also entirely unlike justice, but hilarious
good, justice, christian, jesus, god, bible, ghandi,
The fun thing about having an account at Rapture Ready is being able to see their apologetics section. I literally cackled with glee upon seeing this topic raised: Where do good people go? It's a good question. Fundagelicals happily defend a belief system in which one's past deeds, no matter how heinous or admirable, are meaningless, and indeed, one's future deeds are equally meaningless. It's all about the sincerety of one's salvation. This creates a situation wherein Hitler, if he repented and accepted Jesus as his savior one second before he died, is enjoying the pleasures of Heaven, but the 6,000,000 Jews he had tortured and killed are roasting forever in hell.
This is entirely unlike justice.
If I were to create a list of things that are entirely unlike justice, this notion of justice would be no. 1 on the list. (Peanut butter would be no. 2.)
Which is why the idea of a defense for this extremely offensive bit of theology ("you molested 37 little kids? find by me! you worked your entire life to abolish oppression and inequality? fuck you and your many-handed gods!") is so terribly amusing.
How does one respond when someone says: "Well where do good people who aren't
Christian go? Like Gandhi or Mother Theresa or my atheist friend John who will
literally give you the shirt off his back and is the most kind person you'll
ever met. Do you expect me to believe that good people like them are all in
Hell?" (This is an excerpt from an email a co-worker sent me)
This comes off to me like the original poster is experiencing a bit of cognitive dissonance. A true fundy knows exactly what to say to this, thusly:
I would say.....as good as people think others may be, or themselves, there is
none good but God. Every man must do the will of God, there are no exceptions.I
would then wait to see what they'd say. If they would agree with God, or not.
So in other words, you wouldn't really answer the question at all.
If they had a chance to know G-d and Jesus... Hell. Period. End of story.If they
were somehow remotely held away from society and any and all information about
their savior, then He will be the judge.It doesnt matter what Ghandi did, he was
hindu. It doesnt matter what any person does on this planet for the greater
good. If they are not saved by the blood of the lamb, then Hell is their
destination.We are not saved through acts or deeds, but through faith in Jesus
Christ. His blood covering and attoning for our sins.
You would answer the question with "Fuck yeah, Ghandi and holocaust victims are burning! Isn't that great?" Um, no, not so much.
It doesnt matter if the man is an athiest, agnostic, asatryu, bahai, buddhist,
zoroaster, hedonist, hellenist, follower of any number of pagan religions,
hindu, shiek, Jain, or any number of eastern religions... He will go to hell at
death, and the final judgement be cast into the lake of fire. No exceptions.He
could donate all his worldy goods to the poor. He could help anybody anywhere at
anytime. He could become a police officer and fight for victims rights. He could
become a politicians and strive to end poverty. He could litterally feed the
worlds homeless.... Acts don't mean he will be saved at the end.
Entirely unlike justice.
Look, if you happen to be the "atheist" in question (and fundys will qualify anyone outside their group as an atheist, so who knows), I would tell her that her belief is heinous, and her god, if he is real, does not deserve worship, but only condemnation. I would tell her that she has no idea what good is or what justice is, and that you don't want lose sight of those things yourself. Because I sure don't want to be that kind of evil.
