Bugs Raplin to Rick wrote on Jun 4, 2007 9:52 AM:
" Actually, I wouldn't mind conversing with Jerry. I always admired him for helping distribute "The Clinton Chronicles" video. "
rick harsch: dear bugs wrote on Jun 1, 2007 12:05 PM:
" be careful, the punishment for mocking christians may well be eternal life in a small room with jerry falwell. "
Bugs in Hell to 9:35 am wrote on Jun 1, 2007 11:03 AM:
" I recently spoke to the rich man. He told me he got a raw deal, and he's not at all happy about it. He said he had no idea the poor man was at his gate. If he'd have known, he'd have given him food. He pointed out that we really don't know much about this poor man. He may have been a bad person, who got into heaven by mistake. "Happens all the time. They're not infallible up there," he stated. "That's for sure," I said, pointing out that I had lead a good life and shared my wealth with the poor and lived by the Golden Rule. "I just didn't believe in this Jesus character. So here I am," I stated. Man, is it hot down here. What I wouldn't give for a cold beer. "
An actual account from beyond the grave... wrote on Jun 1, 2007 9:35 AM:
" "And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." You can read the whole account in Luke 16.
"
Bugs reports from Hell wrote on Jun 1, 2007 7:37 AM:
" Dear Diary,
Man, it is so hot down here. I miss my air conditioner. But you know what? I can still laugh. Yesterday, Dick Cheney was here for his weekly visit with the Devil. (Dick likes to pick up tips on torture) Anyhow, he tripped on something and fell face down in the burning lake of fire. We all got a BIG chuckle out of that. "
rick harsch: burning bugs wrote on Jun 1, 2007 1:48 AM:
" So bugs would have ugly scars. "
That's a good question, bugs. wrote on May 31, 2007 1:43 PM:
" That is one of the aspects of hell Christians disagree on. Seventh Day Adventists and probably some others believe in an annialation type of hell. Just like where the Bible says that Sodom and Gahmorah were burned with an everlasting fire, that fire isn't still burning today, but the results of that fire were complete and Sodom and Gahmorah exist no more, for ever. There is something to that teaching that makes sense, but there isn't enough Scripture to say that what it is beyond a shadow of a doubt. If that is true, the punishment would be not be felt forever, but the result would be forever. "
Bugs has a Question wrote on May 31, 2007 12:29 PM:
" OK, let's say I'm in hell burning in God's furnace forever. Wouldn't I sort of get used to it after a few thousand years? "
JEFF wrote on May 31, 2007 11:57 AM:
" Jerry was an evil lier, and a pathetic excuse for a man. "
A Joyful Bugs Raplin to 9:16 am wrote on May 31, 2007 11:52 AM:
" Man, oh man. You made my day. "God's furnace"-I love it. Hey, everybody. God has a furnace. Instead coal or oil, God puts non-believers in it to warm himself on cold winter nights. Way to go God. "
To rick wrote on May 31, 2007 9:16 AM:
" If you were in a lake of fire, couldn't that be understood as God's furnace? If you were in said furnace, wouldn't you gnash your teeth? Have you never seen mouth guards in Emergency wards? Even old Westerns show the victim putting a piece of leather in their mouth to minimize the damage done from gnashing your teeth in pain. I have experience some extreme pain, and I would not want the pain of burning even if it was a temporary event. "
Bugs Raplin wrote on May 31, 2007 7:19 AM:
" But what if you don't have any teeth? Do they allow dentures in hell? Can dentures gnash or would the gnashing cause them to come loose? "
rick harsch wrote on May 31, 2007 2:03 AM:
" lake of fire, furnace, gnashing tooth parlor...no contradiction...i gnash my teeth now. "
To rick wrote on May 30, 2007 10:26 PM:
" There is no contradiction. They are all discriptions of hell. There is some disagreement amoungst Christains as to certain aspects of hell, but all agree that there is a horrible place of punishment called hell. Even though I can agree with Bugs on the pain of having to sit through a whole NASCAR race would be severe punishment, I am sure hell is far worse then our worst possible senario. It will not be a gathering of friends to drink and party. It will be lonely, scary, and painful. I pray that God will send to you a person or senario that will truely open your eyes to the truth of Jesus before you die. Please don't put off your decision, we are not guarenteed one minute of one day of life. Tommorrow may be to late. "
rick harsch wrote on May 30, 2007 6:27 PM:
" if the bible is so wildly contradictory regarding hell, can you recomment another source besides Bugs', which does beat the long burn at least. "
Bugs Raplin's Hell wrote on May 30, 2007 12:47 PM:
" If God really wants to get me for not believing in the divinity of Jesus, he'll make me watch NASCAR, listen to country music, eat liver and onions, and attend church. "
Bugs Raplin wrote on May 30, 2007 12:43 PM:
" There was a study on the effectiveness of prayer. Two groups of hospital patients. One group was prayed for and the other was not. The result: Prayer had no effect whatsoever. In another study, a group of hospital patients were told they were being prayed for. Many of them saw their conditions worsen. "
