RE: Massive controversy between Christians right now: Is Hell eternal punishment?
August 14, 2011 at 6:23 pm
(August 14, 2011 at 5:01 am)fr0d0 Wrote: As Rob Bell said there's nothing new about the idea. It dates back at least 1500 years?? (don't quote me on that). After accusing him of lack of reference he does back himself up quite well in the book. I liked the ideas and it made a lot of sense to me. I've never had any doubt that heaven and hell start here. That stands pretty well independently from this.
Oh yeah, it's a very strong argument. I'm going to try to read the counter-arguments this week, but they have a lot of ground to cover.
(August 14, 2011 at 8:33 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: Well the 'no eternal hell' argument does sound less harmfull.
However it is just as wrong as the hell is eternal argument.
As far as I can tell they are argueing over the reality of a fictional construct.
A bit like star trek fans coming to blows over how the warp drive works.
Haha! I loved the warp drive comment! Yeah, I totally see that for atheist it would be like a fight over who's imaginary friend would win in a fight, but I appreciate you commenting on the idea itself. I wrote this thread knowing there would be some totally righteous burns along these lines. Thanks for your input.
(August 14, 2011 at 10:30 am)Rhythm Wrote: LOL< the love wins guy sounds like one of my daughters, what an optimist. If I had to meet my "dark side" I wouldn't be walking away from that encounter. This doesn't surprise anyone does it? Christianity will have to change with it's constituents or die. Any religion that has staying power has done this, eventually becoming understood as a pretty story.
I definitely agree with you about changing and dying. I think that Christianity is in the process of changing and dying just because of the nature of any group. The group changes when there are suddenly different people in it (or not in it), because the group is very much defined by the people in it. Of course just becoming a pretty story is not very good for a religion because then they are just a book of stories, no one really follows it (as we can see by the current weekly attendance at Zeus's temple). Our current set of Christian denominations may very well die off, but I see the Church moving forward into the future.
As for the dark side thing, yeah, "wouldn't walk away" is a pretty good summary. That's why I appreciate the strong imagery related to hell. Dark side is no fun.
As for optimists, the world needs them. People stupid enough to believe that things can really be better, people like Gandhi and Dr. King. No one ever thought that the south would be a place where African Americans and white people could truly call each other friends.
