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If you want a quick course in how not to reason properly, there is nothing better than a Fundamentalist to teach it. When I say Fundamentalist, I mean a Christian Fundamentalist, because they are the ones I mainly deal with on discussion lists and Usenet. However, Muslim Fundamentalists are just as unreasonable as Fundamentalist Christians in their defense of the Qur'an and "Allah the Most Merciful, the Most Wise, the Most..." well, you get the picture.
One of the basic premises of Fundamentalists is that their god, YHWH, will punish with eternal damnation anyone who refuses to believe in him. There is, and has been for centuries, a dispute among Christians over whether people really end up being punished in hellfire forever, but the mainstream denominations, including Baptists, Pentecostals, Presbyterian and Roman Catholics, to name but a very few, insist that that eternal damnation is clearly taught in the Bible.
For the purpose of this essay, I will assume that the Bible does indeed teach eternal damnation and we'll examine the reasonableness of this frightful doctrin. Among the mainstream denominations named above is also the belief that man is born a sinner and is in need of salvation. In fact, they believe that man is conceived in sin, thus inheriting the "sinful nature" handed down to us by Biblegod through Adam. All this is equated with a just and holy god.... go figure!
The thought that a person would be eternally damned for the sins committed in one lifetime is a difficult one to say the least. One would think that an appropriate punishment would be one that, say, would last no more than one's lifetime. But Christians who hold to this doctrine are quick to point out that man is judged not simply on how long he's lived and what he's done, but who it is that has been offended, namely the biblegod.
Because, they maintain, god is our creator and is holy, the sins we commit are that much more serious than we can imagine. This view is not taught in the Bible, it is nothing but theological sophistry in order to try and justify eternal damnation. In twenty years of reading and studying the Bible, I have never come across this teaching. Neither the OT nor the NT teach such a doctrine.
Basically, man is said to be born in sin because of what Adam did. According to the beliefs of the aforementioned denominations, the Bible teaches that because of Adam's disobedience, YHWH cursed man (Gen. 3:14-24). This is confirmed, we are told, by the teachings of Paul (Rom. 5:12; 8:20-22; 1Cor. 15:20). For this reason, man is said to be born with a sinful nature and has a proclivity toward evil (Rom. 3:23; 6:23). The final result of this curse will be eternal damnation for those who, as Paul put it, will see god "rendering vengeance to them that know not Biblegod, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus: who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might..." (2Thess. 1:8,9 ASV)
So here we have a "just" god meeting out punishment based on what? Based on the fact that he cursed all of mankind because of the sins of one man, Adam. Through no fault of their own, all of his descendants who do not "know" god, or those who disobey the gospel of Jesus Christ, will fry in YHWH's eternal Bar-B-Q. And THIS they call justice!
Not only is being born not our choice and not only is being born in sin not our choice, but if we do not "know" god in our lifetime or disobey, that is, if we choose not to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, we'll be roasty toasty in hellfire and that, for ever. And THIS they call justice! If anyone ever wished to rob justice of its primary meaning, this would certainly be the way to go
This is no less than saying YHWH decided he'd create Adam, decided he'd let Adam sin, decided he'd curse us all and decided we'd all be born in sin, that we'd all, except for those whom he chooses to "save", end up in hell for eternity. The "saved", of course, are saved not because they deserve to be saved but because YHWH gives them the grace to repent and believe; and thus your destiny was decided long before you were born.
The corollary to this is that if Adolph Hitler, for instance, had repented and earnestly sought the grace of god in faith, provided god had already decided to give it to him, he would have been saved despite his atrocities. But if you had been a good and honourable man all your life but refused to believe in the Bible: you'd be toast. And THIS they call justice!
But what about those who die in infancy? What about aborted fetuses? Well, it depends who you talk to. Some say that god would never send a baby to hell because he has not yet sinned. After all, god is just, isn't he? Right. Then there are those who maintain that even babies would go to hell because they were cursed in Adam and have sinful natures. Biblegod, you see, abhors sin even in babies. Biblegod is just and holy, they say, so he cannot let sin go unpunished, nor can he let sin abide in his presence, even if that sin is inherited on account of the biblegod's decision. And THIS they call justice!
If we were to act like this, we would be called monsters by the very same people who would have us believe that it is just to send babies to hell, as long as the sender is biblegod. Why? Because we are not god so we don't have the "right" to do this. Only god, the creator of all things, has the right to do this. Circular reasoning, begging the question and special pleading are the order of the day for Fundamentalists, who believe that only biblegod can destroy what he creates, no matter how unjust it may seem to us, who are mere specks of dust in the eyes of their biblegod the good.
How can one equate a god of justice with such a horrible doctrine? How can one call this god, a god of love, a good god? Good grief! Even those who have only a simple understanding of justice can see how despicable a belief this is. but Christians, even the most highly educated among them, cannot. By what kind of twisted logic does one arrive at the conclusion that this is fair and just? By the kind of twisted logic that fundamentalism breeds.
These are the very same people who would have us live under biblical laws, stating that they, and only they, hold the high moral ground. That moral ground is found only in the Bible, they say. Funny how you never hear an Atheist, or an Agnostic advocating such a horrific belief. Funny how the people on whom the Fundamentalists look down, are the ones who can see how unjust this belief is when they cannot, or will not. Funny how Atheists and Agnostics, who are called infidels, heathens, the lost, by Fundamentalists, advocate no such teaching, but are none-the-less considered fools by Fundamentalists. Can you say "pot calling the kettle black?"
In my humble opinion, anyone advocating such a standard can rightfully be called morally deficient. The depraved are not those who reject this belief, but those who embrace it. For a person to call this kind of philosophy just, that person has to divorce reason altogether. There is nothing reasonable or just about such a disgusting doctrine. It is altogether lunacy and worthy of only one deity: Biblegod The Good.
