If you tell me that for my finite misdeeds, an omnipotent, loving God has prepared an everlasting fire for me, I'll tell you that you're an incoherent barbarian.
2006-07-31 14:07:19 · 22 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
"Let them believe" means "not criticize them for what they believe." Good grief, I'm not a Nazi.
2006-07-31 14:45:52 · update #1
And I, as a Christian, will agree with you. Hun, hell is not a Christian concept, it was added to the mix later, probably by the RCC. The last enemy to be destroyed is death, and the Revelator tells us that death AND HELL are BOTH thrown into the lake of fire, and destroyed. He calls this "the second death". Hell is the common grave of all mankind. "The second death" is the wages of sin...there is no coming back from that one. But the gift of God is eternal life.
"It is only when the ship is lost in the fog that it finds it necessary to blow it's horn..."
2006-07-31 14:18:13 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 6⤋
First of all, that loving God did not create everlasting fire for you. He made it for the devil and his angels. He (God) has provided a means for you to spend eternity with Him. The problem, you see, is that this universe is corrupt and decaying, so before God destroys it and everything in it to make a new creation, all of those whom He loves (that's you, me, and all of mankind) must choose our residence in eternity, either with Him or without Him.
In eternity, there are only two possible places to be. The one is with God, or heaven, the other is without God, or in hell with the devil and company.
It is not "pernicious, bigoted nonsense" to deliver a message of love on someone else's behalf. It is, however, foolish, ignorant and bigoted to dismiss the message because you either have a quarrel with the messenger(s) or you don't think the author of the message exists. It is even more-so to tell others who believe differently than you that they are "incoherent barbarians" when it is apparent you have not bothered to listen to the whole message!
2006-07-31 22:51:54 · answer #2 · answered by claypigeon 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Christians don't tell you anything - what Christ said in His Bible does say the lost will spend eternity in Hell. We did not just make that up - it is there, written in the scriptures - you people who think God is an all Loving God wont send anyone to Hell will be sadly mistaken - He made the Laws not man. Here is what Jesus told in Matthew:
Matthew 45 v44-46
"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
-------------------------
So it is not Christians who say this, but Christ himself:
Check out http://www.johnfourteen.com
Look at "Studies in the Bible"
and "Lessons from the Pulpit"
many answers to everyday life
can be found there.
2006-07-31 21:23:45 · answer #3 · answered by Gladiator 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why would anyone say that in the first place. I have already answered this question if a christian is telling you that you are going to a burning pit of fire then I would ask those people the following......
Are you supposed to tell me about the word in love? If they do not then they are embarrassing God as well as the rest of us. I turn on people that do that to non-believers.
2006-07-31 21:16:42 · answer #4 · answered by waeyeaw 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
And then they are going to quote their Holy Book at you and there will be some more talking past each other and you will both be all hot and red in a minute.
You let people believe what they want, mostly because you really can't stop them. You can't regulate faith, this is America, (or at least it is where I am) and freedom is messy. You can only regulate behavior. If some bigoted no-brain tried to set you on fire, we would have to stop that.
What I say to people who tell me I'm going to hell is, "Well I guess we'll see." Sometimes I say, "Well all my friends will be with me at least"
2006-07-31 21:19:46 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
We can't control what other believe or not...no matter how pernicious or bigoted. I would classify believing a loving God will consign people to everlasting fire as more ignorant than pernicious...
2006-07-31 21:22:53 · answer #6 · answered by keri gee 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Unfortunately most of them are die-hards and you will never change their minds. It will take something majorly earth - shattering for that.
It's their own rite of passage in the end, although I agree with what you're saying. It can be so frustrating and some of the stuff they come out with would almost make me cry to see so many people being led so ignorantly by the nose.
2006-08-01 00:14:23 · answer #7 · answered by debisioux 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If they want to believe it, that's their right.
That right ends when they start to try to affect others based on that belief.
I could believe the sky is purple and my dog is the reincarnation of Buddha. And if I lived in my happy little fantasy world for the next fifty years believing the sky is purple and my dog is the reincarnation of Buddha, it doesn't matter one iota to anyone else. I could even believe that anyone who DOESN'T believe the sky is purple and my dog is the reincarnation of Buddha is an ignorant sot who is going to be tortured forever by Fluffy the Cat. Who cares?
On the other hand, if I start going out and trying to make other people believe that the sky is purple or that my dog is the reincarnation of Buddha, or if I start trying to hurt people because my dog "told me to", then I'd be affecting others and it's no longer just my belief.
(And no, I don't believe my dog is the reincarnation of Buddha. SHE thinks that she's God, though...)
2006-07-31 21:15:09 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because everyone is entitled to freedom of belief. But no one has the right to impose their beliefs on another. But what you can do is to demonstrate via sound logic and evidence why you think someone's beliefs are nonsense. Let them bite the bullet of their own beliefs. You cannot stop people from believing nonsense, but you can help them to realise that what they are believing in is nonsense.
2006-07-31 21:15:43 · answer #9 · answered by Seraph 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO BELIEVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE.
I believe that is what you are saying. Try another approach please it is a free country and nobody is cutting your head off for it. Of course I assume you live in the USA.
Kind correcttion goes a long way
If there is some info you need to increase your understaning try
http://www.carm.org/resources.htm
2006-07-31 21:18:43 · answer #10 · answered by rapturefuture 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Unless what a person believes is causing harm to others, you have to let them believe what they do because if you don't then somebody can decide to outlaw what you believe too. We need the freedom, but within limits, so people cannot tell others what they have to believe.
2006-07-31 21:13:39 · answer #11 · answered by jakejr6 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