GreatBigBore
New member
Hi everyone, I didn't plan on doing this, but when I posted a question in the Religion forum I got a bunch of people wanting to argue with me about my eternal soul, about whether I have read the bible properly, whether I have the right spirit, etc. I really didn't feel like discussing it in that thread, and I really didn't feel like discussing it at all, but since so many people are asking about me personally rather than having something helpful to say in answer to my question, here goes.
I have carefully read and carefully studied the bible for 35 years, ever since I was 13 years old and was told by my abusive stepfather that I will burn in agony in real fire for eternity. I believed it, and when I read the bible, I believed it even more. After many years of terror, when I was about 30 years old, a still, small voice came to me and said, "Torture is wrong."
I have studied science, history, literature, archaeology, biblical scholarship, and many other very nerdy related scholarly fields my whole life, because I am a total nerd. I can point to many, many reasons why I find the bible to be implausible from many, many scholarly vantage points. But none of that matters to me on a personal level, because all I need to know is one thing, and I discovered it independent of all my decades of research: Torture is wrong.
The only way to have an argument about something is to find some common philosophical ground. If you think torture can ever be morally justified, then you and I simply have nothing to talk about. I will not discuss it. I openly and freely admit that I am absolutely closed to any discussion on the matter.
Call me religious. Here's my creed.
A god that wants people to sing joyfully to it while other people burn in agony for eternity is a demon that does not know the first thing about compassion or morality.
A god that can't stomach fire torture but cowardly falls back on some lesser horror like eternal despair is a demon that does not know the first thing about compassion or morality.
The Atheistic Good News is that even without supernatural help, almost every atheist in the world would BEG God to release you, or any human, or any living thing, from such horror. We would never sing. We could never sing, even if we wanted to, because we would be instinctively compelled to beg for your release. Even without supernatural help, just at an animal-instinct level, we love all living things more than eternal-suffering people love their fellow humans.
I can't speak for anyone else, but if I can so unabashedly love a god's people more than they love me, I personally spit in that god's face.
I have carefully read and carefully studied the bible for 35 years, ever since I was 13 years old and was told by my abusive stepfather that I will burn in agony in real fire for eternity. I believed it, and when I read the bible, I believed it even more. After many years of terror, when I was about 30 years old, a still, small voice came to me and said, "Torture is wrong."
I have studied science, history, literature, archaeology, biblical scholarship, and many other very nerdy related scholarly fields my whole life, because I am a total nerd. I can point to many, many reasons why I find the bible to be implausible from many, many scholarly vantage points. But none of that matters to me on a personal level, because all I need to know is one thing, and I discovered it independent of all my decades of research: Torture is wrong.
The only way to have an argument about something is to find some common philosophical ground. If you think torture can ever be morally justified, then you and I simply have nothing to talk about. I will not discuss it. I openly and freely admit that I am absolutely closed to any discussion on the matter.
Call me religious. Here's my creed.
A god that wants people to sing joyfully to it while other people burn in agony for eternity is a demon that does not know the first thing about compassion or morality.
A god that can't stomach fire torture but cowardly falls back on some lesser horror like eternal despair is a demon that does not know the first thing about compassion or morality.
The Atheistic Good News is that even without supernatural help, almost every atheist in the world would BEG God to release you, or any human, or any living thing, from such horror. We would never sing. We could never sing, even if we wanted to, because we would be instinctively compelled to beg for your release. Even without supernatural help, just at an animal-instinct level, we love all living things more than eternal-suffering people love their fellow humans.
I can't speak for anyone else, but if I can so unabashedly love a god's people more than they love me, I personally spit in that god's face.
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