Christians on afterlife

JJ50 said:

My thoughts about the Biblical god character, are the result of reading the Bible many times. If in the unlikely event that it actually exists, and what is attributed to it is true, it is worse than any human who has ever lived

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I don't know you well at all. From your writing, it sounds like you do not need God or religion in your life. Also, it sounds like too many people have pushed their opinion about God on you in the past.

Because of this, I want to be cautious not to appear like I am pushing my opinion on you in any way.

All I want to say is this: If a person doesn't believe that the Bible is true or accurate; then that same person , IMHO, cannot use the Bible as evidence for a claim against God. The Bible can be used as evidence for a claim against the people who believe in it; but not a claim that God is evil.

That is how I feel. And I hope that I didn't offend you.

Well, I think the Bible has God's words for us.
Please read Colossians 3 5, you might vs.6 enlightening.

See why His wrath is coming? (There's enough illicit sex.)

Death is the only outcome for everyone. At God's due time, there will be a resurrection of almost everyone. (John 5:28-29; John 6:44) Then, all will be judged from that time on. (Romans 6:7) Those willing to live by Jehovah's standards, will be given the opportunity to live forever. -- Revelation 21:3-4.

Simple enough.

JJ50 said:

There is nothing just and merciful about the Biblical god.

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No doubt you know the story of opinions and rectums, I need not repeat it, but it applies to your comments.

AT-AT said:

I'm not a Christian, I'm highly skeptical of Jesus but not as much God. I think the world needs more sex and rock'n'roll. Am I going to hell?

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They are cherry picking scriptures, so you should cherry-pick back. That is unless of course they are nice and aren't condescending. Then be nicer. Niceness should always be encouraged. Remember you won't win any arguments.

Here are some scripture verses for your smart phone in case someone wants to tell you that you're going to hell. These are some zingers. You can point these quotes out all from the NIV translation.

• (Psalm 27:12) Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations.
• (I Kings 13:18) The old prophet answered, “I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” (But he was lying to him.)
  
• (I Samuel 17:28-29) When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.” “Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?”
  
• (Ezekiel 16:49) “ ‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
  
• (Jude 1:9-10) But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.
  
• (Proverbs 10:7) The name of the righteous is used in blessings, but the name of the wicked will rot.
  
• (Proverbs 10:11-12) The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.

AT-AT said:

I'm not a Christian, I'm highly skeptical of Jesus but not as much God. I think the world needs more sex and rock'n'roll. Am I going to hell?

And don't say "Only God knows." Because the fact Christians preach about people going to hell if they don't repent, suggests they have spiritual insight into the matter.

It's a controversial question. But I won't get upset if you say "yes".

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In the Bible, the original words for what has been translated as "hell" were the Hebrew sheʼohlʹ and the Greek haiʹdes.
Both words refer to the location of the dead, which is the grave. Nowhere in the Bible does it says that people are going to be tortured forever.
The word "hell" comes from helan, which means to conceal or to hide.
There are a few scriptures where we find another word that was also replaced with "hell" in some Bible translations: Gehenna. This was Jerusalem’s garbage dump. Fires were kept burning there to burn up the garbage. Jesus used it as a metaphor but he never said that humans where going to be burned forever in a lake of fire.
Based on the this, I'd say you don't have to worry about going to hell, since the concept of punishment in such a place comes from a series of unhappy translations and it doesn't have any scriptural support.

AT-AT said:

I'm not a Christian, I'm highly skeptical of Jesus but not as much God. I think the world needs more sex and rock'n'roll. Am I going to hell?

And don't say "Only God knows." Because the fact Christians preach about people going to hell if they don't repent, suggests they have spiritual insight into the matter.

It's a controversial question. But I won't get upset if you say "yes".

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Most likely, saying "the world needs more sex" would make the answer "yes," but it depends on what your definition of "more sex" is. The Bible, in Revelation 21:8, says, "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (emphasis mine). What is sexual immorality? It isn't about how much sex one has. Rather, the issue is whether it's within the sphere of Scriptural marriage.

As Hebrews 13:4 puts it, "Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed [sex] undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge" (NKJV, emphasis mine). Notice how sex is fine within the marriage bed but judged when outside. Here's how Proverbs 5:18-20 puts it, where Solomon's speaking to "his son":

18 Let your fountain be blessed,
And rejoice with the wife of your youth.
19 As a loving deer and a graceful doe,
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
And always be enraptured with her love.
20 For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman,
And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?

