|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
Posted by Charlie Von Religiosito :-)
Hi Gang,I've changed my handle temporarily, but that is to provoke some thought.
Why would anyone want to cling to religious tradition's dogma of endless punishment despite all of the evidence in Scripture that is contrary to it? Well---
If my name were Charlie Religiosito, I would explain my position in the following manner---
First I will say as Charlie Religiosito that I realise that my conscience cannot compute endless punishment being imposed for temporal (em. web ed.) crimes and misdemeaners. I can't understand how being sentenced to *endless* punishment would serve the cause of justice for myself or for my loved ones or for anyone else. Even so, I manage to believe in it by keeping the doctrine of endless hell mentally backfiled for the most part while I concentrate on resting in God's unconditional love and grace toward MYSELF.
I know that sounds selfish, but my getting to heaven is very important. However, I know I have even less chance of making it to Heaven if I concentrate too much on the real possibility that I may not make my calling and election sure. Also, I realise that I believe in endless hell--- despite the fact that my belief constitutes a denial that My heavenly Father practices what he preaches about loving our enemies and our neighbors as ourselves. It also constitutes a denial that Christ will fulfill the law and the prophets, which is to do to others as one would have them do to one's self..
Furthermore, I know (though I do all in my power to keep it backfiled in my mind and away from conscious thought) that in heaven I'll become a religious zombie. For then, I will have had a spiritual labodomy so that I no longer know---or else will not care---about the fiery agony my lost loved ones are enduring as I enjoy the bliss of heaven. Too, I am aware that in the old Testament God's judgments and all of his dealings were written for our examples upon whom the purposes of the ages have come.
HOWEVER, I still believe in endless hell despite the fact that God's "forever" judgments against Eygpt and Elam and Ammon and Israel and Sodom and Moab and Samaria are prophecied to be reversed!
I DO NOT CARE THAT THESE SCRIPTURES PULL THE PLUG ON MY DOGMA, LEAVING IT WITHOUT ANY SOLID GROUND IN SCRIPTURE.
I STILL BELIEVE IN ENDLESS HELL AND HERE IS WHY:
* I love the feeling that comes from God saving me and placing infinite value on *me* because I am right and most other people are wrong.
* I love the fact that God is obligated to save me because I followed the inner light of my conscience until I found my lost Good Shepherd---and I CONTINUE to obey him with all diligence, even now.
* I love to intimidate and control other people who don't fit in with my agendas (which are also GOD'S agendas) by keeping them a bit addled, ashamed, nervous, guilty and scared. And keeping others a bit uncertian about their eternal destiny is an ideal way to do it in many cases.
* I am very angry with some people who have deeply wounded me in the past. However believing in endless hell gives me opportunity to "forgive" them now (hee! hee! hee!) while also secretly rejoicing in the fact that my abusers *will* pay---BIGTIME---and FOREVER for all they have done to me.
* I love pain. I love feeling it. I love inflicting it. All of my life I have been conditioned to believe that hate and love and pain all mean the very same thing. So I can't imagine experiencing a happy lifetime without punishing myself and others constantly for not having sufficiently met all the conditions that qualify us for receiving unconditional love.
* I love worshipping my favorite celebreties, especially, well-groomed pastors and teachers and evangelists that seem larger than life. They help me keep feeling ashamed and inferior and a bit nervous about my eternal destiny---AND loved unconditionally at the same time! That is a real turn-on. I simply don't know how I could live without it.
* I love giving others hell and them giving it to me because it brings zest and spice and adventure into my life.
* I love the adventure of loving God with total commitment, with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength, while he is only conditionally committed to my eternal well being. That way I can prove that I am more spiritual than God, more loving and more dedicated than God. This is very important to my having a healthy self-image.
_______________________
Well, ole' Charlie Religiosito could elaborate much more on the subject. However, for now the above insights will do for starters. I hope they will help some who read them to better get in touch with themselves and even enjoy their spiritual journey all the more. :-)
Blessings to all!
Charlie
: Surely you're kidding Mr. Reliosito,
: Concerning that dump where "no one really glows".
: Surely you're kidding about the motives of the saints,
: That give account of scripture in a way you find quaint.: Surely you're kidding when to condemn condemnation,
: You turn it around to condemn warnings of damnation.
: Surely you're kidding by twisting other's words,
: For as such have history's scoundrels been heard.: Surely you're kidding when you say hate's to blame,
: Cause your motive of saying could be, frankly, the same.
: Surely you're kidding when you say all the fuss
: Is nothing but hate, envy, and not truthfulness.: Surely you're kidding Mr. Reliosito
Charlie: Indeed not! All of us Mr. Religioisitos, in fact have a theme song about which we are MOST serious---"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine,
If from strong will power I never resign,
Heir of salvation, I'm boasting to God,
I'm trusting my free will and not in his love!This is my story, this is my song,
Trusting my free will all the day long,
This is my story, this is my song,
I'm my own savior, all the day long!" :-)Moreover, and yea, Verily, verily---
*You* must do to others what you would have them do to you.
But *not so* with christ as we proclaim Him! He reserves the right to destroy the very core of the law and the prophet and never fulfill them!Nevertheless,---*YOU!*---had better fulfill them!!!