the million dollar question to all the atheist?

Question

i am a christian but i don't believe condemning any one. i have enough sins of my own without telling you that u might have some. and the fact that i personally don't believe in a hell. but why do u say that Christians are forcing there religion down yor throats? and then come in here where u know Christians and other religions gather and try to denounce their faith? are u not doing the same thing to them ? and don't try to use the cop out well this a religion and spiritualty forum. that's right it but as atheist u don't have a god there for u don't belong here. so why can't u just let us be ?

BTW the JW ring my door bell all the time to and tell me i will be in hell to so don't feel bad lol

Answer 1

Nothing personal. but the fact you claim to be a Christian and not believe in hell rather baffles me. When YOUR God, Jehovah is very clear in YOUR KJV hell is very real.
How can you explain this away?

False religionists have hatched the "no-hell" plot to gain adherence to their movements. Because multitudes--even 70 percent of the preachers-no longer believe or like to even consider that such a place exists, a new group can grow quickly if they, discount the claims of the Holy Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ by preaching pleasing platitudes which cater to rebellious minds. But Romans 3:4 says, Let God be true, but every man a liar. I don't care if every human being or preacher says, "I do not believe it." When I can find it 162 times in my New Testament, I will believe it! It is the Word-we must believe it!
A popular trend today is to take the Hebrew words sheol and the Greek words hades and gehenna and state that they all mean the grave, though they are translated "hell" in the Word of God in the majority of instances. Let's take the Old Testament Hebrew word sheol. Why would God have to use this word to picture a grave when the Hebrew word queber logically depicts and portrays it? Consider the following five points in the Old Testament:

1. The body never goes to sheol but goes to queber 37 times. Why? Because queber is the grave for bodies and sheol is the place for departed spirits.
2. Sheol is never on the face of the earth but queber is located there 32 times. Why? Because graves are on the earth. Sheol, the place for departed spirits, is in some other realm of God's creation.
3. Man never puts another man into sheol but he does put a man into a queber 33 times. Why? Because man has the power to put other men into graves but does not have the power to put souls into sheol.
4. Man never digs or makes a sheol but he makes and digs a queber six times. Why? Because man has the power to make a grave but he does not have the power to make a sheol for departed spirits.
5. Man never speaks of a man as touching sheol, but he touches a queber five times. Why? Because, again, it is a grave on the earth and he has the power to touch it. But he has no power to do anything about sheol, the place for departed spirits.
To look at all the Old Testament instances involving sheol would take months of study. Besides, Christ has brought to light, life, and immortality-that which has to do with a never-dying soul-through the gospel or the New Testament (see 2 Timothy 1:10). Therefore, let's study hades and gehenna and see if they mean the grave or the place of eternal suffering.

You may ask, "Why did the Lord Jesus use two words-hades and gehenna? Are there two places?" Yes. Do you wish to know why?

Let me illustrate it this way: All of us know the difference between a local jail and a penitentiary. If a man is taken in a crime, he is not put into the penitentiary until he has had a trial. When he has had his trial and is found guilty, he is transferred to the penitentiary. Get this next statement, for it is so important to a direct understanding of the Bible subject of hell. When Jesus uses the word hades, He is referring to the local jail, the place where the sinner is held until the judgment morning. Then, at Judgment Day, all sinners come out of the local jail (hades), appear before the Judge, are found guilty, and then transferred to gehenna, the final penitentiary for souls.

Let me also add that the term gehenna is synonymous with the Lake of Fire. Revelation 20:13, 14: The sea gave up the dead which were in it: and death and [hades-that is the Greek word for hell] delivered up the dead ...And death and hell [hades] were cast into the lake of fire [gehenna]. This is the second death. l repeat that hades is the local jail and, gehenna, the final penitentiary. Any sinner who dies, even at this hour, does not go to gehenna, but to hades, where the rich man is located (see Luke 16:23). At Judgment Day, he comes out of hades, meets Christ at the trial, and then is transferred to the final penitentiary of lost souls--gehenna.

Let's consider eleven instances Christ uses in the New Testament to depict and describe hades--the temporary local jail.

Matthew 11:23: And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell. That is the Greek word hades, where the rich man of Luke 16:23 is located.

