Rod Pinna wrote:
>
> Rowland Croucher <> writes:
>
> > Aaron Dodd wrote:
>
> Snip!
>
> > >
> > > Perhaps you would like to dispel this "illusion" for me. Tell me Rowland,
> > > what is this danger that we supposedly face if we are not redeemed? Oh
> > > hang on, that's right : eternal damnation. Conveniently enough this occurs
> > > after one dies thus preventing any verification. Makes one slightly
> > > suspicious, doesn't it?
> >
> > I wouldn't offer 'eternal damnation' as the stick for being redeemed
> > (the apostles rarely did in their preaching, incidentally).
> >
> > I'd prefer to say that if the God who was revealed in Jesus Christ made
> > us all, sustains us, and invites us to commit our lives to his will,
> > then he has some authority to command this sort of allegience. (But
> > submitting to authority-figures - even God - isn't fashionable these
> > days, I guess)...
> > >
>
> Rowland, since everybody seems to be wanting to resort
> to subtlety on this thread, might I suggest your reason
> for not wanting to offer eternal damnation as the stick
> for being redeemed is that is that mercilessly
> punishing people nowadays is no longer fashionable?
>
> Tell us, why do you enclose eternal damnation is scare quotes
> like that? Even if the apostles on preached it infrequently,
> they *did* mention it. To put it in quotes like that rather
> seems to suggest that you feel the eternal damnation spoken
> of isn't really eternal damnation at all. Rowland, you
> might not like the idea, but it seems God is rather partial
> to it, so perhaphs you need not be quite so coy.
>
> I eschew the oppotunity for literary comment.

I don't know what's behind this last statement...

However, Rod, it might surprise you (and particularly some of my
conservative Christian friends) that when I put Jesus' statements about
hell into context, they're not primarily directed to the irreligious,
but to the religious (who presumably should know better)...

IOW, I'm not sure who to have the most pity (in the best -
uncondescending - sense) for: God-despisers who aren't at all concerned
about their eternal destiny, or fundamentalists who seem to take a macho
delight in consigning all others to perdition...

Rowland Croucher.

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