I do not see how your applying "atheism" into this has any relevance. In my assertion I am saying that Jesus Christ is giving an insult to people by calling us as sheep, while Christians are so blind that they brag about being sheep. And if you had read my link in my posting of Matthew 12:12 then Jesus said: How much then is a man better than a sheep?, in that Jesus wants His followers to be better than sheep. The fact that their Church tells Christians that God is burning souls in a Hell, and the Christians follow along with that nonsense as like sheep to the slaughter, then that is not a compliment.
I think that the 'sheep' image just came naturally in an agricultural society to someone looking for a metaphor for responsible leadership - as compared with the vicious bullying of the Caesars. I doubt very much if the early Christians would have recognised all this 'Hell' guff, any more that they'd have recognised a whole lot of other Mediaeval codswallop.
My point is that your opinion is nothing more than a deliberately gross mischaracterization born of bigotry and miseducation. It is ignorant. Jesus, if you rea dthe Bible, wants people not to stay in ignorance from God ... like a sheep from a shepard. But heh, why let common sense and easily discernable intent get in the way of ignorant slander?
God really does have a justice system which is far superior then the one issued by mankind. God's justice includes forgiveness and mercy and reconciliation, and particularly it includes Jesus paying the penalty in full along with God loving His enemies, Matthew 5:43-48. The evil persons like Hitler have received their justice here on earth as everything he worked for was destroyed and his name lives forever under infamy. People wanting others to get some greater punishment after death and calling it as "justice" is not a Godly perspective.
That saying of "weeping and gnashing of teeth" does NOT mean burning people in a Hell for all eternity. That is what I call projecting your fear into the meaning of the text when the scriptures do not say it.
The higher invisible dimensions are composed of energy that is beyond human comprehension...... our problem is how great is our sense of shame and guilt as we enter the afterlife. If we learn to love we will be able to enter the levels in the afterlife where the vibrational level is high..... but if we are selfish and do not love others..... then we will not feel comfortable in the higher vibrational dimensions. http://www.allaboutchristian.com/spirituality/ www.CarbonBias.blogspot.ca/
I don't know that a fact-check will be appreciated, here, but I'll start by saying that your thread title-- the claim of Hell is not real-- is probably correct, at least in a literalist sense, only because no one can know what lies behind death's veil. But that means that we can have no trustworthy source for any of the other stuff, either, which is also likely to be just as flawed. (The Bible is not, "proof.") So your assertion of what, "the plan is," is just as suspect. FYI, I do believe there is a force that is, "spiritual," in nature-- for lack of another term-- which is equatable with, "God." I'm just not expecting that I know what's up God's sleeve, to close the show.
No, sorry. We've already had numerous threads discussing that argument. "A good God wouldn't have a Hell"
Will make it brief....St. Faustina was a visionary in the 20th century. Much has been said and reported insofar as Divine Mercy is concerned. From her diary, the following is presented in the attempt to testify as to the afterlife. Heaven and Hell....
You know, I get the feeling that hell is losing its hold on society. Where I used to hear “ what the hell” all the time, I’m hear’n , “ what the fk” a lot more often.
Here is a copy and paste of a discussion that I shared an hour or so ago on three Atheist discussion forums that I am on on MeWe........ ...... ....... Because I am such a firm believer in Eventual Universal Salvation I have little reason to care whether or not you agree with me or not...... so if I am wrong......... My humble apologies....... SORRY!!!!!! WWW.CARBONBIAS.BLOGSPOT.CA/
Strangely enough..... somebody like Nero, Hitler, or Stalin can often repent more quickly than Rav Shaul who required a direct meeting with Messiah Yeshua on the road to Damascus .... - Jesus and several days of blindness and then his healing...... .before he would repent of his "compelling Messianic Jews to blaspheme"..... which was likely Not DONE by tickling their toes with feathers........
