Do you really care that I am going to hell?

[Cmass]

I don't think you really believe I will fry in Hell for being an Atheist. I don't think you really truly believe any of your non-believing family will either. I think deep down, you know it just isn't true.

If you do believe they will all fry and are not doing absolutely everything in your power to stop it, I would suggest that you are a very cold, dispassionate person. If you really believed your dearly beloved mother was going to burn in hell right next to Cmass and Charles Manson then you would stop at nothing to convince her to accept Jesus. You would not just gently encourage, you would be emotionally and perhaps even physically engaged on a daily and hourly basis. You most certainly would not be reading this silly OP right now. Not if you REALLY cared.

Think about it. If you saw your mother being beaten by someone on the street, would you stop to help save her? Would you put your own life at risk to keep her from drowning? Is there anything you would not do to help her? OK, what about eternal torture in hell? Doesn't this concern you? What about all the other people in your life who are going to hell? Doesn't this leave you feeling devastated? If I believed there was a hell and that so many people would be going - especially any of my friends or family - I would be in constant agony myself and would devote my life to stopping it. Or, I would be numb.

Does your knowledge that so many people will be in eternal torture bother you very much on a daily basis?

This OP came about after reading commentary by some of our more conservative Christian friends in here. Some seem to have no real problem with all us atheists burning in hell forever. Granted, there are probably some personal anger issues involved but still, I have always been uneasy with how casual many Christians are when it comes to discussing eternal damnation. Some get more upset over running over a kitty than the eternal torture of their best friend.

Nonetheless, I give most the benefit of the doubt: I don't think they are really that cold. I just don't think they really believe as much in the hell concept as they report.

[Biker]

Isn't atheism ultimately a faith statement?
Christianity is not a religion, but a living individual named Jesus!

Biker

The point is there is no group to which all atheists belong, in the same way there is no group to which all people who don't believe in Unicorns belong.

People who don't believe in unicorns belong to the group of people who do not believe in unicorns.

Would it be safe to assume that atheists don't believe in unicorns as well as they don't believe in God? Are all atheists non unicorn believers? Or is atheism divided on the issue?

Are there any unicorns in hell?


Biker

[Biker]

Biker wrote:
Incredibly wrong question!
Unbelievers ask the wrong questions!
Do YOU really care if YOU are going to hell?
Biker
In an attempt to keep Biker engauged, I wil asnwer his "better" question. Do I care if I am going to hell? If Hell exists and the rules to get out existed in the Bible I would be a fool not to. OK. So what?

You answered nothing!
Again: Do YOU really care if YOU are going to hell?

If hell exists

Does it to you?

So what?

Yeah, so what do you actually answer?

Biker

Biker

[twobitsmedia]

Isn't atheism ultimately a faith statement?
Christianity is not a religion, but a living individual named Jesus!

Biker

The point is there is no group to which all atheists belong, in the same way there is no group to which all people who don't believe in Unicorns belong.

People who don't believe in unicorns belong to the group of people who do not believe in unicorns.

Would it be safe to assume that atheists don't believe in unicorns as well as they don't believe in God? Are all atheists non unicorn believers? Or is atheism divided on the issue?

Are there any unicorns in hell?


Biker

I think atheists have established themselves an an unidentifiable demographic. The Dogma of Atheism is: We are not identifiable. They will fight tooth and nail to NOT be identified. The tenat of "atheism" is supposed to be "lack of belief in God."
But now some agnostics use the term. Then there's the anti-theists........which actually seem more common then just "atheists." An "atheist" would not fight tooth and nail against the existance of God. An Anti-theist would.

[SimonH]

I think atheists have established themselves an an unidentifiable demographic. The Dogma of Atheism is: We are not identifiable. They will fight tooth and nail to NOT be identified. The tenat of "atheism" is supposed to be "lack of belief in God."
But now some agnostics use the term. Then there's the anti-theists........which actually seem more common then just "atheists." An "atheist" would not fight tooth and nail against the existance of God. An Anti-theist would.

Would you prefer a world full of Christians? Or are you happy for Islam, Buddhism and any other religion to have equal standing? Would you send your children to an Islamic school?

[micatala]

Moderator Note

There is certainly nothing wrong debating the nature of atheism. However, this has been going on for a couple of pages and I don't really see any relevance to the thread topic.