Again, the Bible strongly endorses sex within scriptural marriage but condemns it when outside such. I'd recommend for you to quickly read 1 Corinthians 7:1-6, in which the apostle Paul explains that both the husband and wife each should make sure the other is satisfied. I believe this principle leads to much greater fulfillment sexually than does casual sex.

AT-AT said:

I'm not a Christian, I'm highly skeptical of Jesus but not as much God. I think the world needs more sex and rock'n'roll. Am I going to hell?

And don't say "Only God knows." Because the fact Christians preach about people going to hell if they don't repent, suggests they have spiritual insight into the matter.

It's a controversial question. But I won't get upset if you say "yes".

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The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term:

"Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Support your answer with a proof."

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle’s Law (gas cools off when it expands and heats up when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So, we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let’s look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle’s Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added. This gives two possibilities.

1) If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2) Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it ? If we accept the postulate given to me by Ms. Therese Banyan during my Freshman year that "It will be a cold night in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then (2) cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic.

The student got the only A.

allright said:

Jesus said if you don't repent of your sins and receive him as Lord and Savior
you will end up in Hell

1 So did Jesus speak the truth

2 or was he a liar and deceiver and it was right to put him to death

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It says much for your lack of morality that you think it right to put someone to death because they tell lies about religion.

SA Huguenot said:

Then againif God says he visited his people in a foreign country, saved them from oppression, appeared to the whole nation and showed them He exists, promised He will get down to the creation where we live, promised he will give us everlasting life, became a human, lived amongst us, was killed and became the only man ever to rise from the dead, in fromt of everyone he ascended into heaven....
This is obviously not enough evidence for you.
I wonder what you would say if there was any digital recordings at that time?
Anyhow, evidence, what evidence do you want that will prove to you that there is a God?
That He shows Himself to You?
Then He will make you so special because you are sure that if He does show Himself to you, that you will worship Him.
Serious, will you?
I doubt anyone that is so in love with themself will want to worship a God.

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Then againif God says he visited his people in a foreign country, saved them from oppression, appeared to the whole nation and showed them He exists, promised He will get down to the creation where we live, promised he will give us everlasting life, became a human, lived amongst us, was killed and became the only man ever to rise from the dead, in fromt of everyone he ascended into heaven....
This is obviously not enough evidence for you.

You have made a bunch of fantastical claims, yet you have provided absolutely zero verifiable evidence for your claims, OF COURSE it's not enough evidence for anyone, because claims that can't be verified are nothing but unsubstantiated claims.

AT-AT said:

Am I going to hell?

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Only God can judge that.

AT-AT said:

And don't say "Only God knows." Because the fact Christians preach about people going to hell if they don't repent, suggests they have spiritual insight into the matter.

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It is the appropriate response though as I've shown above. The commandment to not judge for instance. Is not about judging if someone is a dumb ***/b-hole/bitz. I can judge someone as these type of things all day it is not a sin. The commandment to not judge. Is about judging someone worthy of heaven, or condemning them to hell. That is something we as humans have no authority over, and only God can do.

We don't have any special insight that you speak of. But in order to have a chance to pass judgment from God you need to repent. There is no special insight here, it's just what the good book says.

Hopefully that clarifies some things.

AT-AT said:

I'm not a Christian, I'm highly skeptical of Jesus but not as much God. I think the world needs more sex and rock'n'roll. Am I going to hell?

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Hypothetical: Hell exists:
Have you ever thought about "all the crazy things people `think of` all day long... just watch your own mind"
If people get a one way ticket to Hell because they think certain things
Then I'm sure the majority of the people will go to Hell

But this was all just Hypothetical, don't lose a night sleep over it:
You seem a nice person to me. I do not believe what those Christians tell about Hell. For me it is easy to prove they are not trustworthy
I prefer to use my own discrimination and avoid listening to people who impose on me/others negative stuff ... unasked

AT-AT said:

I'm not a Christian, I'm highly skeptical of Jesus but not as much God. I think the world needs more sex and rock'n'roll. Am I going to hell?

And don't say "Only God knows." Because the fact Christians preach about people going to hell if they don't repent, suggests they have spiritual insight into the matter.

It's a controversial question. But I won't get upset if you say "yes".

