God help us?

[Dr Lobster*]

i have been thinking about something in church today:

if i am sinful in this life, say i steal a book of carpet samples from dfs, i will go to hell forever and ever, yes?

how can such a sin in my mortal lifetime warrant an eternity of torment in hell?

what sort of god would do this to his creations?

do we have any christians in? they never seem to popup to respond with a coherent argument.

[MarkN]

i have been thinking about something in church today:

if i am sinful in this life, say i steal a book of carpet samples from dfs, i will go to hell forever and ever, yes?

how can such a sin in my mortal lifetime warrant an eternity of torment in hell?

what sort of god would do this to his creations?

do we have any christians in? they never seem to popup to respond with a coherent argument.

I'm not a churchgoer, but this is from vague memories of sermons given when I was at school:

Repentance is the magic word. Jesus died to save us all - if we follow Him. Feel truly sorry for your sins and have faith in God, and you will be saved.

There are variations depending on what denomination you look at, but it all follows a broad theme - I think.

You may want to ask a practising Christian for the real specifics - or read a Bible - you'll find some references somewhere out there.

[Dr Lobster*]

so, i can kill a man, or kill thousands of people, but if i repent my sins i won't go to hell?

that'll be why god didn't go to hell after the great flood, then.

[Nick Harvey]

The punishment will be made to fit the crime.

For instance, if you just steal the carpet samples, you'll still go to heaven, but your room will have bare floorboards.

[tillyoshea]

It strike me as rather silly - If we all have eternal life, then this life is, by comparison, close to infinitely short. What loving god could ever decide someone's fate for eternity in a time equivalent to the blink of an eye? And if Jesus lives in eternal paradise, why should I feel good about the fact that he 'died' for me - he simply prematurely left his earthly being, which must have been torture compared to eternal joy.

[Sput]

The punishment will be made to fit the crime.

For instance, if you just steal the carpet samples, you'll still go to heaven, but your room will have bare floorboards.

You sound very certain of this for someone who *claims* not to be He!

[MarkN]

so, i can kill a man, or kill thousands of people, but if i repent my sins i won't go to hell?

that'll be why god didn't go to hell after the great flood, then.

Presumably