Matthew 16:18: Thou art Peter, and upon this rock l will build my church; and the gates of hell [hades] shall not prevail against it.

Luke 10:15: And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell [hades].

Luke 16:22, 23: The rich man also died, and was buried: And in hell [hades] he lifted his eyes, being in torments.

Acts 2:27: Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell [hades].

Acts 2:31: His soul was not left in hell [hades].

1 Corinthians 15:55: O death [hades], where is thy victory. Revelation 1:18: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell [hades] and of death.

Revelation 6:8: Death and Hell [hades] followed with him.

Revelation 20:13, 14, Death and hell [hades] delivered up the dead which were in them ...And death and hell [hades] were cast into the lake of fire.

Plain isn't it? After sinners were judged, death and hades were cast into the final penitentiary-gehenna--synonymous with the Lake of Fire.

Gehenna differs from hades in that gehenna is a place where there are degrees of suffering. After one is judged, after he has been examined as to how much light he experienced, how often he heard the gospel, and rejected it, he is assigned to degrees of punishment in the final penitentiary. Romans 2:5 proves this statement, After thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up [stores up, saves up] unto thyself wrath... [administered in gehenna, the penitentiary].

Gehenna is used by Christ 12 times:

Matthew 5:22: Whosoever shall say Thou, fool, shall be in danger of hell [gehenna] fire. Let us put the cultists substitute there--grave--for they say hell is the grave. Jesus would then be saying, "Sinners shall be in danger of grave fire." That must be strange fire in the grave-I have never heard of it, have you! So Jesus must not be talking about a grave.

Matthew 5:29, 30: And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell [gehenna]. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it, from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell [gehenna].

Matthew 10:28: And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather, fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [gehenna].

Matthew 18:9: And if thine eye offend then, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better, for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire [gehenna].

Matthew 23:15: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte [convert], and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell [gehenna] than yourselves.

Matthew 23:33: Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell [gehenna]?

In Mark 9:43-47, Jesus says, if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell [gehenna], into the fire that never shall be quenched:

Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy, foot offend thee, cut it of: it is better for thee to enter half into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell [gehenna], into the fire, that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eves to be cast into hell [gehenna] fire.

Every time Jesus mentions this place, gehenna, He always says it is the place where the worm dieth not and the fire is never quenched (see Mark 9:44, 40, 48). Do not let some cultist tell you this is the grave when the Word of God makes it explicitly clear that this is a place where there is agony, suffering, burning, where the memory dies not, and where the fires never cease.

Luke 12:5: I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell [gehenna]; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

Then in James 3:6, He says, The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell [gehenna].

We discover there are eleven passages concerning hades, and twelve passages concerning gehenna. Hades is the local jail where the sinner awaits the judgment morning. At that time he comes out, is judged, and then is transferred to gehenna. Do not let any false religionist, any cultist, tell you that is merely a grave. Hear me, my friend. When Jesus stood on this earth, He pointed to the Valley of Hinnom. In the Old Testament it was a place of sacrifice to pagan gods. In the New Testament it became the garbage dump. The fire burned 24 hours a day to get rid of all the refuse, and Jesus said that hell was going to be like the fires at the Valley of Hinnom.

Now.. If your using a KJV, How can you disclaim the Word of God as not Truth?
.
.Ryan. Backup and read what you just wrote. You can't understand why a atheist doesn't believe in God, when you yourself by the admission of your own confession, don't believe in a hell that YOUR own Jesus Christ preached 162 times and said it is very real.
You just gave testimony that you yourself do not believe in the whole Bible. hellooo?

My friend, an atheist would be dumb to follow you in a false teaching and false doctrine. You don't even believe in the Word of God yourself.
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Answer 2

Why are we here? Your question is the answer. Your question is directed to us, as are many on this site. Are we to just sit here and not answer them?
When theists stop asking questions of us...or making their own rude comments, perhaps we will go away.
Oh yes...the "forcing your religion down our throats crap...", how would you as a Christian feel if everywhere you turned things were about satan, (or something you find offensive). You woke from your nights rest....and someone outside your home shouts to you, "Satan bless you."
You stop off at your local coffee shop and you pay the lady behind the counter with money that says, "In satan we trust". You head to work and hear people mocking someone for their Non-beliefs in the almighty and just, satan.
your children have to say the words "one nation, under satan" everyday in school. Would that get your christian ire up?
Now..please, don't get offended or defensive. YOU posed this question, not i. I am just trying to let you see, OUR perspective, which you asked for.
My BEST friend is a Christian, we talk about religious issues/Atheist issues, etc. all the time without judging or insulting each other. I will conceed and say that, yes there are a lot of Atheists that like to bash Christian or all relilgion as a whole. BUT there are also MANY Christians that love to scream, "Your going to hell!!" to us Atheists.
I think for the most part, we are all a bit sore because the feelings of animosity between us..are quite justifiably mutual.

pitty huh?

