Religion
Related: About this forum"Why ISIS Should Make Christians Rethink The Doctrine Of Hell"
Last edited Thu Feb 19, 2015, 09:17 PM - Edit history (1)
Nonetheless, its 2015. Civilized culture has grown beyond the days of burning people alive, recognizing the practice as something that is completely offensive to any rational person. And, not just offensive- we consider it morally repulsive to the degree that many Christians want the perpetrators wiped off the face of the earth.
(SNIP)
But heres the irony of it all: while we find burning people alive morally repulsive when ISIS does it, most Christians seem to have no moral qualms about believing in a God they think will do precisely that. In fact, the traditional doctrine on hell paints God in a far worse light than ISIS instead of just burning people to kill them, this doctrine believes that the people will never die but will be tortured by the pain of the flames for all eternity. And somehow, they believe God will pronounce this as being good.
(SNIP)
As a follower of Jesus, I believe that we were all created in the image and likeness of God, and that God has planted in our hearts a sense of justice and morality. When we see hostages paraded in orange jump suits, caged up and about to be tortured, we feel moral outrage and I believe this moral outrage comes from the spirit of God within us, reminding our consciences that its never okay to torture a fellow image bearer.
(SNIP)
That same moral outrage at images of hostages about to be burned alive (such as the image above) should also cause us to pause for a moment and rethink what we actually believe about God and his character. Is God perfectly moral in all his ways? Is God altogether good? Is he altogether lovely? Does God look exactly like Jesus the one who said I desire mercy, not sacrifice?
Why ISIS Should Make Christians Rethink The Doctrine Of Hell
edhopper
(33,615 posts)and them that burn for all eternity have it coming, cause they masturbated or something.
Jamastiene
(38,187 posts)because of being born out of wedlock. He preached "If you don't have a father, you don't belong to God. You are the literal spawn of Satan." Satan is my father? Really? I hope he is keeping tabs on all the people who have screwed me over, for when they get to Hell.
edhopper
(33,615 posts)or so I've been told. Also this preacher obviously didn't practice real Christianity.
And other reasons it's not about religion.
Cartoonist
(7,323 posts)Did You coin that?
Htom Sirveaux
(1,242 posts)He's invoking the idea that humans are made in the image and likeness of God, which has a very, very long history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_of_God
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)I believe thst most or all of us make it to heaven and if we don't we no longer exist after death.
I do believe there is a being known as Satan.
Htom Sirveaux
(1,242 posts)has implicitly given up the idea of hell as a physical place. I recommend Robin Parry's book "The Biblical Cosmos" along these lines.
edhopper
(33,615 posts)So some people get immortality, while others simply cease to exist?
What happens if you reject God and constantly defame him?
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)edhopper
(33,615 posts)I still think ceasing to exist is an awful punishment. Worse than Hell.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)These are ideas. What actually happens I do not know.
edhopper
(33,615 posts)It's speculation.
It's just my reaction
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)edhopper
(33,615 posts)Still exist.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)From my black throne, I will lash together a machine of bone and blood, and fueled by my hatred for god, this fear engine will bore a hole between this world and that one. When it begins you will hear the sound of children screaming as if from a great distance. A smoking orb of nothing will grow above your cities, and from it will emerge millions of starving crows. As I slip through the widening maw in my new form, mankind will catch only a glimpse of my radiance before being incinerated. Then, as tears of bubbling pitch stream down my face, my dark work will begin. I will open one of my six mouths and I will sing the song that ends the earth.
(h/t Penny Arcade)
Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)safeinOhio
(32,715 posts)I figure you will exist in the after life just as you did in the before life.
edhopper
(33,615 posts)If given the choice of immortality, even in hell and nonexistence, I'm choosing hell.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)where those evil spirits came and dragged those souls away....
LiberalAndProud
(12,799 posts)hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)LiberalAndProud
(12,799 posts)Matthew 7:13-14 King James Version (KJV)
13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
===
Luke 13:23-24 and 28, Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able ... There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)I think Jesus was sent here to get people's attention and to set up the faith. Throughout history God has sent prophets imo to preach to us. Jesus is more than a prophet to me but sent by God to teach us nonetheless.
I believe that no matter what we are taught in old books and passages, that nothing can seperate us from the love of God.
LiberalAndProud
(12,799 posts)you can't imagine a world without love?
I suspect that these there are hundreds of children who intuit God's nature differently.
http://stopabusecampaign.com/786-abused-children-dead/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)LiberalAndProud
(12,799 posts)I was speculating about circumstances around an individual that shape ideas about God. Since I believe it is most likely that there is no such thing as a god, the question of evil doesn't concern me much.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)I just came to the conclusion God doesn't decide what happens.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)those that were responsible for caring for these children, what does it have to do with god?
People who are being abused are often highly religious. American slaves were intensely religious.
Jamastiene
(38,187 posts)According to *most* (almost all where I live) Christians, that gate leads straight to Hell. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Straight to hell without even thinking about it. Some of those same ones swear up and down murderers can go to Heaven though.
I'm a bastard too. Satan is my father, apparently, because of that, at least according to that preacher at that school I went to when I was a kid. Some of us just never stood a chance.
The bright side? I won't have to deal with Pat Roberston or Jerry Falwell or any of those types of jerks when I get to hell, because "men of God" automatically go to Heaven, just because.
okasha
(11,573 posts)it was all a very hypothetical and not serious conversation.
Me saying "Thank God" should be a tip off.
okasha
(11,573 posts)I assumed your "thank God" was Ironic, but the rest wasn't clear at all.
edhopper
(33,615 posts)Back and forth.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)There is otherwise zero differentiation for me.
I would embrace non-existence before going to either. If I end up in either, I hope there's a baseball and a glove, because I'm going to spend the whole time in solitary for trying to escape.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)okasha
(11,573 posts)and Queen in live concert.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)Christians pause about the idea of hell all by itself.
Especially the christian right since they profess to love freedom so much. Pack 'o liars.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)There were no fires, burning lakes or sadistic tortures, just the aching loneliness and despair of being denied the all encompassing love of God.
The only devil I ever saw with horns, tail and pitchfork was.on cans of ground-up Spam.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)of a concept of hell (or heaven for that matter).
What has happened before or will happen after is a mystery that I don't think will be solved, at least not in my lifetime.
But I do think there is good and evil.