Tag Archives: hell

Potency, Act, and the Withdrawal of Grace: Thomas Aquinas on Original Sin

Posted on November 29, 2014 by

Here’s Thomas Aquinas in Summa Contra Gentiles, Book IV, ch. 52: “[We Christians] affirm that man was, from the beginning, so fashioned that as long as his reason was subject to God, not only would his lower powers serve him without … Continue reading →

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Thomas Aquinas Says We Are Children of Wrath. Is He Right?

Posted on October 27, 2014 by

In the fourth book of Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Contra Gentiles, chapter 52, there is quite a dark vision of the world on display. At one point, for example, Aquinas, echoing the apostle Paul, speaks of all humanity as “children of wrath.” God, … Continue reading →

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The Stockholm Syndrome and Religion

Posted on August 9, 2014 by

The Stockholm Syndrome is where love and threat are coming from the same source; it’s a form of hostage taking, and it’s what religions do emotionally with people when they make God the source of love and acceptance if you … Continue reading →

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John Stuart Mill on the “Omnipotent Author of Hell” (God)

Posted on March 5, 2014 by

For John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), a good reason to reject Christianity and Islam is hell belief, and in his Autobiography he recalls his father’s strong views on the matter: [H]is aversion to religion, in the sense usually attached to the term, … Continue reading →

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The Devil is Real and Halloween is His Holiday?

Posted on October 31, 2013 by

It’s the 21st century, and you would think that educated people were done talking like this, but Richard J. Mouw, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in California–a seminary with a reputation for theological liberalism–continues to believe that the Devil … Continue reading →

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Hell Belief

Posted on May 21, 2013 by

Three problems with it: Hell belief is authoritarian. If it is true that most people go to hell, and it is eternal torture over flames to be there, then the only way to save yourself from such a ridiculous fate … Continue reading →

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Egypt and the Hell of Islam

Posted on October 26, 2012 by

At The New Republic, Graeme Wood, a journalist and editor for The Atlantic, writes about his Salafi acquaintances in Egypt, and describes one of the bloke’s understanding of hell in graphic detail. What Graeme Wood learned from him and some of … Continue reading →

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Shunned Andrew Watch: Mars Hill Cult Excommunicates Member Who Wouldn’t Write Out His Sexual History

Posted on February 18, 2012 by

The sheer fanatic creepiness of this is worthy of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. The following appeared yesterday at the Christianity Today website: Over the last month, several blogs have discussed the case of Andrew, a member of Mars Hill Church’s Ballard, … Continue reading →

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Albert Mohler: Christopher Hitchens in Hell for Unbelief

Posted on December 22, 2011 by

Albert Mohler is President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and Darrel Falk, past President of BioLogos, calls Albert Mohler “among the most important evangelicals in the world” and a “giant” in evangelical and fundamentalist circles. In April of … Continue reading →

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Lucretius: Atheism’s John the Baptist and the Progenitor of a Hell Realm

Posted on September 22, 2011 by

Below is a great (and very contemporary sounding) atheist quote from Lucretius’s On the Nature of Things. Atomism and evolution have always been the poison pills at God’s bedside (or, at least, the religious believer’s). Have you swallowed their implications yet? As an … Continue reading →

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Hell Apologists Watch: Albert Mohler wants people to awake “in the morning” and go “to sleep at night with the fear of hell never far from consciousness”

Posted on March 17, 2011 by

Here’s Albert Mohler, President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and evangelicalism’s leading “intellectual” (at least according to Time magazine), lamenting at his blog the fact that literal hell belief no long terrorizes the psyches of most people living in western countries: … Continue reading →

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On YEC and Hell, Albert Mohler Takes Up the Evangelical’s Burden

Posted on March 8, 2011 by

Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological seminary, and the man Time magazine once (weirdly) called America’s “reigning intellectual in the evangelical movement”, is a young earth creationist. He also believes in hell. Literally. Think Hieronymus Bosch here. And in a recent blog … Continue reading →

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A Christian Dialogues with Two Atheists

Posted on February 24, 2011 by

I think that the below dialogue between a Christian and two atheists is informative. How would you answer the atheists’ questions (if you are a religious believer)?

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The Berlin-Auschwitz Question: Could You Be Happy in Heaven if You Knew What was Going on in Hell?

Posted on February 18, 2011 by

I don’t think I could. (Or at least I’d like to think that I couldn’t.) But there are a lot of people who say they believe in hell—that it exists—and yet they are also happy to imagine themselves enjoying heaven. How … Continue reading →

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Atheism and the Quest for Meaning: What Does It Mean to Say That All of Existence is Contingent?

Posted on December 23, 2010 by

It means that life didn’t have to be—it was an accident—and yet here we all are. Our existence is neither inherently necessary or meaningful. Welcome! Now, as human beings, what do we do? Well, we can try to take the incoherence of … Continue reading →

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A New Atheist Ad Campaign: Choose Your Hell Realm

Posted on December 6, 2010 by

ABC News is reporting a $200,000 holiday season atheist ad campaign in the United States, sponsored by the American Humanist Association. One of the group’s ads sounds particularly interesting, for it specifically targets women: One of the association’s television spots … Continue reading →

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The Heart of Dante Alighieri

Posted on October 29, 2010 by

If you’ve never read Dante Alighieri, the following is written as an enticement for you to consider doing so. A Key Dante Biographical Data Point Dante was born in Florence in 1265, but he did not die there. In fact, … Continue reading →

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For the Trapped Chilean Miners, Maria Campillay Heeded an Inner Call

Posted on October 23, 2010 by

In the Los Angeles Times last weekend, a worker at Camp Hope was profiled. Her name is Maria Campillay: Maria Campillay? She’s a social worker in the neighboring town of Caldera who took an indefinite and unpaid leave from her government … Continue reading →

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Atheists and Agnostics Have a Faith Too (And It’s an Interesting One That Might Well Be True)

Posted on October 11, 2010 by

Question: If you are a Baptist, how do you ensure God’s election of you into his eternal love and heaven? Answer: Baptists tend to think that you have to say a sincere, and I would say magical, prayer with the … Continue reading →

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Quick Thought for the Day: Atheists are Like Frogs

Posted on September 22, 2010 by

Atheists are like frogs in the proverbial pot of hot water. They look through their glass across the stove at the hell realms of religion, critiquing them as psychologically warping, but have conveniently forgotten that they themselves are in a … Continue reading →

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