I am an argumentative person. I admit that. I probably wouldn't consider it to be too much of a flaw except for the fact that I purposely go looking for arguments. A self-proclaimed flaming liberal, I get the Facebook pages of different people who work for The Blaze, deliberately making myself angry. Admittedly, this is not a good habit. However, my online arguments have taught me a lot about people's religious beliefs.
I have only been told one time that I'm going to go to Hell, and it wasn't even that direct. I believe the exact quote, written to me via a Facebook comment, was "remember that stop, drop, and roll doesn't work in Hell." While I laughed then and I still laugh about it now, it's actually a reminder of a serious question: is it okay to tell people that they're going to Hell?
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This is a difficult question to answer. Everyone knows that under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, we have the right to free speech. This is not an unequivocal right; however, unless you're threatening, libeling, or slandering someone, you can essentially say what you want to say. So of course legally, you can tell someone that they're going to go to Hell. You can even suggest to a person, as I have so many times in my head (and sometimes out loud) that they should go to Hell. We all have people in our lives we'd like to see poked in the rear with a flaming hot pitchfork. There's no shame in that.
But do we really have the right to tell people that, because of a life decision that we don't agree with, that they are not worthy of being with God, someone who, in most religions, is the ultimate source of love and goodness? Telling someone "go to hell" in passing is much different than suggesting that something they've done is going to land them in Hell. Hell, in the Christian belief, is the ultimate separation from God, wrought with pain and suffering. It is eternal horror, depicted in art as a place among flames. In short, it's not supposed to be pleasant.
And to be clear, I'm not saying that everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt. I suppose if I were a better person I'd give that to everyone, but you aren't going to catch me saying that I think Adolf Hitler is partying with the angels right now. From what I have been taught about God (and bear in mind that is very little--I have little to no knowledge on how the Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu religions work, much less any other religion), I can conclude that he probably doesn't take kindly to the murdering of innocents.
What I'm talking about are these little arguments, these petty disagreements that lead to someone saying something ignorant about the other person going to Hell. That, to me, is just unacceptable. Sure, you can say whatever you want. I can't stop you. But are you really so high and mighty that you believe you are the authority on who goes to Heaven and who doesn't? Are you telling me that God is up there watching you, cheering you on for making another person feel bad? Am I supposed to believe that you have all the answers when it comes to the afterlife and who goes where?
People are allowisn'ed to have disagreements, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, there's a difference between disagreeing with someone on a theory that is supported by facts and a belief that is supported by, well...nothing. And before anyone calls me an atheist (which there is nothing wrong with) or something insulting, hear me out. There are actual facts to support the claim that Christ was a real human being who walked the Earth. There are artifacts that bear his name. The question isn't whether or not he existed: the question is, was he who he said he was? Was he really the Son of God that the Bible tells us all about?
We don't know. That's the point. That's why religion is based on faith; there isn't any hard evidence that any one person's religion is correct, or that their god is the one who exists. We just don't know the answers to these questions, and that's okay. What isn't okay is assuming that you are the Chosen One who is somehow privy to all the correct information, and then throwing that information back in someone's face. There is not a single person on this planet who can definitively say that Heaven or Hell even exists, much less who is going where.
As an aspiring journalist, I have to prepare myself for the reality that there are people who aren't going to like what I write. There are going to be people who like me and then read something I write and immediately decide that they hate me. It's just the nature of the profession, and I've accepted that. I'm quite sure that this article is going to be one of the first that turn people against me.
However, I think it is important to know this: I do believe there's probably something out there. I think there probably is a God, and I think that people who are good (or try their damnedest to be) will probably get to be with him, and that people who are horrible probably won't.
But here's the thing: I don't know any of that for sure, so it isn't my place to tell people that they're wrong if they disagree with me. That's why, when it comes to matters of religion, I try not to tell people that they're wrong. Learning not to argue has been a struggle for me, but I believe I've been getting better.
There is one thing I do know, though, and it's that if you're a person who tells people that they're going to Hell, it isn't going to make you many friends, and it sure as hell isn't going to make non-religious people want to join you in your faith. If you believe what you read in the Bible, Jesus's entire purpose was to spread a message of love and get people to join him. He didn't do it by yelling at people.
One of the greatest things about living in a first-world country like the U.S. is that you have the right to believe whatever you want to believe. Remember, though, that you don't know anything when it comes to religion, and you certainly don't know who is and is not going to Heaven.
Because if you did...wouldn't that make you God?
