Why I Am Offended When Told I Am Going To Hell
As an atheist I get told “You are going to Hell” quite often, whether it be from a person I know or in an anonymous email through this blog. I get quite offended by this which many might consider odd seeing as I believe that “Hell” doesn’t exist. My reasoning for my offense is quite simple though, and I suspect many atheists feel the same way about things like this.
If we go by most religious beliefs, Hell is a place where sinners are sent if they do not repent. A lot of religions believe that a murderer can get into Heaven if they repent their sins before they die, or sacrifice themselves to save another. In short, there are quite a few “get out clauses” that one can consider. My “crime” though, isn’t murder, nor is it rape or thieving. An atheist’s crime is simply thinking, or reasoning. So by this definition, I am offended that someone would believe that a murderer, rapist, or thief who has said they are sorry for their crimes would get into Heaven, whilst a person who has done nothing but think would go to Hell.
Conversely, if we take the religious belief that Hell is a place that all sinners go to regardless of whether they repent or not, I am still offended. It seems that whilst a god may or may not have given us free will (depending on what you believe), we do have it. Therefore it seems ever so slightly unfair that a person should be sent to Hell for using a mental ability that doesn’t cause harm to anyone else. By this definition, I am offended that anyone (gods included) would consider murder an equal crime to using free will.
As I have said, I do not believe Hell exists, but it can be assumed that anyone telling me I am “going to Hell” believes that it does. Therefore if they believe that I am going to Hell, they must also believe that I deserve it, since their beliefs are based on religion which claims to be the truth, and to question the truth would be a crime equal to my own. By this definition, I am offended that someone would believe that I actually deserve such a punishment for using my own questioning abilities.
Continuing this line of argument, we get to the believers who say that God doesn’t want us to go to Hell because he loves us. They claim that Hell is only for those who don’t repent, but this entire argument is based on their own questioning of scripture. To appear more neutral in the eyes of an ever-growing secular world, they have questioned their own interpretation of scripture, resulting in the conclusion that a loving God would rather have people in Heaven that Hell, and that some scripture shouldn’t be taken literally. The only difference between us is that I have concluded that the scripture is hypocritical, and they have concluded that the original interpretation is wrong. By this definition, I am offended that others would claim their own questioning isn’t a crime whilst my own is, based solely on the outcome of said questioning.
There are a lot of reasons why atheists should be offended when told they are hell-bound. Ist doesn’t matter if you personally don’t believe in the place, but that someone does and thinks that blind faith is the only way to get there. It’s not like atheists hate the idea of god, or that if faced with such a being after death would give him the finger. Surely any being who created free will would be more impressed by an honest skeptic than an unquestioning dogmatist?
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it always concerns me…my family knows i don’t go to church and that i lead a “sinful life”. so according to their faith, i am going to hell.
why aren’t they more concerned? their daughter/grandaughter/etc, is going to “burn in eternal pain and suffering forever”, but they don’t really go to any extent to try to change that.
if you thought that would happen to a loved one, wouldn’t you fight with everything you had to make sure it didn’t happen?
this leads me to conclude that either they just don’t give a damn, or deep down they don’t even really believe it themselves.
To be fair on people, it is only the fundamentalists who claim this sort of thing. I know plenty of Christians who don’t believe in Hell and think that everyone is going to Heaven. Not that I think that view is any better. I’d much prefer to share Heaven with a bunch of fundamentalists than with every single criminal that has ever existed…
I told my preacher (the only one who knows) this same line of reasoning that God’s sense of justice does not make sense and his response is that God is God and it doesn’t have to make sense. God is mysterious and that should be all the reasoning we need to accept God’s will.
Yeah… if he keeps feeding me this line of bullshit, we’re going to start exchanging harsher words.
I think you are exaggerating with this.
The words can only damage us if we give credit to them. Otherwise they are just words !
My believe is to try to leave by our conscience and when we make something wrong, yes to repent and next time to do it better. That is it !
caladohelena,
The “sticks and stones” argument is all very well, but it doesn’t apply to reality. When someone calls me a bastard, I am offended, not because I am giving credit to their words, but because they believe what they are saying. I don’t want people to think that I am a bastard because I’m not by any definition. In the case of Hell I don’t want people to tell me I am going to Hell, not because I give any credit to the idea, but because they believe in what they are saying.
I’m sure many theists get offended when I mention that I don’t believe in life after death and that we are all going to rot in the ground, but I am not attacking them individually. The same rule applies to everyone in my book.
For disclosures sake, let me start by saying I am a theist.
Naturally, people are going to make statements based upon their own beliefs. I wouldn’t expect it to be otherwise.
If someone were to tell me that I was going to “hell” I would expect they would believe that. Taking offense because a word or phrase being used could be termed derogatory is one thing, taking offense because that’s what “they” believe is quite another.
I guess a question would be if a term or phrase is in reference to something does not exist, can it be derogatory or complimentary for that matter?
If someone were to tell you you were going to heaven would you take that as a compliment?
“I guess a question would be if a term or phrase is in reference to something does not exist, can it be derogatory or complimentary for that matter?”
It’s not whether or not these places exist, but rather the definition of these places used by the believer. I’d rather think anyone told that they are going to a place of eternal suffering would be rather offended.
“If someone were to tell you you were going to heaven would you take that as a compliment?”
If we go by most religions, then I would. Clearly if you told me this I would (in your view) be a person who has done great things and who deserves eternal happiness. I’m not against the idea of Heaven (it sounds a lovely place). What I am against is people who tell me where I am going when in reality they have no proof.
