Let's say that tomorrow the Shroud of Turin is confirmed, without any doubt to be authentic and Jesus' resurrection is shown to definitely have happened. Should we then worship God? No; even if sin exists and God sent his son to save us from it. First, we need to recognize the two most basic freedoms to the human experience: freedom of thought and freedom of conscience. Both of these liberties lie at the heart of what it is to be human and from these basic freedoms, which are the freedoms we first exercise, are born every other freedom we have such as speech and movement. How, then, does this God, based on Christian doctrine, treat these essential freedoms? In the next life He punishes everyone who disagrees with him by sending them to Hell where they burn for eternity. Simply for having the wrong thoughts about a subject, for coming to a mistaken conclusion, he tortures people. To put this in a real-world context, think of the millions of non-Christians that are in the world today; they will all be punished merely for disagreeing with God on a few theological matters. Worse yet, imagine the people who are already being tormented. The Jewish victims of the Holocaust, if this is true, were thrown into a second fire by God himself after already being incinerated by their earthly oppressors. Mahatma Gandhi, one of the most renowned humanitarians who worked for the well-being of all, is being eternally tortured in Hell. But isn't morality dependent on God in Christianity? If that is true, then how can we humans claim to know better than Him? If Christianity is true than morality is dependent on God, yes. But this is a further problem. If God is the sole source of morality, then there is no outside standard of morality to measure anything He does against and thus any action, no matter how harmful or arbitrary it is, can instantly be good without any justification. The result of an all-good moral authority without any other moral standard is moral chaos, any action can be good simply because the authority says it is good. God, then, is an authoritarian deity who ignores the most basic of human freedoms. He punishes people merely for having the wrong conclusions and creates moral chaos. In order to stand up for all good people (many of whom are suffering in hell for a mistaken belief) and the basic freedoms that we all share and which should be defended at all costs; we must not worship God if Christianity is true. Worshipping this God, especially if Jesus has risen, is a betrayal of humanity and a sign of support for moral chaos. Instead, we must refuse to worship God unless He changes His actions. In rejecting God, we stand for our fellow humans by supporting their most basic rights and their moral dignity.
Jesus called us to be like God - unconditionally loving of all creation, forgiving of our fellow humans beings no matter what the trespass, non-violence, avoiding untruths, etc. - not to kowtow and beg for mercy. What you describe is the heinous perpetration of the *wrong* message by those who wanted to build a power structure around religion and adopted Jesus as a figurehead. God loves you. God is good. The message of Jesus is that you can have the same feelings as God, by embracing some very simple concepts. Opening your eyes, as it were, to the nature of creation. There's no "hell", other than what you make for yourself. There's no afterlife. There's no past - what is done is done. There's no future, it cannot be known. All you ever have is the present.
Devil's advocate.......... There is much debate as to the reference of fire, have you ever heard of gehenna as it relates to a trash heap? There is also debate as to the reference of eternity! Many Christians believe that nonbelievers simply die where they are then returned to ash in a 'burning garbage heap'. In biblical times, dead animal carcasses as well as bodies of the poor and the criminals were thrown into this heap and set ablaze. An atheist does not believe there is an afterlife, so is it God's responsibility in proving them wrong? An individual believing in a different God that doesn't actually exist, has prepared themselves in their entire expression of life to join that God; is it God's responsibility to disappoint them, in essence, drawing them away from a reality they alone have created? All things said and done, they will all be none the wiser simply fulfilling the destiny that has been created within their own minds! Has God denied anyone of their conclusions, or of their freedoms?
By ignoring it as inconsistent with his overall message and also comparing to that of other spiritual teachers. There are a number of different Jesus's in the Bible, even if they seem to be embodied in one person. I pick the one with the message of love and forgiveness as the road to salvation.
the god that kills you for not beliving in it and serving it seems as bad as 1 that hurts you forever id like to not be destroyed upon death but theirs no reason to assume i wont be
Devil's advocate.......... God kills? You die precisely with what you believed in or did not believe in, you have formed your own destiny and God is abiding to how you exercise your freedom to do so. So now what you are saying is that if it turns out that YOU are incorrect, then you somehow want to hold God accountable? How does that work?
you build people they get to live only if they believe in you and do what you say though you leave your existence as a matter of faith ya that’s god killing as what i want is god fault basic desires like wanting to live are part of its design for me if it’s the creator Seems like an evil god
Oh come on now, this is ridiculous!!!!! It's all rather simple, take your current belief or an absence of belief.... Now, you die and all of a sudden are standing in front of the Christian God where you will spend eternity..... So, don't you now wish that you had simply perished? Seems to be a perfect design to me!
Well neither have I, but I certainly have yet to find a representation of the Christian God that I would want to! You?
Well without that, how will all the Christians edify themselves and also condemn all those that don't believe as they do? If we are all worthy, what will Christians do if they can't look at another and declare them to be evil? What then, will they actually search for a solution within the expression of humanity and identify where the deviant behavior originated from in order to evolve beyond it? Christians don't want to do that, what fun is it when it becomes impossible to feel superior to another life?
And what if god doesn't care about such a wildcat strike? Would it not be better to try to free all poor innocent devils from hell instead? Should we not start to open all prisons here on earth first? But I fear slogans like "freedom for Hannibal Lecter" or "freedom for Anders Behring-Breivik" are not really convincing someone, isn't it? http://youtu.be/je8brwUWOew
