To hell with that
I was reading someone else's argument against Hell. It makes me think a little more about the subject. I posted my own reply:
If god is all good, all knowing, all powerful, and everywhere at once, and we were supposedly created in his image, exactly what part of god are we like then? Humans obviously aren't all good, don't know everything, and are confined by the laws of physics, time and space. Like [he] said, I don't think anyone but a psychopath would be comfortable condemning another human being to an eternity of suffering after an 80 year test, so if we're supposed to be like god in some way, why would god be comfortable with that?
If god created hell, he's not all good. If god created earth as a "test" for us, he's not all knowing (or else he'd know the fate of our souls before he created us, and this "test" would be pointless). If god didn't create hell, he's not all powerful. If hell is just the absence of god, then god isn't everywhere at once.
If all you have to do to go to heaven is believe, why be good? If all you have to do is be good, why believe? If you're only motivation to be good and believe is fear of hell, does that count? If you need to be both good and a believer, who's really that perfect?
Also, what if someone I love is cast into hell, but I've gone to heaven, but heaven isn't perfect for me without this person?
I'm not totally sure there isn't such a thing as a soul, perhaps there are other dimensions where our energy can continue to exist... but only science could ever tell us for sure. Religion is really just a way of controlling the masses.
I thought some more about what I said, and I realize this is only a reply to those who believe in a literal fire-and-brimstone hell and a pearly-gates heaven. (I have a feeling that these people will be sorely disappointed.) If one might acknowledge that love is "god" (a=b therefore b=a), living one's life without love could be some kind of hell. But it is not just a self-inflicted hell, people can inflict hate onto eachother as well. Perhaps the only sense of heaven we get is, as we die, we die with a cumulative sense of the love we've experienced in life? This could be incredibly unfair to a child brought up in an unloving home, but nobody ever said life was fair.
If god is all good, all knowing, all powerful, and everywhere at once, and we were supposedly created in his image, exactly what part of god are we like then? Humans obviously aren't all good, don't know everything, and are confined by the laws of physics, time and space. Like [he] said, I don't think anyone but a psychopath would be comfortable condemning another human being to an eternity of suffering after an 80 year test, so if we're supposed to be like god in some way, why would god be comfortable with that?
If god created hell, he's not all good. If god created earth as a "test" for us, he's not all knowing (or else he'd know the fate of our souls before he created us, and this "test" would be pointless). If god didn't create hell, he's not all powerful. If hell is just the absence of god, then god isn't everywhere at once.
If all you have to do to go to heaven is believe, why be good? If all you have to do is be good, why believe? If you're only motivation to be good and believe is fear of hell, does that count? If you need to be both good and a believer, who's really that perfect?
Also, what if someone I love is cast into hell, but I've gone to heaven, but heaven isn't perfect for me without this person?
I'm not totally sure there isn't such a thing as a soul, perhaps there are other dimensions where our energy can continue to exist... but only science could ever tell us for sure. Religion is really just a way of controlling the masses.
I thought some more about what I said, and I realize this is only a reply to those who believe in a literal fire-and-brimstone hell and a pearly-gates heaven. (I have a feeling that these people will be sorely disappointed.) If one might acknowledge that love is "god" (a=b therefore b=a), living one's life without love could be some kind of hell. But it is not just a self-inflicted hell, people can inflict hate onto eachother as well. Perhaps the only sense of heaven we get is, as we die, we die with a cumulative sense of the love we've experienced in life? This could be incredibly unfair to a child brought up in an unloving home, but nobody ever said life was fair.
posted by new.atheist at 1:35 PM
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