Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yeah but it always came with a threat such as, you can still go to hell or I will still go to hell like most Muslims and then I'll come out whenever God finishes burning me.
Heaven sounded good in some ways but mostly fantasyand you could do everything required to get there but still suffer hell for a period. I never really believe the stuff in heaven as it sounded too much like the desires of men.
Muslims for the most part in my experience are fearful of the day of judgement even though they believe Islam and pray and do what's required etc. That in itself is telling the common word used when discussing heaven was, "inshallah" we make it there. No assurance just all God's will. The fact that I've read commentary on the Quran and it talks about all people Muslims or not that will be required to walk over a bridge from hell where some of us make it with some burns of course and others fall into is a bit mentally troubling come from a supposed all merciful deity. Or that those in hell will have new skin after their old skin is roasted away from the fire to continue the punishment. That's what I think it is if I remember?
You can teach your kids all you want about the good and heaven and whatever. You're not gonna skip over the bad such as hell and kids read off not just what you tell them but how you react and treat the very subject to others when they're not lecturing you. Teaching children about hell is child abuse in my opinion. Total child abuse. But that's what religion teaches doesn't I?
Why?
If you have a kid, would you ask him/her to put has/her hand on top of a burning candle flame and let him/her burn their skin and learn it by the hard way?
Or will you educate and warn them of the consequences?
Think about it.
If there is a God and there is heaven and hell as the premise of our discussion THEN .... IMO, it's illogical if a preacher gives you a "No question asked GUARANTEE" to enter into heaven. And frankly speaking, almost all religions do it, EXCEPT for Islam.
Islam gives you hope, not a guarantee.
Do good, have good hopes.
If you have made a mistake that involves hurting someone or taking away someone's rights, then make up with them first, and then ask forgiveness from that person and also from God.
The issue perhaps is, how the idea of hell is presented to some kids.
It's as if, you deviate a slight bit, and BOOM! now you are bound to burn in hell. You jacked off, and now you are destined to hell. You missed a Sunday Church, and now you are bound to hell. You were late at attending a funeral, and now you are bound to hell.
The right way to teach this is to let the kids know if that you made a mistake, then try to make up for it, ask for forgiveness and do good, and have good hopes because God forgives.
As Humans, we are bound to make mistakes and that's why God is merciful and he forgives. Otherwise, if humans were to go hell for every mistake and God wouldn't forgive, then no human in the entire mankind could go to heaven. Every single one of them would end up in hell.
However, it's human nature. Only carrots or only sticks NEVER work. You can't just keep throwing carrots. If hell exists then it acts as a deterrence for those humans who respond better to deterrence rather than just hogging onto carrots.
Why do you make a stop at a stop sign while driving in a lonely street in the middle of the night? Besides abiding by the law, you KNOW if a cop is watching, YOU WILL GET THE TICKET, and you will pay the fine. Or if an accident happens because you ran over the stop sign, you will be responsible. There is no way out.
Deterrence works. Otherwise, abolish all jails and all courts and all punishments for every crime.
And if there wasn't a hell, then how would justice be served to all those criminals who were able to dodge the man made laws. There were, there are, and there will ALWAYS be Hitlers and Ariel Sharons in every era. And from faith's point of view, justice WILL be served to them. And perhaps this is where such people will fall from the bridge.
Something I suppose like we inexperienced humans learned what berries to eat that were medicinal as opposed to the berries we ate that were poison. We were not preprogrammed to eat poison berries, but inexperienced humans died because of eating them. Other humans took note and we were allowed to avoid eating those bad berries again. The learning helped us to keep from repeating the same mistake(s)...
Unlike this damn notion about Adam taking a bite of the apple and forever condemning the rest of mankind from then on. Like we're still going to eat poison berries after learning they are poison? Doesn't seem like a matter of free will to me, but of course this thread has well proven how we can all draw whatever conclusion we want about such things.
The ability to do so is what makes religion so profoundly agreeable. Doesn't matter what makes sense. All that matters is what to believe, for whatever our countless personal reasons...
Folks, there seems to be a basic misunderstanding regarding the forbidden fruit. OK, I realize the writers were being poetic but - forbidden fruit? Get it? The very cause of our existence! That forbidden fruit. The fruit of knowledge? "Oh, shucks, so that's what happens if we eat the forbidden fruit!" Not sure why it was a sin though but my pastor and his minions were insistent that eating the forbidden fruit was a sin. Original sin I think they called it. Just thought I'd set the record straight. So yes, man is born sinful. Woman too I would hope. Well, apparently.
Folks, there seems to be a basic misunderstanding regarding the forbidden fruit. OK, I realize the writers were being poetic but - forbidden fruit? Get it? The very cause of our existence! That forbidden fruit. The fruit of knowledge? "Oh, shucks, so that's what happens if we eat the forbidden fruit!" Not sure why it was a sin though but my pastor and his minions were insistent that eating the forbidden fruit was a sin. Original sin I think they called it. Just thought I'd set the record straight. So yes, man is born sinful. Woman too I would hope. Well, apparently.
Folks, there seems to be a basic misunderstanding regarding the forbidden fruit. OK, I realize the writers were being poetic but - forbidden fruit? Get it? The very cause of our existence! That forbidden fruit. The fruit of knowledge? "Oh, shucks, so that's what happens if we eat the forbidden fruit!" Not sure why it was a sin though but my pastor and his minions were insistent that eating the forbidden fruit was a sin. Original sin I think they called it. Just thought I'd set the record straight. So yes, man is born sinful. Woman too I would hope. Well, apparently.
“Man is born sinful”: I can perhaps live with it if it’s interpreted as, “We are humans and we are bound to make mistakes. If we didn’t make a mistake then we wouldn’t be humans; we would be angels. (And no, Satan was NOT an angel. He was from the Jinn kind)”
But if it’s interpreted as “Man is born with a sin (the original sin”) then I reject this belief because such a God would be unjust and unfair. Why am I to face the consequences for something that I didn’t do?
I wouldn’t prescribe to such an illogical doctrine.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
