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RE: Eternal punishment is pointless.
November 29, 2014 at 9:16 am
(This post was last modified: November 29, 2014 at 9:25 am by The Grand Nudger.)
That's a question that wouldn't have bothered the culture from which the genesis myth originates. They never saw genesis, or gods covenant, or god as pertaining to anyone but themselves (and hell, to be fair, it's pretty clear that the jewish line on that particular portion of genesis is not and has never been literalism). Only by cultural appropriation and reinterpretation did the christians (for example) come to see themselves as successors or parties to this arrangement or history, as those at the hand of the one doing the smiting, rather than being those who were to be smitten. Only by ignorance of another's literary or oral tradition (a common pitfall of appropriation) did they make the mistake of a literal interpretation of some magical garden.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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RE: Eternal punishment is pointless.
November 29, 2014 at 9:20 am
(November 29, 2014 at 12:15 am)Godschild Wrote: (November 28, 2014 at 7:47 pm)dyresand Wrote: GC quick question how would you feel to get punished for something you had no control over and never did?
I wouldn't like it.
GC
But, assuming it came from God, I assume you would praise it as just and bask in the warm glow of even your savior's negative attention, right?
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RE: Eternal punishment is pointless.
November 29, 2014 at 9:46 am
(November 28, 2014 at 7:15 pm)Godschild Wrote: No, because the scriptures support what I stated and my reading skills in the scriptures are more accomplished than yours. You did not provide texts and explanations for what you claimed, you indicated that a sincere and comprehensive reading of the Bible would make it clear. It's not uncommon for a Christian to point out that something we claim is not specifically mentioned in scripture, but when the tables are turned your excuse is that you have some kind of insight that we lack.
Putting aside the fact that many of us were devout Christians at one time in our lives, that could be a reasonable claim if all Christians were to always reach the same interpretations based on the same verses and explanations. But we know that this isn't the case. At least a few of the Christians who post here have boasted that they have a better understanding of scripture than atheists do, as if it's some kind of spirit-driven guidance that we lack. But that can't be, because even devout Christians reach different conclusions about Biblical "truths."
I cannot accept that a specific interpretation is correct or incorrect based on a vague allusion to some deeper insight that another person lacks. It might actually be valid if reading the Bible always led a person to the same conclusion. Since that is not the case, it requires more than just saying "I have read the Bible and understand it better." That's a claim to a level of spiritual insight that would be blasphemous to state if it wasn't true.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
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RE: Eternal punishment is pointless.
November 29, 2014 at 9:53 am
You may be over-thinking this, Tonus. Perhaps GC is simply God's chosen mouthpiece. It may be that while others toil at deciphering the scriptures, GC actually has the holy spirit whispering the answers in his ear. I mean, we don't have any proof to the contrary.
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RE: Eternal punishment is pointless.
November 29, 2014 at 9:58 am
Quote:Perhaps GC is simply God's chosen mouthpiece.
Could reverse the order there as well.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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RE: Eternal punishment is pointless.
November 29, 2014 at 10:06 am
You can even invert the image. I don't think that's his mouth speaking.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
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RE: Eternal punishment is pointless.
November 29, 2014 at 10:14 am
(This post was last modified: November 29, 2014 at 10:15 am by Mequa.)
(November 28, 2014 at 11:14 am)Godschild Wrote: Sin is not finite, unforgiven it last forever, thus the justified eternal hell. I do take issue with your use of "justified."
Let me give an example: your deity doesn't forgive someone for being an atheist and lets them be tortured forever. Since the deity is never going to forgive, in their case the sin of atheism lasts forever, and then the conclusion is reached that hell is justified?
No, something is not justified merely because a deity allegedly does it. A god who would justify eternally torturing a human being merely because said god holds a grudge forever, is a complete fucking asshole. Even for someone like Adolf Hitler.
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RE: Eternal punishment is pointless.
November 29, 2014 at 12:04 pm
(November 29, 2014 at 12:15 am)Godschild Wrote: (November 28, 2014 at 7:47 pm)dyresand Wrote: GC quick question how would you feel to get punished for something you had no control over and never did?
I wouldn't like it.
GC
good you shouldn't like getting punished for eternal sin you see what i am getting at.
Atheism is a non-prophet organization join today.
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RE: Eternal punishment is pointless.
November 29, 2014 at 12:08 pm
(November 29, 2014 at 10:06 am)Stimbo Wrote: You can even invert the image. I don't think that's his mouth speaking.
You said it, I only thought it.
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RE: Eternal punishment is pointless.
November 29, 2014 at 1:05 pm
I think the point of Eternal Punishment is to coerce those with free will to buckle and submit. Wouldn't be as fun for God otherwise.
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