(October 28, 2021 at 10:00 pm)Ferrocyanide Wrote:(September 3, 2021 at 7:51 am)Gwaithmir Wrote: I recently got into a debate with a theist on YouTube and was told, for the umpteenth time, that I'm going to Hell. I replied by saying that theists' puerile threats do not impress me. My opponent has abandoned the debate.
I just tell them
1. Stop living in fear.
then, they respond with
2. I am not living in fear.
Me:
3. Yes, you are living in fear. You are afraid of Hell. You just mentioned to the other guy (or me) that you will go to Hell if you don’t believe in Jesus.
You have read the Bible. I have read the same book. We both read the descriptions about Hell.
Theist:
4. No, I am not afraid of hell. I believe in Jesus and he will protect me.
Me:
5. I know that Jesus acts as a protector. He protects you from hell and so he reduces your fear level. That is what Jesus is for. Jesus is like insurance. I have home insurance. It reduces my fear.
If you aren’t afraid of hell, then you can continue to believe in Jesus and ask him to send you to hell.
6. The conversation can take different pathways at this point.
If someone mentions that hell is a separation from the jewish god and you, nope, they are afraid to spell out exactly what hell is. Give him the lines from the Bible that explain hell.
Note: It is incredible the number of christians who do not recognize fear. Some of them don’t even know that they are in a religion. They call it “a relationship with Jesus”.
Your argument of "living in fear" is very thought provoking for me. Following on from your argument - Imagine the absolute terror that a scientific conversation about evolution, cosmic scale, age of the universe, or even just logic must introduce. I mean if that person was to be genuinely open to challenging their frame of reference and if some of that logic sticks and raises doubts in the believer? Then the insurance policy is voided and we all know the consequences. The ridiculous thing is that they fail to understand that as soon as they might stop believing in a God, their constant fear of judgement and will also be gone.
I believe that a large proportion of Christians live in a grey zone of belief. They want to (and partially do) believe because that is the socially acceptable thing to do in their community. They can't however quite commit to that belief in their heart of hearts because they have a working brain and all the evidence points the other way. But because that places them in an impossible situation, the easiest thing is to become even more defensive.
