Does the thought of Hell ever scare an atheist?
 

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

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?

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

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.

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.

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

Naw, I worry about how to live my life instead. And the term hell is just a bastardization of older religious terms for 'the place souls go to' after death anyway.

Accepting that hell exists is one thing, accepting that linguistical misinterpretations and faulty translations should happen to stumble across the truth by chance is something else completely.

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

I am confused about this hell. I have a bible with me, direct me to the passage that describes hell. Thanks.

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

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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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Nah if gods a bastard it wont make any difference if you're aligned to him or not.

chez

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

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Naw, I worry about how to live my life instead

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eternity is a long time compared to one's life on Earth.

you may just cease to exist when u die...or u may live on for eternity...really could be either one...

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

Well, bastard religions who stole their religious terms from existing beliefs and changed to suit their needs and continued to change them over the next 2000 years is really the least of my worries when it comes to an afterlife.

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

No.

I was 12 when I decided hell was an absurd concept. I say this as genuinely as I possibly can: the threat of hell is so empty and meaningless to me that every time I hear it mentioned seriously in conversation I laugh, inside at the very least.

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

The concept of hell seriously [censored] me up as a kid. There's still some lingering episodic fear, but it's well under control now. I am a hypochondriac and I experience significant anxiety regarding my health - this may be the legacy of hell.

Thankfully, the power of religion to terrorize me gets weaker and weaker as I get older.

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

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The concept of hell seriously [censored] me up as a kid. There's still some lingering episodic fear, but it's well under control now. I am a hypochondriac and I experience significant anxiety regarding my health - this may be the legacy of hell.

Thankfully, the power of religion to terrorize me gets weaker and weaker as I get older.

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That's a very good point. I'm glad my family (who were Christians) didn't believe in hell, nor did they 'teach' christianity to us kids before we were 15 (we picked up bits and piecesit ofcourse, but there was no 'indoctrination', rituals or christenings or stuff like that).

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

lol no it doesn't scare me at all. does the thought of going to another religion's hell scare you?

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

No, The thought of going to heaven does tho. I'm pretty sure that if the xtain god is real. Once in heaven, I'd be all "I didn't sign up for this."

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

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No, The thought of going to heaven does tho.

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Heaven is an appealing idea. As long as it is different than those green meadows and uncanny smiling people all over the place as often depicted in christian pamphlets.

I'd really prefer some temper, sex, occasional beer, lots of disagreement and debate, some porn and maybe even a brawl every 3 years just to keep life a little exciting.

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

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Naw, I worry about how to live my life instead

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eternity is a long time compared to one's life on Earth.

you may just cease to exist when u die...or u may live on for eternity...really could be either one...

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And if you don't potentially exist for eternity, then this attitude is a colossal waste. Seriously, this debate was played out like a century ago.

But good luck in your evangelism. I hear that convincing others of the righteousness of your actions makes you get more virgins in heaven. Someday everyone will act exactly as you want them to!!

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

Not in the slightest bit. Even if God existed, he should be more clever than intellegent humans. For intellegent humans bible and christanity is such a non-sense, so it should be the same for him/her.

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

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Heaven is an appealing idea. As long as it is different than those green meadows and uncanny smiling people all over the place as often depicted in christian pamphlets.

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But it beats clouds and harps.

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I'd really prefer some temper, sex, occasional beer, lots of disagreement and debate, some porn and maybe even a brawl every 3 years just to keep life a little exciting.

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You could always go Norse.

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

The thought of hell doesn't scare me half as much as the thought that there are people out there who claim their god loves us but wants to torture us for eternity. What a [censored]-up idea of love that is!

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

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Not in the slightest bit. Even if God existed, he should be more clever than intellegent humans. For intellegent humans bible and christanity is such a non-sense, so it should be the same for him/her.

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Do you not think it's possible that God can see meaning where you can't? That he can understand things you can't?

The concept of "being intelligent" is meaningless when it comes to God, by the way. It's incredible how little able some "intelligent" people are to conceive, even dimly, of what a transcendent being with infinite qualities would be like.

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

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what a transcendent being with infinite qualities would be like.

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Whatever he would be like he would never be the author of the way the world is!

