This youtube video will make you think...

[psyadam]

My apologies in advance... but I had to post this here so I could see what kind of reactions I would get! I know some of you will hate me for making you watch this. Or maybe it's good for a laugh. We'll see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD-M8WAyYBE

[Irreligious]

Well, well. Where the hell have you been, psyadam, you lil devil? Welcome back.

Still obsessed with what may or may not come after death, I see. Why, man? Why?

[psychodiva]

I got bored five minutes in- how the fuck I lasted longer than that i have no idea- anyhoo- it was crap and rehashing everything ever said before and didn't provide me with anything at all to make me think any differently

[psyadam]

The last 5 minutes are the good part

[psyadam]

Irreligious wrote

Well, well. Where the hell have you been, psyadam, you lil devil? Welcome back.

Still obsessed with what may or may not come after death, I see. Why, man? Why?

Because I am not an atheist, and people who have seen my posts know that I'm agnostic. And I do worry about what happens after death.

[Irreligious]

I watched the whole thing. It was a hateful piece of propaganda with some folks who claimed to have been clinically dead alleging to have experienced a blissful heaven while others experienced a horrifying (what the) hell.

The alleged heaven bound, almost-dead folks claimed to have seen the proverbial white light through which they were ushered into various ethereal scenes where they met up with deceased relatives or Jesus himself. Of course, they didn't want to return from that existence to this life.

The folks who alleged to have been hellbound, of course, saw no bright lights, just demons and spirits pawing at them and burrowing holes into their flesh and eye sockets while flames swirled around them.

It ends with some woman who claims to have examined these people's stories asserting that, when all is said and done, "it's not about the light; it's about the love."

Yeah, 'cause nothing says love like trying to scare impressionable people into believing in your god.

[psychodiva]

psyadam wrote

The last 5 minutes are the good part

there's a good part??

[psychodiva]

too busy watching Star Trek now anyway- has less fantasy in it than that video

[Irreligious]

psyadam wrote

Because I am not an atheist, and people who have seen my posts know that I'm agnostic. And I do worry about what happens after death.

I know, but why worry about that which you cannot control?

If you believe there's a chance in hell that there is a hell for you to go to after death, why not just get off the fence and become a Christian already?

You seem to have some trust in other Christians that they might be be right when they assert that there is such a place as hell. Why not trust them when they tell you that they have the remedy to relieve you of those homosexual impulses that vex you?

[psyadam]

I thought the video did a good job of trying to visualize what the people were saying anyway. It is true that it is a lot of scare tactics--but I do wonder if what these people like the woman who committed suicide said is true. I am not really sure. It's hard to know because I think so many of these people may simply be out to make money or spread an agenda they had already before they had a near-death experience.

Irreligious wrote

The folks who alleged to have been hellbound, of course, saw no bright lights, just demons and spirits pawing at them and burrowing holes into the flesh and eye sockets while flames swirled around them.

It ends with some woman whoclaims to have examined these people's stories asserting that, when all is said and done, "it's not about the light; it's about the love."

Yeah, 'cause nothing says love like trying to scare impressionable people into believing in your god.

[Irreligious]

psyadam wrote

I thought the video did a good job of trying to visualize what the people were saying anyway. It is true that it is a lot of scare tactics--but I do wonder if what these people like the woman who committed suicide said is true. I am not really sure. It's hard to know because I think so many of these people may simply be out to make money or spread an agenda they had already before they had a near-death experience.

Psyadam, every last one of the people profiled in that video clip were white, American Christians offering culturally appropriate scenarios of an afterlife as white, American Christians would envision it. None of what they had to say was particularly revelatory as alleged afterlife stories go.

[psyadam]

Another thing about the video is that, assuming that you DO believe in hell, I think it's rather obnoxious to make the claim that all people that commit suicide go to hell. I generally think that people who commit suicide do it because of horrible life circumstances like going homeless, not because they are being selfish.

[Irreligious]

Psyadam, I forget: Is the only reason you're not a Christian is because you're gay?

I ask because I have many gay friends who are Chistian (Baptist, Catholic, Pentecostal, etc.) and they don't seem to fear that they are going to hell. Why do you?

[psyadam]

Irreligious wrote

Psyadam, I forget: Is the only reason you're not a Christian is because you're gay?

I ask because I have many gay friends who are Chistian (Baptist, Catholic, Pentecostal, etc.) and they don't seem to fear that they are going to hell. Why do you?

I probably wouldn't usually tell people I'm a Christian because I think that would send the wrong message; the wrong message being that I am not skeptical on whether Jesus actually lived, not skeptical about whether or not there is an afterlife. I am skeptical.

[Irreligious]

psyadam wrote

I probably wouldn't usually tell people I'm a Christian because I think that would send the wrong message; the wrong message being that I am not skeptical on whether Jesus actually lived, not skeptical about whether or not there is an afterlife. I am skeptical.

Huh?