Here’s what I learned from my open-minded tour of Virtual Hell:
–Demons either look like scorpions, Mary, or angels.
–The 7-Up Spot is burning in Hell.
–The official theme song of Hell is “Imagine”. However, lest you think Beelzebub has taste, they also play the “Boot Scootin’ Boogie”.
–Danny Elfman should really file a lawsuit.
Seriously, everyone should check out this site. It’s like the worst Haunted House you ever went through.
CollegeStudent, I’m glad you’re here. I’m a semi-regular over at the LBMB (although I’ve mostly lurked lately), so I like having the fundie Christian perspective represented over here. However, if you point to web sites like the ones mentioned above to try to make your points, no one is going to take you the least bit seriously.
“Imagine” is Hell’s theme song, according to http://www.virtualhell.com , because it encourages you not to fear for your immortal soul and believe everything the New Testament says without question.
Kinda funny … CollegeStudent wants us to peruse this website with an open mind, and yet the website encourages you to keep your mind closed.
btw You cant experience the afterlife while your still alive because youd be dead and not alive. I dont think people spontaneiously ressurect nor come back from hell.
Grumble grumble, that’s what I hate about English – if a sentence is too complex, it becomes ambiguous. We wouldn’t have this problem if we were all speaking Loglan.
I’ve been away for a bit and unable to get to a PC with enough time to read and respond. I just wanted to join in the much earlier discussion here about atheists’ fear of oblivion.
Personally, I do not fear being dead so much as I fear dying. The act of passing on, should I be aware of it when it is happening, is what scares me. Knowing that it is all over-- that I’ve seen my last sunset, drunk my last cold beer on a hot summer’s day, heard my last concert, read my last book, kissed my wife for the final time-- that is what scares me. Dying alone, that scares me too. I want someone there with me, a hand to hold, a friendly face to be my last sight if I have to be aware of my imminent demise.
Someone whose name I don’t recall once quipped “I don’t mind dying; I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” I personally just don’t want to know about it when it happens to me. (Cecil’s columns about the possibility of a few seconds of consciousness after being guillotined are some of the most hellishly nightmarish things I’ve ever read.) Preferably, I will be walking down the street and just explode. That way, I’ll not only be unaware of it, but will make the evening news as well
It was mentioned earlier that the elderly come to grips with, or even long for, their nearing death. If death is seen as a release from pain, or especially if it is believed to be the gateway to reuniting with departed loved ones, I can sort of understand this. But right now, all I can think of is how much there is to miss. My family is still here with me, and they still need me. There will always be more good books out there, pretty girls walking by, awesome tee shots, good meals, and great jokes. I don’t want to leave all these things behind.
If there is an afterlife characterised by something other than the “toss him in the barbecue pit” type waiting for me, then I will be happily surprised. Sadly though, I have yet to be convinced by anything I have ever seen that this is the case.
Fair enough, but again it seems you are talking about a “legacy” which quite naturally might morph over time.
Ah, the gods of Science (with a capital “S”).
You realize, of course, that if one of the High Holy Scientists were to observe a large luminescent hypersphere moving through our space-time from ana to kata, he might think he saw a super nova.
Please don’t misunderstand. There is nothing wrong with induction (á la Science) per se. But recall that to prove 1 + 1 eqauls 2, Peano was reduced to positing the induction axiom.
In my opinion, you left out the most important reason you love your son so much, namely, your good character. Goodness is the source of agape.
Actually, God told me that He is unconcerned with theism/atheism, and instructed me to “stop dividing the world between theists and atheists, and start dividing it rightly as I do.” He divides the world between those who love and those who don’t. “Those who love,” He told me, “they are my disciples.”
That includes some of those who call themselves “atheists” (like Gaudere), and precludes some who call themselves “theists”.
Well, clearly my awareness, in the sense of synaptic activity, is quite physical. But what the Spirit does is alter that awareness instantaneously. A reborn heart sees in new ways. Yes, the eyes still work the same. Yes, the brain still processes sensory input. But the interpretation of what is seen is brand new.
That is to say, it is objective.
Okay. I can dig it. I tried not to label myself, until it dawned on me that that only meant that I was a nonlabeler.
But yes, that does help me see where you’re coming from. Thanks.
But we had already covered that matter (at length) in the Atheist Religion threads. That which is instinctive must, by definition, be hardwired into the genes. Agape is antithetical to every instinct of survival, and can be experienced only by surrender.
You cannot be born again without first laying down your own life.
Those who invoke the science gods to explain away spiritual matters, like agape and gestalt, simply revel in causal fallacies. They are no different than the theists they mock, whom they say invoke their deity to explain confounding things.
You will recall that our first intercourse together (yours and mine) came about when I thought you thought I was ignorant.
It would appear that the opportune moment to tell you that we were waiting for has now come and gone. But if it’s any consolation, I am contemplating becoming a woman so I can be a lesbian. Of course, I’ll have to run that by Edlyn.
