What Does the Bible Say About Non-Believers

Christianity’s most sacred text claims that anyone who does not believe its stories and claims about Jesus without solid evidence or proof is:

• CONDEMNED (Mark 16.16; John 3.16-18, 36; 1 John 5.10-12; Hebrews 2.3; Luke 12.46; 2 Thessalonians 1.6-8; Revelation 21.7-8);

• automatically “WICKED” and “DARK” and “corrupted” (2 Corinthians 6.14; Titus 1.15; John 3.18-20);

• blinded by an EVIL, angelic spirit (2 Corinthians 4.4);

• an object of God’s WRATH (John 3.36);

• will be objects of Jesus's vengeance (2 Thessalonians 1.6-8);

• and will be CAST by the one true God into a lake of FIRE and BURNING SULFUR after death (Rev 21.8).

Relevant Passages from the Bible:

The following are passages from the Bible regarding unbelievers and related topics.

Condemnation of anyone not believing Christian dogma and stories about Jesus:

• Mark 16.15-16: “15. And He [Jesus] said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

• John 3.16-18: “16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only born Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. 18. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

• John 3.36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him."

• Luke 12.46: “The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.”

• 1 John 5.10-12: “10. Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

• Revelation 21.7-8: “7. The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son. 8. But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

• Luke 8.12: “Those by the wayside are those who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.”

• John 8.24: “I said therefore to you, that you will die in your sins: for if you believe not that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

• John 12.46-48: “…46. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should remain in darkness. 47. As for anyone who hears My words and does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48. There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not receive My words: The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.…”

• 2 Thessalonians 1.6-8: “…6. After all, it is only right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7. and to grant relief to you who are oppressed and to us as well. This will take place when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels 8. in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

• Hebrews 2.2-3: “2. For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3. how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?”

• Romans 11.22-23: “22. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.”

• Matthew 12.30: "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters."

• Luke 11.23: "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters."

• Mark 8.34-38: 34. Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37. Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38. If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

• Acts 4.10-12: [Peter allegedly preaching before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem] “10. then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11. Jesus is “ ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ 12. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

In the Bible:

• Non-believers in Jesus/Yahweh are considered automatically “WICKED,” “DARK,” “corrupted,” “vile,” “fools,” etc.  (1 Corinthians 6:14; Titus 1:15; Psalm 14.1; John 3.18-20);

  • • John 3.18-20: "18. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19. And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil. 20. Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed."

    • 2 Corinthians 6.14-15: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15. What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?”

    • Psalm 14.1: “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.”

    • Psalm 51.3: "The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good."

• Non-believers in Jesus/Yahweh are considered "hardened by God" (Romans 9.18) or blinded by an evil spirit (2 Corinthians 4:3-4), robbed by "the devil" (Luke 8.12), and/or "children of the devil" (John 8.42-47);

  • • 2 Corinthians 4.3-4: “3. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

    • Luke 8.12: [The Jesus character talking] “Those by the wayside are those who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.”

Early Christians inherited a "good v. evil," light v. dark, us v. them, black v. white mentality from apocalyptic Judaism. Anyone who did not believe the messianic message was automatically considered a son of the devil. And Christians eventually wrote texts claiming that Jesus himself taught such ideas:

• John 8.42-47: "42. Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. 43. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46. ... If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47. Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

The writer of Romans 9.18 claims simply that God forgives those he wants to forgive and hardens the hearts of others.

• Romans 9.18: "Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden."

• God is angry/wrathful toward Non-believers in stories about Jesus/Yahweh.

  • • John 3.36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”

• Non-believers in Jesus/Yahweh will be CAST by the Jewish god Yahweh into a lake of FIRE and BURNING SULFUR after death (Rev 21:8).

  • • Revelation 21.7-8: “7. The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son. 8. But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

    • Luke 12.46: “The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.”

So the Bible clearly teaches condemnation for non-believers.  

Why?  Why would a real, loving, good God condemn people for not believing in him?  Why not simply reveal himself, so that unbelievers would know there is something real to believe in, rather than the mere words of fallible ancient humans?

No good, decent, just, or sufficient reason is given for condemning non-believers. It seems that the writers wished to scare people into belief by threatening them with punishment and fire if they fail to believe and obey.  Unfortunately, uneducated and superstitious people were vulnerable to such tactics and psychological manipulation. These are among the mountains of clues that Christianity is a human-created false religion, not the work of a real, good, loving, personal God.

Gehenna:

• Matthew 10.28: [Jesus talking] “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 [Gehenna].”

• Luke 12.4-5: [Jesus talking] 4. “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5. I will show you whom you should fear: FEAR him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell [Gehenna]. Yes, I tell you, FEAR him.”

