Who is more important? You, or those you care about?

[cardgame]

I'm wondering WTF the OP means by "downtown"

I'm wondering WTF G-Max means by pretending not to know who downtown is.

 

[Dachs]

This hypothetical is silly, unnecessarily complicated, and obviously leading.

 

[MilesGregarius]

Hell would be separation from loved ones, so none of the options offers much of a choice.

 

[_random_]

I'm wondering WTF the OP means by "downtown"

You've been here since 2006. How did this happen?

As to the hypothetical, projecting my personal Christian values onto a Godist framework, I really can't justify Option 1, but eternity is a long time, so I'd probably wind up taking it anyway.

 

[The Magic Hobo]

This is a really stimulating hypothetical question I have to admit. I've occasionally thought about this sort of premise, but, just like now, I can't possibly respond truthfully.

1. I would turn my eternity in heaven into Hell with this option.

2. Well Hell doesn't have very good reviews...

3. Just because I don't know them doesn't mean I don't care about them.

So in this case I would have to put this matter in God's hands so to speak.

 

[Rashiminos]

This hypothetical is silly--

Quite.

When reduced to the three options presented:

Option 3 causes me to question this hypothetical god's benevolence. If I can, by mere offer of this god, cause the damnation of nearly all humanity, and quite possibly any other being of sufficient stature, then this clearly is the worst (and most evil) choice. Sorry downtown, but I'd pick the rest of the universe over just you. Nothing personal.

Option 1 is obviously the selfish choice, but is it a wrong choice? Hard to say without qualifying the types of people my friends and family are... (If Godism is the "right" choice, then being athiest is a mark against them).

Option 2 is the supposedly altruistic choice. I'd be giving free passes to Heaven that were in some sense unearned, especially in the case of the family. While I could probably vet for the characters of my friends/loved ones (whom I allowed to be my friends/loved ones), my family is most likely the result of accidents of birth. They might not actually be worthy of such a gift, and they may even hate me for giving it to them (athiests may not enjoy a godist heaven).

For my friends'/loved ones sakes, number 2 please.

My Kirk option: Any deity offering #3 to just anybody (let alone me) is in need of being dethroned.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Hell has more interesting research opportunities.

Funny how you imply those who choose 1 really care about the people they sent to hell.

 

[Rashiminos]

Hell has more interesting research opportunities.

Funny how you imply those who choose 1 really care about the people they sent to hell.

They might care by a certain meaning of "care."

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

The poll did say "loved ones". Or is there another definition of love that involves happiness at the expense of those you love?

 

[Floating Pants]

Although I look at Hell in a different form than in the popular concept of it, that's outside of the hypothetical, so I went with option 1. For two reasons:

1. God made the decision to send the atheists to Hell, and to challenge that or sacrifice a "God-ist" like myself would be going against God's will. I suppose my initial reaction would be to argue, but at the face of the most supreme being in the universe, it is hard to do so. Leaving the decision up to Him is the only right thing to do to be most faithful to Him.

2. Most of the relationships I have with my friends and family are rather flimsy, leaving me to be less phased than most people about this, although I would possess guilt. This is also another part where I cannot entirely sympathize with the hypothetical: I'm pretty sure all of my family is theist; only a few probably aren't Christian. Most of my friends are the same, but I can't say that I truly know about all of them, but my relationship with someone certainly does fall if I discover they are atheist. So, I would honestly feel a lot less guilt in discovering a friend of mine actually was atheist and they were sent to Hell, launching the "they deserved this" factor to my head.

But, that's out of the hypothetical, isn't it? Although, that does quite sum up why I chose answer #1, due to my relationship with atheists to begin with.

 

[Zack]

Quite.

When reduced to the three options presented:

Option 3 causes me to question this hypothetical god's benevolence. If I can, by mere offer of this god, cause the damnation of nearly all humanity, and quite possibly any other being of sufficient stature, then this clearly is the worst (and most evil) choice. Sorry downtown, but I'd pick the rest of the universe over just you. Nothing personal.

Option 1 is obviously the selfish choice, but is it a wrong choice? Hard to say without qualifying the types of people my friends and family are... (If Godism is the "right" choice, then being athiest is a mark against them).

Option 2 is the supposedly altruistic choice. I'd be giving free passes to Heaven that were in some sense unearned, especially in the case of the family. While I could probably vet for the characters of my friends/loved ones (whom I allowed to be my friends/loved ones), my family is most likely the result of accidents of birth. They might not actually be worthy of such a gift, and they may even hate me for giving it to them (athiests may not enjoy a godist heaven).

For my friends'/loved ones sakes, number 2 please.

My Kirk option: Any deity offering #3 to just anybody (let alone me) is in need of being dethroned.

Option 3 is merely the obligatory downtown poll option.

 

[bhsup]

Oh hey, also, who am I to interfere-for-eternity with my atheist family members' free will choices of self-determination.

 

[Rashiminos]

Option 3 is merely the obligatory downtown poll option.

This hypothetical is silly

Hence.

 

[NickyJ]

Oh hey, also, who am I to interfere-for-eternity with my atheist family members' free will choices of self-determination.

This. I mean, it is their own fault.

 

[Thoughtful Thug]

IF I have the power to make heaven whatever I want it to be, then option 1 will be the best choice for me. All I have to do is copy a trillion of keys and go to hell and give it to everyone down there. Or just take a bulldozer and ram open the pearly gates so that everyone can get in.

 

[Colonel]

I would gladly accept hell if it meant everyone of my loved ones\friends\etc went to heaven.

 

[Angst]

I'm not able to answer that question with a straight face, so I won't. It's too uncomfortable.

I also read fifty's thread a couple of times, and I knew it back before I read his words. But I have to add some thoughts about the dilemma in question:

If the God in question were rewarding selfless deeds and being good with going to Heaven - as with the Christian God, choosing to go to Hell for my family would take me to Heaven with them. Choosing to go to Heaven without them would take me to Hell with them. However, knowing this, I could only wish in my own interest, making my deed egoistic and damning me. As soon as I'm aware of the dilemma in this, I'm damned.

Ignorance is bliss after all.

I know this is purely unimportant to the dilemma in question, of course, as your religion is Godism, not Christianity.

 

[civver_764]

Lol I love the justification for the atheists' fate from the resident Christians.

Anyways I would probably just call God a terrible being but I would have to choose option 1. Eternal misery is simply always off the table. If that's supposed to show that I'm not altruistic then so be it.

 

[Azash]

Option 1. I suspect people who vote for 2 either have a distorted view of their own backbone or simply haven't grasped the concept of -eternal- damnation.

 

[GhostWriter16]

Ugh, I don't really like this choice.

While I am willing to die for people I love (really only one person I would die for), I don't think I'd want to go to hell. Honestly, I had to go with option 1. Even though knowing that my friends and family are in hell would bother me quite a bit. Sure I'd die a cold empty death as long as it didn't involve hell. But hell is pushing it too far.

As Captain Kirk might say, when you don't like the choices and outcome, you change the rules. In my version, I'd demand god give me 2 hours to think it over, and in those 2 hours I convince my family and friends to convert to Godism and that I know for a fact they will go to hell if they don't. If would ask god for proof of his existence if my friends and family doubted me.

I agree with Kirk, but if I had to pick...

Option 1. Eternal suffering? No thanks.