Why do atheist get so defensive when you mention hell as a possible eternal destination?

Question

I don't understand why people feel the need to defend something they don't even think exists? How can you feel condemend by a God you don't beleive in or a heaven or hell that you consider a "myth"? Why spend so much energy defending something that innately you refuse to accept as a possibility?

For Clarity: I don't condemn anyone to hell..I, myself was condemned. I don't claim any authority, I, myself sit under the ultimate authority. (I) don't say anything. God's word proclaims the truth. And finally, A loving God doesn't want us to go to hell, that's why he sacrificed his most precious son..because he loves us.

Answer 1

They know deep down inside it's the Truth, and yet they are in denial because that would mean they would have to take personal responsibility and answer to a higher power. That's hard to do when you are full of Self and Human Pride. They don't want to hear the Truth. Romans 1:19,20

Answer 2

Atheists don't get defensive about mentions of hell. We don't believe in hell. What you are probably seeing is people taking offense at your attitutude.

If somebody tells me that if I don't believe as they believe Santa will not bring me any presents this year I do not get defensive. I am reasonably confident based on the available evidence that there is no Santa. The threat is hollow. What might annoy me is the smugness and maliciousness of someone who is taking delight that their invisible friend will punish me if I disagree.

The image of a horrible place of terrible suffering for all those who think differently brings great pleasure to many true believers. The sort who believe that their god is a bully who would punish eternally all non-believers tend to annoy me greatly. They are not only simplistic, they are perpetuating the darker, more psychologically warped side of their faith. I think the likelihood that their imagined place of torment is real is just about zero. But the chances that they themselves are offensively judgmental and smug are well over 90%.

Answer 3

because as i have heard many times, most people think they are a "good" person, and for someone to say they are going to hell must mean they aren't a good person.
What I wonder is "good" by who's standard?
I don't think Christians divide it into "i am good, i goto heaven, you are bad, you goto hell", the religion simply states that you have a choice to make and each way has it's own consequence.
Just as in daily life we make choices... you can eat and live, or not and die.... you can abide by your companies dress code and have a job, or not and get fired.... you can do your chores and not get in trouble, or don't do them and be punished
God made us out of love, and wanted us to love Him, that is why He gave us free will. If He just made a bunch of zombies to walk around do everything perfect, then what is the point, but if you make something that chooses to love you isn't that better?
I know some Christians can be overzealous and overly opinionated making people think we are all a bunch of crazy "bible thumpers" who think everyone who isn't perfect is going to hell, but in actuallity Christians are sinners and just as imperfect as everyone else.
I only wish people could see that Christians aren't trying to judge them or condemn them, they are only concerned for them. If more people thought of it that way, and realized that if someone thinks you are in harms way and do nothing about it what kind of person does that make them?
We are all a little missunderstood, and always will be, but a little more compassion on both sides would make things less frustrating for all.

Answer 4

Probably the same reason we Christians get all agitated and defensive when atheists say, "There is no God."

At some level, we feel threatened by it.

(All faith involves some risk, and nothing can be clearly known by the limited human intellect, so their challenge makes us reconsider whether we might be wrong.)

Atheists probably act out of annoyance as well, since they're tired of hearing Christians throw the same comments at them time and again without actually communicating.

Some of them thus are getting back at us; others are enjoying pushing our buttons and watching us dance.

I think things would go a little easier if we focused on sharing our experiences of God, not trying to win arguments.

Answer 5

I am Agnostic, not Atheist...but I don't see Atheists getting defensive because there clearly is only the Hell you make of your life in the here and now. Damnation is that which Society at large inflicts upon those that live Hellish lives of conceit, deceit, thievery, hatred, predjuice, etc. All crimes in the eyes of Humanity and God (if there is one) with punishment determined in the HERE AND NOW by governing authority. There is no ablosution (do your time if your're bad and live with whatever you did on your mind till you die). Humanity and society don't have to be so forgiving. PEACE!

