If Heaven and Hell are the only options, isn’t that a dictatorship?
A dictatorship is an absolute overbearing power, usually in governmental form, where the people in the country have no freedom. But that is not the case with God. Heaven and Hell are the only options available according to Biblical theology. You see, Heaven is the presence of God, and Hell is the absence of God. You are either with God or not with God. There aren't any other options. So, God declaring that these are the options doesn't mean He's a dictator. It means He's informing us of how things really are--that there are only two options available.
Furthermore, people have the freedom to reject God and His great love shown to us in the person of Jesus Christ who was crucified, died, was buried, and rose from the dead for our sins (1 Cor. 15:1-4). If God were a dictator, then He would not allow people to make the choices to either follow Him or reject Him. If God were a dictator, He would force everyone to believe what He wants them to believe. Since God does not do this, He is not a dictator.
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God is lawmaker, ruler, judge and executioner. you can't chose other god to replace him, or give feedback on his decisions.
if he exist, he is dictator, and not that benevolent.
So, in other words, yes. It's a dictatorship. A dictatorship headed by one of the most repugnant characters in all of fiction, no less.
If Hitler were a dictator, then he would not allow people to follow him or reject him.
"That's totally different because Hitler punished the people who rejected him!"
**sound of slicks brain literally ripping apart due to cognitive dissonance**
Doesn't he try to force people to follow him by threatening them with eternal damnation in hell? Just because he isn't actively subverting our free will with his powers, doesn't mean he's not trying to do so with more "conventional" dictatorship methods used on earth. For whatever reason he is either unable or unwilling to actively subvert someone's freewill, but that does not make his other methods any better imho.
A dictatorship is an absolute overbearing power, usually in governmental form, where the people in the country have no freedom. But that is not the case with the Dear Leader.[...]You are either with the Dear Leader or not with the Dear Leader. There aren't any other options. So, the Dear Leader declaring that these are the options doesn't mean He's a dictator. It means He's informing us of how things really are--that there are only two options available.
--Kim Jong-un, unknown date
There is equal amount of evidence for the existence of both Heaven and Hell; none whatsoever.
Dictators also inform their subjects how things really are; either you obey them, or you are killed/thrown in jail, or just disappear.
Many atheists do not "reject God and His great love", we're just waiting for any evidence for the existence of gods.
He DOES force everyone to believe what He wants them to believe. If they don't, they are doomed for eternity (according to your dogma).
This analysis is technically correct, but only if God has no control over hell and who goes there - if that's the case God is only warning us, not threatening us.
However, it ignores the obvious elephant in the room - if God wants us to believe in him and avoid hell, all he has to do is manifest himself (as he apparently did in olden days all the time) in a way which objectively confirms his existence and message. So, even if God can't control who goes to hell or not, he's still a prick for not doing what is within his power to help us avoid hell.
Describes a dictatorship as consisting of absolute, overbearing power, then describes God's relationship with man as one of absolute, overbearing power. But it's not a dictatorship, somehow.
So North Korea is freedom?
You are either with the dear leader or not with the dear leader. There aren't any other options. The people are free to love the great leader, or they can reject him and be tortured and executed. Kim Jong-un is not a dictator, he's just informing his people what their choices are. If Kim Jong-un were a dictator, then he would not allow people to make the choices to either follow him or reject him.
Judges 1:19.
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Dictatorship of the proletariat, bitches. I refer you to Nicolae Ceausescu, Saddam Insane, and Muammar Gaddafi.
Nelson Mandela could've gone the same way; he initially promoted violence to overthrow the white dictatorship in Apartheid-era South Africa. Instead, after he gained political power (and only for one term), he did the complete opposite: fostered an atmosphere of reconciliation . He essentially became the ambassador of the world.
What was stopping Hitler from being a proto-Willy Brandt?
As the old saying goes: 'Be careful how you treat people on the way up. Because you'll meet them on the way down '. I refer you to the above Challenger II Iron Chariot.
Along with America's M1 Abrams, France's Leclercs, Germany's Leopard IIs, Israel's Merkavas, Russia's T-90s, China's Type 99s & North Korea's Pokpung Ho's, I reckon your 'God' has done an Idi Amin and fucked off to his equivalent of Saudi Arabia. If he knows what's good for him.
Nobody tell this retard about "The Salvation War ". That. The Bible . One fiction's just as good as another, amirite...?!
The Serpent I sent into Eden, Sgt. Tzetochoatl, did not loose his legs and go on an all dirt diet so idiots like you could spend the rest of eternity doing what God told you without thinking for himself
I wouldn't be even remotely surprised if there is a quote or video clip out there by Matt Slick in which he openly and proudly describes Hell as a place of active torment in which Yahweh personally inflicts pain and punishment on people. If someone can find it, post it immediately.
I say this because CARM has an article in which they openly admit that the Westboro Baptist Church is right, that Yahweh does hate most humans, yet in this quote, Matt tries to claim that Jesus just loves everybody.
There aren't any other options. So, God declaring that these are the options doesn't mean He's a dictator. It means He's informing us of how things really are--that there are only two options available.
Are you saying that your God doesn't have the power to influence the state of affairs?
Even if he can't control the system that he created, if he's all knowing, he would have known the outcome before he set the events in motion. He's still responsible for sending people to hell, regardless of whether or not he influenced their choices or not.
If God were a dictator, then He would not allow people to make the choices to either follow Him or reject Him. If God were a dictator, He would force everyone to believe what He wants them to believe. Since God does not do this, He is not a dictator.
If that's the case, your God is no better than the mugger who gives you the choice between "your money or your life!" In fact, I'd say he's worse, given the (alleged) stakes, and the (alleged) morality of the perpetrator.
(1) give me your watch, phone and wallet; or
See, I'm not a dictator. I'm just informing us of how things really are. I'm giving you a choice!
The hell your god made is so vile, fearsome, and painful that it is not an option and you know it.
Good thing it doesn't exist.
"If Heaven and Hell are the only options, isn’t that a dictatorship?
A dictatorship is an absolute overbearing power, usually in governmental form, where the people in the country have no freedom."
" So, God declaring that these are the options doesn't mean He's a dictator. It means He's informing us of how things really are--that there are only two options available."
This isn't a dictatorship, you are either with our glorious eternal leader or against him. He is just telling you how it is.
". If God were a dictator, then He would not allow people to make the choices to either follow Him or reject Him. If God were a dictator, He would force everyone to believe what He wants them to believe. Since God does not do this, He is not a dictator."
Our glorious leader gives you the option of rejecting him, being imprisoned and executed. If he was really a dictator he wouldn't give you a choice at all.
edit: damn reading the comments my joke is looking really stale :)
Ignoring that Christians used to believe in Limbo, Purgatory, and such...temporary punishment (or the literal state of living on Earth without knowing God) wasn't even part of Christian doctrine until about a thousand years after Jesus supposedly lived...
Ignoring all that, yea. You're spot on.
I can also reject Kim Jong-un if I'm in North Korea, I'll just get thrown into prison.
I actually believe in God, but what Matt Schlick here tries to present as "God" is absolutely repulsive.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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