K

This question is for theists who believe that children who die before they reach the age of reason go straight to Heaven.

Let's imagine there is a person decides to kill as many children as possible, not because this he/she wants to, but to ensure that the children are guaranteed a free ticket to heaven. Now this killer knows that an eternity of suffering awaits, but selflessly chooses this for the sake of those that will go to Heaven. Would this person actually go to Hell? Or would this act, which is clearly much more selfless than Jesus' act, earn the killer one of the greatest spots in Heaven?

gilly54

Wasn't this one of the reasons Andrea Yates justified killing her kids? I don't see much support from her fellow Christian fundy friends regarding her actions.

Sorry, I shouldn't have responded. I'm not a theist.

[ September 08, 2002: Message edited by: gilly54 ]</p>

diana

Ah, the Andrea Yates Dilemma. That's one quick way to tick off Xns.

I'll go one further and say the person who kills as many children as possible, then confesses of his sins, and dies--according to Xn belief--will go to heaven to be with them. Yes?

d

diana

True, gilly. But that doesn't mean that the logical conclusion of fundamental beliefs such as "children who die before the age of accountability will go to heaven" couple with the well-meaning actions of a homicidal maniac don't still add up to the conclusion K came to.

It's been my experience that they cannot deny that, according to their own doctrine, the children would go to heaven (so it's a sure-fire ticket for them) and even the killer himself can repent and join them there.

It's also been my experience that they get incredibly hot under the collar when you point out where their doctrine could lead.

d

K

My guess is that there won't be a lot of Christians taking a crack at this one. This is one of those situations that follows logically from Christian teachings, but is almost universally abhorrent.

Amos

If you wish to be an atheist without a religion you must let go of your religious convictions and not assume some of their absurd major premisses as the basis for your argument. Diana made this point earlier which I thought was well done.

Christ never thaught us anything but when Jesus became Christ he left the scene and so it is impossible to be a follower of Christ or of his teachings. That alone should be all the defense you need as atheist because it means that Christians are being misled by their own doctrine.

The Catholic Church does not hold that such children go straight to heaven and I don't think that many so called Christians subscribe to your kind of Christian teachings.

Catholics hold that such children go to purgatory and if they have not been baptized they go to limbo. Purgatory can last up to 42 months and limbo is just a pre-existing condition of heaven.

Vibr8gKiwi

Amos, you should post to Christian boards that disagree with you--they are the ones you need to convince, not us. Most of us think you're all a bunch of Silly Willies, following wacky fantasies you can't even agree on.

Amos

They usually kick me off in a week or so unless I become a hypocrite there and I can't seem to do that for long. In fact, I am convinced that I have been exposed to religion less than most people here and even today I pay less attention to religion than most people here.

Bible Humper

Hey Amos!

Would you mind giving us a couple links to these threads? I'd love to see some wannabe theologians getting flustered trying to even comprehend what you are talking about, much less refute it!

MadMordigan

Would you mind giving us a couple links to these threads? I'd love to see some wannabe theologians getting flustered trying to even comprehend what you are talking about, much less refute it!

I'd buy that for a dollar.