The Jesus character in Matthew and Luke wants people to be afraid of the Jewish god Yahweh, because Yahweh can allegedly throw them into a fiery Gehenna AFTER death and harm their soul, even after their body is already dead.

What is this Gehenna supposed to be like after death? It is supposed to be a place of undying, unquenchable fire and worms:

• Mark 9.43-48: “43. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, where the fire never goes out. … And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into Gehenna. … 47: And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into Gehenna, 48. where ‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’”

• Matthew 18.8-9:  8. “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery Gehenna.

Punishment after Death in First-Century Judaism:

From where would a 1st century Jew derive ideas of punishment by YHWH after death?  According to the Jewish historian Josephus, writing in 94 CE, in his work Antiquities of the Jews, there were 4 main sects in Jewish society during the 1st century: the Saducees, the Pharisees, the Essenes, and the Zealots. The Jesus character of the gospels shows qualities that belong to three of these groups: the Pharisees, the Essenes, and the Zealots. Further, of three of these groups -- the Pharisees, Essenes, and Zealots -- Josephus said they believed in the immortality of the soul, the eternal punishment of bad men underground after death, and the rewarding of the righteous with eventual resurrection from the dead. This was the most popular Jewish view of the afterlife in the first century CE, according to Josephus.

Of the Pharisees, Josephus says: 

• "They also believe that souls have an immortal rigor in them, and that under the earth there will be rewards or punishments, according as they have lived virtuously or viciously in this life; and the latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but that the former shall have power to revive and live again; on account of which doctrines they are able greatly to persuade the body of the people; and whatsoever they do about Divine worship, prayers, and sacrifices, they perform them according to their direction; insomuch that the cities give great attestations to them on account of their entire virtuous conduct, both in the actions of their lives and their discourses also."  

(Josephus, Flavius. Antiquities B 18.1.3. The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged. Translated by William Whiston. 1737. Digireads.com Publishing. Kindle Edition.)

Of the Zealots, Josephus says:

• 18.1.6. "But of the fourth sect of Jewish philosophy, Judas the Galilean was the author. These men agree in all other things with the Pharisaic notions; but they have an inviolable attachment to liberty, and say that God is to be their only Ruler and Lord. They also do not value dying any kinds of death, nor indeed do they heed the deaths of their relations and friends, nor can any such fear make them call any man lord." 

(Josephus, Flavius. Antiquities B 18.1.6. The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged. Translated by William Whiston. 1737. Digireads.com Publishing. Kindle Edition.)

• It may be noted that these ideas echo teachings attributed to Jesus in Matthew 10.28 and Luke 12.4-5, with the admonishment NOT to fear death, but to fear YHWH and avoid punishment after death.  Other passages echoing Zealot beliefs:

• Matthew 8.21-22: "21. Another of His disciples requested, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 22. But Jesus told him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”   [cf. Josephus: "nor indeed do they heed the deaths of their relations and friends"]

• Luke 9.59-60: "59. Then He said to another man, “Follow Me.” The man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60. But Jesus told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead. You, however, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

• Mark 8.35: "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and for the gospel will save it." [Cf. Josephus: "They also do not value dying any kinds of death ..."] [This saying was copied and reproduced in Matthew 16.35, Luke 9:24, Luke 17.33, and John 12.25]

• Mark 10.18: "Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone."  [cf. Josephus: "God is to be their only Ruler and Lord ... nor can any such fear make them call any man lord"] [This story was copied and reproduced in Matthew 19:17 and Luke 18.19.]

• Matthew 23.9: "And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven." [cf. Josephus: "God is to be their only Ruler and Lord ... nor can any such fear make them call any man lord"]

• Matthew 10.34-37: [Jesus speaking] "34. Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36. a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. 37. Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."

• Luke 12.49-53:  49. “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! ...  51. Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Of the Essenes, Josephus said:

• 18.1.5. The doctrine of the Essenes is this:—That all things are best ascribed to God. They teach the immortality of souls, and esteem that the rewards of righteousness are to be earnestly striven for; and when they send what they have dedicated to God into the temple, they do not offer sacrifices{583} because they have more pure lustrations of their own; on which account they are excluded from the common court of the temple, but offer their sacrifices themselves; yet is their course of life better than that of other men; and they entirely addict themselves to husbandry. It also deserves our admiration, how much they exceed all other men that addict themselves to virtue, and this in righteousness; and indeed to such a degree, that as it hath never appeared among any other men, neither Greeks nor barbarians, no, not for a little time, so hath it endured a long while among them. This is demonstrated by that institution of theirs, which will not suffer any thing to hinder them from having all things in common; so that a rich man enjoys no more of his own wealth than he who hath nothing at all. There are about four thousand men that live in this way, and neither marry wives.

