"BaNg!"

I would wager that, of all those who know me and follow my posts - both in the blogger world, and on Facebook - many would love to ask me the following question:

"So, Jeff, if you don't believe in hell, then why does it bother you so much when Christians raise the issue in conversation?"

First off, these people would be 100% correct in that I don't believe in "hell"(or "heaven", or gods/devils). True. There is not one iota of objective confirmation for any of it. Notwithstanding, I frequently discuss "hell" under the pretense that it exists, simply to make a few rhetorical points to those who do believe in it. Two of which points are:

1) believing a proposition simply because you're afraid to not believe it, is bankrupt from the get-go; it is not a good reason to believe something.

2) this whole concept that there is a place where people are kept alive and tormented with fire for all of eternity is an immoral concept, just as worshiping any being who implements and condones such a place is immoral.

Re: 1., I wonder if I should also be afraid of "Jahannum"(Islamic "hell")? Moreover, I wonder if Christians are afraid of "Jahannum"? Well, the answer to the latter, of course, is no---Christians are not afraid of Islamic hell. Why? because they don't believe in it, just as I do not believe in it. Would it be wise for those of us who don't believe in "Jahannum" to believe in it, just in case? The answer, again, is no......'no more wise than to sleep with the light on just in case the Boogieman is in your closet.

The point being, if you want me to worry about going to "hell", then you should know that all of your work is ahead of you, simply because you would first have to proffer some evidence that, a) our "personalities"(the closest natural explanation of "soul" I can come up with) can exist independently of our brains(the scientific evidence says otherwise, BTW), and b) that Christianity and its "heaven and hell"(AKA carrot and stick) are real(again, to date, there is no objective confirmation for any of it)

As for the thinly-veiled threats that Christians make..a la... "I'm just concerned for your soul!". It would seem that I shouldn't be offended if I don't believe in "hell", right? Bzzzzzt....Wrong. I'm offended by threats of "hell" in the exact same way I would be offended if your child walked up to me with his or her plastic gun, put the barrel to my temple, pulled the trigger, and said "BANG!".

In other words....

Yes, we know that plastic guns aren't real; we know that real bullets don't come out of pretend guns. But that is besides the point, isn't it? Yes, it is. We know that it's just plain rude and insulting when/if children do this sort of thing. Well, when Christians threaten me with "hell" - which, to me is likewise "pretend" until/unless they can prove that it is a real, literal place - it is no different....well, except that it is possibly even worse, since they are adults.