Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

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What if there really was a monster in the closet? I mean, cmon, there is some possibility that there is a soul devouring zombie in there. I'll admit it creates the sensation of fear from time to time.

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i anticipated this type of answer, and if u truly believe the two to have equal chance, then no of course you would never fear Hell.

However, Christianity is very prevalent in the world (as well as Islam). If one of these two were actually the correct religion, it would make sense that they are so prevalent. In either case, the end result for those not aligned with God are just horrible to fathom(...eternity...in torment...). But if God does exist, he makes the rules.

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I don't know about atheists. But I do know that most flavors of Christians should be very worried about going to hell. Because they have banked on one path when there are obviously at least two other possibilities that as you say, are very prevalent. One is Islam. If Christians are right that God needs you to believe something specific to go to heaven than they are less than even money if the "prevalent" thought has merit.

And what about if they are wrong about God's wishes? What if God's main concerns are how you conduct yourselves? That is also a reasonable idea, unlike monsters in the closet. And if its true, the clean living atheist or Jew will have a lot less to worry about than the Christian who is banking on mere belief.

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

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Now, the Muslim heaven, with lots of virgins to deflower, sounds a little more interesting

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Dude, virgins suck. Repeat after me, "virgins suck." And no, that's not what I mean. I mean, virgins don't suck. See what I mean?

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

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i think the fact that there's even something instead of nothing at all is mind-blowing.

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I agree, and I that question is (or should be?) equally troubling for theists and atheists alike. Science can come up with some great solutions for how things work starting at a fraction of a second after the Big Bang occurred. Asking for what caused the Big Bang is more troublesome. Theists can only slightly get around this question, because essentially the question is answered by stating that God created the universe and started the Big Bang (or whatever other Creation story). This of course leads to asking where God came from, a question usually answered with such statements as "He always has existed." I don't feel very comfortable with any of the choices, but I'm slightly more comfortable accepting that an omnipotent being could have always existed (being omnipotent and all).

Sometimes when pondering this question I feel like surely the universe must not exist...

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

The only thing about hell that worries me is that some people still believe in it.

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

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Now, the Muslim heaven, with lots of virgins to deflower, sounds a little more interesting

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Dude, virgins suck. Repeat after me, "virgins suck." And no, that's not what I mean. I mean, virgins don't suck. See what I mean?

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There's a certain cachet...

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

There are many scary things that can and will happen. I would say I would have to be concerned about the ones more likely to happen first.

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

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i think the fact that there's even something instead of nothing at all is mind-blowing.

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I agree, and I that question is (or should be?) equally troubling for theists and atheists alike. Science can come up with some great solutions for how things work starting at a fraction of a second after the Big Bang occurred. Asking for what caused the Big Bang is more troublesome. Theists can only slightly get around this question, because essentially the question is answered by stating that God created the universe and started the Big Bang (or whatever other Creation story). This of course leads to asking where God came from, a question usually answered with such statements as "He always has existed." I don't feel very comfortable with any of the choices, but I'm slightly more comfortable accepting that an omnipotent being could have always existed (being omnipotent and all).

Sometimes when pondering this question I feel like surely the universe must not exist...

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sounds very Buddhist's-like. But i agree, i get a very eerie feeling when i start rationalizing that there probably should be nothing at all...

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

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The ironic thing is I never heard this worry about hell come up among Christians as much as it does with the atheists on this forum. I'm sure Christians are bound to consider it, but most that I know focus on the love and redemption. I know I noticed hell but in a passing sort of way... I know there's a hell.

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If I may summarize then: You know that it is the case that the majority of people who have ever lived will be tortured for eternity after their deaths. However, this is not something that interests or concerns you, and frankly you find the subject quite boring.

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

i think "atheist" and "degenerate low life" some how become synonyms when talking about hell. why would god care what you believe or if you worship him if you do what you can to be a good person, tried to help others, and did what was right when you could. i simply cannot imagine that if there is a god, that he would doom so much of the human race to suffering, be it in this world or in some afterlife just so he could make some others feel good.

just you don't think what god said about being a good person came from god doesn't mean you don't believe that the idea of being morally upright and a good person is good.

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

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i know most atheists are confident in their belief that there is no God...especially the Christian God.

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It's a pretty fair bet that atheists disbelieve in all gods equally, or close to equally. I don't know why you feel the need to say "especially the Christian god".

