How can atheists live knowing they risk eternal punishment in hell?

[The Impractical Engineer]

Something that never made sense to me. Those who do not believe cannot be saved, and will go to hell, so why not believe? God has the power to send people to hell:

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28

And Jesus said:

Matthew 12:30-32: "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.”

God bless.

[Xero_Daxter]

Love the fact that OP received no awards from the time of me posting this. Lmfaoooo

[Xero_Daxter]

It is said the sun was created on the 4th day. How did the 4th day passed when the sun didn’t exist yet?

[🍋 Lemonfed 🍋]

The more time pass the more I doubt about god existence.

[metamec]

The concept of eternal damnation or punishment for not adhering to a particular religious belief is not exclusive to Christianity, so the same question right back at you really.

How can Christians continue worshipping their religion, knowing they might be risking eternal punishment because they can't be sure they are worshipping the correct God?

You even quote Matthew despite there being no direct, contemporary historical evidence that conclusively proves the existence of an individual named Matthew who authored the Gospel of Matthew.

If I was a Christian trying to put the fear of God into others with a statement like that, I would try to link my message to someone we at least know existed, like Paul the Apostle for example.

[Xero_Daxter]

Even Christians can’t get along with other Christians.

Why are there so many denominations who cannot agree with each other?

[Psycho]

Because they don't believe in it??

[The nameless Gamer]

metamec の投稿を引用：

The concept of eternal damnation or punishment for not adhering to a particular religious belief is not exclusive to Christianity, so the same question right back at you really.

How can Christians continue worshipping their religion, knowing they might be risking eternal punishment because they can't be sure they are worshipping the correct God?

Yup. Which hell will it be? Tartarus? Niflheim? One of the nameless hells from monotheistic religions?

[Pocahawtness]

The Impractical Engineer の投稿を引用：

Something that never made sense to me. Those who do not believe cannot be saved, and will go to hell, so why not believe? God has the power to send people to hell:

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28

And Jesus said:

Matthew 12:30-32: "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.”

God bless.

Well, the entire point is that Atheists don't believe in all that.

If God wants us to believe then he has to provide us with something to believe in. A 2000 year old, hopelessly out of date, document is not good enough. It's simply not reasonable to ask anyone to believe in that.

[demopan]

Team Fortress 2

[Mega Ultra Chicken]

There are too many religions. 5 major world religions, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. There are a bunch of other religions including Satanism and ancient Greek mythology. Which one is the right one?

[Candyy]

The Impractical Engineer の投稿を引用：

Something that never made sense to me. Those who do not believe cannot be saved, and will go to hell, so why not believe? God has the power to send people to hell:

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28

And Jesus said:

Matthew 12:30-32: "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.”

God bless.

I suppose they are desperate to find an answer even if that answer is inaccurate

Honestly religión never made sense, it was made on an era where ppl had no idea about everything, is just an outdated concept 🤷‍♀️

[Xero_Daxter]

Fun fact but the Bible mentioned kangaroos and penguins. And we had no idea they existed until later on.

[Tonepoet]

I do not think it is that complicated. They have resolute faith in their belief that there is no God or any such thing as a heaven, a hell or even a purgatory. All they believe that awaits them after death is oblivion, regardless of how they had lived their lives, so they might as well make as much as they can out of the one shot at life each of them has got by not wasting too much of it on the game of make-believe other people play.

Even if they thought there was an off chance that atheism is the wrong faith, that is no guarantee that Christianity is the correct faith, and most religions seem to hold that God holds a grudge against you for choosing the wrong faith anyway. Even denominations of the same core religion can be at odds with each-other. The odds are you shall pick your religion incorrectly because of this, and be screwed anyway, which represents a waste of any devotion you gave to your religion in life. Imagine being a good Christian for all your life and learning that the one true god was Zeus, and he does not really care what happens to you, just so long as Hades gets his dues?

None of us will know who is really right until it is too late to change our minds, if even then. We have just got to live the best life we can based upon our beliefs until then.

[[N]ebsun]

The Impractical Engineer の投稿を引用：

Something that never made sense to me. Those who do not believe cannot be saved, and will go to hell, so why not believe?

That's the whole point though - they don't believe

How can atheists live knowing they risk eternal punishment in hell?

Atheist means disbelieving, meaning they know there is no risk since it doesn't exist to them.

[metamec]

Tonepoet の投稿を引用：

All they believe that awaits them after death is oblivion,

This is incorrect. Atheism tells us nothing about what a person believes in (such as "oblivion"). It tells us about what they do not believe in. Even Dawkins puts himself at #6 on his "Spectrum of theistic probability".

De facto atheist. Very low probability, but short of zero. "I don't know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrum_of_theistic_probability