(Josephus, Flavius. Antiquities B 18.1.3. The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged. Translated by William Whiston. 1737. Digireads.com Publishing. Kindle Edition.)

Of the Sadducees, Josephus wrote:

• 18.1.4. But the doctrine of the Sadducees is this: That souls die with the bodies; nor do they regard the observation of anything besides what the law enjoins them; for they think it an instance of virtue to dispute with those teachers of philosophy whom they frequent: but this doctrine is received but by a few, yet by those still of the greatest dignity. But they are able to do almost nothing of themselves; for when they become magistrates, as they are unwillingly and by force sometimes obliged to be, they addict themselves to the notions of the Pharisees, because the multitude would not otherwise bear them. 

(Josephus, Flavius. Antiquities B 18.1.2-4. The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged. Translated by William Whiston. 1737. Digireads.com Publishing. Kindle Edition.)

So to summarize this point, Josephus, a Jewish leader and historian who lived in the 7 decades after the alleged death of Jesus, wrote that the Pharisees, the Essenes, the Zealots and the Jewish population at large during that time period believed that bad people would be punished under ground after death and detained in an everlasting prison, whereas virtuous Jews would one day be brought back to life to live again at the resurrection of the dead. It is worth noting that according to Josephus, the sect of the Pharisees had persuaded most Jews of this notion.

Therefore, according to a Jewish historian of that very century, it would have fit within the Jewish culture of the time when the gospels portrayed Jesus as a Jewish rabbi (teacher) warning other Jews of a choice between eternal punishment after death underground versus resurrection of the virtuous.

 The Great Judgement:

The Bible teaches that there will one day be a Great Judgement, when God/Yahweh and/or Jesus will pronounce judgement upon all people, whether living or dead. He will reward those to believe and obey certain teachings, and he will punish the rest with eternal fire:

• Matthew 25.41: “Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’”

• Romans 2.5: “5. But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

• Mark 8.34-38: 34. Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37. Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38. If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

• Matthew 16.27-28: “27. For the Son of Man will come in His Father's glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done. 28. Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

  • • Note that the Jesus character of Matthew and Mark claimed that he would come soon in glory with Yahweh’s angels and would sit in judgement. This coming in great glory and judgement was supposed to happen in that very generation. It did not. See my essay on Imminent Eschatology: the idea that Jesus, as "Son of Man," was soon about to come in the clouds with his angels and judge all people, before that generation passed away. (https://sites.google.com/site/investigatingchristianity/home/is-jesus-coming-back-soon-imminent-eschatology-in-the-new-testament)

• Matthew 24.30-34:  30. "Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the tribes of the land will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.  31. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.  ...  34. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." 

  • • Again, the Jesus character of Matthew and Mark claimed that he would come soon in glory with Yahweh’s angels and would sit in judgement. This coming in great glory was supposed to happen in that very generation. It did not. See my essay on Imminent Eschatology. (https://sites.google.com/site/investigatingchristianity/home/is-jesus-coming-back-soon-imminent-eschatology-in-the-new-testament)

• Matthew 10.15: “14. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. 15. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.”

• Matthew 12.41-42: “41. The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here. 42. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here.” [Also Luke 11.31]

• Luke 10.14: “But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.”

• Luke 13.23-30: "23. Someone asked him [Jesus], “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them, 24. “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26. “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ 27. “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ 28. “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. 29. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

  • • Cf. Matthew 7.13: “13. Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

    • John 10.9: “I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved.”

    • John 14.6: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

• 2 Thessalonians 1.6-8: “…6. After all, it is only right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7. and to grant relief to you who are oppressed and to us as well. This will take place when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels 8. in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

• Romans 14.10: “For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.”

• Romans 2.3: “do you think you will escape God’s judgment?”

• Romans 2.16: “on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.”

• Hebrews 9.27: “It is appointed to humans once to die, and after that: judgement.”

• Hebrew 6.2: “… the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.”

• 2 Corinthians 5.10: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.”

• 1 John 4.17: “… we may have confidence on the day of judgment.”

• 2 Peter 2.9: “… the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.”

• 2 Peter 3.7: “… the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”

• Jude 1.6: “And the angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling -- these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that great day.”

• Jude 1.14-15: "14. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15. to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 

• John 12.31: “Now judgment is upon this world.”

