The Reasons why "Just Following Jesus" Doesn't work

[Iroscato]

No, we DON'T deserve eternal torture and hellfire simply for exercising our supposedly God-given free will. It is by his design that Hell was created, and it is by his will that the damned are tortured unendingly. Aside from the act that God is imaginary, he by dint of condemning sinners to eternal, never-ending torture cannot be a good being. Nothing happens outside of his plan - therefore, he knows exactly who will suffer forever and who will not, because it's all part of his design. That means billions are supposedly being tortured for all eternity exactly according to his will. Therefore, he is evil.
But do keep it up, you are quickly becoming my new favourite plaything

If I see you walking toward a pit of fire and I tell you to be careful so you don't walk into the pit, how does that determine that I want you to fall into the pit? If you're that stupid, you do deserve to fall into the pit. Now Satan, he's really a misunderstood innocent being, using his free will to try to make us fall into the pit--poor guy!

You disappoint me, Lek. I was under the impression you were reasonable as far as Christians go. Your recent posting has been somewhat troubling to that end.
We are dealing in infinities here, from the supposed omnipotence and eternal lifespan of God, to his infinite wrath, to the endless torture of Hell that you will suffer for a trillion years and still be no closer to having it end.
There is no crime that deserves a punishment that severe. Not murder, not genocide, not even rape and child molestation. No crime committed by humans should be met with unending, everlasting, non-stop burning and agony. At a certain point, even the most black-hearted of humans would suffer more than they deserve, simply by the fact that they are suffering an infinite punishment for a finite crime.
God does not try to protect us from Hell. It's where most of his power over us comes from, the threat of what will happen to our souls if we disobey or disbelieve in him.

No wait, that's not right.

Sorry, how foolish of me. What Hell ACTUALLY is is an idea - developed by men as part of religion, and used a way of instilling fear and uncertainty into as many people as possible, to ensure unswerving loyalty and fealty from the masses.
It is quite simply the largest and most impressive con job in all of recorded history, and you have to stand in awe...in awe...of the undisputed champion of false promises and exaggerated claims - religion.

No contest...no contest. (Yes, I am quoting George Carlin)

And personally I've never viewed the Devil as the good guy in your little fairy tale. Were he real, he'd also be a monstrously evil being. All I'm saying is - Yahweh is just as bad, in slightly different ways. My analogy of two angry old men yelling at each other over a fence once again springs to mind...

[Lek]

You disappoint me, Lek. I was under the impression you were reasonable as far as Christians go. Your recent posting has been somewhat troubling to that end.
We are dealing in infinities here, from the supposed omnipotence and eternal lifespan of God, to his infinite wrath, to the endless torture of Hell that you will suffer for a trillion years and still be no closer to having it end.
There is no crime that deserves a punishment that severe. Not murder, not genocide, not even rape and child molestation. No crime committed by humans should be met with unending, everlasting, non-stop burning and agony. At a certain point, even the most black-hearted of humans would suffer more than they deserve, simply by the fact that they are suffering an infinite punishment for a finite crime.
God does not try to protect us from Hell. It's where most of his power over us comes from, the threat of what will happen to our souls if we disobey or disbelieve in him.

No wait, that's not right.

Sorry, how foolish of me. What Hell ACTUALLY is is an idea - developed by men as part of religion, and used a way of instilling fear and uncertainty into as many people as possible, to ensure unswerving loyalty and fealty from the masses.
It is quite simply the largest and most impressive con job in all of recorded history, and you have to stand in awe...in awe...of the undisputed champion of false promises and exaggerated claims - religion.

No contest...no contest. (Yes, I am quoting George Carlin)

And personally I've never viewed the Devil as the good guy in your little fairy tale. Were he real, he'd also be a monstrously evil being. All I'm saying is - Yahweh is just as bad, in slightly different ways. My analogy of two angry old men yelling at each other over a fence once again springs to mind...

As I said in my previous post, I don't believe that the bible teaches that one's time in hell is eternal. I also have a hard time seeing eternal torture as an appropriate punishment for human sin. God does try to protect us from hell. That's what Jesus is all about. That was his whole purpose for becoming a man; to take the punishment for our sins because we couldn't live perfect lives. If God wanted us to go to hell, why Jesus?

[Iroscato]

You disappoint me, Lek. I was under the impression you were reasonable as far as Christians go. Your recent posting has been somewhat troubling to that end.
We are dealing in infinities here, from the supposed omnipotence and eternal lifespan of God, to his infinite wrath, to the endless torture of Hell that you will suffer for a trillion years and still be no closer to having it end.
There is no crime that deserves a punishment that severe. Not murder, not genocide, not even rape and child molestation. No crime committed by humans should be met with unending, everlasting, non-stop burning and agony. At a certain point, even the most black-hearted of humans would suffer more than they deserve, simply by the fact that they are suffering an infinite punishment for a finite crime.
God does not try to protect us from Hell. It's where most of his power over us comes from, the threat of what will happen to our souls if we disobey or disbelieve in him.