That being said, I am as worried about going to hell for not believing as you are worried about it. After all, what if as you say, god is real and did create everything, but he's the god of another religion, and you are wrong and going to hell?

Doesn't that slight chance you are wrong worry you, just a little??

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

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kurto...read u're reply.

then looked at u're post count, 666(4). loc: in your heart.

coming from someone who did a lot of psychedelics, i see less coincidences and more meanings.

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LOL. Please do even a little bit of research on the 'number of the beast'.

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

Quote : why would god care what you believe or if you worship him


How do we know this isn't part of some higher purpose that we're not privy to. We can't know the mind of God. Maybe God is testing us as worthy vessels. We can't have any cracks and lack of acknowledgment is a crack. A lack of acknowledgment could mean you worship someone else or hold yourself above God. It essentially means you have not declared your loyalty to God and don't recognize his preeminence. You have to wear God's uniform to be on his team. You don't play for the Yankees or the Cubs and say you're not a part of their organization or refuse to wear their uniform. If you're a Cub you say you're a Cub. If you're a beleiver of Christ you say you're a Christian.


In 1 John 5:18 the children of god are given this protection:

The Reality, Not the Illusion
13-15My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God's Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he's listening. And if we're confident that he's listening, we know that what we've asked for is as good as ours.
16-17For instance, if we see a Christian believer sinning (clearly I'm not talking about those who make a practice of sin in a way that is "fatal," leading to eternal death), we ask for God's help and he gladly gives it, gives life to the sinner whose sin is not fatal. There is such a thing as a fatal sin, and I'm not urging you to pray about that. Everything we do wrong is sin, but not all sin is fatal.

18-21We know that none of the God-begotten makes a practice of sin—fatal sin. The God-begotten are also the God-protected. The Evil One can't lay a hand on them. We know that we are held firm by God; it's only the people of the world who continue in the grip of the Evil One. And we know that the Son of God came so we could recognize and understand the truth of God—what a gift!—and we are living in the Truth itself, in God's Son, Jesus Christ. This Jesus is both True God and Real Life. Dear children, be on guard against all clever facsimiles.

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

I like Voodoo. They essentially say there is an all powerful deity, but his power means he is too distant from what he created. So there is lesser beings human can turn to for their everyday needs. They don't have this good/evil crap either, but hold that beings can go both ways.

I don't get the idea of this almighty being pouring people into eternal hell because they did the almighty sin of never having the opportunity to hear about him.

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

quote: I don't get the idea of this almighty being pouring people into eternal hell because they did the almighty sin of never having the opportunity to hear about him

You must have missed my 2 posts showing that in the absence of Jesus you're judged on your deeds.

The God of Christians is a forgiving God if you approach him the right way. I doubt he'll tolerate deceit though since he can read human motives.

Look at how he handled this evil King:

2 Chronicles 33 (The Message)
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson



2 Chronicles 33
King Manasseh
1-6Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king. He ruled for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. In God's opinion he was a bad king—an evil king. He reintroduced all the moral rot and spiritual corruption that had been scoured from the country when God dispossessed the pagan nations in favor of the children of Israel. He rebuilt the sex-and-religion shrines that his father Hezekiah had torn down, he built altars and phallic images for the sex god Baal and the sex goddess Asherah and worshiped the cosmic powers, taking orders from the constellations. He built shrines to the cosmic powers and placed them in both courtyards of The Temple of God, the very Jerusalem Temple dedicated exclusively by God's decree to God's Name ("in Jerusalem I place my Name"). He burned his own sons in a sacrificial rite in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. He practiced witchcraft and fortunetelling. He held séances and consulted spirits from the underworld. Much evil—in God's view a career in evil. And God was angry.
7-8 As a last straw he placed a carved image of the sex goddess Asherah that he had commissioned in The Temple of God, a flagrant and provocative violation of God's well-known command to both David and Solomon, "In this Temple and in this city Jerusalem, my choice out of all the tribes of Israel, I place my Name—exclusively and forever." He had promised, "Never again will I let my people Israel wander off from this land I've given to their ancestors. But on this condition, that they keep everything I've commanded in the instructions my servant Moses passed on to them."

9-10 But Manasseh led Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem off the beaten path into practices of evil exceeding even the evil of the pagan nations that God had earlier destroyed. When God spoke to Manasseh and his people about this, they ignored him.

