Welcome to TheologyOnline

raypb

New member
Hello everyone, its taken awhile to reply back. I've been reading back dated post on this site for several weeks, kinda got caught up in the moment, LOL. I must say, defintely a diverse group of beliefs. For now, I'll being taking the back seat of this ordained ride and get to know each ones character. Love is the passion for oneness, may we all be one.

Ray
 

dreadknought

New member
Hello everyone, its taken awhile to reply back. I've been reading back dated post on this site for several weeks, kinda got caught up in the moment, LOL. I must say, defintely a diverse group of beliefs. For now, I'll being taking the back seat of this ordained ride and get to know each ones character. Love is the passion for oneness, may we all be one.

Ray

:think: A newbie who reads first. Welcome.... :)
 

The Graphite

New member
Ordained ride? How care you make such a reference. God did not foreordain this website, and as an Open Theist, I find such a statement offensive. This "ride" is created by the libertarian free will choices of multiple human beings and has nothing to do with divine foreordination! :smack: :Clete:



Erhhhh... actually, maybe I shouldn't smack around a newbie just moments after they walk in the door. Sorry, heh heh.... :hammer:

Welcome!


.... say... seen any elephants, lately? :Grizzly:
 

godsdice

New member
It's hell to believe in Hell.

It's hell to believe in Hell.

http://www.users.bigpond.com/pmurray/exchristian/Stories/0168.html

I'm an M.K., a missionaries' kid. I'm also a lawyer. (There must an oxymoron in there somewhere). From experience I can state that it is hell to believe in Hell. For forty years my universe contained a literal Hell that I took for granted, where the vast majority of humanity (me and a few other believers excepted because we were the one's who'd made it through the narrow gate) would forever live in unending, irreversible, unimaginable torment. This was the just and direct result of their rejection of Jesus Christ. My parents were missionaries primarily because they believed that, even those who had never heard of Jesus were going to Hell. This is because, if you haven't accepted Jesus, you have, by default rejected Jesus. There was no "in between". You were either saved or lost. Many of us even believed that you could lose your salvation if you screwed up. I preferred the idea of "once saved, always saved". It's called "eternal security", as I'm sure you know.

From birth, through High School and Bible School, I was immersed in fundamentalist Christianity. It wasn't until University that I became close to anyone who was "unsaved". When I spent the last year of my undergraduate degree and the first year of Law in a co-ed residence at U.W.O., my new baptism by immersion was complete.

The closer I came to my "unsaved" friends, the more I appreciated them as good people. I observed a great deal of immoral behavior, certainly far below community standards. But not once did I see anything that would come close to deserving Hell. When I "shared my testimony" to them, they seldom accepted what I said. But they didn't reject what I said, either. Generally they remained open, but unconvinced. A crack in my faith appeared that was a direct result of Hell (I'm sure my fundamentalist friends would have fun with that statement). I began to question, specifically because I couldn't imagine any of my friends in Hell while I was in Heaven. I realized that, if I truly believed in the Hell that I had taken for granted, I would either go insane, or I would be irresistibly compelled to dedicate all my resources in a desperate attempt, by any means whatsoever, to persuade the lost to accept Jesus as Savior.

At one point I asked God to give me a taste of Hell, so that I would be more passionate in my attempts to lead my friends to Jesus. If God has answered that prayer in any way that makes sense to me, it is to show me that because of who God is, Hell cannot exist.

Over the past ten years, as my Christian faith has decreased, my God has expanded. My understanding and appreciation of who God is has exploded. At the same time I have been impressed with how small my scope of reference is. I expect that there will always be more to God that I don't know, than that I do know

I am exploring a God who has unlimited good options available. God doesn't motivate me by fear of Hell. God motivates me by the deep pleasure that following God's guidance gives. God doesn't judge me. He doesn't need to. He knows me. God doesn't require anything from me, but He gives me the pleasure that comes from contributing. God does not tell me that I'm evil. He shows me His goodness.

My scope of reference is too big for me to own blind faith, but it is far too small for me to claim any dogma. Even so, I now believe (not absolutely, but beyond any reasonable doubt that I am aware of) that Hell does not exist, in any form.

This topic fascinates me because, if the fundamentalists are correct, absolutely nothing, not even the extinction of the human race should consume another ounce of our resources. If they are correct everything else is insignificant. We can have only one desperate focus and that is to save the souls of those we love. Anything else, for all eternity, will be a total waste. On the other hand, if they are wrong, then let's hope that more people will recognize how destructive it is to believe the people are evil, and that God's only option was such a hellish one.
 

dreadknought

New member
:think: hmmm... If you were at peace with God, you'd be able to discern good from evil, and the light from the darkness. John 3:19 Romans 5:1
Reality is distasteful, so is a literal hell. Matthew 23:33; 2 Peter 2:4-22

2 Thessalonians 3:2 Colossians 1:21-23 1 John 5:19 2 John 1:11 Hebrews 5:14
 

Deodatus

New member
Hello, everybody.

