--------------7D70C8F38DEDB4E46C4E714D Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by norman.sandiego.altris.com id NAA25451
>> PHIPPS
>> Back in Michigan, where I grew up, a man killed his two small
children
>> by placing them in a foundry ladle and pouring molten metal on them.
He
>> was a christian and explained his action by saying that he was
>> protecting their souls... this way they would go to heaven for sure
>> (apparently they were not yet at that mysterious "age of
>> accountability").
<Snipped for brevity> I had a similar discussion with a friend of mine. She had stated that as an atheist I had nothing to live for and so should kill myself. I explained to her that since I believed in neither God nor life after death, that life was precious to me. Probably much more precious than to someone who believed that they would have eternal life after death. Furthermore, I contended that being a Christian and believing in life after death, she may want to kill her family and herself when she thinks that on the balance of things that they will go to heaven. This would be preferable to risking spending an eternity in hell. Think about the scope of things. We live for maybe a hundred years. This is not even a blink of an eye when compared to the currently estimated age of the universe, let alone the concept of eternity. What sane person would risk an eternity in hell for a few paltry years on Earth? Why would you have children when they may very well end up in hell for eternity? Depending on whom you talk to, very few people will go to heaven. This makes for very bad odds. Think about the scope. Eternity in hell as punishment for some crime committed during a decidedly short Earthly existence. An eternity of suffering is the punishment for merely disbelieving in God. An eternity for stealing, an eternity for adultery and an eternity for failing to honor your parents. Don=92t you think that an eternity of suffering is a little extreme? Eternity is a really, really long time. Larry --------------7D70C8F38DEDB4E46C4E714D Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by norman.sandiego.altris.com id NAA25451 >> PHIPPS
>> Back in Michigan, where I grew up, a man killed his two small children
>> by placing them in a foundry ladle and pouring molten metal on them. He
>> was a christian and explained his action by saying that he was<= /B>
>> protecting their souls... this way they would go to heaven for sure
>> (apparently they were not yet at that mysterious "age of
>> accountability").<Snipped for brevity>
I had a similar discussion with a friend of mine. She had stated that as an atheist I had nothing to live for and so should kill myself. I expl= ained to her that since I believed in neither God nor life after death, that life was precious to me. Probably much more precious than to someone who believed that they would have eternal life after death.
Furthermore, I contended that being a Christian and believing in life after death, she may want to kill her family and herself when she thinks that on the balance of things that they will go to heaven. This would be preferable to risking spending an eternity in hell.
Think about the scope of things. We live for maybe a hundred years. This is not even a blink of an eye when compared to the currently estimat= ed age of the universe, let alone the concept of eternity. What sane person would risk an eternity in hell for a few paltry years on Earth? Why would you have children when they may very well end up in hell for eternity? Depending on whom you talk to, very few people will go to heaven. This makes for very bad odds.
Think about the scope. Eternity in hell as punishment for some crime committed during a decidedly short Earthly existence.
An eternity of suffering is the punishment for merely disbelieving in God. An eternity for stealing, an eternity for adultery and an eternity for failing to honor your parents. Don=92t you think that an eternity of suffering is a little extreme?
Eternity is a really, really long time.
Larry