Walter_Mitty

Even with a life sentence for say rape, typically you have a chance to be paroled after 20 or so years. Eternity is, well, eternity. Even humans offer forgiveness for good behavior. Why can't God?

Of course, considering that Jesus is alleged to have spent ONLY 3 days in hell, it would appear that God is playing favorites with 1/3 of Himself anyway.

RJS

You are asking a born again Christian why God can't forgive? Oh He can, He can .

Is good behavior possible after the death penalty?

[ September 26, 2002: Message edited by: RJS ]</p>

Walter_Mitty

Is God's death penalty fair for being born, say, a Jew or Muslim? (eternity of suffering for the wrong belief)

I'd also be curious to see if you could enlighten me in regards to the "fairness" of 3 DAYS in hell for Jesus, yet if we screw up we get sent there for all eternity.

I guess it's good to be the king.

Walter_Mitty

To add:

Attention all atheists, I found <a href="http://www.users.bigpond.com/rdoolan/hell.html" target="_blank">HELL</a> so I guess we had all better repent.

RJS

God is fair, yes.

Walter_Mitty

I rest my case.

Good night.

RJS

Good night. Dream about why you refused to answer the question I posed to you.

[ September 26, 2002: Message edited by: RJS ]</p>

I ate Pascal's Wafer

How have I confused the issue? Your analogy sucked, so I fixed it.

Not necessarily. If, while in prison, that person truly felt bad for what he did and starts changing his outlook on life I would say he learned the lesson. There's no reason to punish him for all 1,000,000 years if he became an entirely different person after, say, the first few thousand.

How so? The Atheist who has a good reason for disbelieving in God is unaware that he is doing anything wrong. He doesn't believe he will be judged for sins in the afterlife because he doesn't believe in God and doesn't believe in hell. So yes, the Atheist is unaware that he's doing anything wrong. So, to punish the otherwise decent Atheists with an eternity in hell is like giving someone the death penalty for spitting gum on the sidewalk.

Also, define "sin". If you mean sin as imperfect actions then yes, we all sin. If you mean sin as some type of action which offends GAWD ALMIGHTY then I am confident in saying I don't sin. Even if I did sin it wouldn't bother me very much because I don't mind pissing off your deity. I might if the one true God was another deity, but not the Christian one.

-Nick

Veil of Fire

RJS: Who is it that causes someone to be born into a Muslim or Jewish household?

God!

Therefore, God INTENDS those people to go to hell as soon as he creates them.

The death penalty for being born in the Congo? Especially when the executioner is the one who decided you'd be born in the Congo?

The Lone Ranger

Quote:

What is your opinion about life in prison for 10 minutes of rape?

As has been pointed out, the purpose of imprisonment is supposed to be rehabilitation. To lock away someone for life, without hope of parole, is revenge, not rehabilitation.

In any event, as horrible a crime as rape is, I would strongly object to condemning a convicted rapist to life in prison during which he was subjected to constant torture. That's not justice, it's vengeance.

Quote:

Or how about the death penalty for a crime that took all of 5 minutes?

Depends on the crime.

Keep in mind that an eternity in Hell means infinite punishment for one's "sins." A finite being cannot possibly commit a crime worthy of infinite punishment.

Quote:

You are aware that you have sinned, right?

If, by "sinning" you mean going against the will of God, then no, I'm not aware that I have ever sinned. (How, exactly, does one defy the will of an omnipotent and omniscient being anyway? If an omnipotent and omniscient being existed, by definition, everything that happens is his will.) Since I don't believe any such God exists, I don't believe that I've ever broken any of his rules.

Cheers,

Michael