11-13 Then God directed the leaders of the troops of the king of Assyria to come after Manasseh. They put a hook in his nose, shackles on his feet, and took him off to Babylon. Now that he was in trouble, he went to his knees in prayer asking for help—total repentance before the God of his ancestors. As he prayed, God was touched; God listened and brought him back to Jerusalem as king. That convinced Manasseh that God was in control.

14-17 After that Manasseh rebuilt the outside defensive wall of the City of David to the west of the Gihon spring in the valley. It went from the Fish Gate and around the hill of Ophel. He also increased its height. He tightened up the defense system by posting army captains in all the fortress cities of Judah. He also did a good spring cleaning on The Temple, carting out the pagan idols and the goddess statue. He took all the altars he had set up on The Temple hill and throughout Jerusalem and dumped them outside the city. He put the Altar of God back in working order and restored worship, sacrificing Peace-Offerings and Thank-Offerings. He issued orders to the people: "You shall serve and worship God, the God of Israel." But the people didn't take him seriously—they used the name "God" but kept on going to the old pagan neighborhood shrines and doing the same old things.

18-19 The rest of the history of Manasseh—his prayer to his God, and the sermons the prophets personally delivered by authority of God, the God of Israel—this is all written in The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. His prayer and how God was touched by his prayer, a list of all his sins and the things he did wrong, the actual places where he built the pagan shrines, the installation of the sex-goddess Asherah sites, and the idolatrous images that he worshiped previous to his conversion—this is all described in the records of the prophets.

20 When Manasseh died, they buried him in the palace garden. His son Amon was the next king.

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

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LOL. Please do even a little bit of research on the 'number of the beast'.

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when i'm entrapped in sin, i see the #666 constantly. could just be a psychological thing where i'm keenly aware of it/looking for it...but it's definitly there.

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Doesn't that slight chance you are wrong worry you, just a little??

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yes

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

Oh good, Splendour is quoting scripture again.

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

But isn't that from the Old Testament? I thought that was before the New Covenant when everything got switched up....before Jesus the path to salvation was different. Are there any passages about Jesus talking about heaven/hell, people who haven't heard the word, and how they will be judged?

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

No, those are from the New Testament. Mark, Matthew, and Luke - maybe you've heard of them? Most of them are Jesus talking.

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

Yep, the old testament is closer to classic Judaist beliefs, and in those hell isn't eternal. Actually in those hell isn't mentioned much at all. So basically Christianity wants us to believe it is when God becomes all-loving he starts sending people to eternal torment.

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

I'm talking about the Chronicles verses cited two posts up. I'm also debating calling you a [censored] mongoloid for your condescending tone.

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

PASCAL'S WAGER!

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

Hell only scares someone ignorant enough to let christian guilt infect their mind. I've pondered hell, and I quickly realise it's somthing not worth thinking about

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

What I mean is, Hell is worthy of some thought, but only in reference to who thought it up. an inquisitive person will discover this and move on

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

I also found this bit of scripture that speaks more specifically about voodoo type practices:

Isaiah 8:11

A Boulder Blocking Your Way
11-15God spoke strongly to me, grabbed me with both hands and warned me not to go along with this people. He said:
"Don't be like this people,
always afraid somebody is plotting against them.
Don't fear what they fear.
Don't take on their worries.
If you're going to worry,
worry about The Holy. Fear God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
The Holy can be either a Hiding Place
or a Boulder blocking your way,
The Rock standing in the willful way
of both houses of Israel,
A barbed-wire Fence preventing trespass
to the citizens of Jerusalem.
Many of them are going to run into that Rock
and get their bones broken,
Get tangled up in that barbed wire
and not get free of it."

16-18Gather up the testimony,
preserve the teaching for my followers,
While I wait for God as long as he remains in hiding,
while I wait and hope for him.
I stand my ground and hope,
I and the children God gave me as signs to Israel,
Warning signs and hope signs from God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
who makes his home in Mount Zion.

19-22When people tell you, "Try out the fortunetellers.
Consult the spiritualists.
Why not tap into the spirit-world,
get in touch with the dead?"
Tell them, "No, we're going to study the Scriptures."
People who try the other ways get nowhere—a dead end!
Frustrated and famished,
they try one thing after another.
When nothing works out they get angry,
cursing first this god and then that one,
Looking this way and that,
up, down, and sideways—and seeing nothing,
A blank wall, an empty hole.
They end up in the dark with nothing.

Note that this sounds curiously like what we are suppose to be doing today.

