A Pondering of the Peculiar

[Delphiki]

Nah, I need him to hurt. Nonexistence is not satisfactory.

There's simply no point to it. The only true punishment is one experienced in life. If he suffers in a hell or purgatory, who benefits from that? Who gets to know it is happening? The universe isn't always just, and people die having gotten away with horrendous crimes every day. The only difference between the believer and the non-believer is that one of them thinks there is another entity or two that are witness to the eternal suffering of a soul -- and one of those entities (God) set his own universe up in such a manner to behave that way... At least, this is what the believer believes.

I suppose hell was invented for a way to quench those with a thirst for revenge.

 

[PsychoSarah]

There's simply no point to it. The only true punishment is one experienced in life. If he suffers in a hell or purgatory, who benefits from that? Who gets to know it is happening? The universe isn't always just, and people die having gotten away with horrendous crimes every day. The only difference between the believer and the non-believer is that one of them thinks there is another entity or two that are witness to the eternal suffering of a soul -- and one of those entities (God) set his own universe up in such a manner to behave that way... At least, this is what the believer believes.

I suppose hell was invented for a way to quench those with a thirst for revenge.

He didn't suffer enough in life for his crimes. I want death to make up for the difference. I don't believe it will, I just want it to be the case.

 

[Delphiki]

Oh we hurt Him plenty, minute after minute. And He isn't going to stop existing because that's what you guys want. He doesn't live by your terms.

She was talking about Hitler.

 

[Delphiki]

He didn't suffer enough in life for his crimes. I want death to make up for the difference. I don't believe it will, I just want it to be the case.

I would prefer that he'd have been punished in life for his crimes.

We both would like to see a justice carried out that simply won't happen. As you and I both know, reality is completely indifferent to what we want to happen or want to be true.

 

[PsychoSarah]

She was talking about Hitler.

Oh no, did someone think I was talking about god?!

 

[PsychoSarah]

Wait, I should be more concerned that what I said could be interpreted as talking about god in the first place.

 

[selfinflikted]

Nah, I need him to hurt. Nonexistence is not satisfactory.

And now you understand why humans invented the concept of hell.

Good Job!

 

[selfinflikted]

Oh we hurt Him plenty, minute after minute. And He isn't going to stop existing because that's what you guys want. He doesn't live by your terms.

You are having trouble keeping up, I see.

 

[Herman Hedning]

IT'S THE PERSON'S FAULT!!!!!!!!!! Satan made hell happen. How is God's fault if a person CHOOSES not to love God???!!!

If I choose not to love you, Anya, does that make me deserve eternal punishment? Life imprisonment? Some kind of punishment at all? If not, why is not loving god different?

 

[PsychoSarah]

And now you understand why humans invented the concept of hell.

Good Job!

Oh, I understand it just fine. It is admittedly unfair that people can die before they are punished for their crimes, but just because I want people to be punished doesn't mean they are.

 

[selfinflikted]

Oh, I understand it just fine. It is admittedly unfair that people can die before they are punished for their crimes, but just because I want people to be punished doesn't mean they are.

This is true.

 

[Mr Strawberry]

Well, the greatest villain in all of literature is the god of the old testament, so I guess he deserves to go to hell as much as any of the billions of humans he purposely created knowing they would end up in hell. It's difficult to justify anyone deliberately creating not only hell itself but the people he knows are going to fill it too, which, being omniscient, he would have known he was going to do before he even did it.

 

[GenemZ]

-_- which is what? Disbelief? Why should a person who is nonreligious but generally decent be punished more than a sinner who believes?

The unpardonable sin....

John 6:43-45

“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. “No one can come to me
unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last
day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has
heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.


​

Everyone has at some point in their life been drawn by the Father. The unpardonable sin is that of rejecting that drawing that would have brought you into salvation.

John 6:37

All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me
I will never drive away.



​

If you stop rejecting the Father's drawing of you, you would find yourself believing in Christ. Mystified... but believing.

Don't think for one second that I knew what was happening when I believed. It perplexed and mystified me. It was even painful in having a hunger for what I could not know what it was.

Then..many years later. The Bible then defined my experience. The Bible was not the cause of my belief. Many atheists believe Christians are simple minded and simply accept what the Bible tells us. Some superstitious souls with a strong religious neurosis may fit that pattern.

