Quote:
Originally Posted by notjeffgoldblum
I like to compare the concept of people condemning themselves to hell to idea of criminals sending themselves to jail. It just doesn't happen. Criminals commit crimes and they may well know that they are acting in contradiction with the wishes of the vast majority of society, but the fact remains that it takes something besides their crime to actually put them in jail. God sends people to hell, not people. (then again I don't consider the concept of heaven to be all that appealing but that's a whole 'nother thread)
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Well, like I said, I don't really buy the whole 'free-willingly sending ourselves to hell' bit. I'm just saying that that's how certain believers can hold onto their idea of a benevolent God while still believing that the bad people will go to hell.
One problem that I'd point out, in particular, is that even if we grant that people may freely choose to act such that they may go to either heaven or hell (which is not a safe assumption), the constructs of heaven and hell, and the mechanisms put into place to sort people into either place ARE God's creations. So it's not like there is this extra-Godly law that forces God to ascribe to it...God creates these places, the rules used to sort people into them, and so on. So in an indirect sense he does punish people, because he dictates what is punishable and how said punishment is to be carried out.
@Jennifer...yay, someone thought that was funny (even if mildly)
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