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What is your response when people threaten you with religious punishments? (i.e. Hell/Jahannam)

Admin 9 June 19
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65

THe Church came calling here the other night. Asked if they could come in. I laughed. I said "You, want to come inside of MY house? Ok, this should be interesting."
I led them to my table. There were 3 of them.
They asked if I believed that the bible was the inerrant word of God, and I reminded them that ALL scripture has been said to be divinely inspired.
Not only the Bible, but also the Quran, the Talmud, the Kabbalah, the Vedic scriptures, the I Ching, the Bgata Vita, the Dead Sea Scrolls....
I explained how the Bible had come to be compiled, and the political climate under which the Christian Church had been formed to control the population, and why the some of the scriptures had been included and why some had been left out. I showed mankind's role and motivation in putting it together, and it killed any other argument that they had been trained for. (when I followed religion I went through street ministry training and did a short stint in active duty there.)
When they asked the "if I were to die tonight" question. I explained that my molecules would become a part of the heavens, they excused themselves and left fairly quickly.

Donna Level 6 Sep 29, 2017

Brilliant!

I wish I could have been a fly on your wall.

Excellent reply. I wish I can give it 100 likes or 1000 in that matter.

"Oh, do come in. This is my kitchen. This is my table."

"What's in there?"

"Oh, don't go in there."

"Why not?"

"That's where I hide the bodies."

They know where you live now...

you sound just like these guys!
[abarim-publications.com]

I miss the connection bbyrd009 Am I missing something?

Donna, you are right on. For someone to claim that the Bible is inerrant, they would have to a complete idiot. We have NO autographs, all we have are copies of copies of copies, some written centuries after the fact. We don't even know who wrote the alleged gospels. Mark had no knowledge of Christ, he was Peter's companion, same with Luke. The whole thing is totally unbelievable in my opinion.

@felixjensen99 don’t forget at the council of niceea 325AD where as you mentioned the books of the Bible were chosen out of hundreds. The big ticket item from that meeting was voting on the divinity of Jesus. Up to that point no one considered him devine and any reference to “ the son of man” “ the son of god” was not about a devine all knowing overlord. It was about our higher consciousness the source of inspiration commonly referred to as devine inspiration. But ultimately when threatens with hell or torment in the afterlife. I always say hell is to Atheists what a crucifix is to a vampire. You have to believe for either to work. Since I don’t believe in heaven or hell. There is no fear. Furthermore why would I ever want to be a part of a spiritual movement that invites fear and infinite torment for non believers. We have nothing to prove because nothing exists. Believers can’t get their head around the fact that when you don’t believe in a devine being of any kind. That all arguments and affiliations with any and all religions disappear. They still try to cherry pick bits and pieces out of a void. I never engage in the debate with believers personally. They always try to get me to prove god doesn’t exist. I don’t use their faith against them. It’s everyones right to choose. That is what is most important. My freedom to not believe. Christians would hound on other religions just as much as Atheists but we have nothing to defend because if it doesn’t exist then what are we defending.?

24

I'd tell them the truth and say that I'd already been there. It's a small town in Michigan.

SamL Level 7 Oct 11, 2017

We used to go to Hell for pizza.. i think it was in a churches basement? It was a long time ago, but as a kid, I thought it hilarious we were going to Hell!!

@mitelheem Now I wanna go to hell. No fair.

and of course in the winter, Hell does indeed freeze over!

7

easy.
my only child is dead.
i'm already there.
suck it!

Sorry to hear. Loss has a clarifying nature. I've lost a number of close friends in the last few months.

That is worse than any hell. I am so sorry for your pain.

So Sad To Hear Of Your Loss.

I am sorry for your loss.

7

My reply is that there's probably some pretty awesome people in hell if we pretend it exists. Tons of comedians, scientists etc that I would love to spend time with. How many serial murderers and rapists repented to enter "heaven" again? That usually stops the conversation.

Zebra Level 1 Sep 15, 2017

Great response! I'll need to borrow "There's probably some pretty awesome people in hell if we pretend it exists."

4

Why do those on "death row" always, ALWAYS seek the comfort of a rabbi, priest, minister, etc., etc. ? I will NEVER seek the services of one of those "believers" because I will never end up on death row. Just goes to show how much religious people will believe, I think.

