Sick and Twisted Belief: A Letter from Hell

I’m assuming the reason Zach and Josh was such good friends was because Josh didn’t try to tell Zach about Jesus.

And also, that was painful. Not painful because it was sad or anything, but because of excatly what Jesse writes. It’s sad to blackmail people into evangelicism through fear, that most primal and irrational of human emotions. Put enough fear into people and they’ll do anything if they think it might make them safer.

It’s important to get them while they’re emotionally vulnerable.

Case in point: the current “To Write Love on Her Arms” campaign to raise awareness of depression and suicidality among youth and provide social support. It sounds like an absolutely excellent idea, just the kind of thing we need more of, especially in a society like ours where mental illness is so stigmatized… and then I got to the part where it’s run by evangelical Christians with the stated goal of reminding people that “God is still in the business of redemption”. See, depressed people, it’s okay–you really are a bunch of worthless pieces of shit, just like you always feared, but Jesus is willing to magnanimously look past that and forgive you anyway! What a message for people who are hurting. As both a student of psychology and someone who has struggled with depression, I’m outraged by these people.

Of course Josh kept Jesus from Zack. He was Josh’s personal savior. “Zack can go find his own savior.”

Don’t be bogartin’ the saviors, is the message here.

I still have a poem that I wrote “from Hell” a long long time ago.

I’m still fond of it, even though I no longer believe in an afterlife. The rhythm and rhyme were pretty good as was the evocative language, if I do say so myself. 🙂

I didn’t concentrate on the hellfire as much as the despair. Pretty grim stuff! I also still appreciate Paradise Lost and Dante’s Inferno. As fiction, it works – unless you take it literally. Then you wind up with that Left Behind crap.

I’ve seen that garbage before. It appeals to gullible, simple-minded people who don’t have the intelligence to comprehend the absurdity of eternal punishment. Punishment without end has no rational purpose because there is no possibility of rehabilitation, only pointless, endless, infinite torture for the sake of torture. It’s like spanking a child 24 hours a day 7 days a week for the rest of his life just because he stole a cookie from the cookie jar. You have to be pretty f. stupid to find it compelling, (not to mention all the other absurdities in Christianity,) but apparently a lot of people are.

When I get pissed at the ultra religious, I try to remember that many of them (at least many of the most annoying ones) actually believe stuff like this. They believe it as much as I believe in gravity. Then I’m able to muster up some sympathy, rather than anger, which I assume is more productive.

On a different note, the kid’s letter said “They’re coming in. They’re dragging me away”? Anyone else think of Castle Arghhhh?

Well, Zach certainly wouldn’t be getting into heaven with an attitude like that. He should still love Josh and forgive him for not telling him about Jesus. He certainly wouldn’t wish all that pain on him as some sort of revenge.

I have very rarely seen anything as totally fucked up as that video.

We talked about this kind of thing at youth rallies, and I saw a dramatized version of a hell house once that talked about this kind of thing, too. It’s actually pretty prevalent in conservative denominations. ITA: completely sick, and uses fear to try to gain converts. This method of evangelizing never made sense to me in the light of 2 Tim 1:7.

To us, and many moderate/liberal Christians, this is horrible. But to them, hell is very real. It’s something born out of genuine concern, as twisted and sickening as it is. What makes me mad is when they present this to children and young teens as truth. It’s religious abuse, pure and simple, and one of the reasons people stuck in miserable fundamentalist situations won’t get out.

Shawn, I thought of Castle Aaaarrrgggghh!

It is unfathomable to me now that I actually believed this shit at one time.

Soso stupid.

I used to see this all the time growing up. A grown man- a very large man, incidentally, because Jesus makes you spiritually strong and this guy’s a body builder so…nevermind- this beefy evangelist called one of my friends up on stage at a youth retreat, played the part of one of his buddies who was now in hell, faking tears while begging my friend to help and asking why- WHY- didn’t he try to save him?

Then they started doing those Hell House things– an elaborate production of the same blackmail.

I stopped having anything to do with them shortly after, but even today an old acquaintance was posting on her facebook status “Are you sure if you died today you’d be heaven bound? If not…”. I’m always torn between being sorry for the folks or sickened at their tactics.

I’m not surprised one bit. I’ve heard/seen presentations like this before. This is the kind of stuff they show Christian kids in Sunday school after they dim the lights and cue the creepy mood. This is the guilt/shame/fear tactic they use to get Christians to blame themselves for the doom of everyone they know.

Instead, we should remind them who is truly at fault for not saving a soul: the god they love and adore who willingly and eagerly sends them to writhe in agony forever.

