If someone held a gun to your head.......

I would not renounce my faith. I would get shot.

Mar 8:38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

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Luk 9:26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.

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denounce to save my life... it doesn't change what's in my heart.
If I didn't, I would expect any rational God to slap me in the here-after for being stupid.

If someone held a gun to your head and asked do you accept a god that is not yours to be only one and true god, and you know that if you accepted that the person would let you go if you agreed to it.

Another question, pardon the off topicness, is whether the accepting of this other god is in any way meaningful given that it was accepted under duress.

I'd lie. Fear won't make me believe, but I wouldn't die over a superstition, either.

FadingWhispers3 said:

If someone held a gun to your head and asked do you accept a god that is not yours to be only one and true god, and you know that if you accepted that the person would let you go if you agreed to it.

Another question, pardon the off topicness, is whether the accepting of this other god is in any way meaningful given that it was accepted under duress.

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Gun = Hell

Like the ninja, I would quickly disarm my enemy. Then the only person they would be respecting is me.

Gun = Hell

Well that depends. Surely it is a gun. But guns don't kill people...

J/k. J/k.

Seriously, would it be any better if hell was never mentioned (even if believed) for the sake of attempting "no strings attached"?

It's not as if the people who do believe are going to realize that it's a gun and to put it away for the greater good. No, instead they will hurry about all the same brandishing the gun because if you don't comply the gun will blow yer head off. Supposedly.

Think of it from their point of view. If you believed in hell, what would you do? Not tell anyone because telling anyone would be coercion? I dunno if anyone could think that far ahead...

Nymphalidae said:

Like the ninja, I would quickly disarm my enemy. Then the only person they would be respecting is me.

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What technique would you use? My Master Splinter has taught me many techniques.

I would lie to get the gun away from my head, I know what I believe, saying otherwise won't change that.

Toboe said:

If someone held a gun to your head and asked do you accept a god that is not yours to be only one and true god, and you know that if you accepted that the person would let you go if you agreed to it. Would you denounce your faith and live or would you tell who your true god is and die.

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I'm a liberal (I know: surprise, surprise! ) - religiously, socially, and politically.

Would I be willing to die for what I believe? Absolutely.

Granted, I hope it doesn't come to that -- but if it does come to that (and given the way things are going in this country, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if it does come to that) -- I will not be silenced from speaking and writing what I believe to be the truth, even if someone doesn't like it or it "offends" someone; and if it comes down to being willing to die for what I believe, then yes, I'm willing to do it.

Liberal religious beliefs, included.

Romans 14:7-9
7 For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.
8 For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord's.
9 For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

(Liberals read and quote Scripture, too! )

If someone had a gun to my head, I'd say/do pretty much whatever they wanted

I hope I would have the faith not to denounce my God in said case. Fyi, the gunman is probably in more trouble in such a scenario, depending on how you look at it.

Matthew 18:6
But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

I'd probably get shot for taking too long to make up my mind.

But getting shot in the head is about the best martyrdom you can have, compared to being burned at the stake or tortued or something, and is less painlful then how I would die otherwise(heart attack). You get the benefits of martyrdom, combined with not only not having to suffer a lot, but suffering less then I would dying of natural casues. So I probably get shot.

two statements...

1. You are responsible for your own actions, gun to your head or no.

2. If you don't have anything worth dying for; life isn't worth living...

guess my answer

FadingWhispers3 said:

Gun = Hell

Well that depends. Surely it is a gun. But guns don't kill people...

J/k. J/k.

Seriously, would it be any better if hell was never mentioned (even if believed) for the sake of attempting "no strings attached"?

It's not as if the people who do believe are going to realize that it's a gun and to put it away for the greater good. No, instead they will hurry about all the same brandishing the gun because if you don't comply the gun will blow yer head off. Supposedly.

Think of it from their point of view. If you believed in hell, what would you do? Not tell anyone because telling anyone would be coercion? I dunno if anyone could think that far ahead...

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Fear is coersive. There is no escaping it. I could never trust anyone who told me something under threat.

I could never trust anyone who told me something under threat.

True, but if you were the one with gun (the one who believed in hell) would you do any better? That is if you believe that we have no choice in what we believe. And if that is the case, ought we not have compassion on those who live in fear even as they seek others to live in fear?

Toboe said:

If someone held a gun to your head and asked do you accept a god that is not yours to be only one and true god, and you know that if you accepted that the person would let you go if you agreed to it. Would you denounce your faith and live or would you tell who your true god is and die.

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I would lie to save my life, and then tell the police to hunt down and catch the perpetrator. I don't believe I owe evil people the truth, nor is a "conversion" under threat of death morally binding.

FadingWhispers3 said:

I could never trust anyone who told me something under threat.

True, but if you were the one with gun (the one who believed in hell) would you do any better? That is if you believe that we have no choice in what we believe. And if that is the case, ought we not have compassion on those who live in fear even as they seek others to live in fear?

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I feel bad for them. I feel bad for the kid who was molested and grows up to be a rapist, too. As to the first question, yes I would. If God's "good news" is not sufficient, then God has a problem. I won't add to it by threatening people on his behalf.

As to the first question, yes I would.

Then you're a stronger person than a lot of other people out there. Because they perpetuate. Although I'm not sure how fair it would be to ask this kind of hypothetical since it's hard to gauge what we would do in certain situations which we would never find ourselves in.

Stronger or weaker, it's no fun.