RE: Why be good?
June 4, 2015 at 10:19 pm
(This post was last modified: June 4, 2015 at 10:26 pm by Randy Carson.)
(June 4, 2015 at 8:12 pm)Simon Moon Wrote:(June 4, 2015 at 7:36 pm)Randy Carson Wrote: Finite crimes against an infinite God are not so finite. Punishment shows justice.
Statements like this just go to show how evil Christianity really is.
It has caused you to lose you moral compass and sacrifice your humanity, and believe you are moral.
Let me ask you this. According to you, if I died right now as an atheist, I would be punished for eternity for a thought crime.
Do you think I deserve it?
This just shows how incomplete your understanding of God and Christianity really is, Simon.
You, and all your co-no-religionists need to hear this well:
It is not certain at all that you will be sent to hell forever just because you are an atheist; God in His infinite wisdom judges you based upon ALL of the facts of your individual life. He knows why you think as you do better than you do.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:
Quote:846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers?335 Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:
Quote:Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.336
847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:
Quote:Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.337
848 "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men."338
Now, I can't gloss over the fact that you are NOT seeking God per se, but in that you may be trying to do (what is actually His will) known to you only by the dictates of your own conscience, you may be saved.
Notice the word, "may". The door is not closed, Simon. It's a tiny crack, but it's there. Personally, I wouldn't want to trust in this tiny loophole, but God is both infinitely just AND infinitely merciful. He made you and knows why you think as you do. You need to see the word "and" in there, too. The passage speaks of those who "seek God AND moved by grace, try...".
You may be more pleasing to God by your actions than I am by mine.
One other point, it is still uncertain whether you will actually die as an atheist even if you are living as one now. An act of contrition said with one's final breath has saved many a soul, I have no doubt.