Quote:
Originally posted by Yakk
The view of hell as "absence of god" is a pretty good arguement.
Imagine that god forgives everything. Unconditionally. Period. There is nothing you can do that is beyond the scope of god's forgiveness.
Now, imagine if god gave you true free will. You gained the ability to reject god. God forgives you, god loves you, but you have the choice not to return this love, not to accept this forgiveness. Without choice, there is no free will. Without consequences, choice is but an illusion.
When you die without love for god, if god took you against your will, that wouldn't be a free choice. You'd be going to god dispite making the choice of rejecting him.
And without free will, you aren't anything. There is nothing there without your free will, nothing to harm, and nothing to love. You'd be no more than a rock.
The hard part is, accepting god's love and forgiveness isn't easy. Believeing, with all your heart, all your soul, isn't easy.
Either that, or this entire god thing is a great example of an infectious meme.
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I would argue the punishment of not going to heaven would be because of wrongs you have committed that you are not remorseful for, not necesasrily for accepting God.
Here is my big problem. My best friend is one of the most responsible, family-oriented, loving, caring, giving people I know. But he's athiest. His reason for being athiest is really flawed, you'll just have to take my word on it, but that's irrelevant.
I just can't imagine that a man, say the murderous leader of an army, would be allowed into heaven before him. It blows my mind.
Heaven is protrayed as a place of peace and good. The first fits in better than the latter. I have a hard time accepting that any single "belief" requirement would be more important than the sum total of man's life.
I think some of you are taking this too personally, maybe as an attack on your personal beliefs. It is not. I just want to know. That's all.
Thanks to all who have answered so far. There have already been paths laid down in this thread I'm going to explore.