No wait, that's not right.

Sorry, how foolish of me. What Hell ACTUALLY is is an idea - developed by men as part of religion, and used a way of instilling fear and uncertainty into as many people as possible, to ensure unswerving loyalty and fealty from the masses.
It is quite simply the largest and most impressive con job in all of recorded history, and you have to stand in awe...in awe...of the undisputed champion of false promises and exaggerated claims - religion.

No contest...no contest. (Yes, I am quoting George Carlin)

And personally I've never viewed the Devil as the good guy in your little fairy tale. Were he real, he'd also be a monstrously evil being. All I'm saying is - Yahweh is just as bad, in slightly different ways. My analogy of two angry old men yelling at each other over a fence once again springs to mind...

As I said in my previous post, I don't believe that the bible teaches that one's time in hell is eternal. I also have a hard time seeing eternal torture as an appropriate punishment for human sin. God does try to protect us from hell. That's what Jesus is all about. That was his whole purpose for becoming a man; to take the punishment for our sins because we couldn't live perfect lives. If God wanted us to go to hell, why Jesus?

Hint; it's all made up. It's all bullshit. It's all the result of wishful thinking and the desire to have power, money and influence. Most of humanity fell for it in one form or another, but now we're starting to wake up, and religion is dying out.

It. Is. Fantasy.

[Lek]

Hint; it's all made up. It's all bullshit. It's all the result of wishful thinking and the desire to have power, money and influence. Most of humanity fell for it in one form or another, but now we're starting to wake up, and religion is dying out.

It. Is. Fantasy.

Well, we definitely know what your opinion is about God and religion. You're very optimistic about religion dying out. I guess time will tell.

[Iroscato]

Hint; it's all made up. It's all bullshit. It's all the result of wishful thinking and the desire to have power, money and influence. Most of humanity fell for it in one form or another, but now we're starting to wake up, and religion is dying out.

It. Is. Fantasy.

Well, we definitely know what your opinion is about God and religion. You're very optimistic about religion dying out. I guess time will tell.

As the world gets incrementally less shitty and scary, religion's fear-driven power is incrementally sapped away. Do the maths.
Also, your avatar makes Jesus look Jamaican

[Chad32]

Give me liberty, or give me death. I really doubt he is as he's portrayed as his enemies, partly because you people seem to think Yahweh is a good guy despite his actions.

Why do you use the bible to show how evil God is, but not to show how evil Satan is?  He's the one who enticed Adam and Eve to commit the first sin and blow it all for everyone.

We have a book about a guy whose actions are evil by modern standards, claiming someone else is evil because he was disobedient. Christians want to claim that Satan does evil in the world, yet most evil in the world is done by followers of Yahweh.

Why should I think it's a bad idea for Satan to tell Eve that the fruit won't kill them, and that Yahweh just wants to keep them ignorant and completely obedient? It's the truth.

[Lek]

Well, we definitely know what your opinion is about God and religion.  You're very optimistic about religion dying out.  I guess time will tell.

As the world gets incrementally less shitty and scary, religion's fear-driven power is incrementally sapped away. Do the maths.
Also, your avatar makes Jesus look Jamaican

Yeah.  Looks like he's a reggae artist, maan.  Actually, it's titled "Laughing Jesus".

---

Why do you use the bible to show how evil God is, but not to show how evil Satan is?  He's the one who enticed Adam and Eve to commit the first sin and blow it all for everyone.

We have a book about a guy whose actions are evil by modern standards, claiming someone else is evil because he was disobedient. Christians want to claim that Satan does evil in the world, yet most evil in the world is done by followers of Yahweh.

Why should I think it's a bad idea for Satan to tell Eve that the fruit won't kill them, and that Yahweh just wants to keep them ignorant and completely obedient? It's the truth.

Most of the evil in the world is done by followers of Yahweh?  Can you back that up?  And, oh yeah.....  that was actually very nice of Satan.

[Chad32]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyHhAoxTXKI

[Lek]

So Bill Maher is your authority for showing that most of the evil in the world is done by followers of Yahweh?

[Chad32]

That video clip is a good start, but one could go on about genital mutilation and other things not listed. There are horrible things that people do, simply because a book told them they should do it. Most parents wouldn't kick their child out of the house, but few things can tear a loving family apart like religious parents finding out their child is homosexual. Regardless of the group, evil people will do evil things. Good people will do good things. But religion can cause good people to do evil things.