The Pope is Confusing the Hell Out of Christians (literally)

[Opoponax]

http://evangelicalfocus.com/blogs/3461/Do_atheists_go_to_Heaven_Pope_Francis_says_yes

Do Atheists go to Heaven? Pope Francis says yes

This is quite distressing to the evangelical crowd.

Here Pope Francis reiterates his attempts at redefining what it means to be a child of God. For him, children of God are all people: Christian believers, baptized people, unbelievers, atheists, people of other religions, idolaters, etc. He grounds this claim in creation and relates it to the human conscience. No mention is made of sin and separation from God... does having one’s own children baptized equate with trusting the Lord Jesus for our salvation? Is this not a version of salvation by works that is always opposed in the Bible (e.g Ephesians 2:8-9)?

Long and stupid story short, the writer of the article is aghast that he'll have to spend eternity with people who told him he was full of shit the entire time he was alive. Also, the Pope doesn't know what he's talking about.

 

[LordKiran]

http://evangelicalfocus.com/blogs/3461/Do_atheists_go_to_Heaven_Pope_Francis_says_yes

Do Atheists go to Heaven? Pope Francis says yes

This is quite distressing to the evangelical crowd.

Here Pope Francis reiterates his attempts at redefining what it means to be a child of God. For him, children of God are all people: Christian believers, baptized people, unbelievers, atheists, people of other religions, idolaters, etc. He grounds this claim in creation and relates it to the human conscience. No mention is made of sin and separation from God... does having one’s own children baptized equate with trusting the Lord Jesus for our salvation? Is this not a version of salvation by works that is always opposed in the Bible (e.g Ephesians 2:8-9)?

Long and stupid story short, the writer of the article is aghast that he'll have to spend eternity with people who told him he was full of shit the entire time he was alive. Also, the Pope doesn't know what he's talking about.

The new pope has an oddly forward-thinking attitude to some of the church's longstanding policies. I think he recognizes correctly that for it to survive it has to be made palatable to people, but it's a risky game. If he goes too far he could risk a schism.

 

[Lion IRC]

Technically, you can't BE an atheist in heaven or hell.

 

[bigfield]

Technically, you can't BE an atheist in heaven or hell.

Why not?

Firstly, plenty of people maintain beliefs that are contrary to evidence. Take creationists and flat-Earthers, for example.

Secondly, the existence of heaven and hell doesn't necessarily imply the presence of gods. A person in a hell that god never visits may not necessarily come around to the conclusion that a god is behind it all, especially if they aren't familiar with Christian mythology. Alternatively, they might give credit to some other god, like Hades.

 

[bilby]

Technically, you can't BE an atheist in heaven or hell.

Why not?

Firstly, plenty of people maintain beliefs that are contrary to evidence. Take creationists and flat-Earthers, for example.

Secondly, the existence of heaven and hell doesn't necessarily imply the presence of gods. A person in a hell that god never visits may not necessarily come around to the conclusion that a god is behind it all, especially if they aren't familiar with Christian mythology. Alternatively, they might give credit to some other god, like Hades.

Or there's this: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/hell

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

http://evangelicalfocus.com/blogs/3461/Do_atheists_go_to_Heaven_Pope_Francis_says_yes



This is quite distressing to the evangelical crowd.



Long and stupid story short, the writer of the article is aghast that he'll have to spend eternity with people who told him he was full of shit the entire time he was alive. Also, the Pope doesn't know what he's talking about.

The new pope has an oddly forward-thinking attitude to some of the church's longstanding policies. I think he recognizes correctly that for it to survive it has to be made palatable to people, but it's a risky game. If he goes too far he could risk a schism.

This guy is really trying to bring the church out of the dark ages. The problem he has is that most catholics like living in the dark ages.

 

[Opoponax]

Technically, you can't BE an atheist in heaven or hell.

Why not?

Firstly, plenty of people maintain beliefs that are contrary to evidence. Take creationists and flat-Earthers, for example.

Secondly, the existence of heaven and hell doesn't necessarily imply the presence of gods. A person in a hell that god never visits may not necessarily come around to the conclusion that a god is behind it all, especially if they aren't familiar with Christian mythology. Alternatively, they might give credit to some other god, like Hades.

So what you're saying is that atheists could be the afterlife's version of Trump supporters.

On some weird, vengeful level, I hope that's the case.

 

[Keith&Co.]

So what you're saying is that atheists could be the afterlife's version of Trump supporters.

No, not at all.

This WHOLE TIME I've been searching for a god to believe in, I've come up empty as far as evidence or decent non-presuppositionist arguments. In the evangelical model, death is the cutoff for believing in God and making it to Heaven. So, right after death, there I am, finally with evidence of Heaven, Hell, and God, and it's, for some reason, too late to change my mind.

MAYBE it's still acceptable to believe in God once you meet It. THEN you get judged by your life accomplishments and sins.

So atheists can go to Heaven, they just won't be atheists by the time they finish Indoc.

Trumpers, on the other hand, seem to be likely to deny the god they meet, if it's not the god they're expecting to meet... Like, if they find out Jesus was not a white boy...

