Waning Moon Conrad

I find it absolutely impossible to believe in the god of orthodox Christianity however.......

If God exists then It is necessarily omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient.

With the omnipresent bit, being everywhere means that -absolutely every corner of being, every physical dimension and every spiritual dimension too including every soul of every being, every innermost recess of every mind - is saturated with the presence of God and there is absolutely nothing which is not a part of God.

A god who feels and understands every persons' mind is not likely to condemn anyone to an eternity of agony for not believing in It since It understands their reasons for disbelief.

A God like this would present no problem for my capacity to believe.

However.....the creation myth of Judaism/Christianity is too simple minded to believe and hence without believing in original sin, I can see no soteriological necessity for Christ.

Clarice O'C

Hello,

I once had a Lutheran pastor who said that everyone is saved. He used Paul's, 'saved by grace and not works.'

Best,
Clarice

Samnell

In a word, no. As others have told you, the abominable doctrines of the various religions and the disgusting adventures of their various deities are a sideshow to the lack of evidence problem. Whether you opt to change the details, or even broad strokes of what are to us fairy tales is entirely unimportant. A fairy tale is still a fairy tale even if present in a new edition.

Whispers

In my understanding, Hell is a complete absence of God. Hope this helps. I think hell can be a stae of mind, a place and an event. But thats another story.

Infidelettante

Originally posted by JTVrocher
"As it now stands, and please correct me if I am wrong in anything, the lost are assigned to Hell because there is just nowhere else to put them. Is that not at the core of the Hell problem, that if there were a forth place to put all the ‘non-accepters’ they would be safely separated from God and his precious righteousness yet not be tortured for all eternity.
JT


quote: Whispers
In my understanding, Hell is a complete absence of God. Hope this helps. I think hell can be a stae of mind, a place and an event. But thats another story.

But no, I think it is the same story changed some what to save the story teller the embarrassment of it. So then Satan is to be punished eternally for his rebellion against God by the complete absence of God. An unsatisfying turn of events I must say. I should think him to be deserving of flames and yet I admire the tolerance you show him. No doubt he is thankful for the reprieve.

But we remain confused. Where are those eternally removed from God’s presence removed to? Let us recap: Heaven, God, angels, saved on holiday. Earth, saved, angels regularly, God now and then. Hell, a state of mind for Satan, his demons and the lost souls. Is this how you see it?

So then let’s drop the archaic terminology of hell and damnation for the modern ~Disney Hades~. ‘More rides! More thrills! And never a thought of God. Bring the kiddies. Closed Christmas Day.’ ‘Hell is but tank full away. You want it, you know you do.’

I can’t tell you how much your pithy explanation of hell impresses me. “A state of mind, a place, and an event.” I do believe you’ve relocated Hell to Vermont. Is the fishing good? That would go a long way to taking my mind off God. That and a good Scotch. Dewar’s is fine with me thanks.

As I see it, and correct me if I am wrong in anything, Hell, being the absence of God would look very much like the world we live in now . All in all Hell seems a rather pleasant place, except for all those who insist they would rather be in Heaven.

JT

Doctor X

Please do not blaspheme on the forums:

Only a single malt--preferably a single cask--merits the distinction of uisge beatha--"water of life"--from which we derive the REAL name--whisky . . . or as the proprieter of Caddenhead's noted, "Scotch is someone walking on the street."

--J.D.

DMB

The trrouble is that there are almost as many malts as there are gods, and each has its devotees. I am a devotee of the One True Malt, but I won't say which one it is.

Doctor X

I consider it a strong argument for polytheism. . . .

--J. "Slainte!" D.