Is this bad?
OP - January 16, 2015, 07:01 AM
Anytime I encounter a Muslim or an evangelical Christian, knowing what they believe regarding an eternal hell for people who don't follow their religion, I can't help but feel they are kinda psychopathic. There was once a time when I tried really hard to believe the bible was true and was driven absolutely insane because I thought it strongly implied that anyone who hasn't been saved by Christ would be eternally damned (which probably meant torture, but at least meant blocked off from anything good). It drove me absolutely insane and I began to wonder if such a doctrine is true that everyone should stop having babies because you could bring someone into the world that might end up in hell. I could not believe in it and maintain my sanity. To me, this made God out to be infinitely worse than adolf hitler or any of the worst humans in history for condemning innocent people to an eternity of torture.
Fortunately I have overcome most of my fear
regarding hell. But when I meet people who
belong to religious groups that hold to that
doctrine, I can't help but wonder if they are
uncaring, hateful people to be able to go about life so calmly while holding that belief. A lot of them seem like perfectly kind, compassionate people and I don't understand how they could possibly hold such monstrous views. For example, at my Christian college a very sweet girl that I knew was really good friends with this Muslim guy. I overheard her talking one day to another girl about how she knew Jesus is the way to heaven and worries about what will happen to those who don't accept Jesus as savior. How can she be good buddies with a guy she thinks holds to a belief system that would damn him forever? And as a Muslim he probably holds the same belief about her and believes that her belief system will land her in hell? How can you sincerely believe in such things and still be casual friends without going crazy?
Is it bad that I see certain religious people as psychopathic because of their beliefs? I mean its just so incredibly weird that holding such horrible beliefs as eternal hell is commonplace in our society seeing as we all seem to get on decently well with our different philosophical and religious beliefs.
"I moreover believe that any religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be a true system."
-Thomas Paine
Topic: Is this bad?