this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2023
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Atheism

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[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Just gonna say, as a Catholic, He never sends anyone to Hell, they send themeselves to Hell. Furthermore, the whole "Hell is the worst pain you can imagine" immediately makes one think Of a torture chamber. That isn't neccessarily what Hell is. Hell is simply a separation from God. It is being alone and miserable that is thgreatest pain.

The whole idea of God sending people to infinite torture because man is a depraved, wicked thing is a very harmful calvinistic idea.

Not trying to be a troll. I just want to set the records straight.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago

That's just moving around minutia of details and ignoring the skeleton of the argument, then re-stating a similar enough version of what the meme ridicules.

If god alone can fill the hole in your heart, why did he leave such vague instructions in a world full of grifters, with availability limited by geographical and cultural lottery, and expect us to believe this religion of others at face value?

I gotta say, ignorance being bliss is a true thing. All you have to do is look to "spiritual" (often just non-denominational pagan) people to see the same patterns of feeding themselves simple platitudes with a supernatural basis to fill the certainty and self-esteem needs they have.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If God created everything, he created evil. He created the possibility for separation and he is the one that made us fallible. What value is free will if the price is eternal misery?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not only that, but if he is truly all powerful, he should be able to rebuild reality in a way of which a person could have free will completely, while never be at risk of hellfire. Either he chooses not to do this which makes him not all loving, or he cannot do this which makes him not all powerful. Either way, this just makes him a giant wad of holy fuck juice in my eyes with an ego issue, undeserving of my praise.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's a work of fiction called UNSONG which posits an answer for this - essentially that God's purpose is to maximize the amount of good that exists, but at the level of abstraction he functions two identical things are really just one thing, one template. So he creates a perfect world, then ones with a single imperceptible flaw, then ones with two such flaws, etc. Eventually you reach ones whose potential for good is only a slight net positive, and that's more the neighborhood we're in.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

See, but then there's the problem

that would make him not all powerful

And under that concept I see absolutely no reason to worship him.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

The nature of hell varies wildly among different branches of Christianity. In some sects it absolutely is torture.

I personally think the idea of living separated from god with all the other people who rejected him sounds pretty awesome.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

How do you know what hell is like?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hell is simply a separation from God.

Cool. I was born in Hell and lived my whole life there.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Turns out hellfire was the global warming all along

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

john Kramer from saw doesn't kill people, they kill themselves by not completing the trap! (ignore that John is the one who put them in there)

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Though to be fair, his disciples were bad about intentionally making the trap unwinnable. Especially Amanda.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Hell is simply a separation from God

So heaven, nice

I'm a recently self-excommunicated Catholic, couldn't be prouder.

[–] mindbleach 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"Stop hitting yourself" isn't even the worst theological argument.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There are so many to choose from, which one is the worst is very hard to determine. From completely insane nonsense like the ontological argument to those that just ignore that they would apply to every other religion equally like Pascal's Wager there is a lot of competition.

I guess that is bound to happen when all arguments are far from good, they have to cluster around the 'bad to worst' part of the spectrum.

[–] mindbleach 3 points 1 year ago

When little baby mindbleach still figured the religious hypothesis deserved a fair shake, I bought and skimmed an apologetics book. I think the moment I gave up was reading 'the argument from magic' that said you can control matter with your mind. Namely: your hand.

There is a subtle but crucial difference between "come the fuck on" and "you've gotta be fucking kidding me."