had this discussion with a work colleague who is a christian and couldn't get a satisfactory answer.
case study A - a convicted child molester abuses kids throughout his life genuinely repents his sins 6 months before he dies and in this period leads an exemplary god fearing life - according to the teachings of the bible this man spends eternity in paradise?
case study B - a lesbian who does not believe in god or the bible in any way but who is a really nice person would help anyone, dies and she according to the bible will spend eternity in hell?
so how can christianity justify this? how can this be a cornerstone of such a major religion? im not anti bible i was brought up to believe in what it says but things like this puzzle me.
Adam and Eve had no daughters but started the world. The basis of a religion is flawed from the start. Go figure. The bible is about belief in stuff. You can believe it all or believe none of it. If you only believe part of it, do you believe at all? What makes anyone think theirs is the only true religion. Everything good is Gods work, everything bad, the devil's. Never worked for me.
nobody i know has ever been to hell burned for a while and come back to tell the tale!...so how do we know any of it is true anyway?....
apart from "man shall not lie with man" there isnt a quote i have ever read in the bible that says "man shall not put d..k in another mans mouth" ect...whose to say there isnt any godly compassion for gay people?
and quite frankly if i knew someon who had molested kids id want to burn them right there in the street myself never mind wait til they get to hell or some other such place.
according to the bible and chrisiianity, every sin is considered a sin. wethrer its stealing a bar of chocolate, or abusing kids and murder, both punishable by being denied access to heaven, if the lesbian doesnt believe or give her life to jesus, she will not go to heaven, also the peadophile who repents on his deathbed and gives his life to jesus will be forgiven and go to heaven. sorry to give these stark facts but thats the way it is.
So the paedo, because he 'repents' is forgiven... whereas the lesbian goes to hell for living a pure life?... because the paedo believes in 'God' (ie repents) he gets away with it basically... so we can all go round doing what we like so long as we 'repent'... isn't this the same as Catholics going to confession? 'Confess' and everything will be ok...
What about all the suffering the paedo caused all those kids before he 'saw the light'...
As I see it the Lesbian will probably not go to hell because if she did not believe in god and the bible then she probably didn't believe in hell so how can you go to a place you don't believe exists?
The bloke who suddenly believes in god and the bible will be turfed out on his @rse when he reaches the pearly gates. As he has not earned enough credits to get in he sails down the chute to the fiery depths below for an eternity of what he subjected the poor kiddies to.
That is what I would like to believe would happen anyway.
snagged thats how it seems t o be, i'm not sayinig, its right or wrong, thats what the bible tells us, actually incidentally i met a lesbian woman in hospital recently and to be truthful i was scared of her cos she looked so butch and tough, but it turnrd out that she was one of the nicest people you could meet and we got on like a house on fire.
so just shows how decieving things can seem.
Why do you want Christianity to justify itself ? It states plainly what the 'rules' are, and like anything else, take it or leave it.
Religion is a strange thing, 99% of people think it's rubbish. The problem is that 100% of people have to die, and the notion of annihilation is disturbing to even the most devout atheist.
But what about the possibility that the resurrection actually happened ? Now there's a thought.
Sorry, I didn't answer your question. In situations like this I always visualise Jesus drawing in the sand when he was challenged with the adulterous woman. It is not for us to make a judgement (fortunately!)
Well, this is yet another reason why I left the Catholic church and now consider myself more in tune with Buddhism than anything else. I was molested by a Catholic priest as a young child. I am honestly not a bitter person, but to me paedophiles should not ever be forgiven. As for gays and lesbians ... I have friends among both and all are loving, caring, considerate and intelligent people and I am proud to count them among my friends. I could not stay within a religion that gets its judgements so very wrong and defends some of the most vile people on this planet. I don't believe anyone, especially the victims should have to forgive a paedophile!
Yes of course it's nonsense !! But aren't you complaining too much ? What's the problem, leave it alone. Unless you go back and examine the person and claims of the founder, at source.
This is a typical "let's all have a bash at X" thread.
I'm waiting for the usual crew to leap in and tell us all what they'd like to do to paedophiles, with a rusty penknife and without an anaesthetic, and how they'd laugh, and how everybody would cheer.
Whiffey... of course you're right, it is nonsense... I'm not 'complaining' though, I'm giving my (and only my)opinion on a question that was asked... of course, I could 'just leave it alone' but if we all had that view, a large proportion of AB questions wouldn't need to be answered...
Actually, the evidence for the resurrection is very very compelling and deserves many threads in its own right. For example, why would men suffer and be executed for a fabrication ? Why didn't the authorities produce the body ?
There is more documentary evidence for Luke than for Caesar's Gallic Wars.
Hey Whiffey... I wasn't doubting - or even thinking about 'the ressurection'... my answers were solely in response to bob's specific question... but... as you have mention it, what 'evidence'? Because the Bible 'says so'?... : )