Dear Rick wrote on May 30, 2007 10:10 AM:
" When you reject Jesus offer of forgiveness you are calling Him a liar, which is unforgivable after death. 1John 1:10 "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him (Jesus) out to be a liar, and his word is not in us." What is Hell like? Everlasting punishment-Matthew 25:46. Opposite of eternal life-John 10:28. Some see Hell as the lake of fire in Revelations 20:15. Finally...Matthew 13:49&50 "So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." I know you are joking around because you don't believe it, but it is real rather you believe it or not. I truely hope you accept Jesus's forgiveness and don't go there.
"
rick harsch wrote on May 30, 2007 9:04 AM:
" I will never ask forgiveness from someone I did not harm, or who does not perceive harm in my actions. And since neither god nor jesus ever calls, writes, or stops over, I don't thinnk i will change. So, please tell me if I am going to hell, and what it will be like there. Also if I should pack anything. "
To Rick wrote on May 29, 2007 5:44 PM:
" If you pray to God for forgiveness and acceptance, then your prayer will be answered. My prayers can only help, but my prayers can't save you. God made man in the beginning all good, but after Adam and Eve sinned, we all are born with a sin nature. So no matter how good you think you are, you won't be good enough. The Bible says "Man's righteousness (goodness) is as filthy rags." Isaiah 64:6 As for what heaven will be like, I'm sure it will be more wonderful than anything thing you could possibly do here on Earth. I see that you currently reject Jesus, but I will continue to pray the the Holy Spirit opens your eyes to the truth about Jesus. "
rick harsch wrote on May 29, 2007 4:12 PM:
" if prayer can't get a nice guy like me into heaven then i would say it certainly lacks sufficient power. not only that, i think if god made you evil at base but your simple acceptance of Jesus, or however you would put it, clears you, yet made me good but won't let me in to play chess with the virgins, or whatever it is they do in heaven, then he is at best a divine cad, and perhaps a hypocrite. "
To Rick wrote on May 29, 2007 10:38 AM:
" First, your question of will my prayer for you work? If by that you mean will my prayer for you get you into heaven? No. Like I said before, God controls who gets into His heaven, but God has put the ability into our own hands to either choose Jesus or reject Jesus. If you die having never accepted Jesus as your savior, then you will not go to heaven according to God's own word. Exactly how prayer works, I can only guess, but I know this, there is power in prayer. Nothing I do or say by itself will have any real effect on you. However, when I pray, God's Holy Spirit, who knows you better then you know yourself, can begin to convict you and show you the truth of Jesus. "
rick harsch wrote on May 29, 2007 3:23 AM:
" Thank you. Will I still get into your heaven if I don't ask Jesus' forgiveness, not even believe in your god? Will it work, your prayer? "
To Rick wrote on May 28, 2007 10:35 PM:
" I will pray for you. To respond to your point about opening the gate, I don't control who goes in. All I can do is proclaim the word of God, and God will be the controller of the gate to heaven. Also, not all Christians are likeminded. When you study Jesus's own disciples, you see a variety of different mindsets and approaches. I heard one sermon where the pastor said to imagine Rush Limbaugh and Michael Moore as disciples. That's the way Christains are, very diverse. Some are very competative and in your face, so to speak. Others are quiet and laid back. The thing is, becoming a Christain doesn't change who you are, rather it directs who you are for the purpose of God. "
rick harsch, hellbound wrote on May 28, 2007 5:28 PM:
" I ask not the forgiveness of Jesus the Christ, for I have sinned not against him. However, i am certain i have sinned, for instance just now my dog was barking and i held her mouth shut till she half-yelped. still, for the sake of what goodness you derive from what ails you, i do ask that you open the gates to more folk than them that agees with you--for your own sake, too, for a heaven of likeminded folk would be quite a thinly populated one, and duller than an AA meeting, no offense. One question, though, I ask as one born with the malady of being basically good: Will you pray for me? "
Dear Rick wrote on May 28, 2007 4:36 PM:
" I am not possested by a demon, but I have been born in a sin nature, just like you. You say that you believe that you are not inclined to do evil, but I don't even believe you truely believe that. Evil doesn't have to be something as outlandish as murder, it is simply putting your own selfish wants and desires over God's desire for you. There are many "good" people who will not get in heaven because they rejected Jesus's forgiveness for their sins. Refusing Jesus's pardon is calling Jesus a liar and just that alone is evil. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8 "
rick harsch wrote on May 28, 2007 2:05 AM:
