Hell-fire

[floo]

deleted

[Follower of Jesus]

I wouldn't describe it as burny burny (it is a rather childish description) but me. I believe it.

[floo]

I wouldn't describe it as burny burny (it is a rather childish description) but me. I believe it.

Don't you think a deity prepared to send people to burn for all eternity in a lake of fire, for nothing worse than mere unbelief, is an evil psychopath to say the very least?

[Follower of Jesus]

I wouldn't describe it as burny burny (it is a rather childish description) but me. I believe it.

Don't you think a deity prepared to send people to burn for all eternity in a lake of fire, for nothing worse than mere unbelief, is an evil psychopath to say the very least?

Ah the old 'God must be evil to send people to hell' chestnut. I do like it when non-Christians try new ways of disproving God but once in a while it is nice to hear the old classics.

Your question is easily answered by the way. As I am a Christian I therefore do not believe God to be evil. Since I already said that I believe non believers go to hell, obviously I don't think he is an evil psycopath.

Remember your original post said nothing about God sending them to hell.

Got anything original to say?

[OH MY WORLD!]

"the burny-burny place" Sure, go ahead and laugh about it, for now.

"And I say unto you my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
But I forewarn you whom you shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell, yea, I say unto you, fear him."   Luke 12: 4,5

[Hope]

Don't you think a deity prepared to send people to burn for all eternity in a lake of fire, for nothing worse than mere unbelief, is an evil psychopath to say the very least?

Floo, do you know where the idea of hellfire comes from?  And no, it doesn't start with Dante.

[ad_orientem]

Like FoJ I don't think I'd quite describe it in the way you have but yes, I do believe that all the unsaved will go to hell where they will suffer torment. The presence of God to the saved is blessed and to the unsaved torment. Moses says that "the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a burning fire" and the Apostle says to the Hebrews "our God is a consuming fire".

[Hope]

There are 5 passages in the Old Testament that refer to a place called Hinnom (later becoming Gehenna, and translated 'Hell' in English).  In each instance, this place was associated with the sacrificing of children by fire in connection with pagan rites - most likely to the Canaanite deity, Molech.  Jewish people would have been aware of the connotations associated with that place and would have appreciated the horror of the place.  It would probably have been a byword for horror and despicableness and used in an allegorical, pictorial sense by Jesus; after all, a lot of what he said was by the means of allegory and parable.

[floo]

I wouldn't describe it as burny burny (it is a rather childish description) but me. I believe it.

Don't you think a deity prepared to send people to burn for all eternity in a lake of fire, for nothing worse than mere unbelief, is an evil psychopath to say the very least?

Ah the old 'God must be evil to send people to hell' chestnut. I do like it when non-Christians try new ways of disproving God but once in a while it is nice to hear the old classics.

Your question is easily answered by the way. As I am a Christian I therefore do not believe God to be evil. Since I already said that I believe non believers go to hell, obviously I don't think he is an evil psycopath.

Remember your original post said nothing about God sending them to hell.

Got anything original to say?

Well of course the deity would be an evil b*stard if it sent people to hell for mere unbelief! Why would you think such a fate was reasonable?

[Rhiannon]

Well after reading that lot Christianity sounds a whole lot more attractive.   

[Aruntraveller]

As I am a Christian I therefore do not believe God to be evil. Since I already said that I believe non believers go to hell, obviously I don't think he is an evil psycopath.

I am trying to figure out how you are squaring that particular circle - but no, can't see it.

Do you think Hell is a punishment/bad place/ a place where the unsaved will suffer torment(ad-o's definition), what? A definition would perhaps help.

I can't see how God can simultaneously not be evil - and yet send unsaved souls to torment. That is quite a large chunk of humanity being tormented. You do know how strange all that sounds?

[floo]

Well after reading that lot Christianity sounds a whole lot more attractive.   

Doesn't it just! Although of course most mainstream Christians don't believe in the hell-fire garbage!

[Outrider]

So... God creates a system whereby people are not given proof, but have to rely on faith for a limited period under varying levels of hardship.

If, at the end of that temporary state, in the absence of conclusive evidence, they do not believe, they are condemned to an eternity of torture.

This, in your book, does not qualify as evil. Eternal torture for the crime of not accepting unverifiable assertions does not qualify as evil.

What the fuck does?

O.

[Hope]

Well of course the deity would be an evil b*stard if it sent people to hell for mere unbelief! Why would you think such a fate was reasonable?

But does the Bible say that he sends anyone anywhere?  Doesn't it say that individuals suffer, or enjoy, (depending on how you look at it) the consequences of their own choices?  Would an 'evil b*stard' of a God be one who overrode those choices made in life?

[OH MY WORLD!]

Mr. Out,
And you need to go gutter when asking a question?
I couldn't believe in God if He was subject to your human judgements. God is my judge and there is no higher authority.

[Hope]

And you need to go gutter when asking a question?

You what?

[trippymonkey]

And THAT answers your quest.... oh sorry it doesn't does it ??

[floo]

Well of course the deity would be an evil b*stard if it sent people to hell for mere unbelief! Why would you think such a fate was reasonable?

But does the Bible say that he sends anyone anywhere?  Doesn't it say that individuals suffer, or enjoy, (depending on how you look at it) the consequences of their own choices?  Would an 'evil b*stard' of a God be one who overrode those choices made in life?

I wasn't asking what the Bible had to say on the topic, I was asking Christians what they believed, which is often not one and the same!

[Outrider]

Well of course the deity would be an evil b*stard if it sent people to hell for mere unbelief! Why would you think such a fate was reasonable?

But does the Bible say that he sends anyone anywhere?  Doesn't it say that individuals suffer, or enjoy, (depending on how you look at it) the consequences of their own choices?  Would an 'evil b*stard' of a God be one who overrode those choices made in life?

Didn't that god create us? Didn't that god (presumably) create the place of torment? Didn't that god create the system whereby we end there by default of we don't accept unevidenced claims?

If I drag you to a cliff edge, hang you over the side by a thread and say 'if you struggle you'll fall', it doesn't make it a suicide.

O.

[OH MY WORLD!]

Hope,
Bless you if you really don't know what I meant by going gutter.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gutter-talk

[2Corrie]

The words of a psychopath?

"Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the sovereign LORD,
Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? " (from Ezekiel)

[Walt Zingmatilder]

I wouldn't describe it as burny burny (it is a rather childish description) but me. I believe it.

Don't you think a deity prepared to send people to burn for all eternity in a lake of fire, for nothing worse than mere unbelief, is an evil psychopath to say the very least?

So being an unbeliever wipes one's moral slate clean. Isn't that a parody of the Christian Gospel?

[Anchorman]

How many Christians on this forum believe that all the 'unsaved' are off to 'the burny-burny place' when they die? (I like that description Rhiannon )

-
Oh, look....yet another atheist post wondering aboiut hell......

[2Corrie]

a bit of a fixation I would say. why not search the scriptures?

[Leonard James]

a bit of a fixation I would say. why not search the scriptures?

For the very good reason that the scriptures, besides giving some good moral advice, contain much mythical nonsense that can mislead the undiscerning.