• @ncscswitch:

    And a blessed Winter Solstice to you and yours as well.

    Happy birthday to my son.  1 year old on the 22nd.  :-D

    @Imperious:

    However i do pay homage to Dionysus as well even though he was a Greek God.

    Does he cover beer as well??


  • He is also known as Bachuus. Bachuus is the best god out there, he is the god of sex and beer. Second only to Mars in my opinion. 8-)

  • Moderator

    @ncscswitch:

    Unless you believe in the kind of vain, self focused God such as Piers Anthony describes in the Incarnations of Immortality series, then the entire concept of a soul needing saved is ridiculous… what “loving and forgiving” God is going to condemn 80%+ of the humans to eternal damnation just for the hell of it?

    OK last time I checked my Bible it states that he didn’t condemn anyone… Instead he gave them a choice… Satan demanded that all men “spiritually” die… God demanded that they have a choice, and that he would rather you choose life… God loves you no matter what stage in life your at… He even love(s)(d) Osama, Osama just doesn’t have a covenant with him… Does it make sense?

    GG

  • 2007 AAR League

    If God is master of the cosmos, he is responsible for the existence of hell and therefore for any people that are suffering there for eternity. IMO that makes such a god not what I would call “loving”.

    I can’t wait to see the goofy arguments to refute this. Either God made hell and is not loving, or he’s not omnipotent.

    Talk about freedom of religion - “Believe in me and be saved (awww that’s nice) or BURN IN HELL!!!” Sounds very much like the psychotic (ex) boyfriend/girlfriend who kills their former lover so that no one else can have them.

  • Moderator

    Hell was created by God, but it was never intended as a place for humans, instead it was created purely for satan and his demon cohorts… When man fell he came under the dominion of satan and therefore his curse, condemning him to spiritually be apart from God… God never wanted man to fall, but he did… A loving God wouldn’t have created a way out… I want to see the “whacky” responses to that… :wink:

    Is it “overly” simplistic? Yes… I personally like it that way…

    GG


  • froodster, may God  forgive you for he is a merciful one without evil there is no good. that is why God created hell. for one has no apprecation of good if they do not experince the bad times as wel(yin and yang). Have you ever noticeed the ssimilarity between Abrahamic and far eastern relgions(toaism).

  • Moderator

    Evil is only a preversion of Good, it didn’t exsist in the beginning… And if God wasn’t merciful we would all be robots, unable to choose our own destinys… What you are referring to wouldn’t be the mercy of God, cause it isn’t his choice if you choose him it would be yours… So in fact it is the opposite of Eastern Religions if, and only if, your definition of them is “God-and-the-lightning-bolt”… He cannot condemn you to hell you choose that yourself… In fact it his desire that no one perish, but that decision in the end is not his…

    GG


  • well said gg, free will is both our greatest gift and most dangerous curse but i wouldn’t have it any other way


  • @Guerrilla:

    Evil is only a preversion of Good, it didn’t exsist in the beginning… And if God wasn’t merciful we would all be robots, unable to choose our own destinys… What you are referring to wouldn’t be the mercy of God, cause it isn’t his choice if you choose him it would be yours… So in fact it is the opposite of Eastern Religions if, and only if, your definition of them is “God-and-the-lightning-bolt”… He cannot condemn you to hell you choose that yourself… In fact it his desire that no one perish, but that decision in the end is not his…
    GG

    Also Orcs are a perversion of Elves - they were created by the dark forces . . . .

    I think many Christians are falling away from the believe in an actual fiery-furnace-type-of-hell.  I think many of us believe that one either accepts God’s friendship, or refutes it.  We make the choice in the here-and-now that follows us in the afterworld.  My practice - while it was open - was free for someone to join.  If they did not join before my practiced closed, then they were unable to.  I did not condemn these people to find another physician - they simply did.  God does not condemn people to hell, we simply find our way there.  We really don’t need God to find hell - i think we can generate/find it on our own.


  • @cystic:

    We really don’t need God to find hell - i think we can generate/find it on our own.

    Yup.  War, which is human kinds doing, is one of the ways of finding hell.


  • No. Do not even begin to equate hell to war. Hell cannot be compared to anything we expierience.


  • Who was it that said “War is hell?”

