I'm from a Christian background, and I call myself agnostic now. Interestingly enough, I've become agnostic mainly in response to religious extremism since September 11, and I've heard a lot of Christians and Muslims say similar things... that they've been alienated from their faith due to extremism and terrorist attacks and thus examining religion in depth more than they otherwise would. Kind of ironic how some people believe they are being martyred and going straight to paradise by blowing themselves and others up, while their actions set into motion a slew of apostasies in society. But that's neither here nor there... I'm trying to understand concepts that crop up in these religions, in particular the monotheisms, because of their impact on the world. I'd like to get your views.
The concept of hell, especially eternal hell, is a concept I can't quite get my head around. And it's something I could never quite get my head around, even when I was religious. People say that God is both just and merciful. I don't see how hell can ever be just or merciful. If I had to think of the most evil thing that could possibly exist in this universe, it would be eternal torture in hell. I don't believe any living being, that didn't ask to exist, being subject to this eternal torture as punishment for a short 80-ish years or less of life is remotely just or merciful. And the main reason for this punishment is not believing in the "one true God" or believing in the wrong god or set of gods? That just doesn't make sense to me. That makes God seem like a petty sadist, to say the least. He creates this massive, complicated, intricate and beautiful universe with trillions of galaxies beyond our comprehension; and he creates our species on this one tiny planet and punishes us for eternity because we might not believe in Him? I just don't see a God who can create such an utterly beautiful universe caring that we MUST BELIEVE in Him above all else. How is that a moral imperative? That impulse just seems a little too suspiciously human, a little too anthropocentric. Sounds like a petty human impulse to require someone believe in and worship you, than that of an ever merciful and just eternal God.
But maybe I'm just asking too many questions. Maybe God is a being that some humans might judge as sadistic in addition to merciful, and it doesn't matter what my moral common sense tells me (if that's the case, why does Allah give me this moral common sense?). It doesn't matter what I think. If I want to avoid hell, I have to believe in and worship Him a certain way. I have to exalt Allah as the most just and merciful. But it feels like someone is putting a gun to my head and telling me to say that up is down and down is up, otherwise they will blow my brains out. I just can't force myself believe that a God who sends any person to burn in hell eternally for any reason is just, merciful or good... let alone for the reason of disbelief or the wrong belief being a just reason. Worshipping such a being fundamentally bothers me. And even if I became the perfect worshipper and made it to paradise, I feel like it would bother me knowing that there were other souls suffering in hell, especially souls who were my family members or friends. Yes, paradise sounds amazing... but, theoretically, I would easily, gladly and willingly trade my place in paradise for non-existence to save even one person from torture in hellfire... because hellfire sounds so much worse than Paradise would be good.
Do any of you ever ask these questions? How do you square your view of a just, merciful Allah with these actions? How do you wrap your mind around eternity? How do you put your faith in a being who might torture you or your family members for eternity? Hell, even if someone got tortured for 100k/1k/100 years, that still seems very wrong. And yet many glibly say some people deserve hell for eternity, a concept we can't get our minds around. In fact, I sometimes think believers are way too glib about hell and believe they think about it more than the general layperson, when they don't think about it nearly deeply enough. I'm genuinely curious to hear your opinions.
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from Islam https://ift.tt/2uw1o5X
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