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by CDaws on November 3rd, 2006
What is a church pulpit used for?
by Answerbag Staff on April 23rd, 2010
| 7 people like this
How have religion and war coexisted for so lonnnnnnnnnnng together?Your thoughts please ?
by Bornabrit on May 18th, 2012
| 3 people like this
Does science spoil the fun of having religious beliefs?
by aldonoir on May 15th, 2012
| 1 person likes this
what do you know about freemasonary??????????
by helmont on May 17th, 2012
| 1 person likes this
God and Mother who is with God and God's angels will not remain with mortals when they die. Do you know the reason for God's decision?
by The Holy Spirit on May 18th, 2012
| 1 person likes this
You're reading If God (of whatever religion) made us all, why did he make some of us not believe in him?
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Comments
.sYmboL: The Bible refers to the fate of the unsaved with such fearful words as the following: "Shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:2), "Everlasting punishment" (Mathew 25:46), "Weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 24:51), "Fire unquenchable" (Luke 3:17), "Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish" (Romans 2:8,9), "Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord" (2 Thessalonians 1:9), "Eternal fire...the blackness of darkness for ever" (Jude 7,13) ... notice that MOST of the instances of "hell" above refer to it's ETERNALITY. If you disagree ... please provide sufficient references / evidence. Thank you.
by brian_griffith on January 4th, 2007
I can't provide any references or evidence because I'm not a religeous person. I will say that the bible shouldn't be unhoplessly believed since it was written by our lord's followers and not him. I'm not getting into a religeous fight...there's already too many of those...the point I'm trying to share is you should do what your natural law tells you to do.
"Some are born good, some are born evil and need to be taught how to be good, but most are born evil and need fear to operate."
If you are a good person, then you will be accepted into the afterlife you believe in. If you are not a good person, then simply following fear should not earn you a good afterlife. And if God if a 'perfect' entity, which every monotheism believes, then (S)He will not allow the temporarilly faithful into His/Her good hands.
by CDaws on January 5th, 2007
.sYmboL: I respect your approach ... I do, however, have a small disagreement with you that I would like to address ... you wrote "if you are a good person, then you will be accepted into the afterlife you believe in." ... does that mean that if you believe in something in THIS life ... it will be created and waiting for you in the NEXT life? That would be like saying "even though my hands are empty, I BELIEVE that there is $1,000,000 in them RIGHT NOW!" ... does believing that the $1,000,000 is there make the $1,000,000 REALLY there? NO! So why would millions upon millions of DIFFERENT and CONFLICTING ideas of the afterlife be made available for millions upon millions of different people?! I think that this is just a way of making everyone happy ... instead of taking a stand. BUT, I do appreciate your approach ... and your effort in responding to me! Thanks.
by brian_griffith on January 5th, 2007
There's a difference between physical matter and existence after mental decay. If you believe you will have a million in your hands after you die then perhaps your mind will make it real...but only in your mind ofcourse, since I didn't imply making the impossible possible. And you're right; it would be a belief just to make one be happy...what a crime. I still think it's better than having a constant war over faith.
by CDaws on January 5th, 2007
.sYmboL: No need to start a war. We are, however, debating over TRUTH ... which is of FIRST importance in the world! So, I enjoy it. Well, back to business ... "then perhaps your mind will make it real" if it is only in your mind ... IS IT REAL?! No! "it would be a belief just to make one be happy...what a crime." Actually, I would agree with you ... it WOULD be a crime! ... you see ... I wouldn't want to dream up a fantastic lie ... I would RATHER trust in a fantastic truth! Wouldn't you?! Do you think a human brain is capable of dreaming up anything that would be comparable to Heaven?! NO! Here is thing, HEAVEN IS REAL ... and the afterlife that you invent is FAKE!
by brian_griffith on January 5th, 2007
Then we're completely different. I'de rather live a lie and die ignorant then believe in a faith that promotes fear and severe punishments for almost everything we do. According to the bible's teachings, every one of us will be eternally damned anyway.
by CDaws on January 5th, 2007
sYmboL: You rather die ignorant and spend an eternity separated from God and His infinite love (hell) than to submit yourself to God and obey His commands and be rewarded with eternal fellowship with Him (accepting and following Jesus, Heaven)?! If so, then you are right ... "we're completely different."
by brian_griffith on January 5th, 2007
The problem with Pascal's Wager is that it only worked when Pascal originally made the wager: when Catholicism was the only game in town. With a thousand different versions of Christianity and ten thousand other religions in the world (and this doesn't even include the private versions of Christianity each Christian holds within their own particular sect of Christianity) Pascal's Wager no longer holds water. There really is no way to bet on which God/dess actually exists and thus no way to hedge your bets by pretending to believe in a God/dess just so you might be able to get into the Good Afterlife when you die.
by eternal0void on January 6th, 2007
In fact, there isn't even a guarantee that your own version of Christianity is the right version of Christianity. You could live your whole life not doing something considered a sacrament by another version of Christianity, only to find that on death the Bible God only saves those people who did that sacrament, and since you didn't do that sacrament, you go off with the goats instead of with the sheep. There are even dozens of ways to believe in Jesus and one, some, or most of them might be the wrong way. I'm rather surprised that theists aren't kept awake nights wondering if they picked the right religion to which to belong.
by eternal0void on January 6th, 2007
Also, I never hear that people who die are separated from each other, only from God.
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This means there's one Afterlife where all the boring teetotallers go to be with God, and another afterlife where all the fun-loving people go.
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It really makes you wonder why the one which is referred to as "Heaven" is considered to be Heaven (the concept of eternal bliss), while the one which is referred to as "Hell" is referred to as Hell (the concept of no fun at all).
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Would you rather be in a Heaven for all Eternity with the God of the Bible (a guy whose temper is so short and ego so fragile that the beliefs of finite human beings can cause him enough pain that he has to kill them slowly for all eternity), or somewhere else for all Eternity with all the fun-loving people of thousands of years, many of whom chose to not worship the megalomaniac in the other place?
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Seems pretty cut and dried for believers, especially the ones who grew up with batterers: hope you end up in the other place.
by eternal0void on October 5th, 2009