I believe in God and that ALL go (eventually) to Heaven. Would you like that outcome?

Maybe this IS the "lake of fire" (see post above yours)?

I don't have any answers. Reading this thread with interest.

 

Growing up in the Evangelical church, none of anything that is said in the Bible holds a candle to the media, books, etc. that the leaders in that world create to take upon themselves to describe in grave details on Hell.

In the SIXTH grade... yes SIXTH grade as a 12 year old I was given a book to read about a man who claimed that when his heart stopped, and before he was resuscitated, he went to hell for a short period of time because he wasn't "born again" yet. The book described the smell of burning flesh, the physical trauma he was experiencing, and a ton of other bloody imagery. I can't recall exactly the book, but I remember it very very well.

That's the kind of stuff they take upon themselves to use to drive fear. When Jesus is talking about Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth, it is not describing anything close to the literal Hell that the Evangelical church takes it upon themselves to describe. Dan McClellan and other Bible scholars do a better job than I ever will of describing the context around the text.

 

I refuse to be in a heaven with all u plebs

 

Jesus doesn't teach hate -- he washes feet.

 

Unfortunately, this type of answer isn't satisfying to those who question their faith or the historic accuracy of Scripture. There's no way to prove that what was "breathed out by God" didn't contradict itself because we have no surviving copies from the time it was written. Preservation is the story of fallible people writing, handling (or mishandling), arguing over, editing, studying and interpreting text. The claim that we should "just believe it because at some point (we don't know when) it was pure" doesn't fill the hole in the heart of those who have doubts.

 

If heaven is filled with religious types I’d rather be in hell.

 

@basso
@Jontro

 

Sure, I would want that outcome.

What about our pets?

 

Honestly, living forever sounds more like a threat to me than a promise at this point.

 

heaven is a place where nothing really happens.

Spoiler

 

So if Jews and Muslims ate carnitas tacos
Do they go to hell?
@Salvy

 

they go to SXSW.

 

Or CES

 

I believe in god, and I believe that god, believes in Claude, that's me....

Spoiler

 

American Bible Society to close down $60 million museum

The Faith and Liberty Discovery Center, a museum founded in May 2021 by the American Bible Society. In March 2024, the ABS announced that the Center was closing down.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/american-bible-society-to-close-down-60-million-museum.html