(May 27, 2015 at 7:35 pm)Iroscato Wrote: 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?
