pratekya
Full Member
Offline
Afterlife Knowledge Member
Posts: 150
Los Angeles, CA
Gender:
|
I guess I would just add to what Don has already done and ask, what would happen if there was no punishment in the afterlife, or no afterlife at all? That would mean for the most of humanity, life is a sick cruel joke, and victims everywhere have absolutely no justice. I don't just mean someone who is raped or murdered, I mean every person who has ever been backstabbed, or hated unnecessarily, or wronged in any way (which is most if not all of humanity). No punishment in the afterlife means evil and suffering in this mode of existence are simply meaningless evil and suffering with no point; that is unacceptable and life then becomes abhorrent, and ethics should be cast aside for the new ethic of might makes right and selfishness is more important than anything else.
Note I am not saying there needs to be an angry God that actively metes out justice; it could be much more automatic than that, more of a karmic or action / reaction set of spiritual laws of fairness set in place by God. Additionally, why would God be angry in the first place? Not because he is a jerk; its because he loves people so much and does not want to see them hurt. Wouldn't you be angry to see someone you love deeply get hurt because of someone's selfishness? Many New Ager types think that God is a God of love and simply wouldn't judge someone. To that line of thought, consider; does God love victims, or just you? Are you the only person in this universe that God loves? Yes, even you have done things that have gravely hurt others. I'm personally convinced that many New Agers reject the gospel because they cannot admit to themselves that they have done evil that they need forgiveness for, or realize they cannot set right what they have done wrong, and so invent the convenient answer that their sins are not important, or they will not be called into account for what they have done. This makes a mockery of true suffering, forgiveness, grace, and eventual spiritual growth for the victim and the victimizer.
Lastly, assuming that there is no hell contradicts Jesus; not necessarily church people simply trying to control others. While I don't dispute that a lot of evil has been done in the name of Christianity including exercising undue control over others, that doesn't mean all religious motivation is as such. By the way, a great book that addresses this is Dinesh D'Souza's "Whats So Great About Christianity". Christianity as a movement has been responsible for a lot of good as well as a lot of evil throughout history. Lastly, people who do evil in the name of Christianity (like by controlling others) are representing a false form of Christianity and do not represent the ethics of Jesus, even if they claim to.
|