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God is Good, With Flaming Fire For Most People

Why will Jesus take vengeance against people who never hurt him, and why does so much of the Bible read like a chat room rant?

God is good, so the Christians say. So, if this God character of theirs is so good, how come he promises to taking vengeance against non-Christians? The second epistle to the Thessalonians, in the Christians’ holy book, proclaims,

“The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Jesus is going to take vengeance for his crucifixion by attacking non-Christians with flaming fire, thousands of years after the fact? How is that vengeance? I didn’t have anything to do with the crucifixion. Why attack me with flaming fire?

What is flaming fire in particular anyway, and how is it different from fire that does not flame?

Christians say the Bible is great literature, but honestly, it reads more like a chat room rant.

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Date: April 19, 2007

Author: Frank Liberal

Categories: religion

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(343 votes, average: 3.03 out of 5)

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  Jim

  in April 19th, 2007 @ 07:42

  You can tell the flaming fire because it flickers with a bit of a lisp.

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  Scott

  in April 19th, 2007 @ 10:21

  “vengeance on them that know not God”
  –and this flaming fire is going to hit those that don’t know any better. I could see a tiny justification (at least in the minds of believers) if he was going to burn those that know God, but reject him.
  I could be upset at an old buddy who didn’t recognize me, but should I mad at the people I’ve never introduced myself to?

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  Anonymous

  in April 19th, 2007 @ 12:00

  Read it again. It doesn’t say fire is going to hit people, it describes the appearance of the risen Jesus. And it says nothing whatsoever about “vengeance for crucifixion”– the Jewish people find the propagation of this idea by the most extreme of the right wing deeply offensive.

  First, start off with a translation with something more understandable than the Shakespearean English of 400 years ago. Then take the reading in context. It was written by Paul, a Jewish rabbi/lawyer who had never met Jesus, to the church at Thessalonika, which had been enduring “persecution and trials”.

  This is an NIV translation:
  

  God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power
  2 Thessalonians 1:6-9

  The early Christians expected the second coming of Jesus at any moment. The church at Thessalonika was having problems with bullies. When Jesus returned in glory with his angels, these bullies would suffer the worst punishment of all–to be cut off from the presence of God–which after all was what they chose for themselves when they decided to become bullies.

  And the purpose of Frank Liberal in posting this was not to be a bully by taking something out of context and using it to try to depersonalize and demonize a particular religious group…it was to, to, ..to understand the Bible..yeah, that’s the ticket. Frank wants help reading the Bible.

  Funny how no one ever posts anything about the Koran. I wonder why that is.

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• 

  The Animist

  in April 19th, 2007 @ 15:17

  Mainly because the Koran isn’t being shoved down our throats, oddly enough. So how will he punish me? Will he burn me with flaming fire?

  Or maybe not. Maybe he missed the date by about 1000 years, give or
  take a few.

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• 

  Peregrin Wood

  in April 19th, 2007 @ 17:48

  Oh, so there’s going to be vengeance with fire, but Jesus is a nice guy?

  No, Frank isn’t being a bully. He’s pointing out a nasty passage, which, even in a revisionist reinterpretation, is still nasty. Suck ups get power, independent thinkers get shut out of power. Jesus is the bully.

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• 

  Anonymous

  in April 20th, 2007 @ 02:03

  What, Frank, is the point in posting this?

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