Christians have a love affair with pain, violence, and suffering.That addiction is reflected in their most sacred of symbols - the crucifix. And through a kind of hypnosis of continually reading a "sacred" book where violence is God's vehicle for sanctifying the sinful into the eternally saved, Christians associate the pain and suffering that leads to death, with the sexual instinct that leads to life.
Christians believe in places like hell, an eternal torture chamber for all those who dare to reject their "beliefs" as either false or at least flawed, even though there are currently over 42,000 variations of the Christian brand of "faith." Many of these different brands believe that all of the other brands are false, and that those who have yet to realize their own faith-brand of Christianity is false or flawed deserve to be cast into eternal flames, where they will - and even should! - suffer for all eternity for their mistake.
And this is the whole problem with Christianity, among so many others. Christianity sees violence and suffering as "sacred" and necessary to avenge and appease God. Christ's suffering itself proves that God can only forgive sinners through the infliction of pain and suffering. Hell, of course, demonstrates that God cannot forgive some.
Why can't God forgive everyone? Was Jesus's suffering and death not enough to forgive all sins forever and ever? If Jesus had suffered MORE than he did, would that have been enough? Or was there simply no amount of suffering Jesus could endure that would completely pay for all sins, in full, forever and ever? What if Jesus threw himself into hell for all eternity? would that be enough? Or what if God incarnated himself in human form as a clone for every person ever born, and then cast all of the human clones of himself into hell, and thereby brought every human soul to heave? IF he could do any of this, as surely an all power God can, then why didn't he? And since Christianity assures us God could have done any of this, but opted not to, the question we are left with is why the hell not?
Well, ask a Christian these questions and they will offer any number of justifications, none of which are ever satisfying to anyone other than the Christian - who simply never thinks seriously about such an obvious question - offering the justification.
The difference between the Christian and the atheist, then, is that the latter does not think or feel, nor sees as necessary or virtuous or righteous in anyway, that someone should be tortured for being wrong or mistaken, especially when that person sincerely believes their mistake. But neither does the atheist think that a person who has committed themself to believing something they know to be false, like believing in Santa Clause or that 2 + 2 = 5, despite any amount of effort to show the error of such thinking, ever in anyway deserves even 10 seconds of pain and agony for their flawed or false "belief," let alone an eternity of such suffering.
But the Christian must accept as an article of faith that anyone who does NOT have the right beliefs, either through innocent error or through sheer devotion to a wrong answer as a sign of pure will or even misplaced courage, that such a person does indeed deserve to suffer, and for all eternity if their "loving" God says so. For if their "loving" God says so, then there's no need, nor reason, to question it, lest you be tortured for all eternity for daring to think there's any need or reason to question such a "divine" plan.
Now, a Christian may argue that it is not they who decides that such people deserve such pain and suffering, but God Himself who decides. They will also argue that it is not their job to consider whether such suffering makes God's plan a bad plan. For them, it is only a "bad plan" if they ever fear that they could end up in such a torture chamber. And what is one sure fire way to ensure you may end up in such a torture chamber? Simple - dare to question whether such a "plan" is as moral and "good" as your religion assures you it is and must be!
And THIS IS THE PROBLEM! Simply because they ACCEPT that such suffering is God's will, they see nothing wrong with the infliction of such pain and suffering. In the afterlife, as such, if God treats unbelievers the same way Hitler treated the Jews, Christians feel no need to object to God being perfectly free, and perfectly moral, in acting like Hitler, shifting the blame for the torments they are forced to endure onto all those who had failed to "believe" - NONE OF WHOM ASKED TO BE BORN INTO SUCH AN EVIL GAME IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!
Atheists, on the other hand, feel that the whole point of being able to understand ourselves, and the nature of the reality we are a part of, along with our ability to use our words and our brains, is for the sole purpose of RISING ABOVE SUCH AN ADDICTION TO VIOLENCE, PAIN, AND INFLICTION OF SUFFERING!!
HELLO!
And for daring to think we SHOULD NOT see violence as SACRED, Christians demand I be tortured for all eternity!
And THIS is how pure EVIL masquerades as PURE VIRTUE
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