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From: mussack@austin.ibm.com (Christopher Mussack)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: If There Were No Hell
Message-ID: <May.13.02.30.05.1993.1523@geneva.rutgers.edu>
Date: 13 May 93 06:30:06 GMT
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(Larry L. Overacker) writes:
> Q: If you knew beyond all doubt that hell did not exist and that
>    unbelievers simply remained dead, would you remain a Christian?
> 
> My contention is that if you answer this question with "No. I would
> not then remain a Christian" then you really are not one now.  
> ...  I follow Christ because it's a great way
> to LIVE life.  And I could care less what really happens after
> I die.  I believe that there will be a resurrection, but that
> won't have any effect on how I live THIS life.  ...

Ouch, this is a good question. To me, not existing is worse
than existing no matter what, so I will modify this question to be:
would I be a Christian if it made no eternal difference in my
reward or punishment? I hope this is in the same spirit you want.

I personally am very goal oriented. It is hard for me to do things
that do not achieve some goal. However, to relate this to sports, 
only after I learned to not care about the score did I become
a good basketball player. I had to learn to go all out no matter
the situation. Perhaps this lesson is relevent. After all,
only if I can give up my life can I keep it, only if I am
humble can I achieve glory. Only if I concentrate on living
my life now the best I can will I be afforded life eternal.
I think you have illuminated the true meaning of "saved by faith."

But what is my answer? Right now I would remain a Christian.
However, was that always my answer? That's the problem. Heaven
and hell are good motivators at certain stages of maturity.
And I admit there are certain times when perhaps I bite my
tongue and put up with something in the hope of a better day,
i.e. I mentally trade present happiness for future happiness.
I hope the cynics and skeptics do not read more into that
than appropriate, but I am trying to be honest.

(Scott A Mayo) writes:
> Of course. But it is a pointless question, because you cannot know
> beyond all doubt that hell does not exist, anymore than you can know
> it does, short of taking Jesus's word for it. "What If" questions are
> fun and entertaining, but probably fruitless. 

I think these kinds of questions are extremely fruitful. I guess it
depends on how one views knowledge and learning. By stripping
ideas to simple, straightforward, opposing concepts we can
determine levels of importance. By analyzing the theoretically 
absurd we can gain a better understanding of the actually absurd.

Chris Mussack