 

[Tigers!]

Technically, you can't BE an atheist in heaven or hell.

Why not?

Firstly, plenty of people maintain beliefs that are contrary to evidence. Take creationists and flat-Earthers, for example.

Secondly, the existence of heaven and hell doesn't necessarily imply the presence of gods. A person in a hell that god never visits may not necessarily come around to the conclusion that a god is behind it all, especially if they aren't familiar with Christian mythology. Alternatively, they might give credit to some other god, like Hades.

If they give credit to another god then they are no longer an atheist so Lion IRC is correct.

 

[bigfield]

Technically, you can't BE an atheist in heaven or hell.

Why not?

Firstly, plenty of people maintain beliefs that are contrary to evidence. Take creationists and flat-Earthers, for example.

Secondly, the existence of heaven and hell doesn't necessarily imply the presence of gods. A person in a hell that god never visits may not necessarily come around to the conclusion that a god is behind it all, especially if they aren't familiar with Christian mythology. Alternatively, they might give credit to some other god, like Hades.

If they give credit to another god then they are no longer an atheist so Lion IRC is correct.

Sure, but as my post also states:

"A person in a hell that god never visits may not necessarily come around to the conclusion that a god is behind it all, especially if they aren't familiar with Christian mythology."

A person may choose not to give credit to any god, thus remaining an atheist.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

If I end up in Heaven, I plan on obstinately refusing to acknowledge God's existence no matter how many eons he spends jumping up and down in front of me while waving his arms to get my attention.

I can be a dick that way.

 

[Keith&Co.]

If I end up in Heaven, I plan on obstinately refusing to acknowledge God's existence no matter how many eons he spends jumping up and down in front of me while waving his arms to get my attention.

I can be a dick that way.

I still love that one passage in one of the Discworld books...
A philosopher basically restates Pascal's Wager, and proves that if he's observant, he'll go to Heaven. He lives an observant, fif smug life, and then dies. After he dies, he wakes up surrounded by a handful of deities, swinging clubs, telling him, "We're gong to show you what we think of clever dicks, here."

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Wisdom tells me to send to hell those people who spend their lives seeking heaven. Everyone else I have to decide.

 

[Lion IRC]

If they give credit to another god then they are no longer an atheist so Lion IRC is correct.

Sure, but as my post also states:

"A person in a hell that god never visits may not necessarily come around to the conclusion that a god is behind it all, especially if they aren't familiar with Christian mythology."

A person may choose not to give credit to any god, thus remaining an atheist.

To be in hell and yet cling to dissonance, stubbornly (angrily) insisting that there is no Higher Power, is a good example of why they say the gates of hell are locked from the inside.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Well, no wonder there’s such an issue of Satan and various demons coming up to Earth and possessing and tempting people. Security in Hell seems like it wasn’t designed very well.

 

[Kharakov]

To be in hell and yet cling to dissonance, stubbornly (angrily) insisting that there is no Higher Power, is a good example of why they say the gates of hell are locked from the inside.

Your brain is directly hooked up to a simulation designed to torture you into submission, until you admit that God is torturing you. After this, you are supposed to do what the clerics tell you when you come to in Saudi Arabia.

You are to wash toilets, make food, accept any beatings that you receive as from God, or you will be hooked back up to the simulation of hell, which is not a simulation, because if you call it a direct cranial stimulation simulation, you will get the Googlepain. Yup. You're being threatened with Googlepain. Take it seriously.

 

[WAB]

A loving God, who is called the Father, after all, allowing any of his children to burn forever is beyond absurd. It's absurd and it's evil. The traditional hell, taught for centuries, and still taught by psychopaths today (especially Calvinists), is the most evil idea ever hatched in a human brain.

 

[bigfield]

If they give credit to another god then they are no longer an atheist so Lion IRC is correct.

Sure, but as my post also states:

"A person in a hell that god never visits may not necessarily come around to the conclusion that a god is behind it all, especially if they aren't familiar with Christian mythology."

A person may choose not to give credit to any god, thus remaining an atheist.

To be in hell and yet cling to dissonance, stubbornly (angrily) insisting that there is no Higher Power, is a good example of why they say the gates of hell are locked from the inside.

A reminder:

Technically, you can't BE an atheist in heaven or hell.

 

[Lion IRC]

To be in hell and yet cling to dissonance, stubbornly (angrily) insisting that there is no Higher Power, is a good example of why they say the gates of hell are locked from the inside.

A reminder:

Technically, you can't BE an atheist in heaven or hell.

Yep. Thanks bigfield. You get it
It's like the reality is staring them in the face and they refuse to give up their anything-but-God hyper-skepticism. They will die in a ditch chanting "That's NOT evidence"

 

[James Chapman]

A reminder:

Yep. Thanks bigfield. You get it
It's like the reality is staring them in the face and they refuse to give up their anything-but-God hyper-skepticism. They will die in a ditch chanting "That's NOT evidence"

Is one of your legs a bit longer now?