04 Jan 22
@suzianne saidThis has moral coherence ~ which eternal torture in burning flames does not.
There is no "eternal damnation" or torture of souls.
A creator entity/being creates the world and human beings >
> it reveals [unequivocally, unambiguously] its instructions as to how to gain everlasting life to everybody >
> these are rules about how humans are to treat each other and care for the flora and fauna on the Earth where they live >
> everyone has complete free will to obey or not [manmade laws permitting] >
> those who are judged to have endeavoured to obey the creator being with earnestness are rewarded with an afterlife >
> those who were judged to have been weak and disobedient simply have a finite life [still one heck of a gift, mind you] and then they disappear.
I don't believe this is how the universe works, of course, but at least it would be morally coherent compared to the torturer God concept with its infinite vengeful punishment for a finite crime after a "revelation" that is only found to be credible to a minority of human beings and where the posthumous torture is kept secret from the living.
But I digress from mchill's topic. As you were, everyone.
04 Jan 22
@mchill saidInterestingly the churches of today do not preach the Gospel of Christ and neither do many of them fashion their conduct and mo after Christ, whose focus was a changed lifestyle centered around good works and righteousness.
My parents were atheists, both having grown up in strict Christian households. For them, the message of Christianity was not that of a loving God who sent his own son to suffer and die as just and final punishment for the sins of all, but that of a judgmental God who'll condemn them to eternal torture if they step out of line. No one mentioned the word "God" in our house, and ...[text shortened]... for themselves. No roaring sermons, no fire and brimstone, no pounding the pulpit - - and it worked!
Many churches now are about drama, healing, shouting that they are saved, speaking in tongues, loud repetitive praying.
No more soft quietly and reflectively prayfully discussing the bible.
04 Jan 22
@fmf saidI used to be, because at the time it was the only way I could reconcile the strange stuff in Revelation. Then, I don’t know exactly when but many years ago I realised that this judgment stuff was all out of hand doctrinally and actually it was error.
I wonder how many millions of the world's Christians are annihilationists like you?
For the reasons I’ve stated many many times.
04 Jan 22
@divegeester saidI don't really understand why you feel you have to reconcile it. It was the first thing to fall away for me as I started to realized how ludicrous and manipulative it is.
I used to be, because at the time it was the only way I could reconcile the strange stuff in Revelation.
@fmf saidMaybe reconcile is the wrong word, I didn’t actually reconcile anything. I think annihilation was simply a transition point for me as my understanding of the biblical events at calvary shifted my perspective on parts of the bible I didn’t understand and found morally incoherent.
I don't really understand why you feel you have to reconcile it. It was the first thing to fall away for me as I started to realized how ludicrous and manipulative it is.
@divegeester saidEh, I know he and others believe differently. It doesn't bother me as much as it bothers others.
Jospehw will be along shortly to berate you for “wilfully misinterpreting scripture”.
Or maybe not, as he quite likes you.
@divegeester saidDid Jesus want to "bang the pulpit" about it, as you put it?
Anyway, I find it odd that if you believe that billions of souls will be, as you put it, “snuffed out in a lake of fire”, that you would not want to be “banging the pulpit” about it.
Seems strange to me.
People can be influenced in other ways. I was under the assumption that this is what the thread was about.
@fmf saidPerhaps not as many as those who get to pat themselves on the back for their supposedly escaping their "eternal damnation" scare tactic.
I wonder how many millions of the world's Christians are annihilationists like you?
@suzianne saidIt's no coincidence that proponents of the torture for eternity concept here over the years have almost unanimously also declared themselves to be irrevocably "saved" from such a fate. There's no torture for eternity for them, apparently. Just for other people.
Perhaps not as many as those who get to pat themselves on the back for their supposedly escaping their "eternal damnation" scare tactic.
04 Jan 22
@mchill saidNo, that's not so. I "struggle" with Revelation in much the same way as I "struggle" with QAnon. So, do you not count the Book of Revelation as part of Jesus' teaching? The seven words [and dash] you posted above sidestepped the question.
I see you're still struggling with this -
@suzianne saidI wasn’t how I put it, it was mchill in the OP.
Did Jesus want to "bang the pulpit" about it, as you put it?
People can be influenced in other ways. I was under the assumption that this is what the thread was about.