Parables regarding Coming Judgement:

• Matthew 25.30: “And throw that worthless servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

• Parable of the Sheep and the Goats: Matthew 25: 31. When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. 32. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33. He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. 34. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. … 41. Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. … 46. And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

The Wrath of God: 

The New Testament teaches that the Jewish God is a God of wrath, and that the only way to escape his coming wrath is to believe stories about Jesus, who became a ritual blood sacrifice in order to appease the wrath of the angry God in heaven. Anyone who believes the story and turns away from bad behavior will have their sins forgiven. Anyone who does not believe it will not have their sins forgiven, but will be tormented and thrown into fire after death.

• John 3.36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him."

• Romans 1.18: “For the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.”

• Romans 2.4-5: “4. Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? 5. But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”

• Romans 3.5: “5. But if our unrighteousness highlights the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict His wrath on us? I am speaking in human terms. 6. Certainly not! In that case, how could God judge the world?”

• Romans 5.8-10: “8. But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9. Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him! 10. For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!

• 1 Thessalonians 1.9-10: “9. … you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10. and to await His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead -- Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath.

• Matthew 3.7: “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?”

• Revelation 14.10: “10. he too will drink the wine of God’s anger, poured undiluted into the cup of His wrath. And he will be tormented in fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.”

• Revelation 15.1: “Then I saw another great and marvelous sign in heaven: seven angels with the seven final plagues, with which the wrath of God is completed.

• Revelation 15.7: “Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God.”

• Revelation 16.1: “Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, ‘Go, pour out on the earth the seven bowls of God's wrath.’ "

• Romans 9.15-23: “15. For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16. It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17. For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18. Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. 19. One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20. But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” 21. Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? 22. What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory…?”

The Son of Man: Jesus Coming to Judge "Soon":

Not everyone realizes that the Jesus presented in Mark and Matthew claimed he, the Son of Man, would come in the clouds of heaven to judge the world, AND that it would happen in that very generation.

• Matthew 16.27-28: “For the Son of Man will come in His Father's glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done.”  Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

• Matthew 10.23:  "Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes."

• Mark 9.1: “And he said to them, ‘I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.’”

• Mark 13.30: “At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. ...  I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”

• Mark 14.61-62: “Again the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Christ/Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?’   ‘I am,’ said Jesus. ‘And YOU will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ ”

  • • • So according to Mark, Jesus told the high priest that the high priest would live to see the event.

      • It is also noteworthy that "son of man" was a symbolic reference to the book of Daniel, in which the "son of man" appeared in a vision and represented the renewed political power over Israel, and hopes for a Jewish triumph over their political enemies.  So these concepts could have originally been political, anti-Roman, revolutionary language, not "spiritual" concepts at all, regardless of what they were eventually turned into by the Gentile Christian Church.

        • • • Daniel 7.13-14: "13. In my vision in the night I continued to watch, and I saw One like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. 14. And he was given dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed."

            • In the "vision," every powerful nation was represented by something. Gentile nations were represented as wild animals, but the hoped-for new kingdom of Judea/Israel was represented as human, "one like a son of man."  The vision was a claim that Yahweh would restore political power and independence to Judea with a new king.  This was meant to happen during the Hellenistic era, when Greek speakers dominated Judea. However, the "prophecies" of Daniel did not go as expected. Nonetheless, the scroll continued to be read and discussed, and later Jews used the "son of man" language to refer to a hope for an actual king of Judea/Israel. Whereas "one like a son of man" originally stood for the kingdom of Israel, the phrase "son of man" came to be used to refer to an anticipated messiah: a king.

            • For an explanation of the historical context of Daniel, see: https://sites.google.com/site/investigatingchristianity/home/prophecies-of-the-messiah#h.si7bwtssqukg.

            • For a table explaining the vision in Daniel 7, see: https://sites.google.com/site/investigatingchristianity/home/prophecies-of-the-messiah/table-daniel-7-daniels-dream-of-the-four-beasts-and-the-son-of-man.

• Mark 8.34-38: 34. Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37. Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38. If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

  • • • • • • Note the demand for extreme devotion to the messianic cause, lest one forfeit one's very soul at the soon-coming judgement.

The Jesus character of Matthew 15 even tells his disciples that he was NOT sent to everyone, but was sent only to Israelites (Matthew 15.24). Matthew's Jesus also tells his disciples NOT to take his message to everyone, but only “to the lost sheep of Israel” (Mt 10.5-6).  

But that version of Christianity died out eventually, after the failure of the Jewish revolt and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. Pauline Christianity survived, with Christianity becoming a non-Jewish-focused religion.  Could those ethnocentric words represent the words of a historical Jesus, a Jewish political revolutionary, before Christianity evolved to be much more inclusive?  Maybe.  Or maybe they are just as fictional as other elements of the stories, like the virgin birth, miracles, exorcisms, transfiguration, resurrection, and ascension.  

