What I believe
I may have mentioned before that I go to a Southern Baptist church. Well I want to say that that is not the case anymore. I have had a major shift in my religious beliefs. I kept having a hard time reconciling how a God that is "love" could let the vast majority of his creation burn in Hell for all of eternity.
I am a father and I would do ANYTHING to keep my child out of Hell, why wouldn't God, who is our Father, do the same? I finally started studying on it and praying and I eventually come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as an eternal Hell. But the Bible says there is. Or at least MY Bible does, and I do believe the Bible to be Holy.
However, the more I studied it the more I began to realize that maybe I was right. Maybe the whole "hell business" is a mistranslation. I won't try to explain it, I'll let these websites do it.
http://www.tentmaker.org/books/is_hell_eternal/ch5_eternity_not_time.html
http://richardwaynegarganta.com/AGES%20OR%20ETERNITY%20AND%20THE%20KING%20JAMES%20VERSION.htm
http://bible-truths.com/lake1.html
I have plenty more websites like this. When I started reading this finally the Bible made sense, on one hand we are ALL saved yet at the same time we will all be punished for our sins, however instead of being tortured for eternity it will be a loving punishment like a father does to a disobedient child.
In fact, the phrase "eternal punishment" is an oxymoron if you think about it. Punishment is an action that you do(or receive) that is meant to change bad behavior. However, if it's eternal it certainly isn't changing anything so therefore it's not punishment, it's simply torture.
Of course I'm sure some will say that God doesn't "send anyone to Hell" that man chooses to go there himself. I say bullshit. If that is the case then it is obviously unfair to many people. The man who lives for 80 years in the middle of the Bible Belt in the USA is going to have a lot more chances to repent than the 14 year old Muslim in Saudi Arabia who gets killed for breaking their religious law.
The dominant belief in Christianity today tells us that the Muslim is going to Hell despite the fact he didn't get near the chances that the other guy got. It's simply not fair, you can BS it all you want but the one guy got more chances than the other guy.
Plus, we talk about how evil Hitler and Stalin were for killing millions of people, however, if God made just one person who he knows will burn in hell forever IMHO that makes him infinitely more evil than either of them. The victims of Hitler and Stalin were treated terribly but their pain ended, not so with the guy in Hell.
Well I've said my peace. I'm sure people out there will disagree with me but I think that what I believe really shows the love of God.
I am a father and I would do ANYTHING to keep my child out of Hell, why wouldn't God, who is our Father, do the same? I finally started studying on it and praying and I eventually come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as an eternal Hell. But the Bible says there is. Or at least MY Bible does, and I do believe the Bible to be Holy.
However, the more I studied it the more I began to realize that maybe I was right. Maybe the whole "hell business" is a mistranslation. I won't try to explain it, I'll let these websites do it.
http://www.tentmaker.org/books/is_hell_eternal/ch5_eternity_not_time.html
http://richardwaynegarganta.com/AGES%20OR%20ETERNITY%20AND%20THE%20KING%20JAMES%20VERSION.htm
http://bible-truths.com/lake1.html
I have plenty more websites like this. When I started reading this finally the Bible made sense, on one hand we are ALL saved yet at the same time we will all be punished for our sins, however instead of being tortured for eternity it will be a loving punishment like a father does to a disobedient child.
In fact, the phrase "eternal punishment" is an oxymoron if you think about it. Punishment is an action that you do(or receive) that is meant to change bad behavior. However, if it's eternal it certainly isn't changing anything so therefore it's not punishment, it's simply torture.
Of course I'm sure some will say that God doesn't "send anyone to Hell" that man chooses to go there himself. I say bullshit. If that is the case then it is obviously unfair to many people. The man who lives for 80 years in the middle of the Bible Belt in the USA is going to have a lot more chances to repent than the 14 year old Muslim in Saudi Arabia who gets killed for breaking their religious law.
The dominant belief in Christianity today tells us that the Muslim is going to Hell despite the fact he didn't get near the chances that the other guy got. It's simply not fair, you can BS it all you want but the one guy got more chances than the other guy.
Plus, we talk about how evil Hitler and Stalin were for killing millions of people, however, if God made just one person who he knows will burn in hell forever IMHO that makes him infinitely more evil than either of them. The victims of Hitler and Stalin were treated terribly but their pain ended, not so with the guy in Hell.
Well I've said my peace. I'm sure people out there will disagree with me but I think that what I believe really shows the love of God.
posted by ducktapehero at 5:19 PM
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