The View From The Glass House

Greetings, pets!

With Easter around the corner, I want to pose to you a question and ideally, both believers and non-believers alike can weigh in.

I have been asked by several of my believer friends and family to please keep my Facebook "attacks" to a minimum and that I was hurting feelings.  I don't see them as attacks so much as I see them as funny little "haha's" on the part of religiosity but alas, I was hurting feelings of people I love.  That certainly isn't my goal so, I try to oblige as much as I can but, I've had a rough few months with the likes of the believing community so I'd like to pose an issue I had and see what people think.

I had a situation where I was flat out disliked by someone, for no other reason than the fact that, while in my home it came to their attention that I am a non-believer.  My husband, (who makes my non-believing look painfully pale in comparison - I'd actually refer to him as a militant Atheist) did not receive the same judgement for a smattering of reasons, none of which really matter.

It was a very confusing situation because I pride myself on not judging people, even believers.  You can't look at one part of a person's life and make an assumption about who they are.  Well, you can but, that makes you a dick.

As I thought about it for a few days I almost felt like I was going through the stages of grief (more so because of my relationship with other's in this person's family, than my actual concern for this person's thoughts alone).

Denial - There has to be something more at work here than me not accepting this person's God as my own.

Anger ( This is the one area in any situation where I thrive) - Fuck them! Who the fuck are they to judge what the Hell I believe (Spoiler alert - this is more or less where I laid the issue to rest when all was said and done)

Bargaining - Maybe if I spent more time with them or was more affectionate/nicer, they'd see the real me (Ultimately I realized that there's been more than enough time for this person to realize that and I'd be stupid to waste my time on such a benign task)

Depression - Depression came when I realized I could stay pissed about this and lose the love and support of an entire family.  The actions of 1 person was not worth this but, I was so pissed and hurt that, for a while I saw no other way.

Acceptance - It is what it is.   I won't change myself for anyone.

Where am I going with this?  I told you I'd get there, and here I am:

The Bible says that non believers are damned to an eternity in Hell.

Revelation 21:8  But for the cowardly and UNBELIEVING and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

Luke 12:42 The Lord answered, "Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, 'My master is taking a long time in coming,' and he then begins to beat the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

John 3:18-36 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.......Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. "

II Thessalonians 1:6-10 
God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you. "

Mark 16:16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

 If our loved ones are true believers then A) Either they truly believe that we are going to Hell (which is sad for them)  or B) Believe that their God will judge us on our actions, and not our acceptance of Christ, in which case - not even they believe all the teachings and are themselves, sinners.

If it's "A", I'm curious about what kind of heaven you envision if you child isn't there with you (My parents are both staunch believers) and why you would live your life giving glory to a God that would punish a person for doing nothing other than exercising the free will that your creator claimed to have given us?  I'm not a murderer, adulterer, thief etc.....I just don't believe in something that there is no evidence of.


Let me make one thing clear here, before you start replying.  Please don't be afraid to tell me that you think we're going to Hell.  Honestly, I don't care.  You're not going to make me sad or cry.  You may as well threaten to punch me in my aura.  We don't believe in Hell, we don't believe in God.  I am genuinely on an information gathering quest to see what believers and non-believers alike think of this kind of situation

Before I close though, I did find this little contradictory ditty that says that we will be judged on our actions, and not what kind of baseless hokus pokus we believe in ;)

Matthew 16:27

For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct.

Peace, my pets. Love Each Other <3