A Good God would not send a decent Atheist to hell.
Do you mean send to hell eternally? or send to hell for an appointed time? Not all religions or even christian denominations believe hell is always eternal. That may sway my opinion on the subject.
What if a fundamentalist christian dies and finds out, say, Islam is correct. They're going to feel guilty for slandering them, stereotyping them and trying to run them out of the country. We can all play a version of this scenario.
MarketAndChurch
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Do you mean send to hell eternally? or send to hell for an appointed time? Not all religions or even christian denominations believe hell is always eternal. That may sway my opinion on the subject.
I don't know if punishment is eternal, or what constitutes punishment. I don't know how God would punish ethereal, non-material souls. I personally hope it isn't eternal punishment, I think the image of physically burning in hell forever is more of a contextualizing feature to gain converts then anything else.
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I don't envy the circumstance that brought on your spirituality, but I certainly envy that you're able to be spiritual. I'm more concrete and faith doesn't come naturally to me. I don't pray or ask God for anything, I don't meditate on his words or speak in tongues or any of that but I not only don't mind if others do, I actually envy that they have access to a reality I'm deaf and blind to. If voices started talking to me, with the way I'm built, I'd probably seek out psychiatric help.
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auntblabby
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I don't envy the circumstance that brought on your spirituality, but I certainly envy that you're able to be spiritual. I'm more concrete and faith doesn't come naturally to me. I don't pray or ask God for anything, I don't meditate on his words or speak in tongues or any of that but I not only don't mind if others do, I actually envy that they have access to a reality I'm deaf and blind to. If voices started talking to me, with the way I'm built, I'd probably seek out psychiatric help.
I had no choice but to ask god for help, as I wasn't really getting the help I needed elsewhere. when one is drowning, one will take whatever life preserver is offered.
I don't envy the circumstance that brought on your spirituality, but I certainly envy that you're able to be spiritual. I'm more concrete and faith doesn't come naturally to me. I don't pray or ask God for anything, I don't meditate on his words or speak in tongues or any of that but I not only don't mind if others do, I actually envy that they have access to a reality I'm deaf and blind to. If voices started talking to me, with the way I'm built, I'd probably seek out psychiatric help.
I had no choice but to ask god for help, as I wasn't really getting the help I needed elsewhere. when one is drowning, one will take whatever life preserver is offered.
Even a picture of a life preserver drawn on paper, apparently.
What if a fundamentalist christian dies and finds out, say, Islam is correct. They're going to feel guilty for slandering them, stereotyping them and trying to run them out of the country. We can all play a version of this scenario.
You should check out Rowen Atkinson's skit " Toby, the Devil". I think it is hilarious and I'm a Christian.
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I don't think its really their place to say. I think God is love, and whatever hell you put yourself into is the result of separation from love. Its not really a punishment but a consequence. Simply not believing in a specific anthropomorphic construct of God isn't what puts you into hell. hell is a mentality and a state of ones spirit, in which we are uncompassionate and unloving. I don't really believe hell to be an eternal punishment either. Love conquers everything, including hell.
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I have happened to notice this topic and as a Christian myself I thought I would a least try to respond to this matter,as best I can at least.I want to mention as well that I do not intend to bring any offense and I do not intend to debate,but seeing the above topic and being a Christian myself I wanted to clarify the nature of my faith,in an effort to respond to your message.I do not intend to prove my faith or disprove anyone's beliefs but to respond to your query from my perspective as a Christian.
Your are right to say if a person is truly good God would not condemn them to hell,as the bible declares God is just,but the problem according to the bible is that no human is truly good.Sin separates us from God,God is perfectly good,to sin is to miss the mark of his holiness.According to the bible when humanity was originally made we were without sin,the first humans were able to be in God's direct presence.God made humanity in his own image which means we have free will,we can reason,we have emotions,we have awareness,rather than being mindless automatons that followed programming.Because we have a will of our own,we can choose to go our own way.When the first humans choose of there own free will to disobey a direct command from God they sinned.Because they sinned they offended God,because God is just he must punish sin.
Sin separates from God,God is Just,he must punish sin because he is just.