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

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Not in the slightest bit. Even if God existed, he should be more clever than intellegent humans. For intellegent humans bible and christanity is such a non-sense, so it should be the same for him/her.

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Do you not think it's possible that God can see meaning where you can't? That he can understand things you can't?

The concept of "being intelligent" is meaningless when it comes to God, by the way. It's incredible how little able some "intelligent" people are to conceive, even dimly, of what a transcendent being with infinite qualities would be like.

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Surely he could.
I try to make a point, that if we tried to write a new bible nowadays we could make a much better and convincing book. I highly doubt that a being more intellegent than me would make such a bad job 2000 years ago.

If you are trying to argue that there is a deeper meaning in the bible that I can't see. Well, it could be true but I hoghly doubt it. Not on the basis of just that book, though, one needs to take into account other sources.

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

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Does the thought of Hell ever worry you?


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ROFL! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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

It worries me not one iota.

I would wager my life this second the Christian "god" does not exist. -EV you say? I suppose, but not really when you invoke the limit concept. This box of kleenex in front of me could be "god" and it could have its own version of hell. I would bet my life it is not "god" either. This wager is -EV in the same sense.

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

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I am confused about this hell. I have a bible with me, direct me to the passage that describes hell. Thanks.

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Any help here? You all seem to have intimate knowledge of this hell place. There must be some interesting passages in the bible that go into depth about this place.

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

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Not in the slightest bit. Even if God existed, he should be more clever than intellegent humans. For intellegent humans bible and christanity is such a non-sense, so it should be the same for him/her.

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tame_deuces : Heaven is an appealing idea. As long as it is different than those green meadows and uncanny smiling people all over the place as often depicted in christian pamphlets.


I've got to wonder if you guys have totally missed the point. When I compare these 2 statements to the purpose of the bible I really suspect you two missed something. If God's purpose is to transcend time he still has to first frame the language of the bible in terms that are relevant to the people of the day in which it is introduced, but at the same time be able to carry over for thousands of years through a huge diversity of cultures and people.

The lives and concerns of the very first Christians were similar to ours in the general sense but extremely different in the particulars of their work and lifestyles.

So God has to put everything in some form that transmits over generations, but at the same time our intellects being human and fallible have trouble in correcting for every difference between those earlier lifestyles and our current modern one.

Thats why people work to understand religious texts today. It has relevance to our lives but we have to pick out the passage and understand the whole context of the passage. We can't take passages out of context as alot of people do when arguing against Christians.

So much has been obscured by time and our current culture is so less receptive to religion that there are several passages in the New Testament that say that later generations who can get the bible are more blessed than earlier ones. God had already anticipated that we would have more challenges to our understanding and more temptations then earlier people did.

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

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Not in the slightest bit. Even if God existed, he should be more clever than intellegent humans. For intellegent humans bible and christanity is such a non-sense, so it should be the same for him/her.

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tame_deuces : Heaven is an appealing idea. As long as it is different than those green meadows and uncanny smiling people all over the place as often depicted in christian pamphlets.


I've got to wonder if you guys have totally missed the point. When I compare these 2 statements to the purpose of the bible I really suspect you two missed something. If God's purpose is to transcend time he still has to first frame the language of the bible in terms that are relevant to the people of the day in which it is introduced, but at the same time be able to carry over for thousands of years through a huge diversity of cultures and people.

The lives and concerns of the very first Christians were similar to ours in the general sense but extremely different in the particulars of their work and lifestyles.

So God has to put everything in some form that transmits over generations, but at the same time our intellects being human and fallible have trouble in correcting for every difference between those earlier lifestyles and our current modern one.

Thats why people work to understand religious texts today. It has relevance to our lives but we have to pick out the passage and understand the whole context of the passage. We can't take passages out of context as alot of people do when arguing against Christians.

So much has been obscured by time and our current culture is so less receptive to religion that there are several passages in the New Testament that say that later generations who can get the bible are more blessed than earlier ones. God had already anticipated that we would have more challenges to our understanding and more temptations then earlier people did.

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You basically saying that god couldn't write his message better. I am being infinitely less intlegent than him can think of a dozen ways to do it, and he couldn't. That's strange...

