Heretics - Reverend Carlton Pearson

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For believers in religion, the 'straight and narrow' is the road to heaven. It is simply a means to an end. When you (Ringo)say 'straight and narrow' it sounds like the road is the end in itself, and heaven is the 'carrot' that is held out to people to trick them onto the road. It is a subtle difference, maybe.

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Actually, the difference isn't subtle. But Ringo (hey, I'm gonna put my words in your mouth, Ringo. Do you mind?) isn't speaking of the beliefs of the practitioner of the religion; he is speaking of the social purpose that the beliefs serve.Sure, the believers motives are that they want to go to heaven and not go to hell. But why should they believe that there is a heaven to go to and a hell to avoid? Why have a religion that teaches that a heaven and a hell exist?Well, the purpose for such doctrines are obvious. They reinforce social norms. It is necessary for the stability of society that people follow the social norms. So a belief that following the social norms will allow a person to go to heaven and a belief that violating the social norms will lead to hell will go a long way toward motivating people to continue to follow the standard social norms.

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Kings were put to death long before 21 January 1793. But regicides of earlier times and their followers were interested in attacking the person, not the principle, of the king. They wanted another king, and that was all. It never occurred to them that the throne could remain empty forever. -- Albert Camus

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We've had some recent threads on what people think heaven will be like. The way most religious people describe it, it would be hell.

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Like Dante's version? Sitting in a big amphitheater staring at God for all eternity?

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Kings were put to death long before 21 January 1793. But regicides of earlier times and their followers were interested in attacking the person, not the principle, of the king. They wanted another king, and that was all. It never occurred to them that the throne could remain empty forever. -- Albert Camus

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On the other hand, maybe they are chiefly another scheme whereby the few get to dictate to the many.

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"Cultural hegemony," he whispered ever so softly.

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Kings were put to death long before 21 January 1793. But regicides of earlier times and their followers were interested in attacking the person, not the principle, of the king. They wanted another king, and that was all. It never occurred to them that the throne could remain empty forever. -- Albert Camus

I remember years and years ago, watching one of the Christian TV stations, a program by Herbert Armstrong (I believe), who headed a literalist, evangelical church. However, in this program Armstrong was quoting Bible verse after Bible verse proving that an eternal Hell did not exist for humans.In fact, I seem to vaguely recall Seventh Day Adventist doctrine is that there is no eternal Hell for unbelievers -- they believe that the unbelievers will simply be annihilated after the final judgement. Some other evangelicals seem to believe this, too.And then on one of the more liberal religious channels I watched a program where a Baptist minister explained that his belief is that Hell isn't eternal (and simply consists of "seperation from God"), and that even after death the sinner will have opportunities to repent and find salvation.Edited by Chiroptera, : corrected an error of the typographical kind; also added a clause

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Kings were put to death long before 21 January 1793. But regicides of earlier times and their followers were interested in attacking the person, not the principle, of the king. They wanted another king, and that was all. It never occurred to them that the throne could remain empty forever. -- Albert Camus

Heh. This reminds me of an episode of "God-Man", Ruben Bolling's ("Tom the Dancing Big) recurring series that makes the Christian God into a comic book superhero.It shows God-Man teamed up with Human-Man. During their adventure, Human-Man gets shot, so God-Man calls 911. In the operating room, the surgeons are convinced that Human-Man isn't going to make it...then, miraculously, he pulls through.Last panel shows God-Man visiting Human-Man in his hospital room.Human-Man: Hey, God-Man, instead of just barely saving me in the nick of time, why didn't you just arrange that I didn't get shot at all?God-Man: Now don't make me mad, Human-Man!

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Kings were put to death long before 21 January 1793. But regicides of earlier times and their followers were interested in attacking the person, not the principle, of the king. They wanted another king, and that was all. It never occurred to them that the throne could remain empty forever. -- Albert Camus