There are other a number of other threads on what atheism is, etc. Let's take any of that discussion over to one of those threads.

[FinalEnigma]

See above. Also, the greatest mass murderers in the 20th century were atheists. Doesn't speak well for the anti-religion crowd!

I do not know if you do this on purpose or ignorance, either way: What atheist do have nothing to do with Atheism.

Atheism do not have a Doctrine that tells the mwhat to do. IF a Christian do something bad, they have a DOCTRINE that tells them so, that is the difference.

Saying that an Atheist did this and that, hence atheism is bad, is like saying A guy eating chocolate did someting bad therefore Chocolate is bad. Christianity on the other hand has a SET DEFINED OF RULES, and Christianity is a violent aggresive hateful religion, so, therefore you cna depict the bad in it.


How many times do you need to be educated. Cheezes.

I've ranted about that more than once. They are not going to get the picture. (although i must disagree with one of your sentences.

IF a Christian do something bad, they have a DOCTRINE that tells them so

They don't neccesarily have such a doctrine. it depends on what they are doing that is bad.

You do have a point, of course. attacking atheism based on one atheists actions is about as realistic as attacking christianity for the atheists actions. After all, the christians are humans too.

There is no such thing as a radical atheististic terrorist. It is impossible to be a radical atheist because atheism doesn't exist, in the same sense that cold doesnt exist. Cold is the lack of movement of particles in a given area. It isn't actually something; it is just a label for a lack of something.

atheism doesn't exist

I think you'll get an argument from a couple guys on this forum, but, what is atheism then, a myth?

Biker

Atheism is a label. A largely meaningless label because it doesnt really tell you anything about the person it is being applied to. Again, just as calling someone a theist doesnt really tell you anything about the person.(admittedly they do inform you of an abstract piece of information about the person. but they tell you nothing about his morals/values and give you no useful predictions of his actions)

[trillian]

I don't think you really believe I will fry in Hell for being an Atheist. I don't think you really truly believe any of your non-believing family will either. I think deep down, you know it just isn't true.

If you do believe they will all fry and are not doing absolutely everything in your power to stop it, I would suggest that you are a very cold, dispassionate person. If you really believed your dearly beloved mother was going to burn in hell right next to Cmass and Charles Manson then you would stop at nothing to convince her to accept Jesus. You would not just gently encourage, you would be emotionally and perhaps even physically engaged on a daily and hourly basis. You most certainly would not be reading this silly OP right now. Not if you REALLY cared.

Think about it. If you saw your mother being beaten by someone on the street, would you stop to help save her? Would you put your own life at risk to keep her from drowning? Is there anything you would not do to help her? OK, what about eternal torture in hell? Doesn't this concern you? What about all the other people in your life who are going to hell? Doesn't this leave you feeling devastated? If I believed there was a hell and that so many people would be going - especially any of my friends or family - I would be in constant agony myself and would devote my life to stopping it. Or, I would be numb.

Does your knowledge that so many people will be in eternal torture bother you very much on a daily basis?

This OP came about after reading commentary by some of our more conservative Christian friends in here. Some seem to have no real problem with all us atheists burning in hell forever. Granted, there are probably some personal anger issues involved but still, I have always been uneasy with how casual many Christians are when it comes to discussing eternal damnation. Some get more upset over running over a kitty than the eternal torture of their best friend.

Nonetheless, I give most the benefit of the doubt: I don't think they are really that cold. I just don't think they really believe as much in the hell concept as they report.

In reply to the OP of this thread:

My mother is not Christian yet I pray for her. My dad is Christian but from the things that he does, I'm almost certain that he really hasn't gave his heart to Christ. I certainly do care what happens to them but God has given us a wonderful gift called free will and each individual must make a choice. There's only so many people I can influence in my life and so I try my best to get to as much of my friends and family as possible. I also spend time to talk about God to people like yourself and hence, in short, I do care whether you go to heaven otherwise I wouldn't be coming on to this forum. In short, I do care but I cannot influence beyond my own capacity - but as a Christian, I am always trying to increase this capacity.

