IM conversation with my Christian Cousin.

[Qwertyuiopasd]

it's sad how they can't continue to argue, so they just revert to "YA GOING TA HEEEEELLLLLL!!!!!!"

[Qwertyuiopasd]

"A good offense is a good defense"
-Mel, the cook on Alice.

I'm hoping either she'll grow out of it, or I'll move to canada. either one is fine with me

[NeferKa]

Do other countries have hotel Bibles or other holy books? When I went to Egypt we looked in the drawers for a Koran, but there were only papers about room service.

[Goat Starer]

I had a very good friend who became increasingly fundamentalist over the years I knew him. What got to me was the matter of fact way he would tell me that I was going to hell. I would ask if I was a good person, he would say yes but would still say that I was going to hell for my failure to believe.

As a fairly fundamentalist atheist myself I am not that bothered but I do not really understand how anybody could 'worship' an entity that they believe is going to send their perfectly nice friends to hell???!!

That doesent sound like a god that even if proven to exist I would wish to pay any kind of homage to or offer respect to. For many fundamentalists of all faiths belief in god is more important than how you behave which seems bizarre and paints a picture of a divinity that is incredibly egotistical with some serious identity issues. (I wont prove I exist but i will require people to believe in me. I will lay down rules for behaviour but will treat faith as trumping behaviour). This does not sound like the benevolent merciful god of the new testament at all.

If I am proven wrong and the god I encounter looks anything like this poor demented creature I think I will I will take my etarnal punishment with a sense of proud resignation. I cant imagine that any 'heaven' created by the fundamentalists god (of any religion) would be much better that an eternity in the fiery pit!

[NeferKa]

I personally have issues with participating in the worship of a deity that would send perfectly nice people who leave positive impacts on other to a place of eternal damnation just because those people don’t know about/acknowledge that deity’s existence as well! It seems funny to me that the relationships with people and strides taken to improve the quality of life for others isn’t even taken into consideration when it comes to the afterlife for some people: it’s just picking the “rightâ€￾ religion. If that god does exist, I still won’t partake in the religion. Personally, I’d sooner just go to Hell then spend all eternity with that egomaniac.

I also don’t keep friends that tell me I am going to go to Hell. I don’t think that is very nice, and there is no reason for me to put up with it. When I am told that I am going to burn, etc., I usually just reply that I do not believe that Hell or say that it couldn’t have been much worse than my childhood.

[OZ_Nick]

I would say that people who tell you that you're going to burn in hell are not your friends, whatever they think.

I believe it to be the height of arrogant rudeness to try to impose your narrow view of the worl onto others. Unfortunately it seems that religious zealots of all flavours suffer from the defect that they "know" they are right.

I say you should never trust anyone who says he/she "knows" the truth about anything. Intellectual honesty requires that we must always allow for the possibility that we are wrong and you can never have an intelligent discussion/debate with someone who does not concede that small but very important point.

I usually counter such rubbish by saying something like "Well, I don't believe in life after death at all, but if I'm wrong, at least I'll have the benefit of knowing it."

Of course, this may not be your POV and that is fine, but I'm sure you can think of something suitable to say. On the other hand showing a complete indifference to these sorts of people may be the best plan. They really hate it when their little attempts to frighten you are greeted with a simple shrug of the shoulders and an expression on your face that says "what have you been smoking?"

Nick

[Amazing Larry]

This is what happens when people fail to understand the Bible and resort to the 'You're Going to H. E. Double Hockey Sticks!!!1' approach.

[Amazing Larry]

Whoa there sailor! A tad harsh, in my humble opinion.

[Amazing Larry]

I understand. I was merely stating my own opinion in comparison to his, no harm intended.

[Amazing Larry]

No, it's freedom of speech, and I understand what you were getting at.

[Amazing Larry]

Thanks for making things clear, you have nothing to be sorry about.

[beagle]

Well, he didn't give the page numbers for the good bits. That means we'll have to read all of it.

Only kidding.

[Qwertyuiopasd]

yeah, I'm suprised the Bible hasn't been bannd by one of those religious groups thats always trying to ban books...

I'll call one of them up somtime and say 'I found this book with really bad and unchristian stuff, and they're giving it to really small kids!!!' then read the warning of content from the picture. then they be all like "OMG! we totally have to ban this book whats it called?" "the Bible." *click*

[NeferKa]

Well... There have been many books within the Christian Bible that have been banned in the past. Also, laypeople were not allowed to read it until about 500 years ago because the church was worried they would interpret it for themselves! There has been a lot of redaction to the Bible, but I think most of the cuts were due to theology not violence.

By the way, I enjoyed the illustration. I feel it's along the lines of when schools have to put stickers in science text books that say that evolutions is "only a theory."

[kat]

Also, laypeople were not allowed to read it until about 500 years ago because the church was worried they would interpret it for themselves!

Not quite true. It's really the standard protestant line, in fact.

All Abrahamic religions except Christianity require a working knowledge of the language of their scriptures, and don't accept translation as valid.

In Christianity, the scriptures had three languages, which were very early condensed to one, and in making the translations, some of the most heinous things about Christianity developed.

Religious education in latin was available to the populace, for the most part, on demand. They just had neither the time nor the inclination, for the most part.