Thoughts on Hell?

[mordant]

Christians aren't as deceiving as you would like them to be. Lying to children and then they find out differently would only cause trouble, the Bible teaches this basic fact.

My parents taught me approved dogma which proved to be incorrect and neither accurately predicted nor explained experienced reality. This eventually led to my departure from the failed epistemology of religious faith.

I would not say that my parents knowingly "lied" but they did teach me untruths and they DID cause massive problems later such as very poor life decisions based on my understanding from them of cause and effect within god's economy. These were things like marrying a Good Christian Girl without regard to her mental health issues which (1) Real Christians don't have and which (2) God will take care of in any case; watching my 2nd wife die slowly and painfully of a rare disease despite my expectation that god blesses the righteous and confounds the wicked rather than the inverse; and similar such things over the course of time.

I would MUCH rather have been taught about how reality actually works than how my spiritual handlers WISHED that it worked.

[Godscreated]

 They all already understood what eternity means, even the youth of the church understand eternity, you my friend are behind the time.

GC

Most people understand our universe like a box where everything happens. And you also have space and time in there, too.
And then whatever is outside of that box is beyond the universe.

No one has ever proven there is an end to the universe, you do know theory doesn't mean fact, right.

The problem is that "outside" implies space; and actions imply time.

For the sake of the argument I'll go along with your implied end to the universe and that space is outside it's supposed shell. Action implies time to those who are effected by time, God is not. An eternal being has no time because He is present in all of what you refer to as time. Omnipresent means eternity and it is having no beginning and no end and living all of it simultaneously, time is not there. period.

And both these implied concepts are so rooted in us that we don't think of what it means to have them missing. We totally lack any intuition as to what that means and what it entails.
I'm trying to get you to understand this... not sure I'm having much success.... but I can tell for sure that (at least) most of those in your church will be thinking in terms of the box with space and time to spare beyond the box.

 You are stating that we, humans, are bound by time and I agree we are. Even a Christians life in heaven will still have some aspect of time to it, it will be unlimited time though. God on the other hand doesn't operate in time, never has and never will, He is beyond time by the very nature of His omnipresence. You are correct there are those in the church who believe that there is space outside of the shell of the universe, but in reality no one actually knows and no one actually knows if there's an end to the universe.

GC

[JackRussell]

Heat death of the universe.

That thermodynamic law that some theists abuse all to often.

Maybe says nothing about a cosmos though.

[Astreja]

There is a fine line between abuse and concern. I'm not saying that some parents don't cross that line but I do believe that most do not. I have seen cases where the children themselves multiply the fear within themselves and the parents coming to them to reassure them that things are alright using Bible studies to do so.

The risk of harming a child's psyche with the hell myth is just too great to risk it.  One child crying in terror in the night is one child too many.  I believe that it should be a felony to psychologically abuse minors with such things, and that only adults should be exposed to such horrible ideas.

I am not a helicopter parent.  My daughter is perfectly capable of deciding who her friends are.

 Are you saying you are one of those who lets their unknowlegeable child grow up on their own?

I can't even begin to fathom how you drew such an absurd conclusion from my statement.  The term 'helicopter parent' refers to overprotective parents who insinuate themselves into every aspect of a child's life, even when the child is already competent in that area.

My ex was a helicopter parent who tried to force my daughter into activities she clearly did not want to do, and she came to hate him and those activities.  My approach worked much better:  I facilitated things that she did want to do (for example, permitting her to enroll at a high school that had a particular course she wanted to take) and letting her work uninterrupted.  Today she's self-employed in the arts with a positive net worth, investments and no debt, so obviously my approach was good for something.

[Cyberman]

There's no such thing as nuance in GC's binary world.

[Cyberman]

No one has ever proven there is an end to the universe, you do know theory doesn't mean fact, right.

Absolutely. Facts are to theories as lego bricks are to the completed model, or words to the entire novel.

[JackRussell]

I hope their will be an end to this nonsense.

No point in talking to fundies with no relevant education.

[Mister Agenda]

Are you saying you are one of those who lets their unknowlegeable child grow up on their own?
GC

You're quite an ass for someone who boasts about the love flowing through him.

[Astreja]

Are you saying you are one of those who lets their unknowlegeable child grow up on their own?
GC

You're quite an ass for someone who boasts about the love flowing through him.

*shrug*  That's all he's got.

[Harry Nevis]

Is the part in bold a statement of conclusive knowledge, proof, and evidence?  Out of curiosity, if your statement is not solely based on conclusive evidence/knowledge/proof, then are you open to the possibility that the statement in bold may not be in strict accordance with fact? Thanks

 First I re-read my post and saw I was surely half asleep with all the wrong words in it, sorry. Yes I have the evidence, actually proof of God's existence through my relationship with Him. This proof can only come from God to those who devote themselves to Him. He promises to reveal Himself once we have accepted Jesus as our savior and Lord, the bold word here is very important in coming to knowledge of God.

So it's not proof at all, unless you're redefining the term.

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Asterja

I am not a helicopter parent.  My daughter is perfectly capable of deciding who her friends are.

 Are you saying you are one of those who lets their unknowlegeable child grow up on their own?

GC

Why are you such a dick?