The truth is no one knows. They all have various ideas because no one really knows. They all just make it up because they can’t just say, “we don’t know.” Historically, the concept of Hell has not remained constant.
There’s various interpretations/ideas, I don’t know much about it
It’s probably worth some study for a Christian struggling (no disrespect intended) with related issues
Edit:
I’d guess that “judged” would be problematic
Some interpretations seem to be that there were a bunch of good people waiting for him in the not too bad part of hell
You say this, then go on to quote a bunch of people remotely agreeing
You are reminding me of myself and greenboy
I’m an atheist. I find this stuff really interesting, and want to know what other people believe?
The longer I’ve spent on forums the more I’ve asked questions vs asserting things.
I’m on the same boat. I’ve been an atheist since 3rd grade mostly because I was tired of the dogma. With that said, I find religious history and psychology fascinating. If there’s ever scientific evidence that god/gods exist, I’ll convert ASAP
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I was an atheist basically through my teens to my early 30s … then I started to notice trends among communities. I found more atheists tended to be sanctimonious, intolerant, condescending, negative and overall more miserable at a higher rate or greater concentration than those of faith - specifically Jews and Christians of various denominations (just by virtue of I’m exposed more to them than those of other faiths). I found that that type of mindset wasn’t producing the results in my life that I really wanted.
I laid out my beliefs earlier in the thread and am still exploring (that’s half the fun for me) them. What you said above is close to where I’m at - I don’t consider myself religious, more spiritual, but I do find the history/psychology of the various religions fascinating … as well as the literature. I’ve only really focused on Christian literature, and, by extension, the Torah (Old Testament). When I’m done reading the Bible, I plan on tackling the Koran and some other canon from various religions.
I do appreciate a lot of the art inspired by the various religious beliefs.
I’d argue science is our way of understanding/discovering God, as it were. The idea to me seems to be God is everywhere and everything. I liken the idea to the Universe/Nature - but do believe there’s some energy or force which animates us/everything to the point we’re able to exercise our God given gifts of logic and reason to discover and know the world at a higher level…
That’s just my take, whether or not I’m close is beyond me - but I’ll keep using/exploring/attempting to understand using the tools we’ve discovered so far to verify/validate hypotheses and enjoy literature left to us so far by people who may or may not have some deeper insight into God/us than I do…
Fun stuff…
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Yep, which is why I find myself becoming “less atheist” as the years go by
some of out best family friends are devout christians. The difference is that they respect the fact that I’m atheist and don’t try to convert me like that bastard of a priest at my old church and teachers at the christian school I went to in 7th grade (long story- no fault of my parents)
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By then, it will be too late.
meh, in that case, i’ll just accept my place in hell…
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I know
I wasn’t trying to accuse you of anything, I’m Muslim, so it’d be false to speak with confidence about what you asked, that’s all
You hit on the exact way I think about science too. As a way of understanding (to the extent that is humanly possible) or discovering God.
I have done the same, focusing on mostly Christian literature. I have not yet read the Koran, but I did take a class on Buddhism while in college and studied a number of texts/literature. There are some interesting parallels between a lot of the ideals of Buddhism and Jesus’ teaching. Also, there are almost as many “denominations” of Buddhism as Christianity (Buddhism in India, China, and Japan are all different and even different within certain parts of those countries).
Buddhism, Taoism, Abrahamic religions, Stoicism (philosophy - not quite religion), Confucianism, (I’d imagine) Zorastrianism, Hindus, etc etc
There seem to be similar themes and virtues across these belief systems - of course they all have their differences as well - but yea, I notice similar themes.
If a god is real, then he’s not someone worth worshipping.
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I don’t believe in God basically because I find the evidence supporting such a belief to be lacking. Plus I tend to believe even if God exists he/she isn’t anything like the God depicted in the Bible etc.
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Take 10 grams of Mexicana truffles in silent darkness and see for yourself
What god we talking? Cause people made up lots of gods throughout their history