Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 13 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated 22 years, 1 month ago by
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I am an atheist. My girlfriend is a Christian. She honestly believes that I am bound for her Christian hell when death comes knocking because I haven’t accepted Christ. If pressed, will most Christians subscribe to this strict interpretation of the bible?
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Name : BXHammer, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 25, City : Denver, State : CO, Country : United States, Occupation : Programmer/analyst, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,I believe that most will say so (as I do). I have known many Christians – particularly through college, attending several churches and also through my extended family. The vast majority hold to a strict interpretation of the Bible and will agree that you are “bound for Christian hell,” as you would not meet the requirement of accepting the authority and sacrifice Christ made for you.
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Name : Peter30381, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, City : South, State : IN, Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,You will get mixed answers from other Christians. Why they do not agree on this is a much longer subject than I would prefer to go into. I also believe that you are bound for Hell if you die without repenting.
You may get a mixed spectrum of answers, all from people who do not have the power to condemn you to Hell. If you want an answer from Jesus Himself, have your girlfriend show you passages in the Bible like Matthew 25:31-46.
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Name : Michael F., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 29, City : Denver, State : CO, Country : United States, Occupation : Computers, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,While most Christians would say so, I wouldn’t stereotype all Christians into one category. There are some pretty liberal Christians (though some might not consider them Christian in the traditional sense). At any rate, none of us decide what happens after death. For all we know, everyone goes to heaven or gets reincarnated or who knows what. The point is, neither I, your girlfriend or anyone else makes that decision or really, absolutely, positively knows for certain. That’s God’s job, and God is welcome to it.
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Name : Brian-C19438, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Methodist, Age : 20, City : Highlands Ranch, State : CO, Country : United States, Occupation : College Student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I believe the answer you are seeking is not so much who will accept or reject a given set of values, but rather are those values genuine? The short answer is yes. Accepting the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and His personage as the Son of God is central to Christian belief, and to redemption. While God absolutely permits you to believe (or disbelieve) whatever you choose, He does not make any alternate provisions other than those stated in Scripture.
Anyone who waters down or tries to soften the message is guilty of deceiving themselves and their listeners. Human history does not record anyone who has successfully challenged and disproven what the Scriptures say.
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Name : Al, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 49, City : Ottawa (Ontario), State : NA, Country : Canada, Occupation : audio engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Unlike your girlfriend and a large number of Christians who profess their belief in a loving God, I disagree with the concept of eternal damnation. My God is a God of unconditional love and grace. HeSheIt is neither judgmental nor vindictive. We were given the gift of free will, and let’s face it, we blow it as often as not. The only hell we will endure is that which we experience here as a result of making choices not in keeping with our highest good, the greatest truth, and the greatest love. When we finish with our bodies, our souls will return to our Creator in their purest form, and God will embrace us, regardless of the mess we may or may not have made with our temporal lives. Why would He do otherwise – to teach us a lesson? It was not our souls that made the mistakes; it was our imperfect human minds and selfish egos. So even those of us who make the decision (mistakenly, I believe) to deny the presence of God and declare themselves atheists are free to do that in this life, yet return to God’s boundless love when this life is over.
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Name : Nell F., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 47, City : Lafayertte, State : CO, Country : United States, Occupation : RN, Education level : Over 4 Years of College,Damnation is a judgment, a threat to being. It’s a predicting ‘belief’ (*descriptions/concepts accepted and held by the ‘subconscious mind/holy/whole Spirit’, post hypnotic suggestions) of a “stagnation” in Heaven (pleasure) or Hell (pain) – Pavlov’s dogs: Condition Reflex perpetuating mind control, in a system of belief. It’s Symbolized as The Great (many believers) Faults Prophet. Truth is in constant change and constant expression so any ‘being (belief) eternal” is faults. There’s only Now and eternity. When power fanatics found their military force inadequate for world control they abused knowledge of great men and put forth a universal (catholic) belief system (Religion) of Hierarchy/control (The Great Whore: sells State/Now/Spirit of balance (Jesus) and clarity (Christ) of Mind to Learn) that’s seductive to the Mortal mind with its “inner flaw” of know-it-all/666. Love/Learning goes on through eternity. Sixth level of mind files and stores information, fanatically =666. ‘Believers’* parrot the words explaining but not understanding.
