Responding to a popular atheist meme

[Andrew]

How would you respond to this meme?

My reaction as a believer is that yes we do first come to the Lord in fear and of His judgment but not because some fellow on TV was preaching hellfire and damnation but because 'fearlessness' of God has been the way of mankind since the fall. So as believers we heard His call and were naturally very afraid yet were drawn to Him from out of our darkest hiding place and are now comforted by His loving forgiveness and grace and that fear we once had for a short season has been replaced with joy and comfort! the devil is a liar who would wish to have us tried and persecuted but his accusations hold no power over us! praise Jesus!

 

[psalms 91]

My take: If you dont enjoy being with God and praising and worshipping Him then why would you want to go to heaven?

 

[MennoSota]

The meme should read:
"You hate God so much...that you broke His laws and will spend eternal life in jail."

 

[tango]

How would you respond to this meme?

My reaction as a believer is that yes we do first come to the Lord in fear and of His judgment but not because some fellow on TV was preaching hellfire and damnation but because 'fearlessness' of God has been the way of mankind since the fall. So as believers we heard His call and were naturally very afraid yet were drawn to Him from out of our darkest hiding place and are now comforted by His loving forgiveness and grace and that fear we once had for a short season has been replaced with joy and comfort! the devil is a liar who would wish to have us tried and persecuted but his accusations hold no power over us! praise Jesus!

God loves you so much that he won't force you to spend eternity in his presence if you don't want to.

If you think of hell as a place of eternal torture then the meme makes some sense. God loves you so much that he will subject you to unspeakable everlasting agony if you use the free will he gave you to choose anything other than exactly what he wanted.

If you think of hell as a place of eternal torment (which is subtly different, and conveniently what Scripture says) the meme makes less sense. God loves you and bestows good things upon you but if you don't want them then you don't have to have them. It's just that you might have a long time to regret your decision. It becomes loosely like a much longer-term version of me inviting you to my house for dinner, where if you show up but decide not to eat any of the food I prepared you don't really get to complain that you're hungry.

The second scenario could face something of a comeback relating to people who don't seem to get much in the way of good things (like perhaps the child who spends the entirety of their short life fighting some hideous disease before dying painfully), but I think the Sermon on the Mount addresses that sort of thing quite adequately.

 

[RichWh1]

According to the Bible Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels, not for mankind.
So the premise is incorrect.


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