Answer 3

Not all the atheists are trying to correct Christians. Only some of them are; it's a hobby of theirs. I'm an atheist, and I don't do it, but years ago I sometimes would.

Magian religions involve a "leap of faith." Either you are willing to make that leap, which really means suspend your judgment while accepting a wild, unsupported claim as truth, or you aren't willing. And whatever a Christian might tell you about science supporting faith, it just isn't true. More lies are told by people who sincerely believe them than by people who know that they are being maliciously false.

The atheists who pursue the hobby of correcting Christians feel the impulse that I feel when, for example, I set out to correct the mistaken belief that Mars would be close enough to Earth tonight to be larger or brighter than the moon. It just wasn't true, and I knew it because I'm familiar with the math of celestial mechanics.

The difference between my trying to correct these believers in a fictional very close Mars-Earth approach on 27 August 2006, and another atheist trying to correct false Christian supernatural beliefs, is that my job has a definitive test by which the truth can, without a doubt, become known. Tonight was the night that Mars was, according to the myth, supposed to do its thing of being bigger and brighter than the moon... and it's nowhere close. It's on the other side of the Sun, where my math has said it would be all along.

NOW the myth believers will abandon the myth and believe science. But they held on to their myth to the last possible moment; they wouldn't have believed me even yesterday!

Most of those gullible people still have not learned the most fundamental and important lessons, including:

Belief does not constitute a way to measure reality.

Math is superior to myth.

A false assertion does not become "more true" simply because it is trusted, believed in, held in high regard, or often repeated.

No, indeed no, the majority of people who were beguiled by the myth of a close Mars approach tonight are still likely to accept "on faith" the next astronomical hoax that they hear. No matter how clear and well-informed a scientific explanation is, people will always prefer their cherished myths. That is why magian religions, including Christianity, linger into modern times.

Christian doctrine sidesteps this definitive test in the manner described in Matthew 25: "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." Keep on believing, in other words, as the days pass into years, as the years become centuries, as the centuries become eons, and Jesus keeps on NOT APPEARING. Are you being "faithful"? Perhaps. But that doesn't mean that you're not also being a sucker.

Christian theologians have had two thousand years in which to find themselves wiggle room when pressed for evidence that God exists. We're not to tempt God: an obvious evasion. We're to observe "God's handiwork" in His creation: an obvious a circular argument. But these dodges satisfy the Christians emotional need to avoid cognitive dissonance, and the atheist trying to wake them up can do no more than embarrass them a little.

I got tired of that game a long time ago. Go to church and be happy. It doesn't bother me at all, as long as I don't have to pay anything or live by your rules.

Answer 4

Questions posted here are both quantitative and qualitative. Non-believers and people of faith both come here looking for answers about a viewpoint they don't understand, as well as further knowledge from those whose viewpoint they do. Yahoo does not provide a separate forum for atheists, humanists, and the like, nor should they, given the inevitable overlap in these areas of inquiry. That does beg the question, that if such a forum was provided, would you, as a Christian, feel any constraint in answering the questions there? For that matter, why don't you post your questions in the Christianity section, rather than here in an area intended for people of all beliefs? If what you are looking for is the reassurance of a community of like-minded people, rather than a genuine interchange of ideas and information, may I suggest that you seek your comfort elsewhere? I suspect you'd be happier, if not particularly wiser.

Answer 5

Some Christians - but not all - try to force their religion on Atheists. Some Atheists - but not all - try to force their beliefs on Christians.

By assuming that all members of both groups always behave certain ways, you have demonstrated bias on your part.

You only see what the people who happen to post here are saying.

As far as this being a "Religion" section and that atheists "don't belong here..."

