Originally Posted by
Bonsay
God is an idiot if that grieves him and a sadistic dictator if it doesn't.
To choose something I actually have to be given a choice. If choice to you means believing in a specific fairytale then I choose The Lord of The Rings.
It's not a choice because I'm not choosing anything. I can make up a god and a hell right now and tell you you're choosing hell for not believing my god, how does that feel? And yes I am forced into a specific choice. It's called a brain, god made it, wanted me to use it and if he actually exists he forced me into nonbelief.
You'll see how much choice you had when you'll be denied enterance to Valhalla.
How can an intelligent person believe in hell beside through indoctrination? Hell is a place that's spiritual and somehow has some physical form. I'll leave my body on Earth and go there in spirit form, but somehow I'll burn in hell. Burning is a process depending on physical laws found in our universe and it's the same thing for pain. Not to mention the fact that every cognitive and behavioral process emerges from the brain. I won't be the same person if I give myself a lobotomy and I won't be the same person I was as a kid, when I die. The only thing that gives the illusion of continuity is memory. Face it, the old idea of the soul is obsolete, especially now when we actually know a lot more about the universe and our part in it.
Either way, you'll have to face the fact one day, that what you believe in doesn't equal to an objective truth. Even if by a stroke of luck Christianity is true, I don't care if I go to hell, it doesn't matter if one ends up in a heaven or hell, with infinity they both lose meaning.