I mostly believed Christianity briefly recently... you know what hurt the most?

[orogenicman]

Those all bothered me but no. What bothered me most of all to the point where I felt really unhappy, confused and distressed was the thought of all the people that God was supposedly allowing to burn for eternity in Hell. I actually prayed for the first time since an early teen as far as I remember, and I mostly prayed for forgiveness for the people in Hell!

Welcome Mike,

As True Christians ™ it's not our place to question how the Lord gets his kicks but we do know he's very insecure and needs a crowd of sycophantic mortals to constantly fawn all over him and sing his praises constantly. Life is the ultimate test of our faith, whether we will adore him even though he doesn't appear to exist and if he does, makes a mess of everything. I guess he figures anyone who passes that test is going to kiss his holy ass for all eternity. Those who think for themselves aren't going to do much for his self-esteem and so they need to be tossed into the incinerator like so many rejects off the soul quality control station.

Hope that helps.

"Traditionally, Man's paradigm of morality is religion based on axiomatic reasoning, not subject to objective proof, personified as God, omnipotent throughout time and space. According to this paradigm, Man need not strive to obtain knowledge from any source other than religion for all is given by God; submission to his God will make all known which man needs in his life, and the rest on a "need to know basis" will be revealed to him in the after world. This is a lazy system for man need not strive to find truth, but it is handed down from above: All things are known to God and all man needs to do is apply and follow these laws which are made known by individual revelation from God to man."

- James E. Conkin, Professor Emeritus, University of Louisville, 2002

[hoppimike]

Thanks for all the great posts!

Just to clear up my position quickly...

I was a Roman Catholic from day zero (christened, Christian parents, RC school, etc) until about 16/17 when I pretty much became an agnostic atheist and learned a lot about science and evolution. At about 21 I was curious about Taoism, but that pretty much faded away by perhaps 23. So, from 17-27 I've been agnostic atheist.

Recently, the NDEs I heard about shook me a bit, and that's what caused my perhaps week long brief return into a predominantly Christian way of thinking because they had largely won me over very temporarily (because I was scared of Hell, mostly, and because it provided interesting "evidence").

I agree with people who say that it's very hard to accept that God is loving and that Heaven is perfect when tons of your loved ones will be burning in Hell for eternity, and also when ANYONE will be within this framework burning in Hell for eternity. I personally don't believe anyone could ever deserve that.

Tell you what, I'll link you guys to the main video that shook this fear into me - you probably don't need to watch the whole thing to get most of the impact, but... yeah, whatever you want to do with it is up to you, I can't wait to hear your opinions hehe






This was also an interesting one for me at the time:





Again, it's long, don't feel it's necessary to watch the entire thing to understand it but you can if you want to

[Norfolk And Chance]

Again a curious statement, "I prayed for," coming from an atheist. Could you explain?

You're only good at talking/posting, but not listening/reading.

There's your explanation.

[Minimalist]

I was a Roman Catholic from day zero

That explains much. Those bastards can really fuck up your head if you pay too much attention to them. Fortunately, recovery is possible.


Meanwhile....

http://www.livescience.com/16019-death-e...ained.html

Near-death experiences are often thought of as mystical phenomena, but research is now revealing scientific explanations for virtually all of their common features. The details of what happens in near-death experiences are now known widely—a sense of being dead, a feeling that one's "soul" has left the body, a voyage toward a bright light, and a departure to another reality where love and bliss are all-encompassing.

The one thing you don't want to do is listen to morons like G-C.

[Tea Earl Grey Hot]

That answer is within you my friend, why don't you explain?

The only answer I can think of is because it was predetermined.

...
My friend was on His death bed, apparently he meant more to me than your relative did to you. Making fun of someone who's illness causes them to believe things like your relative did is insensitive.

I'm not making fun of anyone but you for trying to argue that your little story is proof of NDEs being actual spiritual journeys and back to the afterlife.

[Godscreated]

That answer is within you my friend, why don't you explain?

The only answer I can think of is because it was predetermined.

Not possible, not scriptural. Please look deeper, the answer is there.

[fr0d0]

I agree with people who say that it's very hard to accept that God is loving and that Heaven is perfect when tons of your loved ones will be burning in Hell for eternity, and also when ANYONE will be within this framework burning in Hell for eternity. I personally don't believe anyone could ever deserve that.

Me either.

The bible says that God will draw all to himself. I understand that to mean in the fullness of time even the most stubbourn will change their minds. (changing your mind after death is also biblical).

That's not just me either, and it's certainly not a 'new' idea.

Saying that God does bad things is unbiblical. So your reflection on that is irrelevant (unless you mean bad from our perspective perhaps and not bad when looking at the big picture (God's perspective)).

[Drich]

It wasn't the feeling of being under control.

It wasn't the fear of Hell (I understood that whether you go or not is kinda up to you).

It wasn't the bad things that God had supposedly done, etc.

Those all bothered me but no. What bothered me most of all to the point where I felt really unhappy, confused and distressed was the thought of all the people that God was supposedly allowing to burn for eternity in Hell. I actually prayed for the first time since an early teen as far as I remember, and I mostly prayed for forgiveness for the people in Hell!

Weird no? I couldn't understand how a loving God could allow people to suffer in such an awful and ETERNAL way. Made no sense to me.


I calmed down though and realized that all the near death experiences I'd heard stories about (from the people who had them) aren't proof, they're just stories - most likely similar to dreams.

Anywho, I just wanted to share that with all of you

Also, sorry for all my threads recently! I'm just enthusiastic about the topic I think! ^^

Take care cool Earthly peeps!

Mike

So if a person does not want to be with God for an eternity, and they spend the majority of the life they have been given putting distance between themselves and God. God is to not honor the bulk of their life's work and drag them into heaven kicking and screaming?

Whether you know it or not Hell is what people who do not want to be with the God of creation want in His stead. Eternal separation. Like you admitted yourself in your thread. You choose whether or not you go to Hell. God is just honoring your choices, and will hold you to them for an eternity.

[frankiej]

God is just honoring your choices, and will hold you to them for an eternity.

Is god one of these assholes who thinks that a person can never change??

[KichigaiNeko]

The Abrahamic God is just an excuse for men to be perverts...