Do the religious members of VGChartz actually believe in Hell?

[DerpSandwich]

IIIIITHE1IIIII said:

DerpSandwich said:

IIIIITHE1IIIII said:

DerpSandwich said:

Not everyone is motivated solely by rewards.

Correct. Avoiding punishment is also a key motivator.

I'm trying to say that there are other motivators than "you'll either get a reward or you'll be punished."  We're not dogs looking for treats.  That's shallow thinking.

No, that's logical thinking. When a mentally sane man is faced with two options he will choose whichever seems to be the overall most beneficial option. With the definition of "benefit" obviously being determined by previous experiences/our memories, human nature and instinct, subconscious thoughts and feelings and our ability to reason. (Not sure if that's what it's called in English, but it's the best I've got.)

Even if your intention with helping an old lady across the street is not to avoid hell or enter heaven, fact remains that there are reasons for you to do so. Not helping her may result in you not losing time and energy, but you also know that helping her will make you feel good due to being more or less sympathetic, while not helping her may result in guilt (punishment) and a wasted opportunity for you to feel good about yourself. Possibly through a reward as simple as a "Thank you." from her. Then of course there are a lot of other factors such as whether you are having a shitty day or not which may skew your reasoning, but fact remains that you will consider both options and select what seems to be the most beneficial at the time.

 

We, like dogs, are constantly driven by motivators. The difference is that our needs and reasoning capabilities are far more complex.

I'm just trying to say that it's shallow to think that those motivators are the ONLY ones, which is what it sounded like you were saying.  You can boil literally anything down to the polar level--"everybody does things that make them feel GOOD instead of BAD."  Sure, everything is based on that basic concept, but as you said our reasoning capabilities are more complex and thus we can articulate our motivations more deeply.  And there are plenty of Christians that could list a number of reasons that they're Christians other than "I want to go to heaven and not hell" (i.e. "I want the treat and not the squirt bottle").  They've chosen these reasons based on what they feel is beneficial for them just as any animal will, but it doesn't mean heaven or hell specifically have everything to do with them.