Answer 6

I think that you are misinterpreting profound annoyance as defensiveness. The reason for that annoyance is mainly that it is very depressing to be constantly reminded that the world-view of 87% of the USA population is derived directly from the myths, superstitions, fairy tales and fantastical delusions of an ignorant bunch of Bronze Age fishermen and wandering goat herders, which are declared to represent some kind of cosmic 'TRUTH'. Gems like:

*  a universe in which all that exists are the earth and heaven
*  solid 'firmmament' structure (the sky) seperating the earth from heaven (terrarium earth)
*  talking snakes and donkeys
*  demons chased out of people and into pigs
*  friendly spirits
*  evil spirits
*  walking on water
*  multiplying loaves and fishes
*  people raising from the dead
*  stopping the sun in its tracks
*  parting seas
*  people being bodily sucked up into heaven (which, by the way, lies on the 'other side' of the sky)
*  world-wide flood that drowned the earth to a depth of 40 feet above the tallest mountain
*  creating people from dust bunnies and ribs
*  magical tree of knowledge
*  god speaking from a burning bush
*  ritual cannibalism, by eating god in the form of a cracker.

Is it any wonder that sane, rational people get annoyed, hearing such nonsense? It is quite evident that in a sane world, if someone were to go around asserting that ANY of those things represented an innate 'truth' pertaining to the nature of existence and reality, that person would end up being locked up in the 'State Farm for the Funny'. Oddly, though, MASS insanity seems to convey some sort of automatic immunity along with it, since hundreds of millions of people assert ALL of these things to be true, and nobody thinks anything of it (well... SOME of us do). Not only are these people NOT locked up, but it is considered to be bad manners... politically incorrect... 'intolerant'... to even call attention to the obvious insanity of these ideas. Yet approximately 87% of the adult population of the USA is INFECTED by what seems to be some sort of insidious brain virus, that is transmitted in the form of information.

Christianity is essentially a criminal business enterprise... in fact, it is the world's longest running and most successful Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) scam. The product they are selling is 'salvation'. FORTUNATELY, it only works on those who are gullible enough to fall for it. UNfortunately, THAT accounts for about 87% of the population of the USA. (There are a lot more people who DON'T know how to think properly than there are people who DO know how to think properly.) That is why there are a lot more religious people in the USA than there are 'Free-thinkers'... including Atheists. Also, Christians are generally too dense to realize that proselytizing (spreading the 'good news') is a key element of the Christian MLM MARKETING PLAN, which was instituted after Christianity lost the political power that had previously allowed them to simply torture and kill anybody who did not comply. Now, they attempt to just pester people to death, through persistent obliviousness and obnoxiousness.

Answer 7

Why would God want to send ANYBODY to hell? He's a loving God. Would a loving God place high demands on people and them punish them for not being able to live up to them by sending them to hell? I think not. It sounds like a needy, vengeful God that would do that. I don't know about you, but God is greater than that...so hell must be a myth of man.

Answer 8

The answer to your question lies in how people apply "the mention of Hell as a possible eternal destination". My personal experience suggests these individuals are only even mentioning Hell due to their implication that you will be going there (as opposed to themselves, since they are "right" and will be entering Heaven).

Whether we're actually going to Hell isn't the issue ... the issue is someone (often without being invited to input) condemning us as people ... it's an insult and it deserves to be treated as such.

Answer 9

Defensive is the wrong word. It's *irritating* to try to have a rational dialogue with people who think everyone but them is going to hell just because they read it in some ancient collection of stories.

I don't know any atheists who "defend" hell. None of them believe there is such a place. And I don't know any atheists who "feel condemned by God." None of them believe in gods.

Answer 10

It has less to do with eternity than with earthly concerns. You are expressing a very low opinion of them as people when you say they're going to hell. You are saying that you think they ought to be tortured for all eternity, away from "good" people. I am a Pagan, not an atheist, but I've found that when Christians threaten non-Christians with "you're going to hell," it has sort of the same intent as "Well, f*** you anyway."

Answer 11

Say the tables turn. You are the only believer in a world where their are hardly any others. And the majority is constantly telling you that what you feel is true, isn't. They constantly tell you that there is nothing. And yet you feel so strongly about what you believe to be true. Wouldn't you defend yourself? Wouldn't you get tired of people not accepting what you believe in is what you choose?