Dean, you do not how utterly stupid that sounds to me.
If I was this all powerful god you believe in, I would just forgive you if I so chose. No hocus pocus needed.
What else can my all powerful self, not do?

I would send you to hell just for believing something so stupid!
Now tell me why I cannot do that?
Oh, you read it in an ancient book.

Yes, I do! It’s is what I was taught as Jehova’s Witness. But there are Churches that preach the same, Assembly of God for one, Church of Christ has some similar beliefs.

I do not know what church of christ you are talking about, but the one I was raised in, thought only a very few of even the church of christ people were going to heaven, the rest were bound for hell.
The bible says many are called few are chosen.

I’ve found a degree of comfort, however, at times with the thought that my value is not wrapped up in myself – my actions, and my life – and is totally derived from God, as that means – though in myself I may be a sinner – my worth is actually what someone was willing to ‘pay’ for me…given that the price was God himself (in a sense), even at my worst I am still invaluable – priceless.

There are probably billions upon billions upon billions of planets, imagine christ having to sacrifice himself billions and billions of times, his life only seems priceless for endless torture, I would not count on a god of this nature giving you endless bliss under any circumstances, he might grant you the pleasure of taking over for christ on a few worlds.
Remember god is always right and good.
good luck!

Back to the concept of hell: Eternal torment for temporal crimes makes no sense. You’d think that even Hitler would get the point after a few billion years of torment, but no–that’s not even the start. And what for? Is he supposed to learn from it? How are learning and repentence possible if the penalty is endless?

And what about someone like Anne Frank or Gandhi? They didn’t have the right belief system, so….they go to hell too?
Does that make any sense at all?

A certain percentage of people will be able to use that pre-ordained belief to live very good lives. What more do you need to feel a sense of self worth then to believe that you are one of the elect and everyone else is going to hell? Others will be tortured by it for their entire lives.

It is the same with any core belief. People here feel relieved to be free from religion. Others will feel a sense of dispair when they lose their faith. Others will just switch denominations until they find something they can live with.

Did my faith ever make me do foolish things? Yup. Were those foolish things more foolish than the foolish things other people do? Who knows?

The doctrine of total depravity was not strongly taught in my denomination. Every man sinned his own sins and was responsible for them. Pretty much still the way I feel now.

Sacrifices were required to “erase” a sin. God’s self sacrifice was the ultimate sacrifice to erase all sin from everyone who but calls upon Him.

I know it is hard to accept these things, as I have struggled in my faith for a long long time and still do today. Having said this, I truely believe something I was told long ago: “a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”

Therefore, one cannot bring another man to God who refuses to believe He even exists, let alone wants to be saved or feel the peace and love that comes with knowing the God who created them with love and for a great purpose.

Is your website listed on search engines? When people search for you, does your site show up on page 1 or page 20 of the search engine results?