopping!) I think this affected my worldview - or rather, I got into those fields in the first place, I guess - because logic and analysis are very important to me. I think things should make sense - and if they don't, I think it's an indicator of possible error. Not that I think we should understand, or CAN understand, everything - but I think what we DO see should make sense. And that's a big reason why I think the Christian worldview is true - it hangs together logically.