Re: [TruthTalk] Eternal Judgment

[Dave Hansen]

DavidM wrote: We need to consider God's revelation of himself and not be tempted to cast God in our own image. DAVEH:   Why not, DavidM.  If we were created in his image, when he appears.....shall we not be like him?   1Jn 3:2     Likewise, is there not somewhat an inverse relationship?  When God created Adam & Eve, were they not created in his likeness and image?  Yet it was only after they transgressed that they became more like God.......knowing good and evil.  (Gen 3:22)   Had A&E not fallen, could they have been able to know good and evil?  So.....are we not also the image of God, despite our fallen state?   I hope some of that makes sense..... What person among us would destroy the whole earth with a flood? What parent among us would craft a law which commands parents to stone their children who were rebellious and incorrigible? DAVEH:  These punishments are temporal, as well as temporary.....similar to the punishment a conscientious parent might levy on a miscreant child.  What troubles me is that many Christians want to impose on God their perception that he will forever punitively and eternally physically torture those who do something as innocuous as fail to accept/believe in Jesus.   It is one thing to spank your kid and send him to his room for the night.  It is another to toss him into a boiling cauldron knowing that he will be screaming in torment due to physical pain forever.  If any Christian wanted to do that to his child.....I would question their sanity as a parent AND a Christian.      Is your love and mercy for your (presumed) wayward child such that you will only extend that mercy (and love) to him IF he absolutely does one thing at your specific request:  Acknowledge Jesus?  For example, suppose one of your children forsakes Jesus and becomes a Muslim......what would you do, DavidM.  Would you be willing to forever physically (and punitively) torture him for such an action?  Do you think you inflicting physical torturous injury on him every second of his eternal existence would be just punishment for simply saying no to Jesus?     Imagine one of your kids says to you one day....Dad, I don't want to be a Christian anymore.  Are you going to start wailing on that kid with your fists right away?  Why wait until God pitches him into the lake of fire after he dies?  Why not just start on him right away in hopes that he will feel the pain and desire to change his life right now....rather than have you bloody his nose continuously for the rest of his life?     If Protestants want to belief eternal physical torture is the method God uses to dispense his love and mercy in the name of justice.....forgive me for being unsympathetic to such beliefs. -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dave Hansen [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.langlitz.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you wish to receive things I find interesting, I maintain six email lists... JOKESTER, OPINIONS, LDS, STUFF, MOTORCYCLE and CLIPS.