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Name : Jerome, Gender : M, Age : 56, City : Albion, State : IL, Country : United States,This is one Christian who does not believe you are destined for hell. To some Christians it may sound like blasphemy, but I believe that the Bible is not the end-all authority on all religious matters. It was written by humans, after all, and if you try to rely upon a strict interpretation, you may find yourself very frustrated as there are often contradicting scriptures on the same subject. I believe that if you are a ‘good’ person (I know, that opens up a whole new discussion, but I’ll save that for another time) then it you will be saved regardless of what you believe. When it comes to being saved, I think God will judge you based on your how you have lived your life, which is not necessarily dependent upon having believed a in any one particular religion.
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Name : Katrin, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 30, City : Madison, State : WI, Country : United States, Occupation : Banking, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,Most Christians believe in hellfire and damnation, not because they can scripturally prove it, but because it is commonly taught in the churches. Truth is, hell is a pagan concept used in the Dark Ages to scare people into religion. The word “hell” in the Bible is a mistranslation of the Hebrew “Sheol” and Greek “Hades,” which is better translated “grave.” The truth is also that, if God sent Jesus Christ to die for the sins of everyone and to redeem all to God, either He accomplished that fully, or He failed. I choose to believe the scriptures teaching that He did not fail in that mission. All shall come to know Him, not forcefully, not out of fear. I have been a Christian almost all of my life & have been preaching almost 30 years now, and I find the love of God to be all-encompassing. There is no hell or damnation.
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Name : Kerry N., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 47, City : Fort Worth, State : TX, Country : United States, Occupation : Sales and service, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Does the Methodist Church still use the Bible? The Bible, God’s word says that if a person dies without Christ, they will spend eternity seperated from God. IN HELL
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Name : Chester32351, City : Vinton, State : OH, Country : United States,Why preach, if everyone is going to Heaven. To preach the gospel means there must be bad news. If the the gospel is the good news.
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Name : Chester32348, City : Vinton, State : OH, Country : United States,In my 40 years of life on this earth, I have been through many phases of spiritual belief. I’ve gone from Catholicism to Atheism to Agnosticm to Pantheism. I’ve essentially come to view all sincere expressions of religious faith to be pointed in the same direction. Strip away all the dogma and ritual and basically you are left with ‘The Golden Rule.’ Yet as I hear fundamentalist Christians describe it, if I do not accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Personal Savior (regardless of how well I conducted my life), then after I die my conscious mind will be sucked down into Hell, where I will be tortured and tortured and tortured and tortured and it will never, EVER STOP — not for a hundred or a thousand or a million years, but for ETERNITY. This is supposed to be Divine Judgment? To me it seems much more like divine extortion or divine tyranny. The notion is more bizarre than any science fiction plotline. Who would want to bask in the glory of such an insecure God?
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Name : Chuck A., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 40, City : Spring Hill, State : WV, Country : United States, Occupation : AIDS educator, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,What if an atheist leads a ‘Christian’ life? Is he/she still damned to Hell?
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Name : John29272, City : NY, State : NY, Country : United States,Do you not know Christians make up the entire idea of heaven and hell to make themselves feel better? If a person is bad they go to hell and if he/she is good they are rewarded. Just accept that your girlfriend needs this belief system to cope with life and accept the fact you are too evolved to need it. If she can accept your beliefs and you can accept hers, no problem. I have been married to a Christian for 18 years and I am an atheiest daughter of a minister. It is all about respect of another person’s beliefs. If you have that in common, that is all you need.
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Name : melissa-g-stone, City : norphlet, State : AR, Country : United States,
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