This Just In, News About Heaven
In case you were wondering what heaven will be like, there are many experts. Each is an expert about heaven but tells us something different.
I could refer to myself as an expert about heaven as well. I know nothing about it. That is exactly as much as those who tell us tales of what heaven is or is not.
There seem to be more modern preachers telling us today that heaven is not a place we go to when we die but is here on earth. I'm not interested enough to learn why they say this but I like people who do not make up other places and see that where we are is the only place we will ever be.
If you were determined to control a group of people you might come up with the same game those who wrote the Bible used back then. It is still being used today.
First, make up some reward that cannot be seen nor has ever been experienced by anyone. Convince those you want to control it exists.
Then, tell the gullible schmucks the only way to get to the reward is to go through you. You must be worshiped and rewarded. But, wait. That would be a cult.
I just read a review of a fictional book written by an atheist author I know, Professor Robert Price. He has been in Fargo a couple of times. The book is a parody of those books and articles we have all seen by people who claim to have died, visited heaven or God and returned to make money from their story.
In Price's version, a famous evangelist is falling into death and finds himself a beautiful passageway with music. He has, of course, great expectations. When the evangelists reaches the entry desk the staff person there tells him that, no, he has not entered heaven and that they have no information about such a place. Would he please move along, "Next." The "dead" evangelist recovers and lives on devastated.
If someone actually had such an experience he/she could write a book. But no would buy it.
Professor Robert Price has not died yet. Nor you.
ReplyDeleteWhat is not known is where one spends eternity, who with and some other details. What is known is that both exist, one good and one very bad.
ReplyDeleteJon, since you are an anti-theist why do you care about Heaven? Is it because you want everyone to be an anti-thiest?
I wonder personally why all of the sudden you're ramping your attack against Christianity and other religions. Why do you actually feel the need to attack them. You have your belief or lack of belief, why not let others believe as they will instead of attacking what they hold very personal .
ReplyDelete"I wonder personally why all of the sudden you're ramping your attack against Christianity and other religions. ...why not let others believe as they will instead of attacking that they hold very personal."
DeleteMaybe this blog is new to you, but I have been writing it for seven years, about 2,500 articles. About 1.3 million times people have looked at it.
People have asked countless times, "Why do you write this blog?" And, countless times I have answered with a similar question for believers. "Why do tell people, non believers and those of other faiths, their beliefs are wrong and they need to change." Further, why make laws forcing people to abide by your religious beliefs? Why not, as you say, "...let others believe as they will.." So Christians continue to be in the faces of others promoting their religion and because of that this blog continues as well.
If the question is, 'Why do Christians try to convert non-Christians, talk about Christianity and do things one considers Christian.' then the answer is simple. Jesus Christ told us to pick up our crosses, follow Him and be a light unto the world. Since Jesus Christ is the greatest gift one could receive, why wouldn't we want to give Him to all we meet? He's free, insofar money is concerned, although the price of being a Christian can be high. We aren't for force anyone to be a Christian but we are not to renounce our Faith, either. So, we feed the hungry, clothe the naked and shelter the homeless. We help those in need, .e.g stuggling families, people and babies in crisis pregnancies, refugees, etc.
DeleteAs for laws, everyone is entitled to engage in the process. The left has certainly forced many of the pork barrel laws which has drained one class to fill up another class of voter, economically speaking. Amazingly, (at least to Jon, it seems) there are no laws or attempted laws making it illegal to be a non-Christian. Christians aren't supposed to murder and we've passed laws to make murder illegal. No one seems to complain that they are being forced to live under an oppressive Christian law of 'Thou shalt not kill!'. Christians aren't supposed to steal and we've passed laws to make theft illegal. Again, no one seems to complain that they are being forced to live under an oppressive Christian law of 'Thous shalt not steal!'.
Now, adultery is one of those basic Ten Commandments. While I don't know of a law on the books criminalizing adultery, perhaps there should be one!
Jon's problem is that he wants to cherry pick things which Christians believe should be public policy and for which Jon has a particular animus. Abortion and homosexuality are his 2 favorite targets. Abortion is a no-brainer and society will hopefully return to a legal system where abortion is criminalized again. Homosexuality, in and of itself, is not a sin and not a crime. I know of no one in Christendom who proposes to make homosexuality a crime. So, that red herring is gone. Homosexual unions should be illegal as they were in the not so distant past.
But more harm has been to society with adulterous heterosexual activity and divorce than what has happened with homosexual activity. And one can make the arguments for such based sole on secular reasoning.