I was fascinated by the comments to this apologist's defense of the Catholic doctrine of hell on Patheos.
An offended Sniper the Fox writes:
The Bible doesn't say that people choose hell. The Bible states that people are actively damned into hell, and they do so craving forgiveness and crying out "Jesus is Lord" but they are damned anyways because that's the will of God. Read the Book of Revelation. That's canon.
Honestly, few things are more pathetic than trying to find someone whitewashing hell. It's God actively condemning someone to pain and torture, intentionally, because God wills it to happen. That's what the canon says. That's what tradition says. The Diet Coke hell that's supposedly 'freely chosen' is nonsense.
And all this talk of 'choice'? You really think that every single Jewish victim of the Holocaust that died faithfully believing that he or she was close to God is now burning in a lake of fire forever... as a matter of choice? That they wanted to go to hell? No, they looked at a world with thousands-- literally, thousands-- of religious traditions and abided by the one that they sincerely felt brought them closest to the divine. And yet that's not good enough... the Holocaust wasn't good enough, and so those Jews are now being strung up on the rack and stabbed repeatedly (as well as goodness knows other tortures) right now as we speak. What sense of morality and ethics can you have while claiming to believe in such a repellent, evil doctrine as belief in hell? Sheesh.
The equally offended Croquet Player writes:
There are plenty of things to find preposterous about religious beliefs, but the concept of hell has to be one of my favorites. "Love me, worship me, and do as I say, or I will torture you forever, with no way out for you. Oh and by the way, it's only because I love you." That's a classic abusive relationship. It would be hilarious if some poor people didn't actually take it seriously, and cause themselves a great deal of pointless anxiety and unhappiness. To say nothing of terrorizing small children with the tale. Really quite sickening when you think about it. (Oh, and how lighting-fast some religious types are to consign everyone who doesn't share their particular views to hell. They love it like a schoolyard bully likes your lunch money.)
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