What if the message has been reversed? (hell, church, bible)

[SouthernBoi]

Everyone speaks of god as being this all powerful, all loving, omnipotent being, one who loves all his children...but why then do so many suffer in this world? Why does he allow that? I have heard that he does this so people can "see" him and turn to him...but then what kind of fatherly being would put his own children through that just for attention? Logically, thats a pretty self centered, selfish thing to do. Same goes with "faith"..it is said that he will not reveal himself to those without faith, well why exactly does an omnipotent being need faith? Why must we stroke the ego of an all powerful being?...thats, idk, a little narcissistic to me. The bible is full of death, murder, incest, violence, rape and 100 other "evil" things brought on by god, yet it is repeatedly justified when no good, loving being would logically do stuff like that.

So my question is...what if the message was switched? What if the bible, church, and so on is actually the work of evil and not good? What if the heaven we know of is actually hell and vice versa?

[Tricky D]

Originally Posted by SouthernBoi

thats, idk, a little narcissistic to me.

Well I have to admit that after being taught that I'm made into the image of God it was kinda hard to not be narcissistic.

What if the bible, church, and so on is actually the work of evil and not good?

The Bible, or religion, is not necessarily evil.
The problem is that being evil or being self-serving is far easier than being good or altruistic.
I view religion just as a loaded gun, like any other instrument it is not good or evil only the people who use it are.

So my question is...what if the message was switched?

What makes you believe that the message has been switched?
The thing with love is that it does not enforce itself on others.
Unfortunately many people refuse to acknowledge this truth; they dislike the thought of being 'powerless'.
When you are (truly) in love you actually admit that there is someone more important than yourself which is kinda comparable with being ego-less.
Unless you believe that all is fair in love and war.

[Cirbryn]

Originally Posted by SouthernBoi

So my question is...what if the message was switched? What if the bible, church, and so on is actually the work of evil and not good? What if the heaven we know of is actually hell and vice versa?

From what I gather, that's essentially what the Gnostics believed - that the Creator was evil and that Christ had come to deliver us from Him. Naturally any such ideas were dealt with harshly by the early Church. For what it's worth that idea makes a whole lot more sense to me than does mainstream Christianity.