There's been a lot of religious conflict in my life of late, with my brother a diehard Catholic and myself an ex-Agnostic now moving towards Atheism. I haven't had much opportunity for as much religious debate (or debate in general, for that matter) as I would like, so I thought I'd join up here.
 

annabenedetti

like marbles on glass
Hello, everybody.

There's been a lot of religious conflict in my life of late, with my brother a diehard Catholic and myself an ex-Agnostic now moving towards Atheism. I haven't had much opportunity for as much religious debate (or debate in general, for that matter) as I would like, so I thought I'd join up here.

Welcome, from a diehard Catholic. :wave:
 

annabenedetti

like marbles on glass
http://www.users.bigpond.com/pmurray/exchristian/Stories/0168.html

I'm an M.K., a missionaries' kid. I'm also a lawyer. (There must an oxymoron in there somewhere). From experience I can state that it is hell to believe in Hell. For forty years my universe contained a literal Hell that I took for granted, where the vast majority of humanity (me and a few other believers excepted because we were the one's who'd made it through the narrow gate) would forever live in unending, irreversible, unimaginable torment. This was the just and direct result of their rejection of Jesus Christ. My parents were missionaries primarily because they believed that, even those who had never heard of Jesus were going to Hell. This is because, if you haven't accepted Jesus, you have, by default rejected Jesus. There was no "in between". You were either saved or lost. Many of us even believed that you could lose your salvation if you screwed up. I preferred the idea of "once saved, always saved". It's called "eternal security", as I'm sure you know.

From birth, through High School and Bible School, I was immersed in fundamentalist Christianity. It wasn't until University that I became close to anyone who was "unsaved". When I spent the last year of my undergraduate degree and the first year of Law in a co-ed residence at U.W.O., my new baptism by immersion was complete.

The closer I came to my "unsaved" friends, the more I appreciated them as good people. I observed a great deal of immoral behavior, certainly far below community standards. But not once did I see anything that would come close to deserving Hell. When I "shared my testimony" to them, they seldom accepted what I said. But they didn't reject what I said, either. Generally they remained open, but unconvinced. A crack in my faith appeared that was a direct result of Hell (I'm sure my fundamentalist friends would have fun with that statement). I began to question, specifically because I couldn't imagine any of my friends in Hell while I was in Heaven. I realized that, if I truly believed in the Hell that I had taken for granted, I would either go insane, or I would be irresistibly compelled to dedicate all my resources in a desperate attempt, by any means whatsoever, to persuade the lost to accept Jesus as Savior.

At one point I asked God to give me a taste of Hell, so that I would be more passionate in my attempts to lead my friends to Jesus. If God has answered that prayer in any way that makes sense to me, it is to show me that because of who God is, Hell cannot exist.

Over the past ten years, as my Christian faith has decreased, my God has expanded. My understanding and appreciation of who God is has exploded. At the same time I have been impressed with how small my scope of reference is. I expect that there will always be more to God that I don't know, than that I do know

I am exploring a God who has unlimited good options available. God doesn't motivate me by fear of Hell. God motivates me by the deep pleasure that following God's guidance gives. God doesn't judge me. He doesn't need to. He knows me. God doesn't require anything from me, but He gives me the pleasure that comes from contributing. God does not tell me that I'm evil. He shows me His goodness.

My scope of reference is too big for me to own blind faith, but it is far too small for me to claim any dogma. Even so, I now believe (not absolutely, but beyond any reasonable doubt that I am aware of) that Hell does not exist, in any form.

This topic fascinates me because, if the fundamentalists are correct, absolutely nothing, not even the extinction of the human race should consume another ounce of our resources. If they are correct everything else is insignificant. We can have only one desperate focus and that is to save the souls of those we love. Anything else, for all eternity, will be a total waste. On the other hand, if they are wrong, then let's hope that more people will recognize how destructive it is to believe the people are evil, and that God's only option was such a hellish one.

I began to question, specifically because I couldn't imagine any of my friends in Hell while I was in Heaven.

Could that possibly be because to imagine them in Hell opened up the possibility of you finding yourself in Hell, and that was too scary to contemplate?

God doesn't judge me.

Friend, you are in for a big surprise.

John 12:48

He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
 

Tchort

New member
Cannot access my own threads from the user CP

Cannot access my own threads from the user CP

Knight, or anyone else that can offer assistance:
Since I do not subscribe to the threads that I reply to, I am sure that if I try the option "Find all threads by Tchort", that I should be able to see them. Instead, I see a page that states I do not have access.
I wanted to bring this to your attention, thanks in advance!

Tchort
 

Lighthouse

The Dark Knight
Gold Subscriber
Hall of Fame
Knight, or anyone else that can offer assistance:
Since I do not subscribe to the threads that I reply to, I am sure that if I try the option "Find all threads by Tchort", that I should be able to see them. Instead, I see a page that states I do not have access.
I wanted to bring this to your attention, thanks in advance!

Tchort
You have more than 50 posts, so I assume you have not bee registered for 14 days, yet. When that time limit is up, you will be able to search for old posts.
 
Top