If Not Hell then what?

[The Grand Nudger]

Just how many fairy realms have you been magically transported to anyway?

[Drich]

To do God's work. God can only ever repersent His expressed will.

Perhaps you getting bounced from your last church was God's way of saying "shut the fuck up".

I was 'bounced' because i did not publically shun my wife for being an addict, and stand before the congergation and beg them to seperate her sins from my own. Without this declaration we were viewed as being equally guilty of the same sins, and appearently they did not want a herion addict in their church, let alone teaching.

[The Grand Nudger]

Your observation, btw, of experiencing a sense of belonging in a place you have painted the backdrop of hell over is a very telling observation of your own internal life - your own self appraisal. It also shines light on why you insist in a hell so vehemently for others. Perhaps you do belong in whatever you imagine hell to be - but going by your description of it, I don't. That's probably why I'm not inventing any hells to place myself (or others) in.

Food for thought.

[Drich]

I think a better way of phrasing the question is, why does God, supposedly capable of any feat imaginable or not, need to resort to a tactic as primitive, barbaric, and utterly human as threatening people with Hell to get them to obey? It would seriously call into question God's abilities, because it suggests very strongly that God lacks the imagination necessary to create something as amazing as the universe in which we live.

To best answer the question, though, I imagine that I have God's power and knowledge. For all my vinegar when I dispute someone, I'm actually a pretty nice guy and I don't enjoy mistreating people. If I had the power to create sentient living beings, it would be absolutely beneath me to torture them. If taking care of those beings required no real effort on my part, it would be beneath me to neglect them. I would never create a series of laws I knew, in advance, they could not live up to, and I would be immoral to punish them accordingly. I could never find it in myself to punish the misdeeds of individuals by killing everybody around them indiscriminately.

Put it short, I would make a better God than what the Christians worship. If people worshiped me, it would be because they thought I was good. according to their own standards, not because I declare myself to be good. If people wanted to know I was there, I would make it indisputably obvious. If I have the ability to demonstrate my own reality, I would not demand faith. When I ask people to have faith in me, it is because I am making a claim I am incapable of demonstrating on the spot. If I was omnicapable, faith would be a worthless thing if I wanted people to believe in me and give a shit about me. It would also be worthless if I didn't care whether people believed in me. But, I would never demand that people accept me, and my promises, on faith if I had the ability to prove myself immediately. The fact that Christians rely on faith in a being which does not require it is a powerful reason to disregard its claims.

You see, the reason that atheists can't believe what Christians believe can be summarized very simply: we have higher standards. We believe that an all-powerful being should be held to the highest possible standards and should satisfy the strongest scrutiny. Christians settle for much less than that, because wishful thinking is a powerful urge to overcome and a lot of people just can't.

I got off track some, and I apologize. Hell was invented to supplement pointy objects as a tool to get people to accept the infinite love of Jesus Christ. A truly omnipotent, omniscient and loving God could not possibly have a use for such a concept.

I called this one already on page 6. In that in your own version of Righteousness you have found God guilt of being immoral and therefore find it completely immoral to serve a God that does not align himself with your morality. My question then and now is, what makes your personal version of Righteousness the standard in which all is to be judged? In otherwords what power or authority is your morality based on? Pop culture? what of other pop cultures? what do you do when your pop morality contradicts another pop culture's morality? Who is right?

Another question, If God is the God of the bible then how will you convince him or make Him understand that your self righteousness should superceed His?

---

Because the dude who put all of this together said so.

...which brings us full circle back to "Alternative? Don't be a dick and torture people for eternity."

Everything the bible says about Hell is that it is consuming or it is referred to as the second death. My own experience would also indicate that you (your sanity)are there for a finate amount of time.

[The Grand Nudger]

Don't you think that it's more than a little bit ridiculous to talk about your scary dream as an "experience" of hell? Now, I suspect that you choose to speak of your scary dream in this manner because you realize -precisely- how idiotic it sounds.

But that's just me engaging in the hypothetical..because I don't actually believe that you even had this scary dream in the first place.

[Drich]

Your observation, btw, of experiencing a sense of belonging in a place you have painted the backdrop of hell over is a very telling observation of your own internal life - your own self appraisal. It also shines light on why you insist in a hell so vehemently for others. Perhaps you do belong in whatever you imagine hell to be - but going by your description of it, I don't. That's probably why I'm not inventing any hells to place myself (or others) in.

We all belong is the point, we are all slated to go is the other one I am making... Unless we choose not to Go despite what you may personally 'want.'

---

[quote='Rhythm' pid='436442' dateline='1366905667']
Don't you think that it's more than a little bit ridiculous to talk about your scary dream as an "experience" of hell? [\quote] I speak of it because I am asked to or prompted to speak of it.

Now, I suspect that you choose to speak of your scary dream in this manner because you realize -precisely- how idiotic it sounds.

But that's just me engaging in the hypothetical..because I don't actually believe that you even had this scary dream in the first place.

Then maybe ask/Dare God to share with you what He shared with me. (Just be sure to ask for a round trip)

[The Grand Nudger]

Again, Drich, speak for yourself. If you have some horrible guilt about who you are and what you've done that can only be ameliorated by incarceration in some "hell" then so be it. Some of us just don't hear things go bump in the night - which is all this little story has been about since the word go.

[justin]

Your observation, btw, of experiencing a sense of belonging in a place you have painted the backdrop of hell over is a very telling observation of your own internal life - your own self appraisal. It also shines light on why you insist in a hell so vehemently for others. Perhaps you do belong in whatever you imagine hell to be - but going by your description of it, I don't. That's probably why I'm not inventing any hells to place myself (or others) in.

We all belong is the point, we are all slated to go is the other one I am making... Unless we choose not to Go despite what you may personally 'want.'

No we don't drich. I don't, my children don't, my family, you don't, your loved ones don't, very few percentage deserve to burn and the majority that do happen to work for the RCC. I feel sorry that you have this view of people because of what your religion tells you. No one is going to hell. It was made up to scare you into stepping in line and not rebel against the nonsense the religions teach.

[Drich]

We all belong is the point, we are all slated to go is the other one I am making... Unless we choose not to Go despite what you may personally 'want.'

No we don't drich. I don't, my children don't, my family, you don't, your loved ones don't, very few percentage deserve to burn and the majority that do happen to work for the RCC. I feel sorry that you have this view of people because of what your religion tells you. No one is going to hell. It was made up to scare you into stepping in line and not rebel against the nonsense the religions teach.

If Hell scares you then you do not understand the full nature of biblical Christianity. Hell is not the motivator people in the 'hell fire churches' make it out to be. Hell is merely the alternitive to spending an eternity with a God you want nothing to do with.

Hell is billed as a terriable place but that is from the persepective of those who want to be apart of creation. i have said that not everyone wants to be apart of creation, and the only way that can happen is in hell.

We from birth (or shorty there after depending on what you believe) are all slated to be seperated from God and creation for eternity. (want or deserve has absolutly nothing to do with that) The only way not to be seperated from God is to choose to be with God for eternity. That's it that's all. Either you do or your don't, if you do then follow what Christ says do. If you don't stay your current course.

[Esquilax]

If Hell scares you then you do not understand the full nature of biblical Christianity. Hell is not the motivator people in the 'hell fire churches' make it out to be. Hell is merely the alternitive to spending an eternity with a God you want nothing to do with.

So what actually happens in this idea of hell you've got and, more importantly, how are we to differentiate this binding truth of reality you've got there from every other claim about hell that is, accordingly, merely opinion?