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Lo! Those who disbelieve Our revelations,
We shall expose them to the Fire. As often as their skins are consumed We shall exchange them for fresh skins that they may taste the torment.
Lo! Allah is ever Mighty, Wise. The Holy Quran 4:56.
You DO understand, right, that to a person like myself these kinds of threats are quaint, bemusing, and actually illicit a little "Mona Lisa" smile on my face?
Being consumed by fire over and over again is just the kind of "hell" I would expect a primitive, scientific-know-nothing camel-herder from the Iron Age to come up with.
It is a one-dimensional punishment with no creativity, no psychological component, and worse still, once in Hell you have absolutely nothing to lose. Without anything to lose, it's nigh impossible to feel true fear.
Those people -- Muhammad -- had no idea what really makes a human being tick. All he understood was that fire is painful. Really painful. So uhm, sure, why not. Let's make Hell all about being burned all the time.
(And Muhammad snatched that idea from an even earlier Bronze Age religion -- Christianity.)
As I've said before, one reason why I don't believe in Hell, neither the Christian or Muslim version, is that it is a stale, uninspired, excessively primitive punishment that simply does not reflect well upon a God with infinite powers and limitless imagination. If all Allah and Yahweh can come up with is a typical physical-only punishment limited by the knowledge an average Bedouin would have, well ... d'ya think, maybe, that it was made-up by those very self-same Bedouins?
Of course it was.
Which is why I always wear a bemused little Mona Lisa smirk when I see the threat of Hell being used as a fire under someone's ass. "Believe in the unbelievable ... or ELSE!"
The motive is so transparent that it makes a thin pane of glass seem opaque by comparison. Anyone with a couple of active critical brain cells can see that the entire concept of Hell was designed to keep butts in the pews (or on the floor with their heads planted in the tiles in your case). It's a control mechanism.
Nothing more. I just feel bad that you actually believe it.
I have a little smile, too that theists of various stripe will brandish the hellthreat about, but never stop to think that, if they have the Wrong religion, they are as likely to burn as we atheists.
Can you imagine Viracocha or Inzanami letting down a ladder for the atheists 'Ok, that's your time up. Paradise awaits' and the Muslims all scream "Hey - what about us?"
"You? These people at least used their god -given minds to work out what really wan't true. You people had unquestionable evidence presented to you time and again that your Holy Book was not the word of gods but of men, but would you listen? Would you use the minds that we gave you? You stay there and burn..."
Which is why I always wear a bemused little Mona Lisa smirk when I see the threat of Hell being used as a fire under someone's ass. "Believe in the unbelievable ... or ELSE!"
The motive is so transparent that it makes a thin pane of glass seem opaque by comparison. Anyone with a couple of active critical brain cells can see that the entire concept of Hell was designed to keep butts in the pews (or on the floor with their heads planted in the tiles in your case). It's a control mechanism.
Exactly. Just like Psalms 14:1, the threat of hell is for the believers, to stop those who may question their indoctrination from doing so. Those outside the cult are set up as fools who are going to get punished for all eternity.
They are vacant arguments for people not allowed to think for themselves.
I have a little smile, too that theists of various stripe will brandish the hellthreat about, but never stop to think that, if they have the Wrong religion, they are as likely to burn as we atheists.
Can you imagine Viracocha or Inzanami letting down a ladder for the atheists 'Ok, that's your time up. Paradise awaits' and the Muslims all scream "Hey - what about us?"
"You? These people at least used their god -given minds to work out what really wan't true. You people had unquestionable evidence presented to you time and again that your Holy Book was not the word of gods but of men, but would you listen? Would you use the minds that we gave you? You stay there and burn..."
Yessiree ...
They are so over-confident that their god is the right god, that only THEIR god exists, and only THEIR religion is the pathway to paradise ...
... never once thinking that, on a global scale, Christianity only comprises one-third of the population. It would seem that two-thirds of the people have found other gods to worship, other religions to practice, and each one of them believe with the same fanaticism as any Christian that THEY will be the ones in paradise while everyone else (including Christians) will burn.
In fact, one might even argue that the fundamentalist Muslims are even MORE confident than Christians considering they're willing to blow themselves up in a supreme act of self-sacrifice and martyrdom in the name of Allah.
It sure must be nice to live in the knowledge that, whew! Lucky for me I dodged that bullet and was fortunate to have been born in a country where the One True God is worshiped and not one of those fake gods otherwise, wow, I would be on the road to Hell or purgatory or somewhere else unpleasant!
