When you heard the allegations that prisoners in Iraq were tortured were you horrified?

Question

I believe that most good hearted people condemn torture of any kind, even for brief periods. If this is the case how does religion get away with teaching eternal torture for those who think differently?

Answer 1

To expand on Jack B's point:

Most believers -- at least the ones I've known -- don't actually believe what they've been told to believe. They don't even believe what they think they believe.

When you ask them point-blank, "You do realize, don't you, that your faith requires you to kill me?" they're taken aback. They insist that's not true. You show them the passage(s) in scripture; they're not convinced. You ask them what else those teachings could possibly mean; they have no answer. Gradually, reluctantly, they have to agree with the premise.

And they're not at all happy about it.

I think the only way that churches can keep people coming back, is to gloss over the most shocking and repugnant aspects of their dogma -- in other words, they allow and even encourage their followers to cherry-pick those teachings that they're comfortable with, and ignore the rest.

Answer 2

I am a Christian and don't believe in that. Hell is mentioned in the bible with no definition but a burning rubbish heap. No where in the bible does it say that God will torture anyone especially for eternity. Revelations says the beast and the dragon will be punished forever but for people it says if you didn't believe in Jesus you die after you die. You are thrown into the lake of fire and die the "second death". I have heard that one of the popes made up hell being a place where men are eternally tortured. Good question.

Jack Jack, when will you learn that you can't put us Christians all in a nice little box?

Answer 3

Yes, no one deserves to be treated worse than most people would even treat an animal.

They get away with teaching eternal torture because for some reason most never question the statement that that particular deity is always above and beyond the rules and morals everyone else lives by. A very good example of "do as I say and not as I do....."

Answer 4

An extream response must be imposed to counter their brutality(sawing peoples heads off and what not)like it or not but its in man kinds nature to operate off the eye for an eye system.If you feed a vicious dog you will still get bitten, but if you shoot the dog, no chance of getting beaten.If you cannot have respect then fear is an acceptable second best.War is brutal,its about killing nothing else really(sure there are noble reasons behind this killing)but it is still killing.We need abandon the ideas of humane warfare, the two words dont even belong in the same sentence much less on a battlefield

Answer 5

As a former Christian, I can tell you right now that every Christian on here will say, "People choose it themselves by rejecting God."

They have had this drilled into them so much that they don't even think about it. I know; I used to be one of them.

Edit: I see that nearly everyone has just read the headline of your question, and not really noticed what you're really asking.

Edit2: Aw, Kayne, I mean the majority, not the cool ones, like you.
*hanging head*

Answer 6

Not at all. Just slightly horrified that they would deny it as much as they did. War is hell and information is vital to the success of our troops.

And speaking of hell... religion doesn't teach eternal torture for thinking different. People who make ridiculous generalizations and invent fake questions to spread them make R&S into a hell. It's an eternal torture of the narrow minded.

"Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country." -George C. Scott as Patton

Answer 7

To answer the first question - maybe I'm seriously jaded or a serious pessimist, but I wasn't surprised in the least, nor shocked. I basically expected that would happen.

The second question - I cannot answer that- I don't understand the mindset.

Answer 8

I'm told that we chose to be tortured for all eternity so it isn't God's fault - or some such nonsense.

Answer 9

I guess torture is a Godly thing...that's another reason to become or stay an atheist.

Answer 10

Horrified? No. Disappointed that it had not been done in a professional manner? Yes. Those who were punished because of the way it was handled, deserved it.