I certainly understand why one would/might be offended when a term of phrase could be considered derogatory “to them”. Was simply curious as to why offense would/might be taken when such a term, or place does not exist to them.
If someone would tell me I was going to a place of eternal suffering that I did not believe existed, I’m not so sure I’d be offended. I’d consider what I believe far more than what they believed especially if I didn’t know them.
Now a friend or family member, I’d likely be hurt but not offended.
Interesting blog! From a Christian perspective, you are a murderer, thief, etc. So it isn’t that Christians believe that sinners will go to heaven while good people will go to hell, but rather that all are sinners. How can that be? After all, as I would expect many to say, “I have never committed half the crimes others have committed.” In so far as you look quite moral in comparison to Ted Bundy, you are correct. If there is a moral standard, and if that standard were Ted Bundy, then you would be squeaky clean. Of course, the christian theist will say the character of God is the standard by which men are judged. So you aren’t good in light of His goodness, in fact, quite the opposite. You might be relatively better than Bundy, but what does that matter?
Thanks for hearing me out.
DaveS,
It’s the difference between believing in something and getting offended by something. Like I said before, if someone called me a bastard I would be offended. Do I believe I am a bastard? No. I am offended that someone would think I was a bastard. Hence why I am offended by people saying I will go to Hell, not because I believe I will go there, but because they believe I will.
Similarly, the whole thing about “deserving” comes in. Anyone who told me such a horrible thing would surely believe I deserved it (otherwise what is the point in telling me). That in itself is offensive.
Hi Adrian, I can’t say I disagree. Anytime someone tells you something horrible or wishes you ill will it’s human nature to be offended by it.
I believe it’s wrong for anyone to wish ill will or for something horrible upon anyone else.
It’s just that from my mindset, what I believe to be true is far stronger, far more important, than what others, especially in an instance like this.
This particular instance, and analogy, is a bit to different (to me) since a “bastard” would be something real and in your case, a place called “hell” is not.
I guess what makes it difficult to me to relate, is that to an atheist (as I see it), for all intesive purposes, “hell” is an imaginary place that only exists in the minds of those who choose believe in it
Adrian, I can assure you that neither you not any of your atheist friends are going to hell. However, that does not mean you are right either. Maybe you will be interested in a more detailed description of where people go after death at http://www.sentforlife.com/death.html
Having just visited that website I have to say that it's the stupidest thing I have ever read on the net and that's saying something. The whole thing is just fabricated out of thin air and would be funny except for the fact that some people believe this juvenile trife.
DaveG,
That website is full of assumptions, has no evidence, and makes conclusions based on nothing at all. How can you claim that this is what happens to people after they die?
I’m fully aware that I may not be correct in my views, but what gives you the right to claim true knowledge when you believe something as backwards as this???
I’m sorry for disrespecting your views DaveG, but based on that website WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?
Not just hell. I actually, as the survivor of a less-than-happy childhood, find the idea of karma even more emotionally offensive.
considering that the very concept of “hell” and burning for an eternity for your sins is a lie, and in truth DOES NOT EXIST anywhere in the bible, I as a christian and bible student am offended by people who tell others they are going to hell.
Being told that one is going to hell is a very aggressive and offensive line. Fortunately no one told me such baloney on my face. Fortunately for me and for his/her smirky face.
I don’t really get offended at being told I am going to hell. Instead, I feel sorry for the person who believes such things, because his or her view of the rest of humanity is warped. These people are victims.
The last time someone told me this I stopped her for a correction to see if she was really saying that (she was a middle school student and I was her teacher). I asked her if she was saying I should or will go to hell. I further asked if she felt it was appropriate to tell people that they are going to hell. Clearly kids are learning intolerance at a very young age. When I asked her all this she kind of reacted with shame, knowing that this sort of thing is very mean and hurtful.
have you ever heeded the warning of someone who is more intelligent than you? Jesus warned us.
Jesus did indeed warn us. However I have no idea who Jesus is; I've never met him; and his historical records do not say much about him at all. He could just as easily be a crazy man than a prophet. Why should I trust what a man said 2000 years ago? How do I know he is intelligent? These are all questions than need answers before I can do anything about them.
What's offensive is not that they think that atheists are going to suffer unspeakable tortures for all eternity. What's offensive is that they think that atheists DESERVE to suffer unspeakable tortures for all eternity. And since their god is supposed to be JUST, they must think that. If a racist man tells a black man "all niggers deserve to die", shouldn't the black man be offended even if the racist fuck is not planning on killing anybody himself? What if a nazi tells a jew that all jews deserve to die? And death is not that bad compared with, let's say, ETERNAL FRIGGING TORTURE. Hate speach tends to end in hate actions. Christians that say that atheists will go to hell shouldn't be silenced, but neither should they be respected. I believe that it's the duty of every decent man to speak out against them, just as we should speak out against any other ilk of bigot.
the bible teaches that man cannot judge a mans soul to hell,he only promotes christians to spread the gospel of jesus christ,jesus himself called the religious elect hypocrites for their selfrighteous points of view on judging the poor and misled poeple at that time,As a christian I just encourage you all to read the story of creation,as well as the gospels of mathew ,mark,luke and john and develop your own opinions but remember life on earth is short and I think all people know deep down that our lifes didnt just happen by chance,even darwin found christ on his deathbed and renounced his own theory's, god will deal with every individual in his own way,but dont let selfrighteous people hinder you from knowing the lord.