18+ General Discussion Forum

Igor,

You might understand my logic better if you realize that while you start out with the Christian premise that Jesus was God's son sent to die for our sins, I start out with no such premise. My premise is that Jesus was a ordinary man with a human father who preached a particular brand of Judaism nearly 2000 years ago. You could argue that my premise is wrong, and you may be right; but given my premise, my questions are logical.

My logic says:.

If God loves us he wouldn't have created hell and sent people there for eternity in the first place.

If God sent Jesus to teach people to follow the Golden Rule, then anyone who follows the Golden Rule should go to heaven.

Both crucifiction and eternal damnation are cruel punishments. Therefore, the God you describe is cruel, at least as I understand it.

Our hearts(consciences) and minds are precious gifts that we should use to their fullest. Therefore no one should believe something that their hearts and minds find unproven, improabable, or immoral. In my opinion, anyone offering something in exchange for our belief is not giving it away for free.

Justice might dictate that some behaviors deserve punishment, but love would never require that a punishment be cruel or eternal.

Obviously you and I see things differently and that's ok. I don't mean to argue with you - just share my thoughts and try to understand yours.

Marcia