You too can realize the money making potential of a fire and brimstone Evangelical Ministry to maximize profits.
From ABC News:
'Nobody Goes to Hell': Minister Labeled a Heretic
One Minister Challenges the Idea of Hell and Loses His Congregation
No kidding. This minister challenges the whole "Hellfire and Brimstone" story and gets booted from his church.
"If I say everybody's going to heaven, then I can't raise money from you to get me to keep people out of hell," Carlton Pearson said with a wry smile.
Fear sells. Carlton Pearson tells the truth and his congregation goes from 3,000 to 300 in a short time. What would religion or war be without fear. Again; Fear sells. We must surely be primitive superstitious animals to be motivated by fear.
Truth being told is not welcome to the congregation. Seems the past 2,000 years was for naught. One man's spiritual journey leads him to the realization that mankind has created it's own hell and he's branded a heretic. I'm sure the majority of modern Christians can't fathom the lack of a hell, doing so denies the very teachings of Jesus within their minds.
You have to ask yourself dear reader, is your faith based on love or the threat of eternal damnation? Is the freedom of knowing there is no hell other than the one we create to great to bear, knowing we are responsible and not god? You can bet the 300 remaining members truly care about the underlying truth of the teachings of Jesus without the threat of eternal damnation. They remain because they want to be there.
The minister is not denying he existence of hell, just it's location and duration. It could be Macon, GA for 3 months and Hattiesburg, MS for 2 days. It most likely is Iraq for US soldiers and Iraqi citizens. Maybe it's the hell experienced by the victims of Catholic Clergy who molested scores of children over the years. Is hell the 600+ million the Catholic Church had to pay the victims? I'm sure they have more. The American dollar does have "In God we Trust" emblazoned on it. I'm sure that means 'We trust this payout makes it go away for the time being.'
Matthew 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither allow ye them that are entering to go in.
Of course we can reach the conclusion that if Jesus said this in Luke 17:20-21;
And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Then hell must also be within you. Not a creation of a god, but of man. This effectively makes Jesus a Heretic to modern Christianity. If you've ever read any Gnostic writings you'd see the real Jesus is far different from the "Corporate Christianity" of today.
"The bitter torment of the idea of an angry, visceral, distant, stoic, harsh, unrelenting, unforgiving, intolerant God is hell. It's pagan, it's superstitious, and if you trace its history, it goes way back to where men feared the gods because something happened in life that caused frustration that they couldn't explain."
When Pat Robertson tells people a hurricane is god's wrath for "X" you can bet he's either a primitive man attempting to explain a phenomenon he can't understand or simply a religious fanatic trying to suck money from your wallet like a Hoover vacuum.
Could the reality of heaven or hell simply be the Lego blocks provided by a god to create our own heaven and hell? Looks like it, doesn't it?
Pope Benedict (who seems to have formerly played Simon Bar Sinister in the Underdog cartoon series) recently said if you aren't Catholic, you're going to hell as the Catholic Church is the only true church. I'm sure another denomination will weigh in later. For those of you shopping a new religion to follow, Benedict has done the shopping for you and saved you the fuel don't waste your time. If you were formerly a Catholic and played around with an Eastern religion, time to go back. I'm sure there or more nice Catholics than I can imagine.
I'd go so far to say organized religion is inherently evil. It has no spirituality. A conversion by force or fear (interchangeable really) is required. This within itself shows submission to an external hierarchical organization whom determines your place and whether you live or die (Inquisition) or whether you are eternally rewarded/punished. Remember: Fear sells. They can sell you anything at this point to further their power structure. You can either pay or pray. You can now be subjected to unprovable abstract ideas and logical fallacies to their hearts content. It requires you to accept the former and be damned if you don't.
I would also venture to say the Roman Empire changed the Pantheon of their Gods to another belief system, knowing the limits of military power and needed and perfected psychological warfare using a new religion. If you can't beat them, join them (and beat them they did). This in itself did the majority of the work for them. The arm of the military, powerful as it was, needed an impetus for further expansion, and less man power. Capturing the minds of people using a meme, which in turn creates a pathological virus was speedier than the fastest stallion. Those who did not readily accept the meme would soon be visited by the sword. They don't call it the "Holy Roman Church" for nothing. As grueling as peasant life was, it was better than certain death, present conditions or the eternal damnation that awaited them if they simply chose to believe.
The latest statement made by the Pope was reinforcement. If you are not under the control of the Catholic Church you are doomed. I suspect you are doomed if you are, judging by the victims of the past 2,000 years a "Modern Christian" or their adversary. You, my friend, are going to Heaven whether you like it or not or the hell with you!
Unfortunately the line is blurred and the real Jesus is as foreign to most churches as a lamb breast feeding a lion cub. If religion cannot be a purely individual experience, but organized by clowns in Armani suits or monks carrying around a mummified finger, then screw it.
If you get value from your version of organized religion, great. If you are using it to harm others by being harmfully judgmental you may be a part of the problem. If you want to believe in a hellish eternal afterlife you are more than welcome to do so. Respect the wishes of those who may want to go there. You may not be able to change their minds. Think of the very real hell Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell may have made of others peoples lives.
Modern "Corporate" Christianity, preserving a local, temporal and permanent hell for over 2,000 years (Politicians as well). Paraphrasing a Microsoft advertising campaign...
Where do you want to go today?
I suggest you read the article and remember:
And all mankind will see God's salvation.
Luke 3:6
