hell

[dknightx]

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read revelations, there will be a day that God will defeat the devil, etc, etc. not really sure what happens to people in hell after that.

secondly, you put too much emphasis on the value and importance of life. if you believe in an afterlife, death isn't as bad as it seems.

finally, if i kill someone who would have eventually killed 2 people, am i doing good?

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Life becomes so much MORE important when you believe in an afterlife, because 1 mistake in your existence here (not believing in God) can haunt you for ETERNITY.

As to your example, you kill person "X" who was going to kill person "Z" 5 years from now. This saves Z's life. What if Z is a good christian and would of went to heaven the day X killed him. Now he doesn't die in 5 years and let's say 10 years from now he renounces Christianity and becomes an atheist. Because you killed his would be murderer, he is now doomed to go from heaven to hell due to circumstances beyond his control.

Wow this can get very complicated. I would say it is impoosible to know if you are doing good no matter the example.

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exactly, that is why deeds without faith is useless (but faith without deeds is also useless too). I would recommend reading the new testament YOURSELF and making your own decisions. you should not always trust what other people tell you. In this case, everything you've learned/heard about hell is probably (partially) wrong.

Edit: btw, i should add that "not believing in God" does not necessarily mean 100% you will go to hell ... at least that is my opinion (this is one of those hotly debated topics that atheists love to bring up)