The bedrock of Christianity rests on a threat or ultimatum in
order bring people into compliance with it's doctrines.
The threat in this case is that simple unbelief will result in
condemnation and punishment.
If you don't believe what you are told about God by Christians,
or if you do not wish to praise, worship and glorify the
Christian definition of God, you will be punished and end up in a
place called hell.
It doesn't matter why you don't choose to believe in, or worship,
the Christian God.
The only way to avoid the unpleasant consequence of failing to
believe is to accept the Christian God as your ruler, savior, and
king.
Jesus made it clear that unbelief, or failure to comply, will be
punished.
Mark 16:16
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he
that believeth not shall be damned.
John 3:18
He that believeth on him(Jesus) is not condemned: but he
that believeth not is condemned already, because he
hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
There is no wiggle room for a person to have any option regarding
this issue. You either comply and accept this version of God as
your Lord and Master, or face His wrath. It's that simple.
Christians will go to great lengths to rationalize this
unpleasant fact away and distance their God from this obvious
case of ego driven, despotic, and dictatorial behavior.
The Christian God's ugly ultimatum, which makes a mockery of the
so-called "Free Will" Christians claim their God
gives everyone must be whitewashed at all costs.
Unfortunately, the rationalizations used to explain away God's
threats are just as ill conceived as the Godly intimidation they
are designed to cover up.
A Skeptic wrote:
Threats of damnation and hell are a means Gods use to force
people to do what they want to do, so your God does try to make
people follow him.
Christian:
There is something we call a threat and there are other things
that are simply a fact.
If I tell you "Look my friend, if you run your car with out
oil you are going to trash your engine".
This is NOT a threat!
Commentary:
Notice the first step in this great rationalization process.
The Christian version of God, with all His condemnation and
punishment for the failure to reach a particular conclusion, is a
solid FACT.
When asked to provide proof that these theological constructs are
actually "facts", Christians will usually pull out a
Bible and declare the Bible is the proof that their God is a "fact".
All other versions of God are false Gods and all other religious
texts are the writings of foolish men.
This is the airtight system Christianity operates in.
So, not only must you accept and believe in this
theological version of God as your Lord, you must also
accept all the Christian claims about this deity as undisputed,
universal FACTS.
Using a car engine as an analogy of the way the Christian God
works is ill conceived and deceptive.
A car engine is an observable fact. It does indeed exist and if
you don't maintain it properly, it will break down and cease to
function over time.
The car engine does not need or demand your worship.
The car engine will not threaten to condemn you to eternal
punishment if you don't declare it your Lord.
There are thousands of car engines and none of them will throw
you in hell if you put oil in another engine instead of only
putting oil in one of them exclusively.
Using this Christian's type of superficial logic, the Mafia
doesn't threaten anyone either.
If a shopkeeper fails to pay protection money to the Mafia, they
will suffer the consequences of not believing or respecting the
Mafia's desire to have power over them and be their
"protector". Their shops will be vandalized and robbed
by the Mafia as a consequence of deciding not to pay protection
money as insurance against vandalism and robbery.
On the other hand, if they choose to pay the protection money,
the Mafia will not disrupt their business.
Using the Christian whitewash system, the Mafia does NOT issue
threats!
The ultimatum of the Mafia is simply a fact of life, just
like not putting oil in a car engine.
Christian:
The fact is if you run your car without oil your engine will be
toast period. Same thing seems to be true here!
Commentary:
The fact is if you refuse to pay the Mafia protection money, you
will be toast period. Same thing is true with the Christian
version of God.
What this boils down to is a systematic rationalization
process of exempting the Christian God from any standard of moral
behavior in regard to coercing and manipulating people.
When the Christian God uses threats to intimidate people into
worshipping Him, it's perfectly acceptable because God is
Holy and can do whatever He wants. Anything God does is Holy and
can never have human standards of evaluation applied to them
regarding their moral content.
As noted earlier, this is a completely airtight theology at work.
Christian
IF you don't know God, if you don't ever take his free gift, then
you can't be with the one you rejected.
Commentary:
This is a very common and typical misuse of the word "free"
by a Christian.
Truly "free" gifts don't require anything
in return.
In the Christian system, salvation is exchanged for worship. You
must acknowledge the Christian God, declare Him your Lord, or you
will be punished.
There is nothing "free" about this type of gift.
And as pointed out earlier, the Christian mental version of God
is automatically assumed a fact and all other versions of God are
declared false by definition.
Christian:
I mean where is the threat here? There is no threat because its a
matter of action and results.
Commentary:
Threats involve specific punishment and are not simply the
automatic, natural result of a lack of action.
Only if the Christian God did not punish people for not
believing in Him and worshipping Him, would there be no threat.
However, the Holy Bible makes it clear that unbelief will
be punished.
Unbelief is declared evil and will result in specific punishment.
Heb 3:12
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil
heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
Rev 21:8
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the
abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and
idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which
burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Christian:
You seem to have this idea that we have this God that is ready
and waiting to trash us out then enjoy it.
No, I really don't think this is the case.
What you are hearing
is a man made religion using some of this stuff to control you
and I.
Commentary:
Notice the tactic used here. Whenever something comes up that a
believer doesn't like the sound of, they will often claim it is a
"man made" religion used to control people.
The Holy Bible says that unbelief is evil and will be punished.
It's that simple.
Either the book means what it says or it doesn't.
If this collection of man made writings, voted into a "Bible",
by various councils of men over many years, is really the word of
an infallible God, then Christians are stuck with exactly what it
says.
Christians can sing and dance around this problem of their God
threatening people to comply or be punished until the holy cows
come home but it doesn't change the conclusion based on the
evidence.
The Christian God threatens to punish anyone who fails to reach
the conclusion that the Bible God is the supreme deity of the
Universe who must be worshipped.
The irony is that this so-called factual "God"
is defined by His believers and followers, who will always
claim that God agrees with their definition of what He is and
what He wants.
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