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D. I'm gonna get flamed probably, that the whole hellfire & brimstone thing isn't hell. Hell basically means destruction. Complete & total destruction. As in, if you go to hell, you'll cease to exist. Chrisitanity is based on you choosing to be a Christian out of love, not being "scared straight" as it were. At least that's what the bible says, if you filter out the dogma you hear from current institutionalised religions.

I realize some Christians believe this, but I don't see how it's biblical. If the people in Hell are completely destroyed, how do you explain the "wailing and gnashing of teeth"? I don't believe in fire and brimstone, but I do believe Hell is an actual place which is completely devoid of God. The display of pain (wailing, gnashing) is indicative of an emotional/spiritual pain rather than a physical one.

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Pascal's Wager is not a good reason to believe in God, but it sure as hell is a good reason to seek God.

Patty - Leviticus is Old Testament. What you're reading is Mosaic Law, which was "fulfilled" (read: made obsolete) by Jesus. Not sure why you guys love the OT books so much, but it would be cool if you read the whole book sometime.

Also, the "if you X, you go to hell" thing is actually not quite accurate. The OT Jews didn't have a hell or even an afterlife, actually. Sounds crazy, but go look for explicit mention of the afterlife in the OT the likes of which you can easily find in the NT.

Another thing is the difference between what slavery meant in the OT, NT and pre-Civil War America. In the OT, these people were usually prisoners of war and in the NT, they were people with outstanding debts and were treated more like indentured servants.

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Oh right. Jubilee. I forgot about that. I'm not sure that applied to slavery in the Roman society, though, which Paul condoned. But that could be an "everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial" type situation. Also, again, these slaves were not really mistreated and had the rights of basic citizens, minus the right to keep their earnings. Some of them were as well respected in the community as PhDs would be today.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Well, a cursory glance at the wikipedia article states that Spartacus was either an outlaw or a prisoner of war and that this took place over 100 years before Paul wrote about the Romans and slavery. The Servile Wars (one of which was lead by Spartacus) may have had an effect on Roman slavery policy. So, I'm not really sure your point is relevent.

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I'm not going to further derail this thread with a pointless debate, but I'd just like to point out the irony in your castigating me with one side of your mouth for being certain about my interpretation of scripture, while making assertions yourself with the other, e.g. who gets into heaven, about the lake of fire (which I'm certain is a literary device).

I was speaking idiomatically.