The classic religious syllogism is "God hates bad things, I do bad things, therefore God hates and punishes me." But the irony of this belief lies in that the concept of an all knowing infinitely wise God disqualifies judgement in the afterlife. But before I explain the reasoning behind this conclusion let's lay down some basic commonalities. We can agree that the ever elusive definition of "God" is somewhere between a just, all knowing, all powerful, God who is constantly manipulating, interfering and controlling humans, and a hands off god who remains just, all powerful, and all knowing, but created the universe and wiped his hands with earthly affairs. So the most liberal, unobtrusive god doesn't meddle in human affairs, but rather lets them make their own choices, and then judges them when hey die. We can also agree that an all expenses paid vacation in hell can be acquired by making morally bad choices in your life, while admittance to heaven mandates morally good choices. So it makes logical sense that if one is able to disprove the concept of choice, one is simultaneously disproving the concept of a judgement proceeding life. So let's examine this idea of a "choice." In a decision you are confronted with multiple options at a juncture in your life, and pursue one path or the other. So there you go. Whichever path you go down, that determines your afterlife right? But why did you choose the good or bad path? If you chose the bad path you could have lived in squalor, had bad parents, or a genetic disposition to the immoral. In other words, you didn't actually have a choice. That choice was merely the singular manifestation of a lifetime of experiences, and environmental factors, genes, and chance happenings, that you had no control over. If you chose the good path you got lucky. Your genes steered you in the right direction. Maybe you weren't exposed to violent television at a young age, and you have a naturally docile disposition. Maybe your parents had a happy marriage, and maybe, just maybe, you grew up in a neighborhood where theft and assault was an entertaining story on the news channel, and not a reality. The point remains. The cause and effect chain that links all time periods completely shapes the characters of people, without their knowledge. To go back to our definition of God: If God has infinite knowledge, then when the lenient hands off definition of God sparked the first atom, he would have been able to analyze all causes and effects leading up to whatever good or bad choice decided your afterlife. To put it simply, your choice was predetermined by all the events, people, etc. leading up to it, and not just God could punish you for something that A. He caused and B. You really didn't have any control over. Now some people might say that accepting Jesus Christ into your heart assures you a spot behind the Pearly Gates. But let us look at a case study. Here we have a little native boy who lives in an isolated tribe in the Amazonian jungle. He is felled by a puma. When he reaches that big courtroom in the sky, he will supposedly be sent to hell since he didn't accept Jesus Christ as his lord and savior. But how is that fair if he never got the opportunity to meet any missionaries? How as he supposed to know about Jesus? What about the millions on millions of people who died Before Christ? Are they going to hell by default? If they are, then your idea of God just changed to one who dooms people to fates that were, well, fated to happen. Another case study might help clear things up. Try to find the worst person you can think of. Let's go with a terrorist they are in double trouble. Heretic and murderer. Let's tackle the heretic quickly. He was born in a Muslim family, which is outside his control, so he can't be damned to hell on those charges. But now for the killing people part. Why'd he do it? Some might say he was just born evil, which implies a lack of choice, and therefore he could not be punished. Other might claim that he chose to kill, and must therefore be punished for his choice. But there were factors, beyond the terrorist's sphere of influence, which caused him to blow up the mosque. First his parents belonged to a radical Islamic sect, which they joined him in at an early age. Second, a group of foreigners began taking control. These foreigners had values that were totally opposed to the terrorist, and this infuriated him. Third let's say he had high levels of testosterone, which contributed to a hot temper. All of these factors culminated in a bomb strapped to the inside of his coat. Now if thousands of Americans had been born into this situation the result would have been the same. but they weren't, and the terrorist was, and this unfortunate unfolding of fate sent him to hell according to the popular view on the afterlife. Should the terrorist be punished because of the accident of birth? Should the Americans capable of mass murder in that situation be let off the hook because they were born into a middle class family? So let's summarize the train of reasoning really quickly. God is just and infinitely knowledgeable. To get to hell you have to make bad choices. Since there are no bad choices, but rather compositions of past events which god could have predicted using his infinite analytical capability and knowledge, there is no basis for sending you to hell or heaven, and therefore belief in an all-knowing and just god, and a belief in heaven and hell are mutually exclusive.
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