Yahweh loves me...right? This is what I hear a lot from Christians. Even though I'm an atheist, Yahweh loves me.
The thing is, according to common Christian views, I'm still going to burn in hell. I get told this is my fault because I've been given free will. That's right - Yahweh has given me free will to decide whether or to believe in him. But should I use that free will to not believe in him, John 4:16 means I don't get to heaven. (Believe in me or burn forever! - Hardly what you'd call a fair choice)
The problem is, again given a common Christian version of events, that Yahweh allowed me, knowingly - because he's omniscient, to be created without the ability to believe in him. You see I don't 'choose' to not believe in Yahweh - I'm not capable of it. The arguments presented to me for Yahweh's existence are not what I find convincing. One doesn't choose what they do and don't believe. I like to point out that I cannot believe in Yahweh just as a Christian cannot choose to believe I *am* Yahweh.
Yet many Christians are still of the belief that this 'Yahweh' loves me.
I have people I love and I would do whatever I could to prevent them from burning for eternity. My question to the Christian is this - Does Yahweh have the power to prevent me from burning in hell, even though I don't believe in him? If so, why does he not invoke this power? I am a human being that he 'loves', right? Remember, I'm not 'choosing' to not believe in him, I've been created without the ability to do it and this happened under his watch.
Yahweh is omniscient so he knows what it takes for each individual to believe he is real. Presumably he knows this for me too. He has, for billions of Juedo/Christians, convinced them he's real. But not me? As I type this I have no belief that Yahweh exists and no belief that the pathway to him is through Jesus. If this whole bible, Jesus, Yahweh thing is true, I'm hell bound.
So given I'm going to hell, and I'm doing so with Yahweh knowing, before I was conceived, let alone born, that this would be the case, - because he allowed me to exist without the ability to believe in him, and given that he could correct this situation in an instant if he wished - how exactly is he showing that he loves me?
Not sure I'd say that...if you don't believe in a being are they obligated to love you? Does God love you even if you acknowledge Him. I think I know but the challenge would lie within yourself....that is, if you even care. If not then let it go.
ReplyDeleteAren't you simply constructing a contradiction here? I'm sure if you asked the person who said that Yahweh loves you, they wouldn't agree that you are going to hell. You're putting those words in their mouth on the basis that it's one interpretation of one version of the book they supposedly believe... but did anyone ever actually present both those conflicting points of view to you, at once?
ReplyDeleteI suspect what you'll find with the "God loves you" Christian type is that perhaps they haven't even read the Bible (or certainly not all of it). They aren't drawing their faith and belief from that book, they're drawing it from the sense of community and love that it has brought to their life. They're trying to include you in that circle, because it has been meaningful or useful to them.
Don't get me wrong, I find it patronising and slightly annoying, but I don't think it's fundamentally contradictory in terms of that person's world view.
Ben I get told regularly that even though I don't believe in Yahweh he still loves me but if I don't accept him as God and Jesus as my savior I will burn in hell. I didn't make this post up out of thin air. People tell me this often.
DeleteI didn't mean to imply that you were making this up. Just the way you constructed the post (and how I read it) allowed for that interpretation.
DeleteIn the first paragraph, you talk specifically about being *told by Christians* that Yahweh loves you.
In the second, you shifted to "according to common Christian views" you are going to burn in hell.
The juxtaposition read to me like you heard one first-hand from Christians and drew the other from dogma/scripture, rather than from the same first-hand accounts.
In my experience, I have never heard the two sentiments expressed together (God loves you, you are going to burn in hell). I usually get one or the other in a given conversation, but not both. It would be a pretty clear case of cognitive dissonance to get both in the same breath!
I will say though that I do have a similar experience to you in that the "you should accept Jesus" sentiment commonly accompanies both lines of conversation. In that context, it's an interesting "carrot and stick" approach to driving adherence to the faith. Believe, you'll be loved! Oh and if you don't, you'll burn in hell forever. Seems like a straightforward decision in that context! And no double would have been far more compelling in days when the speaker also wielded wide-ranging economic and political power.
*double -> doubt
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