You don't need to pound the pulpit

@suzianne said
There is no "eternal damnation" or torture of souls.

This has moral coherence ~ which eternal torture in burning flames does not.

A creator entity/being creates the world and human beings >

> it reveals [unequivocally, unambiguously] its instructions as to how to gain everlasting life to everybody >

> these are rules about how humans are to treat each other and care for the flora and fauna on the Earth where they live >

> everyone has complete free will to obey or not [manmade laws permitting] >

> those who are judged to have endeavoured to obey the creator being with earnestness are rewarded with an afterlife >

> those who were judged to have been weak and disobedient simply have a finite life [still one heck of a gift, mind you] and then they disappear.

I don't believe this is how the universe works, of course, but at least it would be morally coherent compared to the torturer God concept with its infinite vengeful punishment for a finite crime after a "revelation" that is only found to be credible to a minority of human beings and where the posthumous torture is kept secret from the living.

But I digress from mchill's topic. As you were, everyone.

@mchill said
My parents were atheists, both having grown up in strict Christian households. For them, the message of Christianity was not that of a loving God who sent his own son to suffer and die as just and final punishment for the sins of all, but that of a judgmental God who'll condemn them to eternal torture if they step out of line. No one mentioned the word "God" in our house, and ...[text shortened]... for themselves. No roaring sermons, no fire and brimstone, no pounding the pulpit - - and it worked!

Interestingly the churches of today do not preach the Gospel of Christ and neither do many of them fashion their conduct and mo after Christ, whose focus was a changed lifestyle centered around good works and righteousness.

Many churches now are about drama, healing, shouting that they are saved, speaking in tongues, loud repetitive praying.

No more soft quietly and reflectively prayfully discussing the bible.

@rajk999 said
No more soft quietly and reflectively prayfully discussing the bible.

You've left your hobnail boots on the porch, I see, and you posted this in your socks.

-Removed-

I don't really understand why you feel you have to reconcile it. It was the first thing to fall away for me as I started to realized how ludicrous and manipulative it is.

-Removed-

Eh, I know he and others believe differently. It doesn't bother me as much as it bothers others.

-Removed-

Did Jesus want to "bang the pulpit" about it, as you put it?

People can be influenced in other ways. I was under the assumption that this is what the thread was about.

@suzianne said
Eh, I know he and others believe differently. It doesn't bother me as much as it bothers others.

To me, it's as if they are describing a different God figure. Yours is NOT a torturing God.

@fmf said
I wonder how many millions of the world's Christians are annihilationists like you?

Perhaps not as many as those who get to pat themselves on the back for their supposedly escaping their "eternal damnation" scare tactic.

@suzianne said
Perhaps not as many as those who get to pat themselves on the back for their supposedly escaping their "eternal damnation" scare tactic.

It's no coincidence that proponents of the torture for eternity concept here over the years have almost unanimously also declared themselves to be irrevocably "saved" from such a fate. There's no torture for eternity for them, apparently. Just for other people.

@fmf said
You've left your hobnail boots on the porch, I see, and you posted this in your socks.

Yes, correct. 😀

@fmf said
Do you not count the Book of Revelation as being part of Jesus' teaching?

I see you're still struggling with this -

@mchill said
I see you're still struggling with this -

No, that's not so. I "struggle" with Revelation in much the same way as I "struggle" with QAnon. So, do you not count the Book of Revelation as part of Jesus' teaching? The seven words [and dash] you posted above sidestepped the question.