Was wondering, redeem themselves from what?

30

I say if there is a hell all my friends will be there and if christianity is correct then heaven will be full of murders and rapists who have asked for forgiveness and managed to sneak in. So stay up there with your bible verses and hymns and crusty judgemental people. Ill take hell over heaven any day

I love the Norse idea myself, Hel is the Goddess of the underworld according to them and she has a special place set aside JUST for murderers, child molesters and backstabbers, it is called rather unimaginatively Hel, cool idea to call the nastiest afterlife place after the very one that is going to torture the nastiest of all for ever.

And besides, most of the engineers will be going there as well - by the time we get there they will have it air-conditioned.

18

I have them read the sections of "Revelation" that describe heaven, and point out how fucking boring that sounds.

Ya, but you can walk on streets of purest gold--- think even soft metal like gold would be hard on the boots- would rather see and walk on grass anyway.

@Diogenes You could, except you'll be on your knees prostrating yourself before the golden throne for all eternity

7

I normally joke around and say something like there's so many brilliant scientist down there it's probably air conditioned by now if there talking about hell or sometimes I'll just laugh at them and walk away

Ha-ha-haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah ! ! !

"...so many brilliant scientist down there it's probably air conditioned by now..." a "hell" of a [witty] response.

4

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but your dillusions do not have the power to send me to a non-existant place after my death."

pardon, do you have any idea where we'd go after we die?

@SonnyMlaPH I understand the concept of brain that no longer has the blood supply to continue to function, that visibly degrades after death making it no longer able to act as it does while alive, so I have more evidence supporting my concept of 'what happens after death' than the religious.

3

I laugh and tell them to hold their breath. And I remind them that I believe in energy and kharma (as far as receiving what you put into the universe) so, even if they DO believe that, they willl receive their comeuppance far sooner than I will go to hell. LOL

Don’t say sorry when you are not. I clarified that what I mean by karma is that you receive from the universe, what you put into it. I don’t know a better word for it, so I call it karma. Your response was thought out. So you are not sorry, you are judgemental. Perhaps a byproduct of the religion you no longer follow. Please don’t tell me what to call myself. And I won't tell you what to call yourself. Don’t come for me when I didn't send for you

5

I simply say that I could never believe in a god that would punish one for eternity! Now who is evil??? So they "say" grace, peace, empathy, love, compassion for others comes from within a person, unfortunately everyone is not nice, however what a boring world it would be if we were all the same!!! Very simply just treat others how you yourself would like to be treated and never feel that you (have to) defend your personal beliefs and feeling. Also, who are you or I to judge anyone? Pat F.

Come on people feedback!!!

Who are we to judge anyone, anyway?

Now, aaaaahhh, for lack of words, I've a short vocabulary, I would say that to judge is a "God-given gift" - discernment - a very important faculty of each person in order to survive so you won't have a hard time window-shopping or choosing freebies in the net. You don't have to be a King Solomon to be a good judge of book covers.

You "simply say that you could never believe in a god that would punish one for eternity!" So, it's okay for you to believe in a god so long as it won't punish you for eternity?

Who is evil? depends on your intuition, you perception and discernment. what is evil to you might be a blessing to others.

You said it yourself, "Very simply just treat others how you yourself would like to be treated and never feel that you (have to) defend your personal beliefs and feeling."
. . . Just let them be. If they don't just let you be, well, seek life elsewhere!

It would be a wonderful world if all of us are the same in wanting to live life in perfect harmony. I wouldn't think that's a boring way to go.

Compassion, empathy, love and many other virtues are all inside us, we only need to tap on them . . .

. . . and there's one very important virtue that you MUST always have - PATIENCE

16

I laugh my ass off. I also love it when they ask, "don't you want to be saved?" "Hell freakin' no," I reply. "Saved from what? Logic, reason, critical thinking?!"

Ya .... I have no sin.. what did do wrong.....

Soooooo true!

6

I go and hide in my coffin.

omg yes, do u legit have one coz ive been designing myself one, but my hostel has said I can't just get rid of the hostel bed and replace it with a coffin(even though tbh that would be comfier than there bed)

No I don't have one, it gets cold 6ft under. They can burn me, I like the hot weather.