But for real Christians? It defines the mystery that God has brought us into.

If I were not regenerate, I would think the Bible is a wast of my time. That is why I am perplexed why certain atheists devote so much of their time here. Makes no sense. I would be doing other things that made sense to me.

 

[PsychoSarah]

The unpardonable sin....

John 6:43-45

“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. “No one can come to me
unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last
day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has
heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.


​

Everyone has at some point in their life been drawn by the Father. The unpardonable sin is that of rejecting that drawing that would have brought you into salvation.

John 6:37

All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me
I will never drive away.



​

If you stop rejecting the Father's drawing of you, you would find yourself believing in Christ. Mystified... but believing.

Don't think for one second that I knew what was happening when I believed. It perplexed and mystified me. It was even painful in having a hunger for what I could not know what it was.

Then..many years later. The Bible then defined my experience. The Bible was not the cause of my belief. Many atheists believe Christians are simple minded and simply accept what the Bible tells us. Some superstitious souls with a strong religious neurosis may fit that pattern.

But for real Christians? It defines the mystery that God has brought us into.

If I were not regenerate, I would think the Bible is a wast of my time. That is why I am perplexed why certain atheists devote so much of their time here. Makes no sense. I would be doing other things that made sense to me.

I do not reject god. In fact, I am open to the possibility. If I reject anything, it is the bible being the word of god rather than the word of human writers. In short, I do not believe that any deity contributed to the bible.

 

[SkyWriting]

Well, the greatest villain in all of literature is the god of the old testament, so I guess he deserves to go to hell as much as any of the billions of humans he purposely created knowing they would end up in hell. It's difficult to justify anyone deliberately creating not only hell itself but the people he knows are going to fill it too, which, being omniscient, he would have known he was going to do before he even did it.

Hell is where God is not. It was a decision to give man the choice to love God or to not. Gods nature is that souls not be held against their will. He could have left us as soul-less slaves with no freedom to choose, but that doesn't really sound like the perfect option. We must just accept that having the choice is the only true option. Because not having the choice sounds worse. What would you choose, slavery or choice?

 

[PsychoSarah]

Hell is where God is not. It was a decision to give man the choice to love God or to not. Gods nature is that souls not be held against their will. He could have left us as soul-less slaves with no freedom to choose, but that doesn't really sound like the perfect option. We must just accept that having the choice is the only true option. Because not having the choice sounds worse. What would you choose, slavery or choice?

If slavery meant there was no rape, war, famine, murder, disease, death, sorrow, evil, etc... Then sign me up because I would be a happy slave.

 

[selfinflikted]

If slavery meant there was no rape, war, famine, murder, disease, death, sorrow, evil, etc... Then sign me up because I would be a happy slave.

Seconded.

Also, someone brought up a point earlier that I'd like to see answered.

Do people deserve hell just for not loving god? That sounds a bit overkill to me.

 

[Aman777]

Originally Posted by PsychoSarah

If slavery meant there was no rape, war, famine, murder, disease, death, sorrow, evil, etc... Then sign me up because I would be a happy slave.
​

Seconded.

Dear Friends, Both of you can be assured of a warm welcome into an Eternity of living as it should be.

Also, someone brought up a point earlier that I'd like to see answered.

Do people deserve hell just for not loving god? That sounds a bit overkill to me.

The only sin is unbelief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is His death for your sins, being buried, and rising from the dead the third day, according to the Scriptures. If you believe that Gospel, soon you will begin to realize the Love that God has for you as an heir to His Kingdom, not as a slave, but as one of His children. God Bless you.

In Love,
Aman

 

[GenemZ]

I do not reject god. In fact, I am open to the possibility. If I reject anything, it is the bible being the word of god rather than the word of human writers. In short, I do not believe that any deity contributed to the bible.

That's your problem...

Can a dog who can hear the dog whistle that you can not? Argue with you that he can really hear something, if your belief system depends upon your personal experience?

It can not be done. You either have ability granted to you by grace, or you don't. Its not something to be gained through reasoning and argument..



That is why I will not waste time arguing with you.

 

[GenemZ]

Do people deserve hell just for not loving god? That sounds a bit overkill to me.

Actually.. if God came to men who do not love God, in the form of a man? They would end up murdering him.

God did that once.