His weekend. Jesus gave up his weekend for your sins.
Quite frankly, with all her childhood abuse and the resulting health issues, my wife has suffered far more over her 53 years than Jesus did in his couple of days on the cross. WORSHIP MY WIFE.
Do people still believe in Hell?
- Thread starter Jayson1
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Quite frankly, with all her childhood abuse and the resulting health issues, my wife has suffered far more over her 53 years than Jesus did in his couple of days on the cross. WORSHIP MY WIFE.
So his superpowers were on hold?
A THREE-DAY WEEKEND! Give credit, where credit is due!
Same here.
I just won't allow a two-thousand year old book dictate my actions in the here and now. I won't treat people badly or deny them their humanity based on it. I don't need the carrot and the stick to be a good person. I try to be a good person (and fail quite a bit) because I want to be a good person.
Besides, it's not like Christianity was the first to have god sacrifice him/herself and get resurrected. I preferred the Inanna story, myself. Odin was pretty badass, too. They didn't do any whining 'why me' crap, either.
My father was an extremely religious person. (Still is, by the way).
He took it further in some phases of his life than in others, but there were times at which he believed star trek was a tool fashioned by the devil to gradually condition the unsuspecting audience into devil worship. Most notably them getting used to Spock as an image of himself (those pointy ears!) and different kinds of funny-looking aliens to facilitate the introduction of various demons into public acceptance.
Being an ardent star trek fan myself, it wasn't always easy to convince him perhaps the show wasn't as devilish as it looked to him on first sight
He took it further in some phases of his life than in others, but there were times at which he believed star trek was a tool fashioned by the devil to gradually condition the unsuspecting audience into devil worship. Most notably them getting used to Spock as an image of himself (those pointy ears!) and different kinds of funny-looking aliens to facilitate the introduction of various demons into public acceptance.
Being an ardent star trek fan myself, it wasn't always easy to convince him perhaps the show wasn't as devilish as it looked to him on first sight
In my experience, the doctrine that a person's immortal soul can be condemned to an eternity of never-ending suffering has been increasingly minimized in mainstream and non-denominational Christianity.
It is still used as a motivational tool (repent/give more money or burn) by smaller and/or more rural churches, but as 99.9% of houses of worship are ran like businesses and the doctrine has a tendency to depress paying customers, the heads of those businesses have seen the benefits of avoiding discussion of "hell."
Good riddance.
It is still used as a motivational tool (repent/give more money or burn) by smaller and/or more rural churches, but as 99.9% of houses of worship are ran like businesses and the doctrine has a tendency to depress paying customers, the heads of those businesses have seen the benefits of avoiding discussion of "hell."
Good riddance.
Your post was the 666th post in this thread.
I don't think that that's the idea.
I'm interested on how they sell what happens if you don't follow Jesus then? What is the stick? Or have they decided the stick is bad for business? But if that's the case, aren't they misleading those that are following them?
Irony?
Question 1: The answer to this depends on who you ask. The prevailing non-denominational doctrine appears to be that those who don't follow Jesus suffer now, and have an uncertain future, so why risk your present happiness and your eternal future if you can be happy and go to heaven if you just buy the pastor's latest book?
Question 2: The stick is: poor financial and mental health. You don't want to be unhappy and poor, so listen to our preaching.
Question 3: Hellfire is terrible for business, and doesn't translate well for a contemporary worship service.
Question 4: If a person believes that hellfire is a fundamental/biblical doctrine, then yes they are being misleading. Personally, I feel the exclusion of hellfire is one thing that mainstream Christianity has sorta gotten right, although I would prefer they discuss why it isn't a biblical doctrine, rather than simply ignore the discussion.
I see plenty of stuff referring to it. So why wouldn't it be considered biblical doctrine?
Jewish sacrifices were often quite humane, in terms of ensuring that the animal did not suffer more than necessary, compared to other cultures of the time, which involved strangulation, burning alive, among other practices.
It was the separation from the rest of the Trinity, when Jesus took on the sins of the world that was the torture. It may have been brief, but it was a torture. In addition to the physical torture.
Marketing. No, seriously, marketing. I have read so many polls and the like regarding the Church doctrine and what appeals to certain demographics, etc. etc.
Unfortunately, as much information is how there, there is also a lot of misinformation regarding Hell, as there is Heaven. As someone said earlier in this thread, it's amazing how little Christians know about their faith.
Because by Catholic doctrine, it's a waiting room. You go, you're purified, you move on. It doesn't address the underlying issue of God deciding you need a good old prolonged purification (which is compared to burning), for random and harmless crimes.
And considering one of those crimes is not recognising Gods 'grace' (aka. Everyone who is not Christened at best, all non-Catholics at worst) there's also the implication that you're going to be tortured or brainwashed into compliance.
It also is not addressed by most, because it's pretty much restricted to Catholics. As it's 'read in' to the Bible and not explicity identified, quiet a few other Christian denominations do not truck with it. Its not ignorance, it's interpretation. Like most dogma.
And considering one of those crimes is not recognising Gods 'grace' (aka. Everyone who is not Christened at best, all non-Catholics at worst) there's also the implication that you're going to be tortured or brainwashed into compliance.
It also is not addressed by most, because it's pretty much restricted to Catholics. As it's 'read in' to the Bible and not explicity identified, quiet a few other Christian denominations do not truck with it. Its not ignorance, it's interpretation. Like most dogma.
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Purgatory is just wishful thinking, clearly you're either fucked or you're golden.
Yeah.
Refuge, how do you reconcile your belief in Hell with the concept of Purgatory? Unlike most religions that have a similar idea, everyone gets automatic Purgatory. At worst, you just get stuck in the process.
If that's the case...how do humans still end up in fire-and-brimstone Hell?
Note: the typical theological answer is that Purgatory is a form of Hell. Which makes sense, considering the Norse origins of the latter.
Refuge, how do you reconcile your belief in Hell with the concept of Purgatory? Unlike most religions that have a similar idea, everyone gets automatic Purgatory. At worst, you just get stuck in the process.
If that's the case...how do humans still end up in fire-and-brimstone Hell?
Note: the typical theological answer is that Purgatory is a form of Hell. Which makes sense, considering the Norse origins of the latter.
I don't like all those awful paintings. They are scarier than watching horror movies. All the detailed torturey creepiness of Bosch.
And yet God thinks this stuff is cool?
And yet God thinks this stuff is cool?
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