“By the letter of your book, I should burn forever regardless of my sin. If I look at a woman with lust, I burn. If I kill 50 children, I burn. Even if follow every one of god’s laws to the letter, I still burn because I carry the taint of original sin.”
It is true (assuming belief in the bible) that we are all born into original sin; therefore we are not worthy to enter into heaven. But God did not say all are condemned to hell, he offered us a way to salvation. Man is also born with free will, we have the option to accept this grace or deny it. Ultimately it comes down to whether or not a person chooses to believe in the bible or not, it’s that simple. Let’s assume for a minute that there is a creator; if there is a supreme God who is capable of creating this universe then it stands to reason that there will be many things in his word that we are incapable of fully comprehending just as there are so many things in the universe that we are unable to explain.

“There are more than 1.5 billion Muslims who think justice will be done when you and I are both in hell.”
I am not well versed in the Muslim faith but I do have Muslim friends and in our discussions I have never heard them mention this as a tenant of their faith. If the point is that we need to choose between the two faiths, then I will choose the only faith in the world that has a Savior.

“I should also add here that nowhere in the Old Testament is hell discussed. Eternal punishment in the hereafter is never discussed there.”
Not true, to find it you have to look for other references as it is may be in Hebrew or referred to by an alternate phrase:
See Deut 32:22, Ps 63:9, Ps 86:13, Ps 88:6, Prov. 9:18, Lam. 3:55 just to name a few.

Thank you for your response and my apologies for my delayed response.

Thank you very much for your reply.

Perhaps you could help me understand the specific connection between Matthew 10 and Luke 10. Did you perhaps mean Luke 12, the parallel passage to Matthew 10?

I understand that Jesus’ point is that he’s trying to bring about a revolution of sorts, and that the sword is a metaphor for the ties that people will have to cut if they wish to follow him. Even that is not a particularly positive message, and a sword is an unfortunate metaphor for the “Prince of Peace.”

Looking at Luke 10, I do find another rather horrifying statement. If one of the seventy is not welcomed in a town, “on that day [judgment day] it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.” So if we don’t welcome in wandering, shoeless preachers our entire city is to be drenched in fire? I’d call that hateful.

As for Matthew 13, first of all, I don’t tolerate sin because I don’t believe in the concept of sin. Further, of course I’m not saying that we should tolerate evil acts. My point is that comparing human punishment, which is necessarily finite, to ETERNAL punishment is nonsensical. Besides, it doesn’t matter if humanity is tolerant of sin or not. Isn’t it only god’s place to judge?

By the letter of your book, I should burn forever regardless of my sin. If I look at a woman with lust, I burn. If I kill 50 children, I burn. Even if follow every one of god’s laws to the letter, I still burn because I carry the taint of original sin.

I should also add here that nowhere in the Old Testament is hell discussed. Eternal punishment in the hereafter is never discussed there. It’s Jesus who is loving, caring, and peaceful enough to introduce the notion of hell.

To his beloved creations a single path to eternal bliss, a path that flies in the face of reason, rationality, and morality, is not the work of a loving god.

As for the notion of justice, whose justice? How do you know you’re right? There are more than 1.5 billion Muslims who think justice will be done when you and I are both in hell.

I look forward to your reply.

“I suggest you look at some of the more intolerant and hateful sayings of Jesus, such as Matthew 10:34-39 and Matthew 13:41-42.”

Matthew 10:34-39
I believe that you sir are guilty of taking this passage out of context; please review all of Luke 10 to understand the context of this verse before passing judgment on it as being “hateful” as you say.

Matthew 13:41-42
So we (humanity) should just be tolerant of all forms of sin?…. Which ones? Rape, murder, theft…. the list goes on and on……

If even our human society has penalties for these types of crimes then doesn’t it stand to reason that God would also have penalties for them? I do not call this “hateful” as you say but on the contrary, I call this justice.

Theism: belief in gods. Atheism: absence of belief in gods. People who do not believe in god are not united, nor do they have a good name… as there is no unifying set of beliefs or social practices to soil.

But anon, you are absolutely correct. Saying that atheism qualifies as a religion is to make a ridiculous reworking of the meaning of what a religion is. Google “religion” guys, you will quickly find that the absence of belief in god(s) does not qualify. There is no unifying doctrine, principles, or beliefs. Saying “I don’t believe that is true because it makes no sense and sounds idiotic” is not a statement of principles or beliefs. I also don’t believe in leprechauns… that doesn’t make me a member of the non-leprechaun religion

I do think the shirt is hilarious btw, if only for a different list of reasons.

Look…I don’t want to call you an idiot right off the hop, but your idiotic multiverse / string theory bullshit has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with atheism.
That you come in here blithering nonsense about a facet of advanced physics you clearly DON’T understand pisses me off in the first instance. That you tie it to atheism (the LACK of belief in a(ny) god(s)) only makes your stunning ignorance MORE offensive.
ATHEISTS take no position on string theory OR multiverses because ATHEISM has NOTHING TO DO with string theory or multiverses, you yammering fuckwit.
People who know something about physics MIGHT take a position on string theory and multiverses, but only the goddamn stupid ones think such a messy, ridiculous, untestable, cluttered notion might possibly reflect reality.
Nevertheless, you pretentious shit stain, the ONE has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE OTHER.
Now STFU and go read another dime store novel by David Deutch, you brainless asswipe.