Religion
In reply to the discussion: Juan Cole: Dear Rightwing Catholic Islamophobes [View all]trotsky
(49,533 posts)The idea of eternal torture is wholly incompatible with the notion of a forgiving, all-loving god. Any reasonable, morally aware human being understands this, which is why some faith traditions that need to cling to the concept of eternal torture invent explanations that allow their god to be off the hook for it. Your "answer" amounts to: "God can't do anything, because he is forced to give people who turn away from him their wish: eternal separation from him." (Which within your faith tradition essentially means they have chosen to torture themselves. Sorry folks, the benevolent all-loving god values your free will SO MUCH that he has no choice but to let you CHOOSE to be tortured forever... by yourself.) Seems strange that believers who think their god is infinitely powerful is itself somehow constrained by a an artificial construct that it came up with somewhere along the line. I guess that's just part of the Mystery, now shut up and stop asking questions.