" dear pillar of faith and reason. i in turn have no idea where atheistic communism comes in. on the other hand, if you are going about trying to get people to do good i hope you are persuasive. still, if your core is telling you to do evil you should probably not question the existence of god, rather look into a sect of christianity that accommodates the presence of the fallen angel, who seems to have taken up rent-free residence within you. The Bogomil heresy would be a good place to start looking. "
To Rick wrote on May 27, 2007 6:24 PM:
" I already know that sinners are going to be punished, but I have no satisfaction in that. In fact I try to tell people about Jesus so that they won't suffer the punishment of sin. Yes, my core, the natural man, seeks to do evil all the time, but it is only through Christ that I can do good, like forgiveness. I don't know what you mean by saying "if someone says there is no God..." I know that God is real because His Holy Spirit lives inside of me. So even if Billy Graham or the Pope came out and said there is no God, it wouldn't change what I know. If you mean that other people use "there is no god" as an excuse to do evil, yes that's true. Just look at Atheistic communism. "
rick harsch wrote on May 27, 2007 3:58 AM:
" getting a gun and shooting people would give you the satisfaction of knowing absolutely that sinners are punished, which seems your main concern.
I indeed have two children, not raised as christians, who are finer christians naturally than any i have come across in the adult world of latent manichaeanism. i implied quite honestly that it is easier for me to do good than evil--it is my natural inclination. if you need an authority to keep you in line then perhaps you are not truly good, or your spiritual core is dark. your lust appears to be for revenge, whereas I thought the conventional christian approach was toward forgiveness. logically, if you rely on a god to keep people in line, then all it takes is for someone to say, okay, no god then, i will do bad. if they don't have it on earth, apparently god can't help us. "
re: rick wrote on May 26, 2007 7:57 PM:
" It's interesting that you don't think that it is easier to do evil then good. Watch your children if you have any. What is their natural inclination? Is it all about them or do they naturally share? When they make a mistake, do they immediately tell the truth or do they lie to avoid punishment? When you get wronged, is it easier to forgive and forget or is it easier to pay them back? In all of my lifes experiences, I have seen that our natural inclinations are toward evil or selfish desires. Doing what comes naturally is always easier than doing what God wants us to do. For the Christain, though, when we do what God wants us to do, whether or not the world sees it and rewards it, our soul is at peace. "
Re: rick wrote on May 26, 2007 7:51 PM:
" I really don't understand what you are saying about getting a gun and shooting people. That just is wrong and has nothing to do with my question or point. Hell is a punishment for sin. Logically, even us mortal humans have punishments for not upholding the laws, so for God to have punishment for not fulfilling his laws makes sense. If there was no punishment for not upholding God's laws, then there also could not be any reward for upholding God's laws, so then what we do in this life, whether you're Hitler or Billy Graham, really wouldn't matter except for the immediate rewards or punishments. So using your philosophy of no hell, why not cheat, steal, sex around, etc. as long as you don't suffer now? "
rick wrote on May 26, 2007 6:20 PM:
" by the way, in all honesty i had no idea it was easier to be evil than good. "
rick to to rick wrote on May 26, 2007 6:17 PM:
" Sorry i couldn't quite palindrome. To answer your question, I think that given that there is a reasonable doubt about the existence of hell, especially given the recent orisonial evidence, you should buy a gun and just start shooting all the evil people you can find. "
To rick wrote on May 25, 2007 4:08 AM:
" Isn't it reasonable that there is punishment for not following God's rules? There was someone on one of these boards who rejected Christainity because of the idea that an evil person like Hitler can "get off the hook" on their death bed by making a confession. Isn't your idea of no punishment worse? It means that no matter how good or evil you are in this life, their is no final justice. Since it is much easier to be evil, your idea would breed more evil and "live for moment" theology. Christianity, with hell, causes people to live by faith for the future, and live disciplined lives out of fear of punishment and desire for reward. Whether you buy Christianity spiritually, your way leads to a more evil and corrupt society. "
Nice story wrote on May 20, 2007 7:44 PM:
" Further props on the great article...even with such a thought-provoking story, some folks try to attack and hate. The article has turned the death of a controversial figure, of whom I was not very fond, and provided me with good food for thought and prayer (and a more compassionate memory of Falwell).
