(December 21, 2020 at 3:28 pm)Prycejosh1987 Wrote: Sadly Randi is not in a better place, or he might be. It all depends on if he surrendered in his last moments. Everyone has guilty consciences. Everyone is worried about hell, at least in the back of their minds. I believe in God and do all i can to please Him, and i am worried about hell, honestly.
If you are worried about Hell, it is your theology that is the problem.
This is a common Christian idea -- that feelings of guilt prevent entrance to heaven, and that confessing guilt alleviates those feelings and allows the soul to enter heaven.
It's like this -- you get to the pearly gates and you get shown all the bad things you've done, and are asked to account. If you can say "I don't feel guilty because Jesus has forgiven me", you get in. If you do feel shame or guilt, you don't get in.
Why don't you get a chance to get over your guilt right then, and then be let in? Well, that is what I call the theology of the frozen soul. Whatever state you are in when you die gets forever frozen into eternity. There is no change after death. There is no change in hell and no change in heaven.
I firmly believe that this view is what has created the Catholic theology around Heaven and Hell (forgiveness is an absolute requirement but open to all), and has been picked up to some degree by Protestants (who want punishment for bad actions -- no Hitler in heaven)
I also think it is bull shit, and is an evil design. If there is no chance for change after death, then heaven is not a place I would want to be. It would be a place where nothing ever happens, where people can't grow and learn, where moral choices can never be presented because we can't be allowed to make a mistake. Perpetual children or slaves to an all powerful overlord.
And hell would be the most evil design of all. Who in hell wouldn't realize their mistake? Why would a bit of guilt (something that society creates in us, not something that we are born with) cause us to be tortured for eternity?
This is the design of an evil God.
If you are going to stay Christian, you might want to consider the idea of Universalism. Or better yet, consider that your faith is built on a bunch of stories and morality plays, and not the word of a deity.