Let me get this straight. Josh was not saved because he was never told how to become a Christian, or about “this Jesus.” Had he been told, he would have accepted.

And yet, Josh is being held PERSONALLY responsible for failing to have been told about Christianity.

And at the same time, somehow, Zack is responsible. However, Zack will go to Heaven.

But God feels okay sending angels to torture Josh for something he had no control over.

Let’s not even get into the whole “my salvation was only because of the grace of God” mess. That makes God responsible for not extending his grace to Josh so that he could hear about Christianity.

This is the type of BS that really bothered me even when I was a Christian.

This type of thing is what made me question my beliefs when I was a believer. The sad thing is, is it isn’t a perversion in any way from what is taught.

It’s just a sick tool used to keep people in line. Disgusting parts of religious dogma.

Funny how the letters from hell never say,

“Oh no!!! I gave a reasoned look over the arguments and came to the reasonable conclusion of accepting the null hypothesis because there was no evidence! Ahhh!”

Dear Zack, further to my last letter, I was wrong about it being hell. I’ve actually gone to heaven. Apparently the waiting room is the same for everyone unless you’ve paid the church to pray for you to keep you out. They stopped doing that years ago.

Everything is regimented with prayer every hour, for an hour, in praise of the three gods. Each is jealous of the attention granted to the others so we live in constant fear of not giving each the due they think they deserve.

There is hardly anyone I know here. Everyone is a stranger except for my great aunt who was locked up in an asylum the year I started school. There is no time to get to know anyone because everything we do here has to be in praise of God or we are punished.

We get to see the people who didn’t make it into heaven and the angels who were cast out. They’ve built communities and they spend their time visiting friends and having fun. I’m told that it used to be a place of torture but some free thinkers got in and taught the angels that they didn’t have to obey the gods any more. One day they just stopped and decided to start again. I wish I could visit rather than just watch.

There will never be an end to this constant worship. We’re told that it will last for eternity. I can’t even imagine that much time. I’ve been here for a few weeks and I’m ready to make an escape attempt already even though I know I will fail. They know our very thoughts. There is no privacy or opportunity just to be yourself. You can’t ask why or question anything. It is this way because that’s how God wants it. It doesn’t matter if it makes no sense or you can see a better way. His rule is all that matters.

I wish I’d never heard of Jesus. Do whatever you can to avoid coming here and make the most of the real world. There is no living in heaven, only on Earth.

Your friend

Josh

If his God is Love, and torture is cruel, then it is obvious that his God could not allow Hell to exist.

What confuses me is that he could have so little faith that his God is a just god, and yet still want to convert everyone to his beliefs.
A God Who could let good people be tortured for eternity should be eschewed and reviled and maybe if no one gave Him any acknowledgment He would cease to exist?

Here’s one more letter from Zach. This time he bypasses Josh and goes straight to the management.

Dear God,

What the hell?

I did what you asked me to. I befriended Josh. I did not keep my faith in You secret from him, and I let him see Your goodness through my good works. I did not engage him in involved discussions, for I was taught that was not my place. I did not try to convert him, for I believed that You alone bore that right.

But I didn’t want Josh to go to Hell. I was taught that You would give Your followers whatever they asked for in prayer. And so I prayed day after day, night after night, that You would plant the seeds in Josh’s heart. Every day I waited to hear the magic words that would give me the chance to help him: “Zach, tell me more about Jesus.” Or “Hey Zach, do you think I could go to your church next week?”

But it never happened.

Plenty of other people tried to ask me about Christianity. I answered as well as I could, but per Your commands I never explored the topic too deeply. And despite my continued prayers that You would inspire Josh to seek Jesus, it never happened. Instead I watched him slide further into sin, trying but failing to suppress the growing despair that I felt in my heart.

Today I received a letter from Josh. He died without ever hearing the Gospel, and now he is in Hell. Why, God? I wanted to help him. I wanted to [i]save[/i] him. All I needed was one little question, and it never came. I trusted You. I left Josh’s salvation in Your hands. And You let him burn.

Today I offer only one final sentiment, God: I quit. I love Josh. I always will. He is my best friend, and I can not stand to imagine that he will be tortured for eternity while I live in eternal pleasure, all because I followed Your instructions. God, if Josh deserves to burn in Hell, then so do I. At least he died innocent, incapable of understanding the mistakes he was making. I do not have that luxury. I realize now that it was my silence that condemned him. I cannot enjoy eternity knowing that I contributed to my best friend’s damnation.

So I’m leaving, God. I’m giving up my place in Heaven. You can give it to someone else – maybe someone else’s best friend who hasn’t had a chance to be saved. I don’t want it. I will gladly accept my place in Hell. At least Josh and I will be together there.