I agree that 'Hell' is unlikely a fiery lake that people are sent to. However, Free Will is a very important (perhaps the most important) dynamic of Christianity (and imo it's God's true miracle of creation, for without Free Will we would all just be automotons). If everyone is forced (by virtue of there being no alternative) to go to Heaven to exist within God's presence for all eternity, that would undermine Free Will. It makes sense to me that there must exist a 'place' (for lack of a better term) that is an alternative to 'Heaven,' an alternative to spending eternity with God. That alternative would be spending eternity excluded from God's presence. As stated in The Bible, God's presence is the source of love, joy, contentment, the things that make Heaven 'heavenly'. So obviously being void of God necessarily equates to being void of those things as well, the opposite of Heaven. Who would choose to spend eternity in such a place I don't know... presumably only people that 'love' hate, suffering, fear and despair, who would their joy in tormenting eachother.
Dennis… Many have a few near death experiences, but those involving drugs are suspect. I had a leg reattached after a fall on a concrete floor a while ago. As a surgical assistant medic during the war, I knew all the drilling and cutting they were going to do. The cutting was while I was awake but the drilling I had to be under. Because they don’t want you under but as little as possible, they brought me in and out frequently. It was the scariest but the most pain free surgery I ever had. I talked with the doc and nurses between the drilling. Reattaching a leg and two days later with a large plate, lag bolt and six screws , with “no restrictions” when I walked out was in part, because of these drugs and their control over your mind. Unbelievable. Amazing drugs…. So really, when it comes to drugs like these, your experiences are suspect.
Raised as a Catholic, I was always under the idea that whether you immediately went to heaven was a matter timing…
I don't believe in Hell, no fear, but I doubt to believe in an all torturing god really help. Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, Ossama Ben Laden, the talibans Torquemada (to quote a christian) believed in Hell, it didn't improved their morality a lot. If there is something to fear, it's lunatics that believe god has their back, or in a more general manner any kind of lunatics that think they're the greater good (for instance communists, fascists that killed ennemies of the people without too much remorse). Fear is a feeling it's hard to reason with, that's why manipulators love to use it, either the politician one or the religious one. What's hell and heaven in one of it's most accepted understanding ? It's just what assure a specific group to get a eternity of pleasure/happiness when all who are not them go to hell. We could take the example of muslims that believe that every non-muslim go to Hell, and that's the claim of many christian too. And according to some of them, god is getting more and more sectarian, no the catholics are no true believers, or the protestants, the shia, the sunni. Everyone that isn't me would go to hell. Should we really bow to that kind of understanding, that an all powerfull entity just created people for the single purpose of torturing for eternity the vast majority of people who didn't belonged to the right religious-cultural group ?
As a construct meant to instill fear in the people for their actions, it was an effective way of controlling People’s behavior before we had any democratic governance. Now, it still does work with kids.
While I'll agree that the Bible does not teach about Hell itself, it clearly mentions a firey pit in which those souls who are not "in Christ" will be cast after the Judgement per Revelations. So your assertion that there is not a place where souls burn is inaccurate. That said, if a Hell exists, a possibility I won't deny, it would then be a place of punishment, and while maybe seemingly eternal, won't be. Much like it seemed to be forever when we were punished by parents when young, so too will Hell seem forever. But once we have repented truly for the sins that sent us there, we get to go Home and back to Him.
It’s hard to imagine that the 20,000 children who die daily are going to hell...or anywhere near. So, if people are imagining hell, I’m entitled to imagine NOT.
Not sure where you got that from, out of my post. I merely talked about the mechanics of Hell as I believe my Deity has created it, if it does exist, not the qualifications for going.
You’re deity is doing nothing about the 20,000 children who die suffering each day ? That’s hell. I’d spend my time dealing with that long before I selfishly tried to decide my eternal life when it hasn’t arrived. What will happen will happen. Any thing without evidence you want to talk about as it applies to just you and not all of mankind, is fruitless imo.
Aside from not dealing with the topic at hand, I shall respond anyway. In as much as children do not comprehend what and why adults do things, including that which is good for them, but seems awful at the time, so too, can the actions of a Deity seem to be callous and cruel. Neither of us know whether He is doing anything or not and what the end results are. Pain is sometimes necessary towards healing. It is very painful to reset a broken leg, but it is necessary for it to heal correctly. But do you think a child can comprehend that? Do you spend all your money now on helping others before you selfishly save for your retirement when it hasn't arrived? Then why are you even in here? You have no evidence either, yet you are yapping away. You are as fruitless as the rest of us kettles, pot.