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If a god demands your soul for eternity, theyre a demon.
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2026
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I know religion isn't exactly the most popular topic on Lemmy, but I wanted to offer a Christian perspective on this.
This argument fundamentally misunderstands biblical theology and relies on Hollywood tropes rather than the text.
First, God doesn't need to "demand" or bargain for your soul because He already owns it. As the Creator, Ezekiel 18:4 flat out says, "Behold, all souls are mine." You can't demand or bargain for property you already hold the deed to.
Secondly, God's ownership doesn't magically end if a person rejects Him. Pop culture paints a picture where God gets the souls of the saved, and Satan claims the souls of the damned. That’s Dante’s Inferno, not the Bible. Satan isn't the ruler of Hell collecting souls; he will be a prisoner punished alongside them.
Even for those who reject God and are cast into the fire, God remains entirely sovereign over them. Matthew 10:28 makes this clear: "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."
TL;DR: God isn't a demon trying to snatch your soul. He is the rightful owner giving you a choice to spend eternity with Him as an adopted heir, or separated from Him in the fire, but He maintains absolute authority over your soul either way.
What about cats? Cats don't respect anyone's authority, so God's gonna have a hard time with them.
You see, God loves you! It's just, if you're Hindi or atheist or something, you must burn forever and ever and ever and ever... 90% of humanity must suffer for all eternity.
That's what love is, don't you know. Being tortured forever in Hell for all time, with God watching you, laughing! (according to Bible, He watches those suffering in Hell with amusement).
TL;DR: God might not be a demon, but He is certainly demonic.
Could you provide the chapter and verse for the claim that God watches those suffering in Hell with amusement?
"god owns your soul" : therefore we have no true freedom and god is a gaslighting monster, and not worthy of my time.
"God does not own your soul" : Therefore I am free and god wants what is not his, and not worthy of my time
That presents a false dichotomy by assuming "ownership" automatically equals "coercion."
God’s ownership of your soul simply means He is the Creator and the source of your existence. However, owning your existence does not mean He overrides your personal agency. The entire biblical narrative is actually built on the reality of human free will.
Having a Creator doesn't strip you of true freedom. In fact, you have the absolute freedom to choose who you serve. The Bible repeatedly emphasizes this choice, such as in Joshua 24:15 which says, "choose this day whom you will serve." The Apostle Paul also points out in Romans 6:16 that we all ultimately choose what we dedicate our lives to, whether that is sin or obedience.
God isn't forcing your hand or gaslighting you. He gives you the ultimate choice. You can use your freedom to align with your Creator, or you can use your free will to reject Him. He actually respects your autonomy enough to let you walk away and have exactly what you chose.
ownership is coercion, for if not coercion, it's force
respect the choice!? choose wrong and burn in hell!
some fuckin choice
It really is a shame on Lemmy that there's generally a tone of dismissal when it comes to religion, even though it's one of many things that I believe is to each their own. I'm glad you wrote this out, it's succinctly put.
it reads like fantasy
there's better fantasy novels
I feel to each their own for all of the religions who feel the same to people who aren't members of their religion. The ones that say people outside their group are evil or deserving of enslavement or torture, spread through violence and colonialism, or try to legislate their religious, faith-based beliefs in government should be dismissed.
Depends on your religion...
Gnostics would disagree with most of what's written here and would largely side with OP.
I'm not extremely familiar with gnosticism, but I don't believe they think God is a demon. I think a lot of what they believe is based on duality right?
They literally believe God is an evil God and that's why suffering exists in the world. It's also why people who increase others suffering are rewarded in this world.
Just this god of this failed material realm that we're in.
They believe this reality was a mistake and the god of it is an imposter who's either gormless or actively cruel, depending on which sect.
There is a higher realm above this one though with the true big daddy good guy god in it, and that's who Jesus was on about in the new testament.
Jesus is more like a prophet to gnostics as he's the first one to pick up on and preach about the higher realm god.
(I've been weirdly into learning about gnosticism lately, it's fascinating stuff.)
Was Jesus talking about the higher realm God in the gnostic gospels?
If he's talking about how loving and kind god is, it's the higher realm one.
The demiurge is the insane temper tantrum of a god described in the old testament.
So a license.
More like a slave. Licensees have the option to freely opt out, slaves face punishment if they try.
Old testament, it doesn't count and it's ignored by most christians on earth. Nice try anyway.
That is a massive caricature of Christian theology. Saying the Old Testament "doesn't count" confuses the Old Covenant with the Old Testament scriptures.
Christians believe the specific laws of the Old Covenant (like animal sacrifices, temple rituals, or dietary restrictions) were fulfilled by Christ. However, the Old Testament itself is still foundational scripture that reveals God's nature, history, and character.
God's status as the Creator of the universe did not suddenly expire between the Old and New Testaments. Ezekiel 18:4 is simply stating an unchangeable fact about God's role as the author of life.
If you strictly want New Testament verses that establish the exact same concept of God owning everything because He made it, there are plenty. Colossians 1:16 says that "all things were created through him and for him." Revelation 4:11 also states that God created all things, and by His will they existed and were created.
The New Testament is built directly on top of the Old Testament, and Jesus quoted it constantly. Claiming that Christians just ignore it is historically and theologically false.
Yeah, you should tell that to the billions of catholics out there.
The catholics who participate in cannibalistic blood and flesh rituals every Sunday?
Yeah, you should totally go tell them that they're doing it wrong and being disrespectful to the legacy of ol' Oily Josh. I'm sure that hasn't caused a schism yet.
Oh wait... what was your point again?