Quote:
Originally Posted by WaspStar
Isn't the idea of "believe in me or you're damned to hell" a form of coercion?
|
1. Find me the verse. I am not doubting that Jesus might have said something about the consequences of not believing in him, but I need your reference to understand where you are coming from.
If there is a verse:
2. We must define what he means by "hell" or what is this hell.
3. We must define what it means to believe in him.
4. We must look at the context of that statement by looking at the history and culture surrounding that statement.
5. We must also look at the writer of the book.
I would personally argue that there is no fiery place where you go. Hell could be the state of mind that comes from not believing in Christ's message an so on. We really can't take the scriptures literally if we are actually looking for its true meaning. Whenever you do novel research do you not look at the time period it was written and etc.?