That’s the line that I’m seeing more and more often from people calling themselves Christians. For someone claiming to be a follower of Jesus, calling Him a liar is no small thing. So what is causing this shift? As it turns out it's the reality of, or the horrors of hell that is causing some people to declare - Hell can’t be real.
Well there is no doubt that hell is unspeakably the worst scenario anyone could conceive of. That's probably why Jesus spoke more often about hell than He spoke about heaven. Who wouldn't warn people about such an end?
It's pretty easy to predict the human response to overwhelmingly bad news.
It can’t be.
It’s not real.
That’s not possible.
Just like when people began to hear about the horrors taking place in what we now call the Holocaust, people’s first reaction was to deny that anything like that could possibly be taking place.
While I’ve never had a very refined concept of hell, I’ve known enough to be embarrassed for those who have said profoundly stupid things like, "I’d rather be in hell than heaven ‘cause hell is where all the parties will be." Ya right. On the other hand, I’ve usually thought of hell ‘simply’ as a place where people are forever separated from the presence of God for eternity. And the Bible says that is a true statement. However, hell is so much more than that. Jesus taught "If you do not believe that I am who I say that I am, you will die in your sins." He taught that someday very soon, all of those who have refused to acknowledge Jesus as Lord during their life-time on earth will live in:
. The unrelieved absence of Love
. The complete absence of Good
. The total, all pervasive presence of evil
People who have chosen Hell over Heaven will spend eternity in:
. Absolute fear
. Unmitigated hatred
. Total darkness
. Unrelieved sorrow
. Unequivocal alone-ness
. Absolute shame
. Unbounded regret
. Undiluted violence. Sheer panic
. Unrelenting dissatisfaction
. All encompassing meanness
. Overwhelming stench
. Total betrayal
. There will be no freedom from pain, only total, all consuming, overwhelming pain.
The worst conditions on earth don’t come close.
Hell is for people who have not kept the first and greatest commandment to Love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, and mind.
Hell is for people who have finally come to the end of a journey, the main focus of which has been to live a life without humbling themselves before Creator God.
Right now, even as I write this, millions of people, including George Carlin are suffering a special kind of torment as they are in a hell that they refused to believe in. Their special torment is that they convinced spouses, children, friends, students and other ‘open-minded’ people that hell didn’t exist. And now there is no way to turn back the clock. There is no way to warn their loved-ones about the horrendous consequences of following that error. On the other hand, Jesus himself said, that even the evidence of Him rising from the dead would not be enough to convince most people to stop living as though God and eternity did not exist.
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On my post about Medical Treatments, I received several messages of sympathy from my non-Christian readers. All of which I appreciate from the bottom of my heart.
However, I also received a post from a Christian who never did bother showing any compassion or sympathy. Makarios just came over to spill the Christian hate he carries in his heart. Hell is his favourite topic, so he, apparently, speaks of fire at the first opportunity.
Interestingly enough, it was Christians like him who helped me understand that the faith wasn't worth following and that its God was an idea of human creation.
This is what Makarios said,
I think you're right. Followers of God misunderstand a lot about Him. However I doubt that His Son, misunderstands anything. "What Son?" you might ask. Umm, that would be Jesus. The one that you killed. Did you know that He spoke more often about hell than about heaven? A loving God does that because He wants to warn people away from the worst scenario possible.
Mark 16:16 - Jesus said, “Those who believe in Me and are baptized will be saved but those who refuse to believe in Me will be condemned.” (You would think, wouldn't you, that believing in Jesus would entail believing what He taught?)
John 1:12,13 - Jesus said, “Unless you are born again, you can never get into the kingdom of heaven.” There is no eternal doom awaiting those who trust Him save them. But those who don’t trust Him have already been tried and condemned for not believing in the only Son of God.
John 3:3 - “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
John 3:16-18 - “God loves so much that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in him stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
John 5:24 - Jesus said, “I say emphatically that anyone who listens to My message and believes in God who sent me has eternal life and will NEVER be damned for his sins. He has crossed from death into life.”
John 6:40 - “For my Father’s will is that every one who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 8:24 - Jesus said, “For unless you believe that I am the Son of God, the Messiah, you will die in your sins.”
John 14:6 - “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Acts 13:38,39 - In this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who trusts in Him is freed from all guilt and declared righteous.
Romans 3:27,28 - Our acquittal is not based on our good deeds, it is based on what Christ has done and our faith in Him. So it is we are saved, by faith in Christ and not by the good things we do.
Romans 9:32 - Because they were trying to be saved by keeping the law and being good instead of by depending on faith, they have stumbled over that great stumbling stone, Jesus.
Galatians 2:19 - It was through reading the Bible that I came to realize that I could never find God’s favour by trying and failing to obey the law. I came to realize that acceptance with God comes by believing in Christ.
1st Thessalonians 1:8,9 - The Lord Jesus will bring judgement on those who do not wish to know God and those who reject His plan to save them through our Lord Jesus Christ (the majority of American christians). They will be punished in everlasting hell, forever separated from the Lord, never to see the glory of His power.
This is my response.
I think you're right. Followers of God misunderstand a lot about Him. However I doubt that His Son, misunderstands anything.
Yes, and when I wrote that, I was thinking of the likes of you, who go around threatening people with eternal damnation in the name of a so-called loving God who doesn’t exist. The Bible writers made him up, and the Roman Catholic church added Jesus to the bunch of lies. Yeah, most of the stuff you believe in comes from the Roman Catholic church. Do your research.
