Have you ever met any non-believers who...

@fmf said
Have you ever met any non-believers who actually and literally fear retribution and punishment at the hands of the Christian God?

If so, how did they explain it?

@moonbus said
Yes, you nailed it. Fear is not rational and belief is only sometimes so or only partially so. Sometimes fear and belief and reason jive, sometimes they don't. So, yes, some people are confused, and frightened, both at once.

@moonbus said
Yes, you nailed it. Fear is not rational and belief is only sometimes so or only partially so. Sometimes fear and belief and reason jive, sometimes they don't. So, yes, some people are confused, and frightened, both at once.

@fmf said
That leaves the question of what could possibly be the moral purpose of making unbelievable threats of retribution and punishment at the hands of the Christian God and aiming them at non-believers? "Divine" moral logic surely would not be so weak and half-baked ~ if there were to be such a thing.

@ghost-of-a-duke said
At the time these ancient documents were written, 'fear' of such things was a bigger motivator. Fire and Brimstone preachers don't get so much traction in the modern age.

@FMF

For someone for whom it doesn't matter one way or the other you sure like to harp on the subject.

Shrug, Yawn

" Why it means nothing to me one way or the other."

- post after post after post after post on damnation.
"Talk about it. Talk about it. Talk about it."

@sonship said
@FMF

For someone for whom it doesn't matter one way or the other you sure like to harp on the subject.

@sonship said
- post after post after post after post on damnation.
"Talk about it. Talk about it. Talk about it."

@FMF

I find the moral incoherence of your "perfect morality" interesting.

@suzianne said
Rather than a specific, like vampires, when I was a little kid (6 or 7, by adolescence I was pretty comfortable in the dark in my room) the thing to be afraid of at night was more along the lines of generic 'monsters'. And yes, word among my friends and I was that there was indeed something magical about bedcovers, the monsters couldn't touch them, so as long as you were under them, you were safe. 🙂

@ghost-of-a-duke said
I call it the 'Inferno Tennis Ball Effect.' (I will sue anyone who copies that expression without written permission).

Imagine someone is going to throw you a tennis ball to catch from close range. (A gentle underarm throw). Now, you believe 100% that you will catch the ball. You are as confident as you could be that you would catch it. - But then you discover that ...[text shortened]... hat sounded) spend all eternity burning in hell...

Would you still be as confident in your catch?

@moonbus said
I call this the 'don't look down effect' and I copyright it.

You learn to walk a tightrope two inches above ground until you can do it blindfolded. Now try it across the Grand Canyon. Even on a windless day, it's the same but it's not the same.

The salient difference is that one imagines different possible consequences of getting it wrong. Imagination is quite sufficient to engender fear, even if the likelihood of the consequences is improbable or remote in time.

@sonship said
I find the incoherence of there not being an ultimate perfect moral Being.

That's the incoherence of atheism.