Re: Do You Want To Know For Sure That You Are Going To Heaven? The reason some people don't know for sure if they are going to Heaven when they die is because they just don't know. The good news is that you can know for sure that you are going to Heaven wh

["Tom" <dantoXSPAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Paul Burke" <paul@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:3cp55oF6of7dqU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Robert L. Bass wrote:
> >>You know, I think it's good advice to avoid calling someone a psychotic
> >>genocidal maniac where the aforesaid psychotic genocidal maniac can hear
> >>you.  Especially if he *really is* a psychotic genocidal maniac.  You
know
> >>what I mean?
> >
> >
> > Or.... just in case He really *is* God.  Either way you're probably
> > irritating the wrong guy.  :^)
>
> Problem with Forth's bet (or was it Delphi's punt?) is that if you
> believe in one of the gods, you aren't believing in all the others- when
> gods are mutually exclusive, atheism becomes almost as good a bet as
> theism. 9 postulated gods. The believer's chance of hell rises to 80%,
> as against 90% for the atheist.

It seems to me that there is a difference between believing in a god and
believing what a god tells you.

The stories of YHWH tell us that he had a lot different options when it came
to punishing people who offended him.  Sending people to hell is only one of
the more recent ones.  There were the bears he sent to maul children who
made fun of Elijah's bald head.  There were two cities, named Sodom and
Gomorrah, that got nuked for bad behavior.  There was the guy who was simply
struck dead for touching the Ark of the Covenant.  We could go on and on.

If this god actually exists, it seems to me that one is taking unnecessary
chances by baiting him.

Of course, if he doesn't exist, there's no problem.  But then there's no
point in denouncing an imaginary creature as a psychotic genocidal maniac.