Jesus went on vacation to paradise for eternity for your sins.

Yeshua! Get down off there!

You know we need that wood!

According to the well known historian, John Dominic Crossan Roman reliefs of a group which is believed to be Jesus and his followers shows the central figure to be dressed differently. Several reliefs show this. JD Crossan says that, just like today, clothes signified a certain following. His clothing is thought to be indicative of a group that followed the philosophy of Diogenese of Sinop. This philosopher is known as the father of "Cynic Philosophy". [philosophy.gr]

Right on. No theist believes "God" could be anything like that. There is no concept for "God".

Brilliant song. One of my favorite Eagles tunes.

@Duke One of my favorite concerts.Clemson stadium nosebleed seats but "sneaked" down to stage front for the last few songs.

pissed

And Gilgamesh did it first and better.

@BufftonBeotch, first we have a written record of, anyway.

We eat Tide Pods and burn our arms on red-hot electric stove burners. We are not species designed for longevity.

I might like to try that wing suit jump off a cliff thing. Or not.

Messiah is simply Hebrew for king anointed by god. Like Solomon and David.

"Perish" in this context is being cast into eternal hellfire. Not simply dying.

Sin is an imaginary problem and so the places where sinners and the redeemed go after death are both imaginary, too.

per·ish
?periSH/Submit
verb
suffer death, typically in a violent, sudden, or untimely way.
"a great part of his army perished of hunger and disease"
synonyms: die, lose one's life, be killed, fall, expire, meet one's death, be lost, lay down one's life, breathe one's last, pass away, go the way of all flesh, give up the ghost, go to glory, meet one's maker, cross the great divide; More@mordant

@nicknotes I'm just telling you how it's taught and understood in the evangelical world. Also the verse itself says the alternative to "perishing" is not to merely live, but to have "everlasting life" (as opposed to everlasting death). Words can be used metaphorically, and also, dictionary definitions only define the most common and accepted usages, often not the special theological meanings that believers make up. Finally -- you're cherry picking definitions. Another dictionary definition is "suffer complete ruin or destruction".

The Greek word translated as "perish" at John 3:16 is Strongs #622 and is used quite commonly over 100 times in the New Testament. The word means "die" but it is apparent that the apologists have invented a meaning for this word to try and patch a hole in their theology. @mordant

@nicknotes Quite probably. Jesus was an itinerant apocalyptic preacher and he explicitly taught that the end was imminent, and promised that some people present at his sermons would not taste death but would see god's kingdom ushered in. The wording here would fit with that. That clearly didn't happen though, and hasn't happened in the 80 or so generations since. Therefore, it all had to be spiritualized and reinterpreted metaphorically and so forth. The only reason I like to exhibit some knowledge of how evangelicals view / interpret such scriptures is so that they don't think me theologically illiterate when I engage with them about their own theology. It's a distraction. I think I have to meet them where they are.

I agree it's ironic how literalists are happy to throw literal interpretations under the bus when the literal interpretation is inconvenient for their evolved dogma. But I don't like getting lost in the weeds when I can do a line drive. I tend to focus on the unfalsifiaility of their god hypothesis, the inability to distinguish between their asserted dogma and their imagination -- things like that.

Matthew 16:28 King James Version (KJV)
28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
Of course this did not happen. In fact none of Jesus' prophecies have come true.

@mordant

@nicknotes And just to make a meta-point -- none of the alleged prophecies about Jesus were about Jesus. Our Jewish friends invariably find these claims by turns annoying and hilarious.

I have a list of OT prophecies that supposedly are about the Messiah. Of course Jesus didn't fulfill any of these prophecies. @mordant

That's amazing.

Bravo! Instant classic. If only everyone could see this. I think it could really affect those with doubts and who are on the fence. But how many believers would it actually do anything for? I don't see the option to tag, but I would nominate #CounterApologetics, #VicariousRedemption, & perhaps #Morality or #ImmoralityOfReligion.