Moreover, Jesus told them that any town / people rejecting their message would be harshly treated on the coming “Day of Judgment” (Mt 10.14-15; cf. Mt 25.31-46; also Mt 7.21-23; 11.24; 25.31-46).

And when was that alleged “day of judgement” supposed to come?  

Before the current generation passed away, back in the first century CE!

• Matthew 10.23:  "Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes."

• Matthew 24.30-34:  30. "Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the tribes of the land will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.  31. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.  ...  34. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." 

The Jesus character of Matthew and Mark AND the writers of other New Testament books all taught that Jesus -- as hoped-for “the Son of Man” from Daniel's vision -- would "come in the clouds" to judge the nations before their generation passed away. 

They were wrong about that. The hoped-for political revolution failed, defeated by powerful Roman armies. Christianity was reinterpreted and became a non-Jewish, Gentile-dominated religion.  For more information, see my essay, “Is Jesus Coming Back Soon?” (https://sites.google.com/site/investigatingchristianity/home/is-jesus-coming-back-soon-imminent-eschatology-in-the-new-testament).

The "Roman Road" to Salvation:

Southern Baptist Churches, along with some other evangelical Christian organizations, teach the “Roman Road” guide to salvation as a distillation of Christianity, named after the New Testament epistle/ letter of Romans:

• Romans 3.22-24: “… righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, 23. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24. and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

• Romans 6.23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

• Romans 5.8: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

• Romans 10.9: “… if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

• Romans 10.13: “for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

• Romans 8:1: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."   

  • • • [Implication = “There is condemnation for those who are NOT in Christ Jesus.”]

• Romans 8.3: “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.”

Summary of the teaching of the book/epistle of Romans: Only people who believe the Jesus stories and confess Jesus as their master/“lord” can be saved from God’s wrath; everyone else will be condemned.

Salvation only through Jesus:

The Bible teaches that anyone who wants to be saved from God's coming wrath can only find that salvation by believing in claims / stories about Jesus.

• Mark 16.16: [Jesus speaking] "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

• Acts 4.12: “Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

• John 3.18: [The Jesus character speaking] “18. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

• John 3.36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him."

• John 14.6: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

• John 10.9: “I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved.”

• John 11.25: Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.”

• Romans 10.9: “… if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

• Romans 10.13: “for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

• Romans 8:1: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."   

  • • • • [ = condemnation for everyone else]

• 1 John 5.12: "Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

So the Bible says there is no other name given to humans by which they can be saved (Acts 4.12).  Saved from what?  What do people need saving from, according to the Bible?  

An angry god.  God’s wrath on the “Day of Judgement,” as discussed above.

I see and hear Christians claim that the Bible and its God and Jesus characters are loving, good, and offer unconditional love to all people. [see endnote 1]

But it is very important to ask:

Is the condemnation of people for lack of belief a loving, good, just concept? 

Is it really “unconditional love”?

Let’s explore the question further.

1. Would a good, decent human being or other being ever condemn someone merely for not believing a set of stories without evidence? 

No. A loving, good, or wise person would not condemn or harm another person merely for not believing a set of stories. 

• First, lack of belief in something is typically not voluntary. It is impossible for me (and lots of sincere, studious I know) to believe the stories in Genesis, Exodus, or the Gospels, because (a) the stories contradict evidence from history, science, and logic, and (b) the stories sound like the myths I have studied from other ancient cultures, using the same themes, the same special numbers (3, 7, 12), and too many of the same symbols.  Since lack of belief is not voluntary, people who do not believe the Bible cannot be blamed for their lack of belief, and should not be punished for it. 

• Second, lack of belief is neither wrong nor harmful to anyone. I cannot believe the stories, but I still love my son, my family, and people in the community, and I still live a life of service, studying and working for the wellbeing of people. My chief values are love, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, joy, creativity, and harmony. I still try to follow the golden rule (found in most major cultures and philosophies around the world) and treat others as I would wish to be treated. None of these depend in any way on religious belief or ancient stories.

• Third, condemnation and punishment should be reserve for situations in which (a) an offender causes verifiable harm or threatened harm to self or others, (b) all other available less severe measures have been exhausted, and (c) no other, better interventions can bring restoration and reconciliation. An all-powerful, good, loving, benevolent God would have plenty of other interventions available, removing the need for threats of punishment, hell/Gehenna/fire, darkness, or a “second death.” A real, all-powerful, loving, personal God, if one existed, would have the power and willingness to demonstrate the veracity of stories and prove his existence and character openly, willingly, gladly, unbegrudgingly to ALL, easily reconciling unbelievers to himself. There would be no reason for a real God to hide from his creation, any more than a real human father would desire to hide himself from children he supposedly loves.