Despite poverty, war, oppression, and violence in some of these other nations, they'll still say, "I'm glad I was born and raised in Afghanistan and not America or I'd be a Christian right now and damned to Hell!"
I have a little smile, too that theists of various stripe will brandish the hellthreat about, but never stop to think that, if they have the Wrong religion, they are as likely to burn as we atheists.
Can you imagine Viracocha or Inzanami letting down a ladder for the atheists 'Ok, that's your time up. Paradise awaits' and the Muslims all scream "Hey - what about us?"
"You? These people at least used their god -given minds to work out what really wan't true. You people had unquestionable evidence presented to you time and again that your Holy Book was not the word of gods but of men, but would you listen? Would you use the minds that we gave you? You stay there and burn..."
Precisely. I could be the Perfect Christian and still end up in hell if it turns out that Allah is actually the One True God. Allah probably wouldn’t to kind to a person who spent their life worshiping a false God.
The whole Pascal’s Wager argument utterly fails if there is more than one religion in the world that threatens people with infinite punishment for non-belief.
The amusing thing is that Pascal himself as a Jansenist was likely to burn as a heretic, because just believing in God or even Jesus won't save you; you have to believe Correct doctrine, too.
What exactly is the significance of people back then making the same observations we make today?
I've known about all that since a very young age. People are having sex all around us with astonishing frequency and women get pregnant all the time. People talk. It's not rocket science (or medical science if you prefer). It's a basic observation. Sex talk was taboo back then in my parts so no sex education, yet we knew it anyway.
Notice how there is no mention of sperm in the Quran? That's because the authors didn't know about it.
The scientific miracle is in this statement said by The Messenger of Allah Mahammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
The child does not come from all the liquid (semen) .
Your Quran quote refutes itself. If Allah could create a pregnancy despite attempts to prevent it, there would be apparent virgin births and one could argue that there would be no births where it was really, really not wanted. In fact we get no validated birth without the Act and plenty of really, really, inappropriate pregnancies - just what we would expect if there was no Allah at all. Just nature doing what it does.
The Messenger of Allah Jesus (peace be upon him) was born from a virgin girl without sexual contact.
You DO understand, right, that to a person like myself these kinds of threats are quaint, bemusing, and actually illicit a little "Mona Lisa" smile on my face?
Being consumed by fire over and over again is just the kind of "hell" I would expect a primitive, scientific-know-nothing camel-herder from the Iron Age to come up with.
It is a one-dimensional punishment with no creativity, no psychological component, and worse still, once in Hell you have absolutely nothing to lose. Without anything to lose, it's nigh impossible to feel true fear.
Those people -- Muhammad -- had no idea what really makes a human being tick. All he understood was that fire is painful. Really painful. So uhm, sure, why not. Let's make Hell all about being burned all the time.
(And Muhammad snatched that idea from an even earlier Bronze Age religion -- Christianity.)
As I've said before, one reason why I don't believe in Hell, neither the Christian or Muslim version, is that it is a stale, uninspired, excessively primitive punishment that simply does not reflect well upon a God with infinite powers and limitless imagination. If all Allah and Yahweh can come up with is a typical physical-only punishment limited by the knowledge an average Bedouin would have, well ... d'ya think, maybe, that it was made-up by those very self-same Bedouins?
Of course it was.
Which is why I always wear a bemused little Mona Lisa smirk when I see the threat of Hell being used as a fire under someone's ass. "Believe in the unbelievable ... or ELSE!"
The motive is so transparent that it makes a thin pane of glass seem opaque by comparison. Anyone with a couple of active critical brain cells can see that the entire concept of Hell was designed to keep butts in the pews (or on the floor with their heads planted in the tiles in your case). It's a control mechanism.
Nothing more. I just feel bad that you actually believe it.
there is also Paradise
My worshippers! No fear shall be on you this Day, nor shall you grieve,
(You) who believed in Our Ayat (proofs, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.)
and were Muslims
(i.e. who submit totally to Allah's Will, and believe in the Oneness of Allah - Islamic Monotheism).
Enter Paradise, you and your wives, in happiness.
Trays of gold and cups will be passed round them; (there will be) therein all that inner-selves could desire, and all that eyes could delight in and you will abide therein forever. The Holy Quran 43.68:71
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, but that's basic observation and common sense.