    Oh yes, General Sherman, and I think he knew what he was talking about  :-D


  • @ncscswitch:

    Who was it that said "War is hell?"Â

    Oh yes, General Sherman, and I think he knew what he was talking about  :-D

    naaa - no one knows more than M36 - especially not some army-guy.

    So the point is that war is worse than hell?  There is an interesting philosophical discussion.


  • @Guerrilla:

    Hell was created by God, but it was never intended as a place for humans, instead it was created purely for satan and his demon cohorts… When man fell he came under the dominion of satan and therefore his curse, condemning him to spiritually be apart from God… God never wanted man to fall, but he did… A loving God wouldn’t have created a way out… I want to see the “whacky” responses to that… :wink:

    I still don’t think that refutes the omnipotence that frood was indicating.  I’d call what you are describing at the least negligence.  For instance, let’s say Bush was completely altruistic in his invasion of Iraq to free Iraqi people.  Yet, he didn’t think of the consequences of the invasion and whether he’d keep it together.  Subsequently, life is worse for Iraqis, where many are dying each day.  Therefore, something can be said of Bush’s negligence.

    The very definition of omnipotence is all-knowing.  Knowledge not limited by obscurity, time, etc.  If we are God’s children, then he knowingly permitting his kids to suffering is pretty sadistic.

    @cyan:

    froodster, may God  forgive you for he is a merciful one without evil there is no good. that is why God created hell. for one has no apprecation of good if they do not experince the bad times as wel(yin and yang). Have you ever noticeed the ssimilarity between Abrahamic and far eastern relgions(toaism).

    Yet you acknowledge that God has deliberately made evil exist.  What would that make him?  I agree that you can’t know good w/o evil, but you are even saying that God wants you to experience hell to know how good heaven is.  And Eastern religions and Abrahamic faiths are not that similar.  Especially Taoism.

    @Guerrilla:

    Evil is only a preversion of Good, it didn’t exsist in the beginning… And if God wasn’t merciful we would all be robots, unable to choose our own destinys… What you are referring to wouldn’t be the mercy of God, cause it isn’t his choice if you choose him it would be yours… So in fact it is the opposite of Eastern Religions if, and only if, your definition of them is “God-and-the-lightning-bolt”… He cannot condemn you to hell you choose that yourself… In fact it his desire that no one perish, but that decision in the end is not his…

    There’s not much of a choice.  Everyone dies.  No exceptions.  So the choice is really an ultimatum: “God, or no God (and suffer).”  Pretty limited choice there.

    @M36:

    No. Do not even begin to equate hell to war. Hell cannot be compared to anything we expierience.

    And how would you know this?

  • 2007 AAR League

    I tried to work with that “free will” argument for about 10 years before giving up on it.

    Like Jermo says, it’s not much of a choice if it is God or eternal suffering.

    “Here little Johnny, I’ll give you a choice,” says mommy. “You can say that you love me, or I will tie you up and throw you in the oven after you fall asleep.” If Little Johnny is smart, he’ll profess his love, but it won’t be sincere or even of his own free will. The threat of hell doesn’t create free will, it creates coercion and faith by duress.

    Theos / Zeus is simply the old Sky-father god from an ancient world-view, and is no more real than Hermes or Aphrodite (sorry Switch).

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    Well, hell, as defined in my Bible (NIV) and I presume the other major prints is defined as being permanently severed from teh love of God.  It’s not described as Dante’s Inferno.  There is a lake of fire located IN hell where the great Satan, aka The Beast, will be chained for all eternity.

  • 2007 AAR League

    Is there a beach on this lake? Sounds nice for day-trips. You know, pack a nice little picnic, take the kids, throw rocks at the Great Beast - a little fun for everyone!


  • @M36:

    No. Do not even begin to equate hell to war. Hell cannot be compared to anything we expierience.

    Religious are we?  :-P


  • Here’s my take.

    If one believes in God and that God is omnipotent, then the question I would ask is why would he allow all this terrible stuff to happen? I mean, if he has the power to prevent it, why not do so? If he truly loves us, and is as compassionate as Christians would have us believe, then he would. If he has the power and doesn’t then he is not worthy of worship and is pretty dam malevolent.

    The “your free will” argument doesn’t hold water for me at all. So a man chooses to hatch the limbs off small children and rape babies. Its all good is Gods eyes. He allowing this person the right to chose. Nice.

  • 2007 AAR League

    man created god not the other way anound.  merry christmas :-D

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