• Belief is often based on trust, and trust must be earned. Further, a loving person desires to do what it takes to earn trust/belief.  Why does my son trust me?  He trusts me because I am here for him, visibly, physically, consistently. I hug him. I hold his hand. I feed him. I teach him. I play with him. I enjoy making him laugh.  I do not hide for decades (much less millennia) or play cruel psychological games or expect him to believe I exist without me ever showing myself to him clearly. I prove my love by my actions, openly, unambiguously.  If he asks to spend time with me face to face, will I deny him?  No.  If he wanted evidence of my existence and love, would I give it?  Yes, of course. But he never needed to ask for evidence, because I always gave it without being asked. Would I ever refuse to communicate with him except through hearsay or old stories written by people he does not know or trust? No way!  Would I keep myself invisible to him and have him use only his intuition to “get to know” me?  Of course not. The very notion is completely absurd.  Why would I treat someone I love in such a manner?  Would you trust someone who has the power to spend time with you in person, face to face, yet never does, and you only hear about the person’s alleged “love” from the writings of people you don’t even know?!  No way!  These are clues that something is amiss in Christianity. People have been conned.

2. Is God a Loving Father?  

The Bible claims that God is like a good and loving father.

• Matthew 6.7-8: "7. And when you pray, do not babble, ... for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him."

• Matthew 6.9: “This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ...'"

• Matthew 7.7-11: [Jesus talking] "7. Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10. Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11. If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

• Matthew 23.9: "And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven."

• Luke 11.2: "So Jesus told them, 'When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be Your name. ... "

• Luke 11.9-13: [Jesus talking]  "9. So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12. Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

It is one thing to make such claims; it is another to test such claims to see whether they are valid.

To test the Bible’s claims and to avoid being conned or manipulated, it is only proper that we all should ask: 

Would a good father AVOID appearing visibly to his children face to face when asked, even routinely, avoid speaking to them clearly and openly when asked, avoid showing physical affection to his children when asked, avoid proving his existence gladly and with overflowing love, avoid spending regular quality time with his children in person, restrict all communications to his children through an ancient book collection written during a pre-scientific era, containing suspicious, mostly anonymous stories that (a) run counter to historical and scientific evidence, (b) contradict one another, and (c) sound like other ancient myths? 

And would a loving father then, without ever visiting certain children in person, condemn any of this children who failed to believe anonymous stories written about the alleged father?

Clearly and honestly, no way!  A good father would certainly NOT behave in such a manner, especially not an “all-powerful” good father.  IF we are honest, a father who does not even bother to show up in person, regularly, face to face, in the flesh, sounds more like a dead-beat dad than an all-powerful, loving father-God, “heavenly father.”

The alleged Christian God does NOT appear to humans face-to-face, even when we ask, does not spend high-quality time with us humans, does not hug people, does not smile at us, does not show physical affection, does not communicate clearly or openly to all in a way we can understand, and does not make Bible stories reliable or verifiable or harmonious with good, high-quality scientific or historical evidence. 

Yet Christians allege their God will condemn anyone not believing the highly suspicious and problematic stories in the Bible regarding Jesus. Therefore, the Christian God is not a real, genuinely loving father-God, but a religious myth on par with other human gods.

3. Love your enemies?  

The Bible teaches that a loving person should not only love those who love him back, but should love his enemies and do good to them. [see endnote 3]  

Does the Biblical God love his enemies and do good to them?  Or does he punish and threaten his enemies?

Is it a loving or good to do to condemn nonbelievers for their lack of belief without bothering to appear to them or openly demonstrate love, clearly and unreservedly?

No. Condemning someone for lack of belief in a set of stories is NOT a demonstration of love or goodness.  So the Biblical God character fails to fulfil Jesus’ own teaching that real love means loving one’s enemies and doing good to them.  

• Some may object, "But didn't God show love by sending Jesus to die for us as a blood sacrifice?"

  • Dying for someone as a blood sacrifice to an angry God is NOT a good or realistic example of love, especially when 

    • • A good, loving God would not be irrationally angry to begin with.

      • A good, loving God would not need bloodshed in order to forgive.

      • A good, loving God would show up in person, show clear affection, make itself clearly known to all the people it loves, teach and nourish everyone, protect people from misinformation, and clear up any misunderstandings.

      • The alleged "sacrifice" is not actually revealed by any real God, but is only told about in ancient stories written by anonymous authors (before the Church attached names to the gospels -- falsely -- to give the appearance of greater authority).