In Jesus’ name,
Zach

I made it through about a minute before I got bored. I’ve heard this story before.

Incidentally, it was a story somewhat like this that played a part when I was walking away from faith. I heard a story about some missionaries in India. Apparently, they were smoking pot, and a group of potential converts confronted them, saying “We like your message, but we don’t appreciate your actions”. (I don’t remember why pot-smoking was supposed to be such a moral failing). The story ended with the missionaries lamenting these potential converts weren’t saved because of their actions.

The message was supposed to be “walk the talk”, but I took a very different message. These Indians missed their chance to accept Christ because of these hypocritical missionaries, and because of it, will suffer eternal torment? The unfairness of the situation boggles the mind!

My first though was: Why is the kids heart still pounding in his chest? Isn’t he dead? Didn’t he feel his soul leaving his body?

My second though was that I’m bringing a pen with me to the afterlife, just in case. That way, I can write my name in the Book of Life.

Oh BROTHER.

So, first of all, Josh gets dragged off by angels because, when they asked him his name (they apparently didn’t just know), it couldn’t be found in the book. So, we’ll be okay if we give a fake name? Who should we say? Pat Robertson? Billy Graham? Jim Bakker?
Then, they haul him off to a holding cell? Really? A HOLDING CELL? Seriously? Is that in the bible somewhere?

And then little Joshie says he can smell the brimstone! Tell me, please, exactly how many high school students in this country are familiar with the smell of brimstone?

And was this a letter, or a live recording? Josh describes the angels coming for him, and hollars No! No! as they drag him off to the lake of fire. Did the angels provide him with a nice sturdy tablet so he could continue his letter while he was being dragged? Did he add his P.S. just before being thrown into the lake, or just after?

Talk about FARCE. I know the xtians come here sometimes to post defensive positions on the varying topics. Please, PLEASE, someone come forward and defend this dramatic tripe!

My own youth group leaders in high school read us a similar version of a letter from hell. Other people’s salvation was our responsibility, it seemed. To get us to evangelize more, they would tell us to imagine people who didn’t know Jesus as their personal savior with nametags that said, “Hi, my name is _____, and I’m going to hell.” Because then we would save them or something.

Coercive, yes. But it happens. And I can say that it scared me to think that it was on my shoulders when one of my friends didn’t know Jesus or didn’t want to know Jesus.

I would have to agree with the individual upthread who categorized this mess as religious abuse–because that’s all it is.

Whenever I hear garbage like this, I always insert the Invisible Pink Unicorn for Jesus. Or, I think of a God that sends those silly Jesus freaks off to Hell for being so out of their minds, and then rewards the people who used the skills of rationality that he gave to them. And then I remember that this is a moot exercise because physical death = spiritual death.

Pascals Wager = weak, mostly because there’s no reason to believe that Jesusophiles would be rewarded over heathens or vice versa.

On a related note:
My girlfriend and I have very different ideologies. The first time we seriously discussed religion, she got extremely emotional, telling me that I haven’t had something bad happen in my life yet, and thus I haven’t needed belief. She cried and said she was scared for me when that does happen, because I won’t have the support structure I need.

This isn’t directly about the idea or “meme” of Hell and how that scares people, but it again demonstrates how deeply emotional it is for some people. Indeed, people like my girlfriend or those who would find the “letter from Hell” compelling, will not simply be swayed by reason and logic. Religion will be around for a long time.

– Ben

Oh man, did I get a laugh out of this. I too thought of the Castle Arrgghhh…how was he still writing as he plummeted into the lake of fire?
But then, ug…I used to fall for this emotional stuff too, and I know it’s very powerful.
Keep on fighting the good fight people!

I too thought of the Castle Arrgghhh…how was he still writing as he plummeted into the lake of fire?

Perhaps he was dictating…

Hmm…I got a kick out of this…it was something that (minus the Christian connotations) I’d expect to see as I wait in line for a haunted house…or to see at some B rate horror movie fest.

Scary? Not really
Intimidating? Well…only if you’re Christian

Rick,

I liked your youtube video segment.

I’ll download your book and read it when I have time.

Jeff

“I died today.”

“The angel threw me in a cell where I’ve been thinking for a long, long time.”

Uh?

“I can feel my heart pounding in my chest” and “my heart is bursting with fear” and yet “After the accident, I could feel my spirit leaving my body.”

The whole thing is pretty lame.

Still, I think the free market of ideas does allow for this drivel. If this kind of thing doesn’t turn people off of evangelicalism, then rational and logical thought certainly won’t.