For example, write a version for each time. Like after the year 1500, humans will be able to understand more of my word and should take a new version of the bible. After the year 1854 the dinosaurus bones should be considered differently, etc. And that's just one way of making such a job.

He could send new prophets with the new versions after each majour change in human culture, or even better before it.

Why such a cryptic way?

May be because, people who heard voices in their head just simply heard their own voices and wrote their own thoughts. This way the story becomes much more logical and consistent.

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

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I am confused about this hell. I have a bible with me, direct me to the passage that describes hell. Thanks.

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Any help here? You all seem to have intimate knowledge of this hell place. There must be some interesting passages in the bible that go into depth about this place.

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Nothing in-depth. Just eternal fire.

Mark 9:43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire,

9:44 where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.

Matthew 25:41 Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;'

Revelation 20:14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire This is the second death, the lake of fire.

20:15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

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

No offense, but it's a silly question. If someone can't get themselves to believe there's a god, they're certainly not going to believe there's a hell. Why should it be of any concern whatsoever?

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

Mark 9:43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire,


Why would you interpret this literally? Don't you see the poetic drama with a purpose in this language? It is meant to draw a mental picture. Have you taken these passages out of content? You usually can't examine a biblical message by a line or two.

This is inspired writing you are taking out of context.

An excerpt:

many Christians believe that inspiration should be described as thought-for-thought rather than word-for-word. The human writers provide God’s message in terms of their own personalities and historical circumstances, and yet they transmit the message fully and exactly as God desired. So we can call this view of inspiration “dynamic”, as well as “verbal” (extending to the very words of the writer) and “plenary” (meaning that the Bible is fully and totally inspired.)

There's a third view of inspiration, too. This view asserts that the writers of the Bible were indeed inspired, but so were many great artists, musicians, and authors. Some superhuman, transcendent, divine aura possessed them and they produced works of sheer genius.

Excerpt from: http://www.ibs.org/bibles/about/5.php

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

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Naw, I worry about how to live my life instead

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eternity is a long time compared to one's life on Earth.

you may just cease to exist when u die...or u may live on for eternity...really could be either one...

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And if you don't potentially exist for eternity, then this attitude is a colossal waste. Seriously, this debate was played out like a century ago.

But good luck in your evangelism. I hear that convincing others of the righteousness of your actions makes you get more virgins in heaven. Someday everyone will act exactly as you want them to!!

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No evangelism...just asking an honest human question: if one's fears an eternal afterlife, even in the slightest. I agree, I'm scared about the simple idea of living for eternity w/no end, never being able to cease to exist. But if that's the way it is...I'd be even more worried of eternity in hell.

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

Drag: You basically saying that god couldn't write his message better. I am being infinitely less intlegent than him can think of a dozen ways to do it, and he couldn't. That's strange...

For example, write a version for each time. Like after the year 1500, humans will be able to understand more of my word and should take a new version of the bible. After the year 1854 the dinosaurus bones should be considered differently, etc. And that's just one way of making such a job.

He could send new prophets with the new versions after each majour change in human culture, or even better before it.

Why such a cryptic way?

May be because, people who heard voices in their head just simply heard their own voices and wrote their own thoughts. This way the story becomes much more logical and consistent.


Well you're trying to make God fit or do what you want him to do.

Quote: "I am being infinitely less intlegent than him can think of a dozen ways to do it, and he couldn't. That's strange..."

Who are we to question God's ways? He has a deeper insight and higher purposes than we do. We exist inside his realm of control. He doesn't exist inside our realm of control. God gives free will to make us free beings. Its funny that people turn out to be the control freaks.

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

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Why would you interpret this literally?

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I interpret it as fiction. But many Christians interpret it literally. And many Christians are gleeful at the notion of people being tortured forever.

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

One of the messages of the bible is that temptation is through the flesh. That is why there are these flamboyant ideas of plucking eyes out rather than giving offense. It is a poetic device to exaggerate to get across the idea that some temptations are evil. Maybe this is why scientists find the bible so irrational. Scientists as a group understand the purpose of inspired language less than other groups of people.

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

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Well you're trying to make God fit or do what you want him to do.


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He's trying to make God fit remotely with the way he's described. Only true believers have no problem with the fact that the infinitely intelligent God they believe in is grossly incompetent. It doesn't take make for anyone with a lick of sense to conceive of a God smarter and more competent then the Biblical one.

