not a theist

How do they do it? How can they just treat the idea that people will suffer unimaginable tortures for all eternity so nonchalantly. I was just discussing hell with a Christian on another board and here was what he said. Fucking peace brother!
Peace...
Peace!?!?
How can you fucking sleep at night believing that???

And it's not just him, almost all of them treat it in this matter-of-fact, nothing-to-lose-any-sleep-about way.

This isn't like...well, he stubbed his toe..it's his own fault, he was careless.
This is "You're going somewhere that makes Nightmare on Elm Street look like Disneyland".

So what I want to know is how they can not go insane with this belief.

2xhelix

To be honest, a lot of xians are selfish. They have received 'salvation' for themselves and it stops there.

At the same time, there are some xians that will really try hard to share the Gospel with others. So it really depends on what type of xian you are speaking of, the one who just cares about themselves, or ones that truely have a heart for the rest of the world.

Fastfalcon

I'm one of those who have a heart for the world.
Of course there are some that comes to Christ selfishly. God uses evil for good.

Koyaanisqatsi

Relax. It's just brainwashing.

Fear, fear, fear!

Oh my God, I'm afraid!

Good. Now love, love, love.

Ahhhh....love, love. love...

Good. Now fear, fear, fear!

Repeat that ten thousand times in a child's life and boom! Instant cult member.

By the time they get old enough to speak they have no idea that their minds have been pulled out, turned upside down and forced back in.

It's easy.

Mad Kally

Hey Koy,
hahahahahaha... you rule!

Talulah

I knew a guy who would wake up at night in a cold sweat thinking about all the people that he knew that were going to hell.

He would occassionaly just burst into tears thinking about his family and how he wouldn't get to spend eternity with them.

He loathed himself because he couldn't find the right words to say to convert his family and others that he loved.

At times I think he came close to a mental breakdown because of the stress that the fear put on his mind.


My own self, I know that I lived with a certain amount of anxiety and fear. I pitied people. I would hate myself for all the opportunities I had had to preach the gospel and try to save a soul and didn't. I thought about those who would be in hell because of me. Because I was too much of a coward or too selfish to try and teach them the truth.

Just a few more reasons I despise Christianity and its affects on the world. No one deserves to live with that kind of fear and pain, always worrying, thinking yourself responsible for everyone in the world's soul.

not a theist

As odd as it may sound, his was the rational reaction to his set of beliefs. Him, I can understand. They really should all be that way. Anything less than that is inconsistent with their set of beliefs.

[ May 15, 2002: Message edited by: not a theist ]</p>

Talulah

Some people derive a sort of security from their exclusive religious beliefs.

Religion takes a person, breaks them down into nothing by telling them that they are worthless sinners, then builds them back up by telling them they know how to save them. Religion and their self-esteem are inseperable. Their beliefs ARE their salvation, literally, not just in an eternal sense. They derive their sense of self worth from feeling saved, because without religion they are nothing.

Think of it as a socially sanctioned hate organization. They feel justified in their feelings of superiority because you could have believed, done right, accepted Christ.

southernhybrid

Now just wait a minute, Koy. A lot of us former fundy children were able to climb out of the pit of conservative Xianity and find our way to the light. Take it back, right now.

It used to drive me crazy when I waa a little girl and my parents/preacher/sunday school teacher tried to drill that burning in hell stuff into my mind. I actually believed it for awhile, although it always depressed me. I managed to escape from the brainwashing when I reached my upper teens. It was a very cruel way to raise a child and it's a very mindless, cruel way to view people who don't accept the same idiotic nonsense that some Xians do.

How do they do it? They are either very brainwashed, very stupid or very mean. Maybe all three.

Methos

It amazes me how matter of factly Xians can talk about pepole going to hell. They can say things like "I know my parents, siblings, and friends are all going to hell, but I know that I'm going to heaven. It depresses me to think about that now, but I know that I'll be in presence of the Lord and won't realize that those people aren't with me." So you'd want to be in heaven without every single person who has ever meant anything to you? Oh, that's right, God erases all non-Xians from your mind so you don't know they're not there.

Like Talulah believed when brainwashed, shouldn't all Xians feel tremendous guilt about all the people they didn't save? For their own sanity, shouldn't they preach 24/7 to every single person they see, because you never know if that person at the bus stop just needs to hear someone tell them about Jebus and they will believe. How can they go through life knowing that one minor inaction by them possibly caused someone to go to hell?

The idea of hell was one of the main things that drove me away from Xianity. When I would think about how I was supposedly going to heaven but my parents were going to hell, it didn't make any sense. Why should I be blessed but my parents, who are good people, are going to hell because they don't believe in Jebus (or at least don't practice, if they still do believe). And if that is the case, why would I want to be in heaven without them? If I'm depressed about my family not being with me, then it's not heaven. If God erases my parents from my mind, he's taken away a big chunk of my earthly life, which isn't right. Thinking like that was one of many factors that led to me kissing Xianity good-bye.

Eric