Some Christians Shun Easter Celebrations

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Good for you So you got a lot in common with Bessie Braddock then

I had no clue who that was, but I looked her up, and she sounds like an amazing lady.

yep she was, spoke her mind & put a few people in there place. The good old years of UK politics long before the rise of the spin doctors.

Of course. It's a video done by Ray Comfort and his celebrity buddy Kirk Cameron. You may probably know Ray Comfort by the name banana man, lol.

In that video jail/prison is just an analogy for hell.

If children are old enough to have a conscience and know what they're doing wrong, they're probably old enough to go to hell, yes. But only God will decide.

I'm not the one who designed the Universe.

Don't shoot the messenger.

So did Pagans.

Missing the point. This isn't about whether or not children go to hell. This is about whether our limited sinful deeds are deserving of an eternal unlimited hell.

If a child who stole candy once isn't punished by being put in jail for life, then why should we limited beings be punished by being thrown into the pits of a hell that goes on forever and ever?

Is it unjust not to put the child in jail for life?

And no, I would never shoot you. Why would I? I used to be in a very similar spot to yours just a year back.

Right. Why should we be more forgiving of the folly of man than god is? Why should god be harsher in his justice for transient minor transgressions than man? Why should we have more mercy?

You can all go on asking "why why why?" about it for all eternity, but doing so won't change the facts.

It doesn't seem like a very intelligent response: to disagree with something just because you don't like it and prefer to argue that it shouldn't be so.

Sadly, on judgment day an individual will NOT be presented with the scenario s/he most approves of, or that which s/he submitted most philosophical arguments for. We will all face the same reality: heaven or hell. Forgiveness through Jesus Christ. or eternal punishment.

You can keep your comforting lie; I'll stick with my sobering truth.

Why are you running away like that, all_white? You can do much better.

I'm trying to help you out here by testing your faith with some good challenging questions. Do me a favor and give my questions a go.

I am amused by a religion that claims that man can not be good.
that sees the Torah as a trap and God as a trickster.
God in his infinite wisdom did not see fit to bless me with faith.
But if there is a hell I hope to see John Calvin Burning in it.
and if he is not I would prefer to burn there myself rather
than to spend eternity in heaven with a God soo base.

MCalavera, I am not "running away" from you, but you are mistaken if you think I wish to indulge in debate a la Ray Comfort. Whilst I greatly admire his zeal for evangelism, his persistence in engaging atheists in debate is not entirely biblical. I have no need or desire to answer your questions for you because my faith is not based on a blind lack of awareness of the points that you raise, quite the contrary: I am a compassionate human being just like the rest of you, and have knelt on my knees before God and raged and screamed tears of pain at him knowing that He is a God that is likely to be sending certain of my flesh and blood to hell. You think I have answers for you? I don't, only this, God's own answer: "nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why has thou made me thus?" i.e. We are his creation and he will do with us as he bloody well likes. I hate that answer, because I am still more man-centred than God-centred. We all, by nature, hate that answer. But I either accept it and submit my will to his, trusting that one day he will give me a new heart godly enough to understand, or I turn into a God-hating rebel. I went with plan A. So I don't have any more answers for you. Unlike most people on this thread, I don't make up my own doctrine. I just quote God's. And that's the only answer he has ever made public to address this issue, so it's all I can pass on to you in reply. :shrugs:

Sorry for the double post but my smartphone only lets me do mini posts. There's another biblical reference which, whilst not being an "answer" per se, is very sobering. In John chapter 6 Jesus teaches about election and many of his disciples don't like what he is saying. They leave him. The point at which they leave him ocurrs in John 6:66. Draw your own conclusions. Then Jesus looks round and says (I am now paraphrasing) what, you lot are still here? Aren't you leaving too? And good old Peter shrugs and says, well, who else is there to go to? Answer: nobody. And I'm in that camp. I'm not with the 666 God haters. I'm with the ones who stuck around, not because they always liked what Jesus had to say, but because if they walked away now they would have no God, no hope, and no eternal life. I'm not a Christian because everything about Christianity is nice; I'm a Christian because everything about Christianity is true. So "challenging" me about my faith will not have the desired result. I am not some blind person who has never noticed the objections you raise, whose faith will tumble the minute you point them out. I am a person who knows the truth. The whole truth. And accepting the objections you raise is something I have done already, and it only made my faith stronger, because I know I am following a real God, not one made up to suit my own desires. He defines himself. He's in control. That is both terrifying and comforting, depending on whether you choose to obey him or run away.

No, you don't make up your own doctrine.

You follow a doctrine someone ELSE made up.





Is that some kind of an insult, people thinking for themselves?

Correct. God made it up. And yes, I accept it. Not because of my objections, but in spite of them.
It is not an "insult" for people to reject Jesus and prefer to make up their own ideas. It is a decision. We are all free to decide. And that includes me. I am free to be a Christian and follow this God who is so abhorrent to you if I choose. Live and let live, right? Isn't that what you atheists are always saying? Don't push your beliefs on other people, and all that? It seems God-haters often don't apply their own demands to their treatment of others. They simply can't BEAR that someone is believing in this God who they hate so much, and they simply have to rush in and start persuading them to stop.

Well, it's true that I don't like that god that you worship. He reminds me too much of my own father except my father is not powerful enough to physically/psychologically harm every single person out there.

However, even if I don't like your god, this doesn't mean that you're being reasonable at all. You've chosen to avoid answering my questions and throw at us red herrings and vain declarations about your own faith. Ok, good for you, but if you want every single member here to take your claims seriously, then you need to be prepared to defend them and back them up when asked to.

Since you've admitted that you don't know all the answers that we all deserve to know, then this says something about your god. I no longer want to worship or honor a god who has no problem playing mind games with us.

Cheers.