16

I just say I'm not bothered as I don't believe in hell. Why waste your life being terrified of a made up boogeyman?

Bebel Level 4 Nov 18, 2017

lol boogeyman for real.

the bogeyman oh no !!!!
he stands by your bed and picks his nose

35

"How Christian of you"
Although I also like to break out "Judge not, lest ye be judged".
It's always good to bring the Bible into it.

That's what I was gonna say!! lol I also comment that Genisis Chapter 1 where by the 'creator' got down on doing stuff and over a span of 'time' made everything and each 'day' looked things over and deemed the work 'good'. At the end of the 'week' everything ever is created and it's all DEEMED GOOD. whooppeee. 'Don't worry, mon, be happy'. If everything is GOOD there is no hell (bad). My long way of saying I just can not take those threats seriously.

Go back to fucking Bethlehem where you belong

16

Laughter, generally.

Same here.

@BitcoDavid Same

3

It doesn't happen. People are usually too polite tell me directly. But you know they're thinking it.

M for me I was raised in such a direct and sometimes tactless home.... I’m that person and once in a while I throw s rock at the bee hive

@Millerski25 Lol. I eventually married a Korean, in part because the Korean frankness was such a refreshing change. Frankness can be painful but between that or always guessing what the other person is thinking, I prefer the frankness.

5

My 6 year old grandson ask me if I believed in god and when I replied that I didn’t believe in something that doesn’t exist he answered “but papa if you don’t believe in god you will go to hell”. The indoctrination of young children pisses me off but there’s not a whole lot I can do about it as that is his parents decision. He hasn’t brought it up in a long time so maybe he’s decided that Papa is ok even though he’s going to hell.

Papa you’re ok

what kills me are the non-believers who send their kids to indoctrination training so that they’ll have a well rounded education when deciding for themselves. WTF?

6

I'm laughing at your example of (i.e. Hell/Jahannam) because when a christian asks me if I'm afraid of going to hell, I ask "but aren't you afraid of being condemned to jahannam?" They typically don't know what it is, so after a brief explanation, their answer is always "well, no I'm not afraid because, I'm not Islamic so I don't believe jahannam exists!" and they've responded to their own threat for me.

I need to use this also. It is such a smart way of backing them into seeing your perspective; well unless...

5

Your carrot that you entice me with says that God love me unconditionally...even my sins as long as I repent. You say he loves me "1,000 times 1,000" I was quoted once. So if God loves me so much why would be punish me so harshly and for infinity to burn in the fires of hell, just because I don't believe in Him? Surely he knows (or should) that I am fallable,could make a mistake. Doesn't he take that into consideration? NO??? What kind on MONSTER do you believe in anyway!!! How about all the near-mentally inferior people? He makes them burn in hell because maybe, they made a mistake and don't believe in Him?? Your God sounds very very small and unforgiving to me.

What kind of Monster? a jealous and selfish God, He said that Himself. So far nobody has given me a satisfactory answer to my question why God created us and why did He give us free will only to punish us if we make a mistake knowing fully well that to err is human (and we are human, aren't we? - unless you're a Dracos Reptilia, ha-ha!) and why let Satan tempt us and punish us if we go along with His primary adversary and so much more conflicts and inconsistencies, why put so many traps and pit falls along the way in man's journey to His kingdom

5

I just say there is no hell, so I don't fear it. Which usually leads to them saying that there is, and me saying no, science has proven there is no god, so there is no hell.

4

I had a client once tell me that he was sorry to say, but he believed I was going to go to hell for not believing. I simply asked him if he were going to be going to Heaven. He answered "Yes, I believe so." So, I said, "I guess I'll see you there because THAT would be my hell."

5

I smile and start speaking in tongues 🙂

Monad Level 4 Sep 26, 2017
7

Saw a great response to this the other day.

A Christian telling an atheist they're going to hell is as scary as a child telling an adult they're not getting any presents from Santa. - Ricky Gervais

Before I heard this one I just asked them if they were also scared of what Sauruman, Captain Hook, and the Wicked Witch of the East would do to them if they weren't obedient.

Good one---I must remember that for my next encounter.

4

I laugh!

I normally don't associate with those people.. they can be so overbearing..

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