But many people live lives of hell on earth - today about literally half of the world's population live on less than USD$2 a day. African children have holes in their cheeks, some have 40% of their faces missing from malnutrition because their bodies are unable to fight the bacteria contained in something as trivial as a pimple. Having met war refugees who came with nothing except the pair of pants they were wearing makes you think about hell before actually being there. Yet much of the world is silent/inactive on these issues and the world superpowers continue to spend grossly exorbitant budgets on weapons and defence projects.

It's all very good talking about these ideals of hell on an internet forum, but unless you see these things first-hand, it's a completely different meaning. I encourage you to do some volunteer work for the needy and maybe then, you can get a better idea about what Jesus Christ is all about.

[Cmass]

Trillian wrote:

In reply to the OP of this thread:

My mother is not Christian yet I pray for her. My dad is Christian but from the things that he does, I'm almost certain that he really hasn't gave his heart to Christ. I certainly do care what happens to them but God has given us a wonderful gift called free will and each individual must make a choice. There's only so many people I can influence in my life and so I try my best to get to as much of my friends and family as possible. I also spend time to talk about God to people like yourself and hence, in short, I do care whether you go to heaven otherwise I wouldn't be coming on to this forum. In short, I do care but I cannot influence beyond my own capacity - but as a Christian, I am always trying to increase this capacity.

But many people live lives of hell on earth - today about literally half of the world's population live on less than USD$2 a day. African children have holes in their cheeks, some have 40% of their faces missing from malnutrition because their bodies are unable to fight the bacteria contained in something as trivial as a pimple. Having met war refugees who came with nothing except the pair of pants they were wearing makes you think about hell before actually being there. Yet much of the world is silent/inactive on these issues and the world superpowers continue to spend grossly exorbitant budgets on weapons and defence projects.

.

Thank you for addressing the OP honestly.
Will anyone else give it a try?


------PS------
Trillian wrote:

It's all very good talking about these ideals of hell on an internet forum, but unless you see these things first-hand, it's a completely different meaning. I encourage you to do some volunteer work for the needy and maybe then, you can get a better idea about what Jesus Christ is all about

Be damn careful when making unsupported assumptions about other people's volunteer work or their ongoing service to their country or their communities. Doing so can be insulting and ultimately damaging.

[Biker]

I think atheists have established themselves an an unidentifiable demographic. The Dogma of Atheism is: We are not identifiable. They will fight tooth and nail to NOT be identified. The tenat of "atheism" is supposed to be "lack of belief in God."
But now some agnostics use the term. Then there's the anti-theists........which actually seem more common then just "atheists." An "atheist" would not fight tooth and nail against the existance of God. An Anti-theist would.

Would you prefer a world full of Christians? Or are you happy for Islam, Buddhism and any other religion to have equal standing? Would you send your children to an Islamic school?

I prefer a world under the Kingship of the true King, Jesus Christ! Administrated by, overcoming TRUE Christians, under Jesus Christs Lordship! It is coming! Are you ready for it?
Jesus Christ is Lord of lords, King of kings! If Islam and Buddhism accepts the Most High God, and His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, then they too will escape hell! As well as everyone who has ever drawn breath!
Jesus Christ came into the word the first time to save it not judge it. But there is a day appointed for judgment, and He (Jesus) will be the judge.
Don't be found with your name not written in the book of life!
The single most important detail you ever get right in your short life is to make real sure your name is written in that book! Drop everything (literally) and find out beyond a shadow of a doubt how that is accomplished. Everything else pales in comparison!
If your name is not written in that book other books will be opened on you and you will be judged on your deeds! Do you want to risk eternity on your deeds? I know I don't!
You are an eternal being, you were made to live forever, the real you, the you on the inside! You need to decide where the real you is going to be for ever!
If you deny Christ, Christ will deny you before His Father!
Eternity is nothing to gamble with!

Biker

[Zzyzx]

If you deny Christ, Christ will deny you before His Father!
Eternity is nothing to gamble with!

The ultimate Christian sales pitch -- intimidate with fear of "eternity" that cannot be shown to exist -- coupled with the equally unproven (and unlikely) promise of "eternal bliss" for those who worship as directed by "priests" and "prophets".

Create a problem (need for "salvation" in an "afterlife") then provide a solution (a "savior") and collect income and influence for being the middle man. One hundred percent profit because the "product" is a promise that becomes due after death (very convenient) costs nothing to make. The whole thing is also tax-free in the US.