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Who are we to question God's ways?

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If there was a God, and he granted people with brains, he would want people to use them. Its only rational. Its really hard to consider a God so incompetent that he would design humans to be intelligent and questioning but NOT want them to question the fact that he makes no sense.

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He has a deeper insight and higher purposes than we do.

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If he had deeper insight then he would be more competent. You have too make up ridiculous excuses for him to justify the fact that he's not that deep at all.

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Its funny that people turn out to be the control freaks.

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I wonder if this even makes sense to you? Or if you just type random things and don't concern yourself with sense.

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

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Why would you interpret this literally?

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I interpret it as fiction. But many Christians interpret it literally. And many Christians are gleeful at the notion of people being tortured forever.

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I think a lot of Christians truly believe in Hell and hate the thought of it...which is why there's some Christians who spend their lives trying to "save" others, because they are sickened by the punishment, but believe it to be true.

I hope Hell doesn't exist. I hope we are supposed to read the parts in the Bible describing Hell allegorically and not literally. And that there will be no literal place of eternal torment. I can't even fathom how Heaven would be so perfect if one had the knowledge of others suffering in Hell.

But again...God makes the rules. If God exists and is in control, than all we can do is pray for His mercy.

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

Simple question:

Do you believe that the god you worship sends people to a place where they are to suffer for eternity, or not?

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

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.

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

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Not in the slightest bit. Even if God existed, he should be more clever than intellegent humans. For intellegent humans bible and christanity is such a non-sense, so it should be the same for him/her.

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tame_deuces : Heaven is an appealing idea. As long as it is different than those green meadows and uncanny smiling people all over the place as often depicted in christian pamphlets.


I've got to wonder if you guys have totally missed the point. When I compare these 2 statements to the purpose of the bible I really suspect you two missed something. If God's purpose is to transcend time he still has to first frame the language of the bible in terms that are relevant to the people of the day in which it is introduced, but at the same time be able to carry over for thousands of years through a huge diversity of cultures and people.

The lives and concerns of the very first Christians were similar to ours in the general sense but extremely different in the particulars of their work and lifestyles.

So God has to put everything in some form that transmits over generations, but at the same time our intellects being human and fallible have trouble in correcting for every difference between those earlier lifestyles and our current modern one.

Thats why people work to understand religious texts today. It has relevance to our lives but we have to pick out the passage and understand the whole context of the passage. We can't take passages out of context as alot of people do when arguing against Christians.

So much has been obscured by time and our current culture is so less receptive to religion that there are several passages in the New Testament that say that later generations who can get the bible are more blessed than earlier ones. God had already anticipated that we would have more challenges to our understanding and more temptations then earlier people did.

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I know the bible exceptionally well, thank you very much. And I am well versed in its context, passages, meaning and problems of historical/linguistic/cultural context and about its different versions. Much more so than the the majority of theists I have ever met. My mother's family were devout Christians, my father was an author, linguist and culture historian; suffice to say whatever bible studies I did (voluntary) were of pretty damn good quality.

I have also studied a wide variety of subjects in my life (maths, physics, computer science, sociology and a degree in org. psychology) and have personal interest in the fields of linguistics, history and cultural studies.

I can with unbridled arrogance assure you I didn't miss much.

Seriously, if the description of Christian hell is properly translated is even debatable, much points to it not being so and that the accounts of hell in the Christian bible are way off compared to how they should be.

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

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Naw, I worry about how to live my life instead

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eternity is a long time compared to one's life on Earth.

you may just cease to exist when u die...or u may live on for eternity...really could be either one...

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Wow, flip a coin huh?

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

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Not in the slightest bit. Even if God existed, he should be more clever than intellegent humans. For intellegent humans bible and christanity is such a non-sense, so it should be the same for him/her.

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Do you not think it's possible that God can see meaning where you can't? That he can understand things you can't?

The concept of "being intelligent" is meaningless when it comes to God, by the way. It's incredible how little able some "intelligent" people are to conceive, even dimly, of what a transcendent being with infinite qualities would be like.

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As opposed to your second-level complete, 100% incapability to imagine what that would be like.