# A challenge to any Christian: before condemning me to hell, go get waterboarded **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 23, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935 "2011-05-23T19:03:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/1 "2011-05-23T19:03:07Z")
This is a public challenge to any evangelical christian who believes all those who believe differently should go to hell, or who believe that anyone _deserves_ to go to hell. The challenge is as such: go experience torture for yourself, then come back and condemn me again. Go get waterboarded. As far as I am aware, [waterboarding](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LPubUCJv58) (a form of water torture) is not legally considered “torture” and is therefore still legal to perform. So my challenge to you would be to spend one day of “forceful interrogation” (not even torture), then come back and tell me that a just and loving god could _ever_ do something like that, and that it is correct to wish that upon others. And remember, that’s not even “real” torture. Hell promises _real_ torture-the rack, roasting, etc. And one day? That’s literally nothing. No, seriously. Compared to hell, it is LITERALLY NOTHING. If you were to condemn someone to hell, they would suffer that every day for all of eternity. That’s a very hard concept to grasp, but if you think that is bad, imagine spending a YEAR like that. Even that is nothing compared to hell. So yes. Any evangelical who would damn someone else to hell, I expect you to understand what you are talking about before you do so. And to those who won’t… To the pit with you! ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/2 "2011-05-23T19:07:16Z")
You’re quite the busy little bumblebee since joining this month. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/3 "2011-05-23T19:09:35Z")
This is a public challenge to all the Born Again Atheists ™ out there to stop being total douchebags. You do not have all the fucking answers. Grow the fuck up. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/4 "2011-05-23T19:11:04Z")
Does reading a really stupid OP in the Pit count as torture? Because that’s one of the stupidest I’ve read in awhile. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/5 "2011-05-23T19:11:09Z")
Well, now you’re just overreaching. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/6 "2011-05-23T19:12:50Z")
I think you’re late to the party. This has been covered in Scylla’s classic thread: [thread=448717] **I waterboard!** [/thread] ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/7 "2011-05-23T19:13:58Z")
Hey, **Budget Player Cadet** , there’s a non-negligible difference between “any Christian” and “any evangelical christian who believes all those who believe differently should go to hell, or who believe that anyone deserves to go to hell.” And as far as I am concerned, he who waterboards or condones waterboarding is a torturer. The rumbling you can hear from upstate New York is three generations of my Republican ancestors spinning in their graves at what the G.O.P. has become. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/8 "2011-05-23T19:14:36Z")
I’m pretty atheist, to put it mildly, and even I know that christianity doesn’t say that hell=torture. Don’t confuse medieval poetry with theology. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/9 "2011-05-23T19:31:54Z")
No, he has a point. Waterboarding is an ice cream cone in a breezy seaside hammock compared to _fireboarding_. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/10 "2011-05-23T19:35:31Z")
I volunteer to do the waterboarding. For science! ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/11 "2011-05-23T19:38:22Z")
Not to mention - it’s not the Christians who are condemning people to Hell. It’s not their decision. It’s God’s - he’s the only judge. Christians may say that you are going to Hell, but they don’t have the authority to actually send you there. ---
**Author:** ![Cort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/77aa72/32.png) [@Cort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cort)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/12 "2011-05-23T19:41:33Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Does reading a really stupid OP in the Pit count as torture? Because that’s one of the stupidest I’ve read in awhile. It’s a brilliant OP. This is standard Evangelist dogma. Accept Jesus or go to Hell. The OP is merely asking the Evangelicals to consider what that really means, and whether a loving God could do that. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/13 "2011-05-23T19:43:06Z")
Christian here. Your relationship with or without God is your business. I know I personally don’t wander about the land damning anyone to hell. If somebody damns you to hell, and apparently that’s the case, hence the pitting, tell em’ to piss up a rope. No human can damn another to hell. Which I presume you to be taking literally, amirite? Dang it! Maggie beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/14 "2011-05-23T19:44:32Z")
I like the OP’s lack of nuance. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheField](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@LilyoftheField](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheField)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/15 "2011-05-23T19:53:16Z")
Actually I think that the OP has a very good point. Many (not all!) religious people, perhaps not just Christians but any that believe in the concept of an ultimate heaven or hell, are pretty cavalier about condemning non-believers to the tortures of the damned. Kind of goes against the whole principle of forgiveness and ‘loving thy neighbor’ and ‘turning the other cheek’ and all that high sounding rhetoric, doesn’t it? And yet they don’t seem to see any dichotomy there at all. 😕 BPC is referring to the thread wherein classylady was horrified and appalled when she interpreted a comment made to her as expressing a wish that she would die. And yet just a few posts later, she blithely assures another poster that there’s a place reserved in hell for him/her. So, apparently she believes that wishing a person dead is hateful and evil, but wishing them to an eternity of torture is totally okay. Because it was God’s idea, I guess? This is one of the reasons why I abandoned the whole concept of organized religion when I was very young. No matter how I tried, I just couldn’t wrap my mind around the idea that anybody in one lifetime could be either good enough to merit heaven or bad enough to deserve hell. For eternity! :eek: Just try to wrap your mind around just how long eternity is! Why would anyone choose to believe in a deity that’s no better than we are at our worst? ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/16 "2011-05-23T19:55:10Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > This is a public challenge to all the Born Again Atheists ™ out there to stop being total douchebags. You do not have all the fucking answers. Grow the fuck up. Challenge accepted. Are random acts of kindness okay? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/17 "2011-05-23T20:00:55Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > This is a public challenge to all the Born Again Atheists ™ out there to stop being total douchebags. You do not have all the fucking answers. Grow the fuck up. Agreed, with one exception. We do have all the fucking answers. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/18 "2011-05-23T20:03:35Z")
Forget waterboarding. I challenge anyone to spend an hour with my dentist. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/19 "2011-05-23T20:04:14Z")
Eh, this could very well be flipped around. A believer of such calibre might well be even more motivated to point out your hell-bound status, having experienced a small taste of torture and wishing for you to avoid it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935/20 "2011-05-23T20:04:51Z")
> [@Cort](#): > > It’s a brilliant OP. This is standard Evangelist dogma. Accept Jesus or go to Hell. The OP is merely asking the Evangelicals to consider what that really means, and whether a loving God could do that. You’re right. That will surely convince them of the error of their ways. The OP has finally hit upon the key to undermining Christian beliefs. Many have tried and failed, but they didn’t have the brilliant insight of the OP. True genius! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-challenge-to-any-christian-before-condemning-me-to-hell-go-get-waterboarded/582935.md?page=2)