Thanks! "
rick harsch wrote on May 20, 2007 6:53 PM:
" i like the prayer in that it seems to remove hell from the christian equation. "
Jerry Falwell wrote on May 19, 2007 10:47 PM:
" A child of God, in God's presence, smiling and laughing with the Joy of finally being home. God Bless you Jerry, and thank you for all that you did. If 10 Christians in 10 cities in each state did 1/10th of what you did, America would see a return to the one true God. Sadly, too many of us are too caught up in our own selfish paths to sacrifice for the spiritual needs of others.-LAZ "
David wrote on May 19, 2007 9:35 PM:
" Excellent store! "
Satan wrote on May 19, 2007 4:24 PM:
" is keeping a place warm right next to him.Falwell didn't know the difference between religion and politics. "
a big JOE fan: wrote on May 19, 2007 2:33 PM:
" Fantastic! Nice job taking something that could further divide folks and using it instead to bring them to a common question. "
Sally wrote on May 19, 2007 12:44 PM:
" If the god Falwell preached about actually exists -- Falwell is in deep doo-doo now. "
Michael Welch: Now: Jerry Falwell As "Samuel"?... wrote on May 19, 2007 11:42 AM:
" I never hated Falwell; there was a clowning quality about him (rather than clownish -- like W) that appealed. He said outrageous things like Don Imus and Howard Stern and then like Yahweh, the Hebraic 'man of war' he seemingly 'retired' and let the rest of the world go by. He remains though emblematic of the rise of what I call now the American Jesusists, a political movement virtually the ONLY popular element of the Republican party. Falwell who loved the non-church-going divorced once pro-abortion rights Hollywood actor(!) Ronald Reagan could never get the mysterious Ronnie to DO anything really; but George W. Bush IS 'his' (Falwell's) real president -- but what W DID we will suffer from for years to come I fear... "
What Tripe. wrote on May 19, 2007 11:07 AM:
" Falwell was a divisive, hateful loudmouth who used the pulpit for his own words. I very much doubt he is at the hand of God today. The only stand's he took were against people who did not follow his "personal" version of what the bible is and means. "
Mary wrote on May 19, 2007 9:43 AM:
" Joe, I like the challenge you pose to me in this article. "Is my or our enemy a child of God too?" What difference will it make if I say he/she is? I will muse on this for a long while. Thanks for raising the difficult questions. "
Good job Joe. wrote on May 19, 2007 9:23 AM:
" Jerry Falwell is a child of God, now in God's presense. I think it is off the mark to say that Jerry wasn't a peacemaker, though. You are right that he wasn't a "peace at any cost on this earth" peacemaker, but his message was turn to Jesus and find real eternal peace. Jerry helped thousands of people find real eternal peace through Jesus, and I am sure that his crown in heaven has many jewels for the work that he did for Jesus. People hated him because he took a stand against what God takes a stand against....sin. For people who want peace through tolerating sin, that made them hate Jerry. Jerry saw all people as God's Children, that's why he preached...to reach the lost children. "
IMHO wrote on May 19, 2007 5:30 AM:
" I'm just glad that he's gone. Perhaps the good people of this country will learn from their past mistakes and not let self-righteous, corrupt charlatans like Falwell to come to power again. "
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