Magus55

We don't like Hell at all. And yes it is upsetting seeing people turn away from God and choose their fate. Look on this board. Daily, there are people bashing, insulting or ridiculing God. I hate to see that, first of all because I hate anyone insulting my Lord, and second, I hate to see people just throwing away the gift of eternal life because they can't bring themselves to accept God, or accept His rules, or whatever other reason.

And why do you think Christians try to bring people to Jesus constantly? Do you think we do it ( well most of us anyway) for the heck of it? Christians constantly preach the Gospel to people to try to bring them to salvation. God wants NO ONE to go to hell, thats why He calls on us to witness to unbelievers. But the ultimate decision is yours. I can witness to you guys all day in attempts of making you believe the truth, but all everyone does here is insult me, or God, or deny He exists, or say who cares, its all fake. Most people on this board seem to have made up their mind ( or atleast a large amount), and as much as I'm trying, nothing I say can change the person's mind.

We try as much as possible to bring people to Jesus, but if the person we witness to thinks its a big joke or myth, and doesn't care at all, that is their decision. God doesn't force people to believe in Him, but the consequences of sin are dire, and the soul can't live without God. He told us the consequences of sin, and told us how to escape it, if people still choose to reject it, God isn't gonna make them follow something they don't want to.

winstonjen

Fear, and a power-trip.

Magus:

Then why did he create hell? Perhaps he was an incompetent creator, or he enjoys the sight of seeing people burn (hey, if burnt animal flesh pleases him, imagine how much he must love HUMAN flesh burning!)

Then isn't your god going to punish you for doing such a bad job of converting us unbelievers?

Really? According to your bible, the devil is doing just fine.

Annabel Lee

I simply don't believe in Hell.

Taffer

lpetrich: That's quite possibly the most disgusting thing I have ever read.


I find it interesting that the first and foremost thought in your mind is the insult toward your lord. Wouldn't it bother you more that these people are damned for all eternity? That people like you will be suffering without recourse after they die?

Instead you think that your god's feelings must be hurt when he hears our blasphemies here. I'm sorry, but that sounds just a tad callous to me.


Magus, in case you haven't realized it yet, people here don't believe that God ever told us the consequences of anything. From your perspective, they're like children who blindfold themselves and then race towards a sheer cliff. They have no idea of what awaits them, just like the children have no idea of the danger ahead of them. Would you, as an adult standing by, let the kids run off the cliff saying it's their decision?

Atheism is not saying "I think I'll spite God by not believing in him and then suffer incredibly pain when I die". It's unbelief in the entire concept. Heck, sometimes it isn't even a choice.

Once you die, the single biggest fact in your (after)life will be whether you were good enough to get into heaven or bad enough to roast in hell. Compared to that, nothing but your belief matters in this life. So, how do you justify not spending every waking minute trying to save others if you have even the slightest shred of empathy? You have influence on others here; That is proven by them reading your posts and responding (They might respond more favourably if you posted differently, but that isn't the point). When you're in heaven, and you know dozens of people you've had contact with are roasting in hell, won't you feel guilty at sort of trying to convert them but then taking the easy way out by deciding that their minds are made up no matter what you say? Your life will look more and more like a giant wasted opportunity.

There will be plenty of time to kick back in heaven, but now is when conversion matters. Will you be able to look into the mirror without flinching if you didn't give your very best to save others when it counted?

Harpy

Am I reading this wrong or are you encouraging magus and his ilk to witness? .

Please stop I get bothered enough by these idiots knocking on my door on Saturday & Sunday mornings as it is

lpetrich

Magus55:
We don't like Hell at all.

Cry me a river. At least the theologians I quoted were honest -- they looked forward to seeing people suffer forever and ever and ever in Hell.

And yes it is upsetting seeing people turn away from God and choose their fate.

How does considering the Xian God to be pure fiction equate to wanting to jump into an eternal people-fry?

Look on this board. Daily, there are people bashing, insulting or ridiculing God.

Like how? BE SPECIFIC.

And I don't see how being thin-skinned is supposed to be some kind of virtue.

I hate to see that, first of all because I hate anyone insulting my Lord,

Let that alleged being speak to us directly. Yes, DIRECTLY. As in a voice coming out of the sky or something like that.

And before you wave the Bible, I wish to warn you that we have VERY good reasons for finding the Bible less-than-convincing, so don't think that waving the Bible will impress us.

and second, I hate to see people just throwing away the gift of eternal life because they can't bring themselves to accept God, or accept His rules, or whatever other reason.

To tell the truth, your idea of "eternal life" would be an eternity of boredom. Singing hymns all day -- yecch!!! I'll give Muslims credit for thinking of a more pleasant heaven, but even that might become hopelessly boring.

(a lot of similar bullshit deleted, since my patience has run out)

winstonjen

AWWW, I'm sure it's not bullshit! It would be really entertaining. Bring it back! Bring it back!

davidH

Basically because many are content in their comfort zones - they don't want to place themselves on the line for fear of losing their jobs, being laughed at etc etc.
Though there are many that are striving frantically.

Possibly that is why you find Christians on this site - giving up a lot of time to talk and debate.

You must also realise that many millions of people are coming to know God each day - it's just sad that many more don't. Nearly everyone knows what God says - they just ignore it, perhaps preferring 'to gather around them teachers that say what their ears want them to say'.

As the Bible says, 'To the one we are the smell of life, to the other we are the smell of death.'

davidH

Hell is real, the way to avoid hell is real. Are you going to gamble everything?
Going from your viewpoint:

If you ignore and die and it is real, then you have lost everything and comitted yourself to eternal punishment.

If you ignore and die and it isn't real, you know nothing because you no longer exist.

If we as Christians believe and it is real we inherit everything.
If we as Christians believe and it isn't real, we know nothing - neither gain nor lose.

From your viewpoint of this, you then turn to - so how do we know what religion is true and which is not?

I know God is real - the miracles he does confirms it. The prophecy in the Bible confirms it. He lives in me and I confirm it.

lpetrich

How is it that people who believe in this version of the afterlife (and who believe themselves saved by their very belief) aren't frantically striving to convert the infidels?

DavidH:
Basically because many are content in their comfort zones - they don't want to place themselves on the line for fear of losing their jobs, being laughed at etc etc.

Like how would that be the case?

You must also realise that many millions of people are coming to know God each day ...

Which brand of "god"? I've seen Muslims like "River" make the exact same claim about people coming to know Allah.

Nearly everyone knows what God says

And what Allah says, so why not convert to Islam?