Queen of Swords

1. Zygote
2. Fetus
3. Infant
4. Small child who has never heard of Jesus
5. Small child who has heard of Jesus, but not in a "accept him as your personal Savior or you'll burn forever" way
6. Small child who has been raised according to another religious system where maybe accepting Jesus was not a priority
7. Mentally retarded person who is not capable of comprehending what the deal with Jesus is
8. Person of normal intelligence who lived in some distant country and died before the missionaries could arrive to spread the good news
9. Person of normal intelligence who lived around the time of Jesus, but died before Jesus did
10. Person of normal intelligence who hears the good news, and dies while considering the merits of giving up their family's religion

I would love to know 1. where all these people go 2. what the biblical justification is for why they go where they go 3. how the zygote, fetus, etc. will be raised in heaven (eg. will they be implanted in some woman's womb?)

Considering that we are so often told that suffering builds character, I also wonder what kind of life it will be for these children if they never suffer. Won't they grow up spoilt? Or will they grow up at all? If a woman loses a longed-for child as an infant, say, and she wants to get to heaven and see it as an infant and watch it grow up, will God deliberately retard the development of that child while he allows other infants to progress normally?

So many questions....

Jayjay

...And so little answers, especially from christians who seem to avoid the whole issue or just mumble something about "God goes mysterious ways" when confronted. Heh.

Is this possible? I have the impression that even dogs could be trained to accept Jesus as their Personal Saviour ("say woof if you love Jesus"), if christians for some reason found it necessary.

Shadownought

If God allows suffering on Earth in order to teach us important things and build character and virtues, doesn't that mean the people in hell are the wisest people who ever existed, and with the strongest character and virtues; and that they are always being improved even more due to their suffering? And does that also imply that people in heaven are perfectly static, never changing or learning?

Given that suffering in hell is supposed to be so great, doesn't that mean that the people in hell will rapidly advance far beyond the people in heaven?

If God is so concerned with letting us grow instead of just creating us perfectly like he could have, shouldn't the "good" afterlife be the one of eternal suffering- in order to ensure we never stop growing?

winstonjen

Yup. I suppose the theists will reply and say, "But in Heaven, there would be no need for growth! And in Hell, the same would apply, so it would only be for punishment there."

Well, then why can't God just cut the crap and send us there now?

This Heaven is Hell, Hell is Heaven logic really turns me off theism.

thebeave

I'm starting to get worried about this Hell thing. I think I'm going, but is there at least going to be some Aloe Vera or some kind of balm available to help with the burns? Bandages would be good too.

Living Dead Chipmunk

Yes. That's called "Catholocism". They believe church Tradition (capital t) is just as important, if not more important, than the Bible. In fact, in trying to interperet the Bible on your own, you're giving into the Protestant Heresy and are doomed to Hell.

And then they wonder why the other Christians call them a cult.

Michael Beam

If you drink enough beer now you will be able to suppress the flames around you for a time. Bandages just burn up in the fire and all reports to date have been remarkably silent on the subject of Aloe Vera.


-Mike

Shadownought

Blasphemy! Jesus is the one true bottle of Aloe Vera!

winstonjen

But according to them, with Jesus one wouldn't even need to use Aloe Vera!

Amie

maybe its not so bad. Maybe its more of a dry heat like in Arizona

Although I believe in God I can't seem to find any continuity between a loving, forgiving, understanding God and sending humans who are naturally imperfect beings to a pit of fire for all of eternity based on some measly mistakes...

on a lighter note, I'll smuggle you guys into heaven with me
I hope they have Dr. Pepper there...