Request from a Christian.

[Mister Agenda]

Listen guys and gals. You keep asking me to justify my beliefs, or comment on the beliefs of others. That's not what I came here to do. I would like to hear of your negative experiences with Christians. I would also like if possible you clarify what denomination they come from.

If you hadn't mentioned how unaware you are of Christians committing misdeeds in the name of their religion, people wouldn't have made the effort to compensate for this deficit in your education. Keeping the thread on topic starts with you. There's nothing more effective you can do to keep the thread on track than sticking to the subject yourself.

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As per my beliefs and the teachings of the Bible the only way into heaven is through Jesus Christ. Now if I may ask you a question. Is it moral to censor someone's speech, and stop them from professing their beliefs?

It depends on the circumstances. I don't even have any power to censor anyone's speech in most circumstances. Certainly, asking someone to refrain from saying something to me is a far cry from censoring them.

I manage a department at a big corporation. If one of the people who report to me was professing their beliefs in a way that was disruptive to their or other people's work, it would be my responsibility to remind them of their obligation to adhere to company policy as a requirement to work here.

A government employee should refrain from associating their religion and their function in government, especially in regards to people's children. A public school science teacher should teach accepted science, not her denomination's take on 'what really happened'.

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Ok, Thank You for your opinion. I am curious though; I thought atheists didn't believe in hell.. err lacked belief in it.

That doesn't prevent it from being an insult, with the 'and that's what you deserve' being inescapably attached to such a comment. The line between 'you're going to burn in hell forever' and 'you should burn in hell forever' is infinitesimally thin.

Many Christians take the position that it is not their place to predict the fate of other people's souls. It's not like Jesus said 'Whatever you do, don't forget to tell people they're going to hell if they don't convert'. Jesus, whether he was a real person or just a character in a story, had excellent advice on how to reach people that is largely ignored by most modern Christians (and was often historically ignored by them as well). I find it ironic that Christians are contributing to their own decline by ignoring the advice of their deity.

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What would Christianity be without hell?

Universal Universalism, I suppose.