Once the first humans sinned,they were separated from God,that separation changed our nature from a sinless one,to a sinful one,by default we rebel against God,because that is our nature,our sin separates us from God and because we naturally rebel against him we can't save ourselves,our default nature is evil not good,hell is the ultimate separation from God and it is a place of punishment,God must punish sin,in our natural condition we do not truly seek God because we hate him,thus we are condemned,bad news indeed.The good news or "Gospel" however is that God wants to be with us,he does not want to condemn us to hell.Since we naturally rebel against God and can't save ourselves,God came to save us,because we can't save ourselves.Jesus is God in the flesh,he came to save us from our sins not to condemn us.Jesus became a human being,unlike us he is sinless because he is God and God is sinless,he is the only sinless man.Because God must punish sin because he is just,and because he also does not want to condemn us,he became a man to take the punishment for us,because we offended an infinite being an infinite punishment is required,so Christ being God who is infinite can pay the infinite price.Since Christ is sinless and infinite,he was able to take our punishment for us,because he is a sinless man and because he is God who is infinite,unlike us.God came to save us because he loves us,but he must punish sin,because he is just,Christ paid our price for us,being both man,yet sinless and infinite because he is God.He willingly took our punishment for us because he loves us and wants to save us,so we can be reconciled to God.
Since only Christ can take our punishment and since he did we can be reconciled to God based on his perfect payment for our sin.Not one of us is truly good by default,even our best actions are tainted by selfishness,because of our default evil nature.Salvation is a gift none of us deserve,but its offered to us all because God loves us.Christ is the only way because only he could pay for our sin and only he can change us,because we reject him by default and we can't truly undo our nature,our default nature is sinful thus we sin.
Christ promises salvation to all who believe in him,since only he could pay for our sin he is the only way.
All who truly believe in Christ and trust in him for forgiveness have all sins past,present,future,forgiven based on Christ's perfect payment on our behalf,salvation is a gift,it can be accepted or rejected but only though Christ can we be forgiven.
Since we naturally reject God,only God can change us.We Christian's are commanded to spread the Gospel,because though it God changes people.The Gospel is apart of the bible which is God's word to us,though it he can change people,though it is ultimately God who changes people,his word,the bible is the primary means of doing that,thats why we share it to other people in the hopes God will change people and enable them to accept him,since our default nature is hostile to him.Christians are supposed to share the word in the hopes of saving people,we are supposed to do it out of love and we are not to force people to accept it,but to share it with people and to warn them what will happen if they reject Christ,again ultimately its God who saves but its though his word that he drawls people, thats why we share it,because we want people to be saved but some do it for the wrong reasons or the wrong way.I once again do not intend offense,or to prove my faith,but to clarify what we believe and why we want people to believe in Christ.
Some Christians think that all you need to do to be guaranteed an eternal afterlife full of unimaginable bliss is to believe certain dogma regardless of how good of a person you were. If you don't believe said dogma, even though it is patently unbelievable, you will suffer an eternal afterlife of unimaginable agony regardless of how good of a person you were. No all loving God would preside over such a system. Some people, like me, cannot genuinely believe the dogma because it is so illogical and ridiculous. Should we be punished for this? I would believe it if I could. I would never be depressed or anxious about anything because I would be looking forward to my inevitable blissful and eternal afterlife.
"For dust you are, and to dust you will return".
The above is what happens to those who don't accept Jesus gift of his sacrifice buying back their own lives at the time of his second coming.
Hell is just another word for Sheol, Hades, the grave, just because man has changed the meaning of the word hell to mean a place of torture, doesn't mean that God is a torturer who will torture good people, his original judgement stands, the punishment for sin is death, not torture.
Everybody who dies prior to Jesus second coming without having accepted Jesus in their lives, gets judged at judgement day as to whether they did good or bad. Christians don't get judged as Jesus already paid the price of their sin with his death.
My main question would be - an Atheist doesn't believe in God and therefore also wouldn't believe in Heaven. How can one go somewhere that they themselves don't believe exists? So I guess the other place would be Hell or nothingness.
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