Do Christians believe that non-Christians are going to hell?

[cosmosdan]

@Bible man

She’s hard to reach at times, but next time I’ll try to have a written excuse from my mom (!). Anyway, I was under the impression that you were probably just rehashing the same issues and thought further discussion was pointless considering your response to this post from the Rhymer:
To which your responded:

I see. Does that mean you haven’t even read my last few posts?

I might go back and review your posts and respond, you usually bring up some valid points that should be clarified. But for now, you’ll have to accept my (unverified) excuse that I was spending some time answering some of the Bible-hating whiners on this website who feel that posting Christian and Biblical threads and comments is okay as long as no one drops in to support them or clear up misunderstandings about them. It’s quite acceptable for anyone here to insult, misquote, misinterpret and misunderstand the Bible and its doctrines, but considered bad form to actually support, defend, and clarify them.

The thing is that an attempt to see the Bible accurately and for what it truly is, or simply expressing an honest opinion and then backing it up with evidence, is not attacking the Bible.
You may sincerely feel that you are defending the Bible but that is not what a debate is about. All parties in a debate are defending their own argument which they believe to be true. So to be clear, You **are not ** defending the Bible. You are defending your view of the Bible which, in a debate starts with no more credibility than any other view. That is a distinct and important difference.
In this particular forum each side is expected to defend their view with logic and with as much evidence as they can muster. Simply asserting you are right is not nearly enough.
Often in religious discussions we get into areas where objective evidence does not apply and we offer opinions or feelings. In that case we recognize them as such and try not to declare them the truth.
In your case since you recognize that even when moved by the Holy Spirit men are influenced by their own opinions , emotions, etc. and are prone to error and mistakes, I might assume you might include an IMHO or YMMV in your posts. I haven’t seen either of those yet.

[Skald_the_Rhymer]

@cosmosdan

In your [Bibleman’s] case since you recognize that even when moved by the Holy Spirit men are influenced by their own opinions , emotions, etc. and are prone to error and mistakes, I might assume you might include an IMHO or YMMV in your posts. I haven’t seen either of those yet.

Forget it, Jake. It’s Jesustown.

[cosmosdan]

@Bible man

Here’s a small spattering of some of the recent comments directed to me (especially notice the last one):
-the sad part is there are people out there who will get taken in by your illogical unfounded but fervent assertions of the Truth
-your half baked, half witted humorous charming & deceptive writing style should be a warning sign that you may be a pathological liar
-It is a writing style that, above all, resembles sleight of hand
-…your many logical inconsistencies…
-what you are writing is counter to the idea of Truth, at least where Truth is established by reason and debate, and not by evasion, lies and misdirection.
-reading your nebulous ad homonym indictment of Valteron was the last straw
-hypocrisy is rife throughout your posts.
-I hope that as few people buy into the garbage you appear to be spouting
-you are not free to confuse your belief with Truth and then use deceitful tactics on a rationalist message board.

Do you feel that people are attacking you? I think the second one is too strong and perhaps the mods should have commented on it. The rule here is attack the argument but not the person. {pathological liar}If a poster thinks the argument is crap he or she is free to say so. We cannot call the poster a piece of crap in GD.

The others are comments about your beliefs and posting style. It’s a debate. People are free to strongly object to your arguments and post their honest opinions. Let’s take a look at some of your gems.

post 108 A biblical note: 1Corinthians 3:11-15 refers to the quality of a person’s works being judged by fire to determine if they were sponsored, motivated, and empowered by God.

Here you completely ignore the content of Toms post when he corrected you about purgatory. You respond as if he was supporting the belief which he wasn’t. The interesting part is rather than recognize this as your interpretation of the passage you use the term “biblical note” to imply it is the only correct one.
post 124 to Curt

But as an avowed atheist, this is immaterial for you since all you will ever experience is the old decaying, fleshly one you have now. When you die, you’ll be taken to where the rich man is now waiting for his own judgement, and you’ll both be thrown (along with all the appendages) into the lake of fire where you will cease to exist. Kind of a sad end since eternal life is readily available for “whosoever wills”.

Do you think that people expressing their honest opinions above are worse than you declaring someone will go to hell? If you are free to call it as you see it, why aren’t they? When someone challenges this comment your response in post 129

No, just stating the facts.

Here again, you don’t recognize it as your belief or your interpretation. It’s the facts. Can you understand why folks might see that as a wee bit smug?
post 162

Sorry I wasn’t able to sugarcoat the Truth to your satisfaction; the reality of hell is indeed a tough pill to swallow.

and yet again you point to your own interpretation as the Truth. I believe you are sincere and you really think your own interpretation is the correct one. The one given God’s seal of approval. Sincerely doesn’t make it so. More than a few others who also believe in the Holy Spirit and it’s guidance, disagree with you.
The Apostles didn’t always agree with each other. That alone should tell us something about the nature of the Holy Spirit and the ongoing process of spiritual growth.
in post 174 to me

But when the day of accounting for what you have believed and taught others has come, at least now you won’t be able to say that no one ever told you the Truth (James3:1).

ooooo this is a not so subtle judgement of me and my beliefs. What does “at least now” imply? I’ll get what I deserve for daring to disagree? I have no doubt I’ll get what I deserve as will you. That’s how it works. I’m okay with that. The goal for me is the truth. Not your judgement or opinions.

It’s interesting that you would list peoples responses to you as if you had been rudely attacked but don’t seem to see your own judgement of others as the self righteous equivalent. Why? Could it be because you feel justified in your judgements by your pride full belief that you understand and possess the capital T truth? Hmmm you are not a cougar with a tooth ache, but I think I’ll hang on to the “in denial” portion for now.

And by the way, I’m only a Bible literalist where the Bible should be interpreted literally. To a great degree the Bible uses symbolism to communicate to the hearers.

Let me guess who decides which passages should be taken literally and which ones shouldn’t.
It is this smug surety, compounded by the way you simply avoid many direct question or avoid ongoing discussions with those who come armed with actual knowledge and reasoning, that is frustrating.

Ah well, life goes on.