      • The stories are not demonstrably true.

      • The stories are contrary to normal, natural human experience, making them suspicious (unless one is manipulated -- from childhood or by other means -- to believe them without question).

      • There are many problems with the stories in terms of historicity, textual problems, contradictions, changes over time, etc.

4. Can the Christian Idea of God meet the Bible's definition of Love? 

The Bible has a famous passage offering one possible definition of love.  Does the Bible’s condemnation of non-believers fit its own definition of love?

1 Corinthians 13.4-8: “4. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8. Love never fails.”

Condemning people for not believing a set of stories does not fit the definition of love offered in the Bible itself. Quite a tragic irony, this is.

• Love is Kind:  Would it be “kind” for an all-powerful being to condemn people for lack of belief without doing everything possible to help them?  Is it kind for a father not to appear to his children face to face, regularly, and demonstrate love and communication openly?  Is it kind for a father to communicate to his children only through anonymous ancient texts with suspicious stories that disagree with history & science and sound like ancient myths from other cultures?  NO.  Yet the alleged God of Christianity suffers from all of these faults. That suggests he is not real.

• Love Does NOT dishonor others: 

o   Does it “dishonor others” to condemn them for lack of belief in something without clearly demonstrating the thing to be believed, when that would be easy to do?  Yes, that is dishonor.   

o   Does it “dishonor others” if a supposed “father” fails to appear to his children face to face, regularly, and show them physical affection and demonstrate love, communication, and teaching openly?  Yes. That is dishonorable behavior. 

o   Does it “dishonor others” to avoid clear, personal, unambiguous, face-to-face communication with them and to expect them to believe unverifiable ancient hearsay on pain of torture and death?  Yes, that is most dishonorable.

Therefore, the God of Christianity appears dishonorable and unloving, which suggests Christian claims are false.

• Love is NOT self-seeking: 

o   Would it be “self-seeking” for the Judeo-Christian God Yahweh to desire to be believed in, feared, worshipped exclusively, obeyed meticulously, and praised lavishly by humans, without actually appearing to all humans unambiguously or verifying his desires?  Yes, that sounds quite self-seeking indeed. 

o   Would a father be demonstrating love and care for others, or for himself, if he never bothers to see the majority of his children face-to-face, or to hug them, or even to let them hear his voice unambiguously, even though it would be easy for him to do?  That sounds like a self-seeking, unloving father who has abandoned his children, if he is too self-absorbed even to visit his children in person and demonstrate his love openly and without question.

The God of Christianity IS self-seeking, according to the stories. It is not a truly loving character, and we do not see open, unambiguous, loving actions bestowed upon all of humanity by any personal God.

• Love is NOT easily angered: 

o   Would you call it “easily angered” or “NOT easily angered,” if a God were to say he cannot and will not forgive even the simplest of mistakes without bloodshed or the ritual blood sacrifice of innocent animals or an innocent human?  The Bible says, “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9.22). It teaches that Yahweh demanded burnt animal sacrifices from the Hebrews/Jews for over a thousand years, with animal blood routinely sprinkled on an altar by Temple priests, AND that Yahweh eventually used Jesus as a blood sacrifice to appease his own wrath so that he could forgive humans for their mistakes without the need for more animals. Allegedly, that’s the only real reason belief in the Jesus stories is so important: to attain forgiveness, and thus a promised eternal life in heaven. But if a human male ever demanded blood sacrifice for a person who has done nothing worse than an average human, we would call that man not only “easily angered” but wholly unwell. And if a human were incapable of forgiveness apart from bloodshed, we would not think highly of that human. “Love” would not be the first adjective coming to our minds.

o   What if God never even bothered to give all humans an unequivocal set of rules to follow and verify that those rules actually were divine in origin, not merely human?  And what if that God still became angry at people for breaking his rules, when they did not honestly even know they were truly “His rules”?  That sounds like “easily angered” to me. We would never accept or honor any being behaving in such a manner, unless we had been conned/ manipulated/ brainwashed.

o   According to Numbers 15.32-36, Yahweh/God ordered the execution of a man simply because he collected some firewood on a Saturday.  Sounds like “easily angered” to me.

o   According to the Old Testament, actions such as eating shellfish (Lev 11.9-10), picking up sticks on a Saturday (Num 15.32-36), trimming the edges of one’s beard (Lev 19.27), wearing clothing made of multiple materials (Lev 19.19), failing to cut off the penis foreskin of a male child (Ex 4.24-26) are major offenses that anger Yahweh. But according to the Paul of the New Testament, such things are not actually that important.  If Yahweh once tried to kill Moses until his wife got a rock, cut off her son’s penis skin, and threw it at Moses’ feet!! (Ex 4.24-26), but Paul teaches Christians that Yahweh’s old laws don’t even really matter that much anymore, what does that say?   The whole set-up seems rather whimsical, capricious, in addition to such a character being “easily angered.” 

