do you also believe that his/her earthly life is worthless?
As an atheist, I am regularly informed that my soul will burn in hell for eternity, so naturally I'm curious about this.
2006-09-04 02:26:20 · 26 answers · asked by ? 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
@jeepwife4ever: You heard wrong.
2006-09-04 11:23:11 · update #1
Adults believing in fairy tales is bad in the evolutionary and social senses, but condemning ordinary men to an hypothetic hell is worse, for you cease to be a warden or a leader : you become, in a way, an executioner.
Better be an atheist of good will than a fundamentalist striving for perfection for the wrong reasons.
2006-09-04 04:03:30 · answer #1 · answered by par1138 • FCD 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
First of all, no one here can condemn your soul. Jesus will judge all mankind in the end. No one else has the right to do so. He offered us eternal life for believing in Him and leading a life that is pleasing to the Lord. The Lord knows what is in your heart and no one else can see that. Second, no life on this planet is seen as worthless in God's eyes or mine. If you exist, you have made a difference in the lives of others at some point in your life. I heard someone say that the extremely mentally disabled should be killed at birth to save everyone time and money. I was very offended by that statement. I coach Special Olympics and I have seen wheelchair bound participants who don't normally show any emotion smile after crossing the finish line (even if someone else pushed them). They were excited to simply compete - and that excitement inspired me to help them enjoy life through other opportunities. That smile changed my life for the good. Whether you are an atheist or a believer, you have changed someone's life during your lifetime - that makes you extremely worthwhile.
2006-09-04 09:34:47 · answer #2 · answered by TJMiler 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
My religion doesn't have a hell, so when someone says something about burning in hell, I just ignore it. There may be hell for some people, and that is fine. If they choose to spend their life worrying about eternal damnation, *shrugs*, so be it. I would rather spend my time on this earth enjoying my life, not worrying about what will happen to me after the fact. I hold onto my own morals, as long as I don't harm anyone in the process, goody for me. What you have to do is decide whether you are worried about another person's concept of damnation or not. If you do, okay then worry about it; if not, smile and live your life.
2006-09-04 09:40:00 · answer #3 · answered by kat g 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I am a christian and I do not consider any life (christian, athiest, agnostic, jewish, etc) to be pointless or worthless. But, just like it is my decision to believe in God, and believe in heaven, it is also your decision not to. I do not agree with it, but I accept the fact that it is your decision.
I have said and will say again, it is only my responsibility to tell people how they can know for sure that they will go to heaven when they die. It is not my responsibility to make them accept what I tell them. I will have to answer to God if I have the opportunity to tell them and don't. I will not answer to Him if that person rejects what I tell them. I do have to say though that it does hurt my soul when someone chooses not to accept it, because I do know what will become of them in the end, and I hate the thought of any person going through it.
Does this mean you are a bad person or that you are worthless? ABSOLUTELY NOT! And if you have had a christian tell you this, then they aren't much of a Christian. Christians are supposed to model their life off of Jesus' life and teachings. That is not what Jesus would have done.
2006-09-04 09:41:41 · answer #4 · answered by ktjokt 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I believe that a human soul can be condemned, but not by other humans, and not in this life. That's God's decision, and I'm happy to let it rest there. I feel it's safer there than in human hands.
The whole point of redemption is that no human life is worthless. A great price was paid for each of us.
2006-09-04 09:42:53 · answer #5 · answered by Contemplative Chanteuse IDK TIRH 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I believe your earthly life is at least as worthy as theirs. And more interesting, too, in my opinion. People who sign over their intellectual freedom to the predominant cult, mainly for a "get-out-of-hell-free card," are kind of boring to me.
2006-09-04 09:35:29 · answer #6 · answered by Halbert 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Christian
No ones life is EVER worthless. Hell is not an issue of worth, it's an issue of punishment for not believing that God is God.
For what it's worth, I don't believe in the classic definition of "hell" being a place where you are tortured and in agony forever. I don't believe that would be what a loving God would do. Your punishment for not believeing in God is to be put out of existence.
2006-09-04 09:41:00 · answer #7 · answered by edaily777 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Your life is not worthless to God. He created you with purpose. He created everyone with purpose, but sadly many never find it. The purpose of mankind is to reveal how wonderful He is, but that has become all messed up because we departed from him ("we" being the whole human race). We can know Him and experience Him. That's what He wants. He doesn't want anyone to go to hell. Sadly many people are insisting upon going to hell by refusing and rebelling against Him. If He can't do anything with you, if you refuse to work with Him, what is He going to do? He wants to bring peace and blessing to everyone's lives, but He needs people to cooperate with Him. Jesus Christ is the way.
2006-09-04 09:40:00 · answer #8 · answered by firebyknight 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
At Judgment, at the end, thoes thrown into the lake of fire, and die, can not be remembered by the saved, no one in heaven can remember that they ever existed. Even Satan himself will be forgoten, none will know anything about him anything he did, not even other angels will know of him!
yea that is kinda worthless!
2006-09-04 12:20:41 · answer #9 · answered by Grandreal 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Being too wise to buy into the idea of a god that condones the eternal suffering of billions of souls is your salvation, baby. What the blind see when they look at you is their own subconscious hatred and irreverence of "God".
2006-09-04 09:35:42 · answer #10 · answered by Sweetchild Danielle 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