Help! My Struggle with Religion.

[Lestat]

<font color="blue"> I already explained hell. Whereas those near death experiences have been shown to be not what people think, the same is not true for the experience of having your life flash before your eyes in that moment of time right before your death. At least the relevant parts of your life. It happened to Lee Salem if he can be believed. Since to you, this time is an eternity, any non sociopath could be considered to be in hell if he has lived his life in a way that should be regretted. Heaven, of course would be the opposite. Next subject. </font>

Oh my.

Just what are you basing this on? How do you know the length of time it feels like to the person having his life flash before him? How do know it's an eternity? What makes you think there is anything significant about such an event in a paranormal way?

This subject is far from over. What we're talking about is how one justifies worshipping a being so merciless that He sentences people to eternal pain and suffering. Even the most evil people and ruthless dictators would agree that no earthly crime could warrant such a punishment. Yet theists worship such a system with smiles on their faces.

[mickeyg13]

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So either the athiests are right and no such supreme being exists or there is only one supreme being that is being worshiped around the world. I would like to hear what people think of this.

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Why does it have to be one or the other? Not all religions...not even all sects of Christianity believe that nonbelievers will spend eternity in Hell. I think that belief is primarily linked to certain forms of Protestant Christianity.

Nonetheless, I've wrestled with the notion of an omni-benevolent God condemning a sole to an eternity of punishment, and I've come to the conclusion that I think Hell probably does not exist. I don't think that even the most terrible sinners would deserve such a fate.

FWIW I consider myself Catholic.

[MaxWeiss]

That's why I posted my "I won't do god's will" post. No matter what allowances you give him, god has been, is, and will be immoral in some way.

[MidGe]

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That's why I posted my "I won't do god's will" post. No matter what allowances you give him, god has been, is, and will be immoral in some way.

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[tame_deuces]

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OP: I'd like to point out that not many religions speak of spending an eternity in hell for sinners. Most have a timelimit as hell is mostly seen as punishment or cleansing of the wicked. Christian versions of hell is also likely to be a bastardization of Abrahamic versions of hell, which are mostly seen as temporary places.

As for this board, Christianity is pretty much the only religion that gets mentioned that has 'eternal' hell, and that doesn't even go for all versions of Christianity.

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Was that not OP's point?

That specialist religion's that have an everlasting hell and also demand that all non-believers go there kind of mean that an all-loving god attributed to said religion is a non-starter? (Due to the fact that said religion has such a small % of global followers, therefore a large % of humans &gt; hell?)

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OP said each religion had its faith and an everlasting hell for not following it. My point is that this is a very rare belief, Christianity is the only religion mentioned on these boards (to any remarkable degree) that has an eternal hell. Most others have temporary hells or similar.

I have misunderstood the OP somehow, my apologies.

[Mendacious]

I don't conceptualize "heaven and hell" in the same way you do.

First and foremost, I don't accept the concept that it is God's "judgment" that decides our fate.

Heaven/enlightenment/nirvana is the state where we are at total peace with OURSELVES. Religeon/God is only a pathway to that state.

Conversely, hell is a state of unrest/judgment of ourselves.

"Salvation" is about the capacity to accept forgiveness of ourselves.

Eternity is beyond comprehension and meaningless.