Atheist, Are'nt you scared?

[cgannon64]

It's a shame that where you end up in an afterlife isn't dictated by concrete terms; it is all based on speculation and fears.

I'm pretty sure there are concrete terms. They're written down.

Ironically, that it is irrelevant is irrelevant. The simple fact that they know and could avoid it does not mean they send themselves there. The state does it. You can't wriggle around that fact. Yes, they are commiting the crimes and playing a part in their, but nonetheless they are not actively choosing to go to jail (usually), while the state is. Your final sentence says it all. That you have to qualify the clause "The state does not compel anyone to go to jail" with the word "without" fully admits that the state does, in fact, send them there.

But what is unjust in sending them there?

 

[shortguy]

But what is unjust in sending them there?

Nothing, necessarily. But, as I said, the authority is responsible for the propriety of the punishment, and I would suggest that hell is inappropriate punishment for any crime.

 

[la cosa nostra]

Aren't you at least a little tine bit scared of your afterlife? If what you say is true, then when you die, there is nothingness, so doesn't that scare you at all?

2 rules:

No flame!

Tell honestly!

I mean it for that one! Saying you are not scared of something like this will not make you brave, IMHO. Please answer honestly!

Poll comming.

Wouldn't a believer of any religion be a bit scared in a world of thousands of religions?

 

[ummmm........]

Check the dates

Edit: FredLC bumped it

Yes, but why?

 

[cgannon64]

Nothing, necessarily. But, as I said, the authority is responsible for the propriety of the punishment, and I would suggest that hell is inappropriate punishment for any crime.

Hell, as described in modern Christian doctrine, is the only prescription for the crime of rejecting God: the absence of God.

 

[FredLC]

I'm pretty sure there are concrete terms. They're written down.

But what is unjust in sending them there?

But vaguely enough to spawn dozens of interpretations.

Anyway, i'd say that I consider eternal damnation too harsh of a punishment for anything one could possibly do. Say that Hitler is impaled in boiling iron for 100 years for each of his victims... I say he would have payed his debt.

And I don't even need to be an entity of eternal love and forgiveness to think like that...

Yes, but why?

Why did this thread even come to be in the first place?

Regards .

 

[Adebisi]

I dont really know how to interpret the question, but no, I'm not afraid of ending up in hell at least, since it doesn't exist.

That doesn't mean I would willingly die as martyr however, since I know there are no rewards in the afterlife. So I dont want to die blowing myself up for whatever cause either.

 

[Communisto]

accept christ as your savior.. learn to love god and you will live with his light forever. Heaven isnt even so much a place as it is being in god's presence...

no

accept people's differences. I'd rather live in the light of my fellow humankind than a diety that may or may not exist.

 

[carlosMM]

wow.. people need to start reading the bible lol

why?
what for?








(I read it, as a historical document, and man is it a weird bit of juxtaposed stories, fables and political lies )

 

[toh6wy]

Hell, as described in modern Christian doctrine, is the only prescription for the crime of rejecting God: the absence of God.

I don't care what Christian doctrine says. As it was already said, *no one* deserves certain horrible torturing and pain for the rest of time.

 

[blackheart]

I'm pretty sure there are concrete terms. They're written down.

Writing something down doesn't make it true. The Flying Spaghetti Monster was written down and spread across the entire internet, does that make you believe that the FSM is real? It would become concrete if someone were to come back and tell of their experiences and such, but since that hasn't happened, it isn't concrete.

 

[Own]

I'm athiest, but I'm afraid of god cause if there really is a hell I'm screwed.

 

[MRM]

I'm athiest, but I'm afraid of god cause if there really is a hell I'm screwed.

Then you are agnostic, not atheist

Suddenly I'm wondering: in a world with a whole lot of different religions and Bibles--aren't you theists scared of choosing the wrong one....?

Maybe all Christians ( and most other Theist ) end up in Tartarus because they worshiped the wrong god and not Zeus ...

For me - no I'am not afraid of an afterlife - courios at maximum ( so i think it's most likely there is nothing )

 

[El_Machinae]

If you say that you're agnostic, but act like there is no God or afterlife (as I do), then you're only an agnostic to appear open. There's no functional difference between an agnostic who acts (as above) and an atheist.

 

[cgannon64]

Anyway, i'd say that I consider eternal damnation too harsh of a punishment for anything one could possibly do. Say that Hitler is impaled in boiling iron for 100 years for each of his victims... I say he would have payed his debt.

As I said to shortguy, would could be a more apt punishment than that described by modern Christian doctrine?

I don't care what Christian doctrine says. As it was already said, *no one* deserves certain horrible torturing and pain for the rest of time.

That's not what hell is. Hell is the death of the soul. (Although it is also sometimes described as eternal existence with the absence of God. I'm not quite sure which precisely is Catholic doctrine, but they're similar enough.)

Writing something down doesn't make it true. The Flying Spaghetti Monster was written down and spread across the entire internet, does that make you believe that the FSM is real? It would become concrete if someone were to come back and tell of their experiences and such, but since that hasn't happened, it isn't concrete.

A discussion about the justness of Christian hell presumes the existence of Christian hell.

 

[shortguy]

As I said to shortguy, would could be a more apt punishment than that described by modern Christian doctrine?

Apt, I suppose, but not terribly "loving" or "merciful."

 

[cgannon64]

How could mercy be more important than justice? Mercy is a plea against injustice.

 

[Daghdha]

I look upon death as equal to pre-birth and I can't remember that being either good or bad. I'm afraid of leaving life with the feeling of having spent it on usless endavours. That scare, as Perfection said, is a good one because it makes me think about what is important and what I do about it. Helping others, raise kids, solve problems, laugh and playing music...that's enough of meaningful things to keep me occupied for the rest of my life. If I dedicate the most part of my time to those I will indeed die a happy man. If not, I will be afraid...

 

[FredLC]

As I said to shortguy, would could be a more apt punishment than that described by modern Christian doctrine?

My take is that all punishment should fit the crime. Any punishment that lasts forever, but especially one so fearsome as hell, surpasses greatly any crime a man can commit in the course of a man's life... and it becomes revenge, not justice.

How could mercy be more important than justice? Mercy is a plea against injustice.

That would depend. The very doctrine of christians isn't that of "giving the other cheek"? You are supposed to value mercy over either justice or lust for revenge.

Nevertheless, justice is by it's own nature self-contained and limited, at pain of becoming vengeance, and caractherizing a new, and possibly worse, agression. To suggest an "eternal punishment" could even theoretically be "just" shows an divergence between our mindframes almost impossible to reconcile.

Not to mention the lack of proportion of punishing any "crime" (sin) with the same penalty. A retribution that fits the crime is an old paradigm of criminal law, and, again, it took only men, not entities of unending forgiveness, to figure it out, my friend.

Regards .

 

[JoeM]

God alone judges, He alone brings justice in the end.

We are to love Man and forgive his trespasses, not to bring about our own brand justice through revenge and punishment.