IIIIITHE1IIIII said:
Slimebeast said:
IIIIITHE1IIIII said:
Well, he is not the first one.
*cough*
People are not only supposed to teach their fellow men to act good towards each other, but it is their duty, as enlightened beings, to spread the (religious) definition of "good". This should mean that those who are never exposed to this knowledge could not possibly know how to act, and therefore should not end up in hell under any circumstances, but for some reason religious people tend to call them evil. They say that their free will put them in that situation when, in fact, their will and opinion is entirely based on what they know and how they are tought (by sensory input, which they have no control over) to use that knowledge.
People always act because they want a reward. Otherwise, acting would be pointless. People also always try reach the greatest amount of rewards, and nothing can change that. They have a will, which is based on previous experiences that are set in stone, and their actions will always be dependant on their will.
The sole purpose of a heaven and hell is to control that will.
|
It amazes me how primitive your view is of Christianity, you having been brought up in a Christian home.
First of all, Christianity doesn't say that the people who have never have heard the Gospel automatically go to hell.
Second, this myth about religion being designed as a tool for control is quite ridicilous and doesn't hold up to scrutiny, and is also historically and sociologically a weak theory. I have discovered that typically it's an argument used by ignorant, arrogant and unpleasant individuals.
|
Bolded: I didn't say that. I said that people who are not taught how to act good are considered evil, since evil = lack of good.
Italics: Feel free to call me ignorant, arrogant and unpleasant. At least I know that I don't hate anyone for who they are, and that I sympathize with everyone's actions. Even if I strongly disagree with them.
|
You implied it by mentioning people's risk of ending up in hell and being described as evil. And even how you express it now, is flawed logic. Christianity doesn't condemn the ignorant, it condemns the truly wicked - namely people who despite knowing what is good choose the bad. And that can be a Christian person just as well as a non-Christian.
I don't call you ignorant but I admit that you genereally speaking come off a bit disrespectful in your argumentation and threads (it's not automatically bad though, some of us need to have that role). But most of all I wanted to make you and others (since this is a popular argument) aware of how cliché and unintellectual it is to use the "control tool" argument on religion, and I'd like to imagine you wouldn't want to make that impression around here.
