“And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (I John 5:11).
“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (I John 5:13).
“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life” (I John 5:20).
Just recently I came across a popular paraphrase of “Pascal’s Wager,” which I would like to share with you:
“Either Christianity is true or it’s false. If you bet that it’s true, and you believe in God and submit to Him, then it if IS true, you’ve gained God, heaven, and everything else. If it’s false, you’ve lost nothing, but you’ve had a good life marked by peace and the illusion that ultimately everything makes sense. If you bet that Christianity is not true, and it’s false, you’ve lost nothing. But if you bet that it’s false, and it turns out to be true, you’ve lost everything and you get to spend eternity in hell.”
Teacher - Feature 
I choose hell because I worship no one and I refuse to sacrifice my intellectual intelligence out of superstitious fear.
If there is a creator and if there are afterlives, and if by simply not partaking in religion or spirituality I somehow deserve to be punished, then I will accept that, because I know I’m a good person and no tyrant (like the god of the bible/torah/quran) will frighten me into agreeing with things I disagree with. That would be pathetic, I stand up for what I believe in.
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Amanda, I agree with the sentiment. Knowing that a God or gods exist is only one part. Whether they are worthy of devotion, obedience or worship by anything other than fear of the threat of Hell is quite another.
Whether we can demonstrate for a fact that a God or gods exist should be an Independant question frommwhether they should be worshipped or obeyed without question and regardless of what they do or say. -mike
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Hi Mike, Hope you’re having a fabulous day!
Believing is only one part of Biblical Christianity. Even Satan believes in God. Many nominal Christians believe in God, yet truly do not know him.
See, I believe not because of fear of Hell. I believe because of Love. I came to faith from an intellectual standpoint of investigation. Not because I was born into a religion nor did I go gaga for some fancy preachers words. Biblical Christianity does not demand devotion and blind obedience. Nor does it demand good works. It requires a relationship. One must be born again of the Spirit.
If you have genuine questions feel free to post them here to me. Keep them one by one and short as I do not a lot of free time. I’m all for civil discourse. If you want to know what I believe I’ll be happy to answer.
Peace,
Brian
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Amanda, Hope all is well with you!
No one would willingly choose hell. I can get that you disbelieve such a place will/does exist. But if you knew such a place existed, you would not choose it.
Fear of hell is not why I believe in God. It’s not like He’s this angry guy wanting to whack and punish those out of line, and just for fun or some other sadistic reason. If you disagree with Biblical Christianity that is your right. If you chose to believe it, it SHOULD not be because fear of hell.
As far as standing up for what you believe in, that is your right. I’m sure you’re probably a nice person and mean no harm to anyone.
From my standpoint, I do intellectually believe in God beyond a doubt. I take His Word at face value (Bible). So if I truly believe there is a judgement and a hell, can you fault me for warning others? I’m not telling anyone how to live their life. I’m only giving an option. If you chose to partake that option or not, that is your business.
Shalom
Brian
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Actually you’re wrong because I would most certainly choose hell (if afterlives and hell happen to exist) over religion/spiritual things which I disagree with. If there is a creator who does assign afterlives, I have no interest in pleasing or appeasing or being anywhere near that entity, they would have a lot of explaining to do for me to even consider respecting them.
And if for whatever reason the hypothetical creator chooses to punish me for simply not engaging in or respecting religion/spirituality, then I will happily take that rather than cuck out to such an egotistical dictator.
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I stand corrected then. Unwise that it is, it is your choice.
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I find it unwise that someone would create a hell and souls to send there when they don’t worship their creator. I also find it sad and pathetic that people buy into that system, if it does exist (doubtful).
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Christianity doesn’t happen to be the only theism. If you just gamble on one, Christianity, what happens when you die and wake up in some one else’s Hell for refusing their particular god?
In addition, wouldn’t an all knowing God be able to “know” if you are just ‘believing’ as a ‘stay out of hell’ gamble? How would He feel about the deception and self interest fraud you are perpetrating “just in case”? Would God really want THAT kind of self motivated and false ‘love’ and ‘devotion’?
I’m pretty sure God is smarter than to be fooled by Pascal’s Wager.
-mike
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Amanda, I have no idea who or what hurt you so bad that you would rather go into a pitch black, eternal Lake Of Fire but what I do know is this. The God of the Bible doesn’t send people to the Lake Of Fire. It is a destination for all who reject the free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ alone. Because of Adam we were all born bent towards sin. We have a sin nature. Sometime in your life you have sinned. We all have! A little lie here, a swear word there, hate for someone, etc.! the point is we are all sinners. God offers us eternal paradise through HIS SON! Reject Him and you send yourself to the Lake!!! Trust HIM and receive eternal forgiveness and life abundant in Christ.!!! Please don’t let someone or something that hurt you so bad keep you from salvation!!! GOD can and will heal you!!!
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