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

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I also found this bit of scripture that speaks more specifically about voodoo type practices:

Isaiah 8:11

A Boulder Blocking Your Way
11-15God spoke strongly to me, grabbed me with both hands and warned me not to go along with this people. He said:
"Don't be like this people,
always afraid somebody is plotting against them.
Don't fear what they fear.
Don't take on their worries.
If you're going to worry,
worry about The Holy. Fear God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
The Holy can be either a Hiding Place
or a Boulder blocking your way,
The Rock standing in the willful way
of both houses of Israel,
A barbed-wire Fence preventing trespass
to the citizens of Jerusalem.
Many of them are going to run into that Rock
and get their bones broken,
Get tangled up in that barbed wire
and not get free of it."

16-18Gather up the testimony,
preserve the teaching for my followers,
While I wait for God as long as he remains in hiding,
while I wait and hope for him.
I stand my ground and hope,
I and the children God gave me as signs to Israel,
Warning signs and hope signs from God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
who makes his home in Mount Zion.

19-22When people tell you, "Try out the fortunetellers.
Consult the spiritualists.
Why not tap into the spirit-world,
get in touch with the dead?"
Tell them, "No, we're going to study the Scriptures."
People who try the other ways get nowhere—a dead end!
Frustrated and famished,
they try one thing after another.
When nothing works out they get angry,
cursing first this god and then that one,
Looking this way and that,
up, down, and sideways—and seeing nothing,
A blank wall, an empty hole.
They end up in the dark with nothing.

Note that this sounds curiously like what we are suppose to be doing today.

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Personally, I've always followed the Path of the Beam.

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

the thought doesnt scare this atheist in the least

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

I love religious people who believe in hell and get secret pleasure from envisioning atheists burning in hell for not surrendering to their ultimate, illogical truth. The irony is that their omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent god would create humans he loved but send them into a world equipped with logic. Logic that serves them well in every aspect of life except the afterlife where they'll suffer for all eternity. Such a tricky god.

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

To OP cause I didn't read the other topics

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i know most atheists are confident in their belief that there is no God...especially the Christian God.

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This is not true. Many athiests are not especially against the christian god but that is just the religion they come across most. Or do you imply here that atheists are satanists or that hindustic people (or whatever other religion) are atheists too?
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Does the thought of Hell ever worry you?

What if God really did create the world/create mankind, and decide that each man would have 1 of 2 destines...eternity in bliss or eternity in torment and our time on Earth would determine that. On top of that God decided there would only be one way to spend eternity in bliss(example: Belief in Jesus Christ as your savior). What if we are creations, and we will never cease to exist for the rest of eternity, and the rest of eternity will be spent in one of two places. Doesn't the slight chance that this is possible worry one just a little?


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This question can be reversed. Does a Christian ever worry about if he has picked the right faith? What says his particulair faith is the one that is really true? Do christians worry if perhaps after they die the muslims were correct and they go to hell becouse they didnt support mohammed? Do they worry that the catholics were correct if they were protestants? Do they worry if they wil reincarnate into a ferret? Wouldn't the slight change of that worry one just a little?

As for me (an atheist), I don't worry at all about hell. I just can't believe in the concept of heaven and hell and even if it does excist, then with quite some religions I would prefer hell simply becouse of some god being so egoistic that he demands people to worship him and only let those in. I wouldn't want to be in a heaven were terrorists are being worshipped with 7 maidens.

EDIT: beside that all, why are there so much theological debates in this forum section?

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

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EDIT: beside that all, why are there so much theological debates in this forum section?

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As an atheist my only posts about the god fallacy are in response to those that suggest otherwise. The sooner they get off their soapboxes and stay within the boundaries of their churches and homes the quieter I'll become!

Re: Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

Christopher Hitchens (an atheist) stated that he would now trust anyone who would not contemplate the existence of God should they be on top of a mountain top looking over some beautiful tropic (something like that anywy,). Well, on that basis he would not trust me; I tend to only marvel at the wanders of nature and dont have it in me to extend this to a supernatural belief.

However, the only time I do contemplate the existence of God is when I think about hell and the horrors that could be leashed upon someone upon their afterlife- and in this sense I am scared by the thought of hell; which is why I am an antitheist. I think this is a good testament that religion appeals to our grimmest emotions, corrupts children and is generally unhealthy. I think Thomas Paine put it best when he said "anything that scares the minds of children can not be true." (even though he's wrong; he's right in regards to religion which is what he was basing this on)