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Hello. In my religion it teaches that heaven and hell are spiritual conditions or states of the spirit or soul not actual places. There is an after life but heaven and hell can be experienced both here and in other worlds of God.

In our religion heaven is described as nearness to or likeness to God through obedience to His laws and teachings so we would become beings of noble upright character, and hell is to turn away from God’s ways and become a being of evil behaviour causing troubles and crime and so on.

The one brings contentment and inner peace while the other brings misery, unhappiness and depression.

There’s nothing wrong with sex or rock n roll if used properly. I know a man who has children to 4 different women because he just wanted sex. His life is misery after misery as these 4 women compete for his money and use his children as weapons against him. He would have been far better off with one wife only and not had all these problems. So sex if used in a right way can bring pleasure and joy but used wrongfully can make ones life a complete misery which this person has done. Not for one day is he at peace.

Jesus gave very good sound advice not to be promiscuous and I can but wish people took his advice for their own sakes and for their own well being and happiness.

Anything carried to excess is harmful. This is the teaching of all the Great Educators not to be a slave to our passions but be in control of them and moderation in all things.

AT-AT said:

Still, those who preach on hell, granted the majority of Christians don't, are intentionally or unintentionally accepting the premise that some of us will go to hell. I think.

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if you listen to some of them, you can hear, almost taste, the relish with which they say it, the sad little ... persons.

QuestioningMind said:

Then againif God says he visited his people in a foreign country, saved them from oppression, appeared to the whole nation and showed them He exists, promised He will get down to the creation where we live, promised he will give us everlasting life, became a human, lived amongst us, was killed and became the only man ever to rise from the dead, in fromt of everyone he ascended into heaven....
This is obviously not enough evidence for you.

You have made a bunch of fantastical claims, yet you have provided absolutely zero verifiable evidence for your claims, OF COURSE it's not enough evidence for anyone, because claims that can't be verified are nothing but unsubstantiated claims.

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Well, if you say this I have just discovered another Bible critisizer that never read the Bible.

JJ50 said:

I respect other humans if they are deserving of respect. The Biblical god certainly doesn't deserve respect if it exists as it is evil.

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why?

AT-AT said:

Here is what I was trying to say in my posts. A person who tells others including atheists that people go to hell, shouldn't have a problem either:

1. Telling people directly to their face given they accept they have spiritual insight.

2. If they don't claim to have spiritual insight, they are most likely accepting the Bible by its word. In which case, they should talk about how their supreme use of the Bible to the extent they're telling everyone else what to do, isn't a form of idolism.

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Nope, I like to tell people what they can do to be Guaranteed heaven.
Big difference.

SA Huguenot said:

why?

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Because what is attributed to it is evil, if it exists, as I have said so many times before!

AT-AT said:

And don't say "Only God knows." Because the fact Christians preach about people going to hell if they don't repent, suggests they have spiritual insight into the matter.

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If you want a blunt answer, you will find it in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.

What hell is understood to be will depend on the particular tradition you ask. Traditionally, hell is understood to be a place of conscious and everlasting punishment. This is the teaching of Catholicism, Orthodoxy and most strains of traditional Protestantism. On the other hand, more recent traditions like the Jehovah Witnesses tend to teach annihilationism. That the damned are utterly destroyed. Regardless, in either case, the plain reading of Scripture is hardly ambiguous about what qualifies a person for hell.

AT-AT said:

I'm not a Christian, I'm highly skeptical of Jesus but not as much God. I think the world needs more sex and rock'n'roll. Am I going to hell?

And don't say "Only God knows." Because the fact Christians preach about people going to hell if they don't repent, suggests they have spiritual insight into the matter.

It's a controversial question. But I won't get upset if you say "yes".

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Like the rest of us, you will sooner-or-later have to choose between being eternally good and eternally evil (sooner or later, because the final choice has to be made at one's time of death, which may be a few seconds or umpteen years away).

With an eternity of Heaven or Hell according to how one chooses.

At any given time, one is either in a state of goodness and spiritual life (heading for Heaven) or evil, selfishness and spiritual death (heading for Hell).

Which of these states you are currently in, only you can surmise.

To avoid Hell, Believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord, God and Saviour. Then follow His example, relying on His help to be good and (above all) kind to others.

From a practical point of view, this will involve:

Joining a Christian church or worshipping group (there is no such thing as solitary religion)

Avoiding sex-outside-marriage and showing temperance and discernment regarding rock'n'roll.