dharmagrl dharmagrl

Are you comfortable with that?

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Are you comfortable with that?

from JoeUser Forums

Here's a question for all the Christians in the house:

How comfortable are you with the thought of sharing heaven with a mass murderer?  A pedophile?  A person who delighted in torturing little children before they beat them to death? 

How comfortable are you with spending eternity with people who rob and rape and kill and pervert and abuse?  With people who were so vile in life that they had to be segregated from the general population and imprisoned for the rest of their lives?  With people who behaved so heinously that they were executed? 

As long as a person repents before they draw their last breath, as long as they truly are sorry for the life they've lived and the kind of things they've done, they are (according to Christianity, anyway) granted forgiveness and eternal life in heaven.  Which means that a person could live a life full of murder and torture and horrors that make even seasoned police officers cry, but as long as they repented before their drew their last breath, they would be assured a place in heaven.  Tookie Williams, for example, could have repented as the drugs that would stop his heart were flowing into his veins....and he could be walking the same heavenly streets as we speak. 

How does that make you feel?  I ask because I'm genuinely interested.  I'm not being facetious and I'm not trying to stir the pot of anti-christianity, I'm really truly interested.

I don't believe in the kind of heaven Christianity is selling.  I don't believe in streets paved with gold where everyone lives in human form and is eternally happy and jolly and glad.  I don't believe in that, so my feelings about sharing that kind of place with serial killers and pedophiles is moot - how can I express an opinion about sharing a place that I don't believe exists? 

I'm very interested to see the different responses people have.

religion
6,782 views 55 replies
Reply #51 from JoeUser Forums Top
With palms together,
Hello Dharmagirl,

Most interesting question, if not for the question itself, then for the assumptions within it. If we are all one, as some either believe or have discovered in their practice, then heaven and hell, past present, and future, earth, stars, and all else are one. When this is the case, who is not a murderer, a rapist, a saint, a healer? Where does Man end and God begin? God end and Man begin?

When we recycle garbage, use it as fertilizer, and grow a lovely apple, do we refuse to eat it?

Be well.
Reply #52 from JoeUser Forums Top
Forgiveness is the one main principle Jesus showed a lot of when he was on earth. In the bible it is mentioned a lot. If God wants to forgive these people and accept them into heaven then so be it. If they have truly repented, then they will be received by the Lord. I don't like pedophiles, I detest them in fact, but if that individual can change their life and be truly sorry in their heart, and from that point on live the life that will be pleasing unto God, then yes, I will forgive him.

However some might say, oh I'm sorry, but they don't mean it. Just because he said he's sorry when he's on his last breath, doesn't mean that he will be with God. If he is saying he's sorry just to save his skin, it doesn't mean his soul went to heaven.


Just a reminder that not all christians or churches are the same. Some of them are for themselves more than they are for God's work. It's too bad that the actions of some would sway some of you from believing in God. So many claim to be of the Lord and representing him but they're only for themselves.
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Reply #53 from JoeUser Forums Top
If they were sincerely repentant, which they must be, because just saying "Whoops! My bad, Jesus!" won't cut it, then it wouldn't bother me as much as it would've before. Granted, salvation isn't a license to sin (and I'm not somebody who believes in OSAS (once saved always saved), but people can be forgiven of anything. Paul was killing Christians, and he was forgiven and even became a leader of many of them.
Are to be unforgiving of people who we believe went too far? I'm not sure how it is in other beliefs, but even in beliefs that believe in reincarnation and nirvana, can't people achieve nirvana eventually even if they've been rapists or paedophiles in past lives, or are they forever out of its reach and never forgiven?
Reply #54 from JoeUser Forums Top
but even in beliefs that believe in reincarnation and nirvana, can't people achieve nirvana eventually even if they've been rapists or paedophiles in past lives, or are they forever out of its reach and never forgiven?


I think the 'religious pyschology' behind these beliefs is that "everybody 'gets there' eventually", even if it takes an unimaginably long time.
Reply #55 from JoeUser Forums Top
I would be comfortable if you were there! I would venture to say that you have probably sinned sometime in your life. Sin is sin. We all deserve eternal death for our rebellion but Christ paid for our sins in full. We have all been declared not guilty if we accept Christ as our Savior. If you try to save yourself, you aren't going to succeed. The gap caused by sin is so great that it took the Son of God to pay the penalty. He did out of love. He loves you. If you can accept that you will be with me in heaven. I would look forward to seeing you. Without guilt or shame after true repentance we have such freedom and joy to serve the Lord out of love. Let God take care of the unrepentant. That is his job, not ours. I hope to see you there!