• Love keeps no record of wrongs: 

o   According to other parts of the Bible, the God Yahweh does keep a record of wrongs and uses his records to judge people after death. So the Biblical god Yahweh does not even live up to the definition of love in one of the Bible’s own epistles.

§  Revelation 20.12: “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books.”

§  Revelation 20.15: “Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”

§  Daniel 7.10: “A river of fire was flowing, coming out from His presence. Thousands upon thousands attended Him, and myriads upon myriads stood before Him. The court was convened, and the books were opened.”

§  Matthew 16.27: “For the Son of Man will come in His Father's glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done.”

§  Luke 10.20: “Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

-- Apparently, Yahweh needs record keepers!  What a silly idea.

§  Revelation 3.5: [Jesus character speaking] “He who overcomes will be dressed in white. And I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and His angels.”

• Love ALWAYS protects:  

o   Is it “always protecting” if someone condemns and punishes with fire anyone who does not believe a set of ancient stories without evidence?  No.

o   Does a father “always protect” if he avoids spending time in person with his children and fails to do what he can to help them and protect them from error, misinformation, sickness, disease, harm, death? 

o   An all-powerful God could find a way to “always protect” everyone and ensure that all beings learn whatever lessons need to be taught. Yet this does not happen.  Why not?  Clearly the Biblical god fails this definition of love as well.

• Love never fails:

o   Well, if you throw your supposed beloved creatures into a Lake of Fire to kill them a second time, because they did not believe some stories, that certainly sounds like failed love.

§  Revelation 20.15: “Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”

§  Revelation 21.7-8: “7. The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son. 8. But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

• Love does not envy:  The Greek word here translated “envy” is ζηλόω, which means “to be jealous” (See Strong’s Bible Concordance 2206 or any ancient Greek dictionary or lexicon). Yet the Bible teaches explicitly that the God Yahweh IS a jealous being.

o   Exodus 20.5: “I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God.”

o   Exodus 34.14: “For you must not worship any other god, for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

o   Deuteronomy 4.24: “For Yahweh your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”

o   Deuteronomy 5.9: “I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God.”

• Love ALWAYS perseveres:  If there were an all-powerful God who always persevered, such a God would be able to persevere in reconciling unbelievers. I, for one, along with everyone I know, would be happy to believe, happy to have a relationship with a real God. The God of the Bible has no intention of persevering with love for unbelievers, according to the Bible.

So what have we seen?  We have seen that the God character and Jesus character in the Bible do not live up to definition of love supplied by another book in the very same Bible.  Harming people for failing to believe a set of stories is NOT love, even according to the Bible itself.

5. The Golden Rule:  

The Bible teaches a golden rule: “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you” (Luke 6.31; Matthew 7.12).  Does the Biblical God, in condemning and harming non-believers, pass the Bible’s own golden-rule morality test?

Would you want to be condemned or thrown into a fire simply for not believing some stories without evidence, especially if you had honest doubts about those stories of lots of evidence causing you to disbelieve those stories?    

No. You would not want to be treated that way. Would a God want to be treated that way?  No. No being that loves life would wish to be threatened or harmed for failing to believe some stories.

There are many other points on which the God character of the Bible would fail the golden rule, treating people in a way that no one would want to be treated. And how can a mere literary character who cannot live up to its own alleged standards actually be a good, loving father? 

Conclusion:

The Bible’s teachings regarding non-believers (along with other teachings) are NOT LOVING, good, happy, honest, realistic, or true ideas. The Biblical God character does not even live up to the definition of love found in the Bible’s own pages in 1 Corinthians 13.

As for claims that the Bible is all about unconditional love, nothing could be further from the truth.

So why do Christians think the Bible and Christianity are acceptable?  

Only because they have been manipulated and indoctrinated into believing things contrary to love, contrary to goodness, contrary to reality, and contrary to their own deepest feelings (if only they were truly free to explore their true feelings without fear).

I was a Christian for many years and devoted my life to God/ Jesus and to spreading the "good news" of salvation through Jesus. So I understand what it is like to believe the stories. However, they're not true. The Bible is full of false and harmful teachings. I managed to escape the cult through study.  Please join me in spreading better information and setting people free from bondage to false ancient religions, fear, false hopes, and angry Gods.

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