exchristian

I think all Christians should watch The Good Place. It does a great job showing why the most Christian concepts of heaven and hell aren't ethically sound.

It is a hilarious show that is also like a really great introductory ethics class. It sounds weird, but it works.

It pokes fun at a lot of ethical viewpoints. It shows the short comings deontological (lawful good, follow the rules) several times even though one of the main characters loves Kant. Christian ethics is pretty much deontological, but inconsistent and impossible to actually follow to a T.

I also think it is probably the best series of all time. At least the best I have seen. It is loaded with references, foreshadowing, details and subtleties. I have seen the whole thing 4-5 times and notice new things every time.

The conception and imagery we have of the "fire and brimstone" hell where sinners go to be fried, hang upside down in chains while red devils poke them with pitchforks, or demons torture them with ironic punishments based on their actions in life, etc. are all directly inspired by Dante's Inferno. And what people think they know about "the devil" is largely just from Milton's Paradise Lost. All of it is completely extrabiblical. Not supported by the source material.

In other words, a modern fabrication.

That doesn't stop contemporary Evangelicals, most Catholics, and other assorted wingnuts from wholeheartedly believing all of it, though.

That's a cool article I'm christian myself but that was always one thing I would have changed, I was thinking of starting my own group "christians against the end of the word" well I still am but I guess I might have to change the tag line from "better for a soul to forever wait for judgment than burn for eternity", the 12 month thing would have to be adjusted for