Westboro Baptist Church to picket the childrens funerals!!!

[Armistead]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I completely agree that these folks should be prevented from activities like this. While I fully support freedom of speech, parents and friends also have the right to grieve in private, not being bothered by idiots.

Sorry to run off the rails, but I think this deserves answering:

What a strange thing to say. First, how do you know those early Christians were right? Was Armistead referring to all Christians of that time, or only a certain group? Do you base all your beliefs on something someone told you?

My point is not to disagree with Armistead, but with your interpretation of what you think he said. Just because someone two thousand years ago didn't believe it, how do you know there is no hell? How do you know that these people won't end up there? You say that what upsets you most is something you have no way of knowing about, based on what someone who died centuries ago may or may not have believed.

Better to just stick to despising these jerks in the here and now. What happens to anyone in the next life (if there even is one) is a matter of pure speculation, and not worth getting upset over.

Not exactly sure how this came up, but what I was saying the majority of the early church was universalist, they believed God would judge, but that all people would be saved by the work of the cross. This was believed by the earliest church Fathers closet to Jerusalam. Certainly there were other Fathers that believed in hell as a torture pit. We must remember hell wasn't a Christian concept, it long existed in most pagan religions in some form.

If God exist, I don't believe that he would have any desire to torture the majority of humanity because they followed their cultural beliefs, such as Hindu's, etc..

The fact is they're numerous Christian beliefs on hell and heaven. I'm agnostic on the issue myself.