I know religion isn’t exactly the most popular topic on Lemmy, but I wanted to offer a Christian perspective on this.
“God demands your soul for eternity, so he must be a demon.”
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
So a license.