Says who? You? Who do you think you are? The First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States gives unconditional freedom of speech to everyone in this country. We can say whatever we want, wherever we want, whenever we want.

This means that if we have an issue or thought on Religion and Spirituality, we are free to post it here. We do not need your permission.

Now, why don't you join that segment of the Christian population who doesn't try to force their beliefs on Atheists, and let us be? Those of us who don't force atheism on you deserve that consideration.

Answer 6

This is Yahoo answers, not a religion and spirituality forum - that is merely a category for QUESTIONS, not the kind of people who wish to view it. I personally have never tried to convert anyone, but I do readily rebutt debate my point, especially to those bigots who don't even understand their own religion, let alone evolution, and then think they're right in debating it. I'm yet to meet a Christian who has put forward a VALID and SENSICAL to their argument of a god and Creationism.

That's the difference: the majority of Christians' debate is centred on "because there IS a God, there has to be, therefore I'm right".

Answer 7

Yes, I chose to be here. I can choose to leave. What I haven't chosen is for faith to be legislated into the secular government under whose laws I am required to live. Religion, religious belief, practice, worship, and religious followers EFFECT MY LIFE, so why should you consider this "the believers place" when I have as much of a reason and right to ask about and discuss the subject as anyone?

"as atheist u don't have a god there for u don't belong here."

Religion and Spirituality effect my life regardless of my belief or lackthereof. This section isn't designed for people who've already made up their minds and have nothing to question, no curiosities to explore, no thoughts and opinions they'd like to discuss and debate and challenge.

This is a place to discuss the SUBJECT of Religion and Spirituality. It's not a meeting place EXCLUSIVELY for the Religious and Spiritual. This isn't a church, this isn't a club, and this isn't just for believers. This is a DISCUSSION forum for anyone interested in the subject.

Answer 8

Why am I here? I stuck "atheist" into the search feature. You have a question for an atheist....

All the questions containing the term "atheist" are in "Religion and Spirituality". And it's mostly Christians asking. I do want to say you're least rude I've seen so far.

Hope that Christian thing works out for you...

Answer 9

Jehovah's Witnesses do not even believe in the pagan concept of hellfire, and they certainly do not go from door-to-door telling householders that the unrepentant are condemned to hell!

Another common misconception is that Jehovah's Witnesses supposedly go from door-to-door because they feel it is their duty to get a householder to "convert" or "change his mind". In fact, Jehovah's Witnesses would go from door-to-door even if there were no hope that anyone would change their religion, or even if no one would listen to them!

That is because Jesus Christ specifically assigned the house-to-house ministry to the Christian congregation, with no regard for specific results.

(Luke 10:1,2) After these things the Lord designated seventy others and sent them forth by twos in advance of him into every city and place to which he himself was going to come. 2 Then he began to say to them: “The harvest, indeed, is great, but the workers are few. Therefore beg the Master of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.

Jehovah's Witnesses are trained to direct attention to the bible, and move on when their message is unwanted. Since each congregation in the United States tries to call at every home in its territory at least twice each year, there is strong motivation for them to move on where little interest is shown. Also, the Scriptures help the Witnesses to expect little interest from most:

(2 Timothy 4:3-5) For there will be a period of time when they will not put up with the healthful teaching ...and they will turn their ears away from the truth, whereas they will be turned aside to false stories. You, though, keep your senses in all things, suffer evil, do the work of an evangelizer, fully accomplish your ministry.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/library/jt/index.htm
http://watchtower.org/library/w/2002/7/15/article_01.htm

Answer 10

You seem to be confusing ALL christians and ALL atheists with the few that argue here.

What is really happening is its a mix of some argumentative, some genuinely inquisitve, ohh, and dont for get those that are justpassing by and get dragged in.

Why come to a religion and spiritualuty forum??, well it isnt, not just that, the questions appear in the main page list, so dont expect to have a cosy little enclave

Answer 11

The day they change the name of this forum to something like "Christians Only" is the day you, or anybody else, will have any grounds whatsoever for bitchin' about who posts comments here, and the nature of those comments.

In the meantime, you really need to stop acting like some jumped up little junk yard dog yapping in an effort to establish it's own personal territory.

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

I promise I won't beg you to stay.

Christians? LOL

I've shat 'em.