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I do not know is my answer. What I believe is not very relevant with this question is my belief.I opened a similar thread before but i couldn't express myself well enough.So what i mean with suffering is suffering actual pain.I mean like you are burning etc.
So what do you believe?
Suffering = physical pain only?
I don't know much about mental/emotional pain.I have some anxiety thats all.What kind of pain are you talking about?
I do not know is my answer. What I believe is not very relevant with this question is my belief.
But I do believe hell exists and there is real suffering. Eternal? Well God says more than once “My ways are not your ways” so that means there is much we can never know or understand the meaning of this side of the grave, and hell surely seems like one of them.
Some messages from saints or visionaries or theologians of the past suggest that even if hell is eternal the suffering is not constant. Perhaps, but we cannot know.
The larger question for me is who might end up in hell? And, again, no one knows this! But it seems to me it is pretty sure there is a hell so why would anyone take such risks? And by that I mean, if one seeks to know or find God with all his heart and tries very hard to be moral, kind and obedient, he most likely is not going to end up in hell. He may very likely be in purgatory for purification, but all in purgatory eventually make it to heaven. So comparing the sufferings of purgatory to the sufferings of hell is like comparing the weight of a single atom to the weight of the universe. (imo)
What do you mean with taking risks?
Aren't you taking a risk by not believing in Allah?
I mean spiritual risks, of course.
Ciao
- viole
Well of course. One cannot avoid risk regardless if we do something or choose not to do something.
But there is less risk of my house collapsing on top of me while in bed than there is running across 5th Ave during mid day. I choose to stay in bed.
Meaning --- based on deductive reasoning, historical accounts and experience, there is far, far less risk not paying attention to Allah and the Koran than there is paying no attention to Jesus, the Bible and the Church. My decision to dismiss Allah may be of some measurable risk (on a micrometer), but it causes me not the slightest consternation.
Those who pay no attention to any God, especially the Judeo-Christian G-d, I believe are taking some serious risk. Those who have heard the gospel, understood it, and then dismissed it, that is.
So, it is much better not to have heard about the Gospel at all, right?
Ciao
- viole
You are not the first one to raise such a suggestion. But as it is, I am certain the answer to that question is No.
To expound on that and defend that position would take longer. For one, though, perhaps you knowing and living the gospel may bring greater peace and comfort and eternal reward to 20 others. So despite the fact you now knowingly violate some of God's commands, you are doing a greater amount of charity and virtue. God cannot be fooled by our parlor games, nor is He unfair. I suspect a scoundrel who heard the gospel and walked away from it would have likely been a scoundrel had he not heard.
My answer to that (and of course I can never know for sure) is ‘No,’ you would not be better off.I am sorry to sound cynical, but who cares about charity, comfort and stuff? As you said about Purgatory, these things have the weight of an atom when compared with the weight of the Universe. They are time limited.
We are talking about my final and irreversible destiny.
Would I be better off by being the same moral person I am now if I never heard of the Gospel, instead of knowing about it and reject it?
What do you think and why?
Ciao
- viole
I believe suffering exists. I believe suffering continues as long as people perpetuate it.I opened a similar thread before but i couldn't express myself well enough.So what i mean with suffering is suffering actual pain.I mean like you are burning etc.
So what do you believe?