"What Son?" you might ask. Umm, that would be Jesus.
Oh my! Did you really write that?
Are you here to try to convert me or just to insult my intelligence. What’s your I.Q. Makarios? Below 100?
The one that you killed.
Ah! I killed Jesus, Did I? I could swear I wasn’t even born then . And in any case, I didn’t ask him to die for me. So, I am not going to take responsibility for it.
Did you know that He spoke more often about hell than about heaven? A loving God does that because He wants to warn people away from the worst scenario possible.
Actually, he, according to the gospels, mostly spoke against the religious establishment. He spoke about self-righteous people, like you, who think they have the right to speak in behalf of a God they’ve never seen or spoken to.
So, from that point of view, it was YOU WHO KILLED, Makarios. And if he came again as described in the gospels, humble and poor, he would be discriminated and looked down upon in churches like yours.
Mark 16:16 - Jesus said, “Those who believe in Me and are baptized will be saved but those who refuse to believe in Me will be condemned.” (You would think, wouldn't you, that believing in Jesus would entail believing what He taught?)
That verse was probably written by someone who badly wanted to win converts for his new Jewish sect. It is doubtful that Jesus even existed, let alone that he said what the gospels say he did. Even more improbable is that he was quoted correctly. Try quoting somebody 40-to-100 years after they said something.
John 1:12,13 - Jesus said, “Unless you are born again, you can never get into the kingdom of heaven.” There is no eternal doom awaiting those who trust Him save them. But those who don’t trust Him have already been tried and condemned for not believing in the only Son of God.
Another HATEFUL verse in the Bible written by somebody who didn’t know what love really means. Would you kill your daughter for not believing in you? And if you did, you would be called an evil monster and sentenced to the electric chair.
Every time I read posts like this one, I wonder how Christians have the nerve to go around portraying their God as if he were as evil as a deserving death-row inmate.
John 3:3 - “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
Ah! And then I will have to read a myriad of books describing what the kingdom of God means. In doing that, I will find that every denomination has their own idea of what it means, and that nobody really knows what it is. Brilliant huh?
John 3:16-18 - “God loves so much that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in him stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
Hey no need to cut and paste this onto your post. I could have recited it to you by heart. That’s right. I have a lot of portions of your fictional book memorized. What a waste of my brain's storage space, huh?
John 5:24 - Jesus said, “I say emphatically that anyone who listens to My message and believes in God who sent me has eternal life and will NEVER be damned for his sins. He has crossed from death into life.”
And you really think Jesus said this? It sounds to me like anybody who would say such thing has to be completely deluded?
John 6:40 - “For my Father’s will is that every one who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
I am so not interested in eternal life. I am especially not interested in being anywhere with the likes of you for even five minutes, let alone an eternity.
John 8:24 - Jesus said, “For unless you believe that I am the Son of God, the Messiah, you will die in your sins.”
What sins? I make human mistakes like everyone else. Nobody deserves death for LIVING and being HUMAN. If God wants to send me somewhere for being ME, maybe I should go there. I wouldn’t want to hang out with somebody like him, so mean and miserable as to want to restrict me to always being perfect. Might as well check myself into the local jail.
John 14:6 - “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
What father? There is no God and no father. We are alone. Each other is all we have.
Acts 13:38,39 - In this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who trusts in Him is freed from all guilt and declared righteous.
No, Jesus produces guilt. To be freed from guilt, all I need to do is realize that Jesus and God are myths of human creation.
Romans 3:27,28 - Our acquittal is not based on our good deeds, it is based on what Christ has done and our faith in Him. So it is we are saved, by faith in Christ and not by the good things we do.
Yes, Paul supposedly wrote that. And that shows how ignorant he was. According to that, God is completely unjust and evil. People who live good lives and respect others go to hell—for not following God the dictator. But criminals who repent once they’re thrown in jail, go to heaven. Brilliant. May I be saved from your unjust God.
Romans 9:32 - Because they were trying to be saved by keeping the law and being good instead of by depending on faith, they have stumbled over that great stumbling stone, Jesus.
Yes, he was speaking of the Pharisees. People like you, who read a book and follow it to the letter. And in doing that, you forget that loving and respecting other human beings is ABOVE THE LAW. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, If Jesus were to come, Christians like you would kill him. You guys would find some verse in the Bible to justify the crime.
Galatians 2:19 - It was through reading the Bible that I came to realize that I could never find God’s favour by trying and failing to obey the law. I came to realize that acceptance with God comes by believing in Christ.
That’s not what Galatians 2:19 says. You’ll burn in hell for misquoting the Bible. Here is what it says,
"For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live unto God."
And no, you’re still following the law. Your law is the Bible, because you take everything so literally. And, yes, the Bible is killing you. There are other books you could be reading that aren’t as retarded as the Bible.
1st Thessalonians 1:8,9 - The Lord Jesus will bring judgement on those who do not wish to know God and those who reject His plan to save them through our Lord Jesus Christ (the majority of American christians). They will be punished in everlasting hell, forever separated from the Lord, never to see the glory of His power.
A book that spills out death threats every other verse isn’t worth my time. I am sorry that you’ve let yourself be influenced by such hateful book. And I am also sorry for what it does to you, to your family, and to your friends.
No, I have no plans to ever follow your God again. I do not follow persons or invisible beings who threaten me with eternal death for not believing in them. Especially, when the death threats are ALL HEARSAY found in a book of doubtful validity.
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