5 Ways to Say “Go to Hell”
Hi, I’m Al. I’m an atheist. I believe that God and gods are superstition and do not exist.
Fear is incredibly useful tool for persuading others to your views. It’s really convincing to tell a population of people that there is an imminent danger that is going to personally affect them, and that you alone have the cure they need. They might suspect you’re full of crap, but can they really take that chance?
Unfortunately, telling people to go to hell is kind of rude. Because religion doesn’t have the dominating power it once had and religious tolerance is in, people tend to look down on those who use outright fear tactics.
As such, here are five ways you can threaten someone with eternal damnation, without the nasty side effect of looking like a bigoted jerk.
The Mafia Method
“I’m worried about what will happen to you later if you continue living your life like this.”
The Smart Guy Approach
“Sure, you have all these reasons and logic, smart guy. But what will you say to the lord when you die and stand before him?”
The Bribe or Bullet Guilt Trip
“Heaven is so great, and if you just accept God’s gifts and love you don’t have to worry about Hell.”
The Going To Hell By Default Argument
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Just by being human, we deserve eternal punishment unless we accept Christ.”
And, The Blunt Method
“You’re going to burn in hell, sinner.”
Of course, none of these statements is the slightest shred of evidence that God and hell are actually real, but that’s besides the point. The point of inflicting fear is to completely bypass critical thinking and induce panic. After that, people will take you up on your simple solution to prevent this horrible outcome.
All they have to do is convert to your religion, unquestioningly adopt your moral views, deprive gays of equal rights, ignore science, vote for social conservatives, give you money, and attend your religious teachings every week for the rest of their lives.
Actually, that sounds complicated. Just tell them they need to accept Christ into their hearts.
He won’t come to you, you have to invite him in. Like a vampire.
And be sure to use fear over and over again. This will make it seem like you know what you’re talking about without actually having to provide any logical reasons why what you say is true.
Like it says in Luke 12:4:
“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
Fear God more than a psychotic murderer? I couldn’t have said it better myself, Jesus.
Thanks for watching.
Hi everyone. If you would like to see more examples of threatening hellfire while avoiding clear, sound reasoning that it’s actually real, just look at the comments section of whatever website you are watching this video from.
Hey Al;
I’m forced to agree with you, fear seems to be a favorite tactic with many religions. This practice seems counter to their own professed objectives, doing right for the sake of doing right, instead of doing right so that God won’t smite you. This is one of the reasons that I no longer call myself a Christian. It makes you wonder, if there were no system of reward and punishment in religion, how that would effect their perception of right and wrong. We have to give Christians some credit. They used to torture you and burn you at the steak if you didn’t agree with them. They have come a long way.
However, This tendency is not is not unique to religion, it’s just more obvious, “if you don’t believe what I believe you will suffer in hell for eternity.” That’s a little blatant. But how about if you don’t agree with me you’re stupid? or believing in God is “superstitious”? creationists are ignorant. It seems that bigotry has a secular face as well as a religious one.
OK, in everyone’s defense, including Al’s, It’s hard to be passionate about anything without being prejudiced about something. Still doesn’t make it right.
Comment on June 9, 2009 @ 10:30 am
Yay, its always a good thing when you post Al
Comment on June 14, 2009 @ 8:07 am
Hi! I like the title of your blog/website. Can I ask where you got it from or what inspired you to call it this way?
just being curious 0:)
Comment on September 9, 2009 @ 5:26 am
Hi Albert, im pretty new to the discussion on Atheism and Theism and find your Posts and Videos very usefull and also very funny…thanks for it…
Comment on October 3, 2009 @ 1:57 am
al, how’s it going?
when are we getting a new vid? :)
- matt
Comment on October 7, 2009 @ 3:32 pm
fear and religion is like horror and terrorism… no all religions I hope
Comment on October 29, 2009 @ 10:24 am
If you’re a true atheist, then why the animosity towards organized religion? Why try to convince the ignorant of their ignorance?
By the way, once you define “religion tolerance”, you’ve ceased to be tolerant.
Just food for thought.
Comment on October 31, 2009 @ 6:19 pm
but we can take god as the the internal soul of human being that is the nature of Nature.
Comment on November 18, 2009 @ 4:37 pm
There’s nothing wrong with fear.
I think you’re attributing political manipulations
[there are many historical examples]
done *in the name of religion* to religion as a concept.
Jesus said:
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:
to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
James 1:27
No need for large hats and plexiglass.
I totally agree that no one should be bullied into a belief they strongly disagree with,
regardless of the mechanism – greed and deceit also come to mind.
I think that the examples you’re providing are kind of one sided though.
Fear is an absolutely necessary part of everyday life.
I don’t even have to give examples of why, I’m sure you’ve already thought of ten by the end of this sentence.
Examine yourself however – if there is no God then your disdain and resentment is illogical.
I’m really saddened by this actually – this sentiment is such a common one among atheists.
Organized religion has indeed become corrupt and has failed to actually teach Judaism.
I’ve never met a person who understood Judaism who perceives God in the way you do.
Judaism has never been about a God that threatens an innocent, peaceful, and benevolent
humanity with His wrath if they do not conform to His strict and rigorous rules. please.
It’s more like,
“I’m your Dad and I want what is best for you.
I’ll let you choose your own way as long as you fully understand the consequences of your actions.”
What’s more, is the He even offers to take the consequences of our actions upon himself – in the most humiliating fashion possible!
I dont think that’s unreasonable and I don’t think God deserves this hatred.
I can however respect your right to choose not to follow Him – after all, He gave you that right.
I hope you have peace, it seems like this is taking up a bit of your time.
You have so many talents I’d hate to see them get wasted on hating something you d
Comment on December 3, 2009 @ 4:42 pm
^ on’t even believe in…
Comment on December 3, 2009 @ 4:44 pm
Hey.. Stumbled on to your site and find it rather interesting –
Just some food for thought after seeing this video, fear has been a dominant reason to follow most religions including Islam and Hinduism. What’s really interesting is if for a minute hypothetically we agree that god made us, our creator.. Then god should be our dad/mom (subject to one’s religion) so should we then fear god as a parent of love him/her? I guess that’s one of the reasons why most hard core fundamentalists’ fear there parents! At least in all the discussions I have had with a number of them, they all seem to talk about fear, respect and duty but no mention of love.
Also in one of the studies I have learnt that Jesus teaches everyone to forgive as his main lesson. They why is it that GOD wont forgive us? After all god “created” us!
Comment on December 9, 2009 @ 2:57 am
And, like a vampire, a cross will keep him at bay!
Comment on December 13, 2009 @ 11:56 am
This quote is excellent:
“Fear is incredibly useful tool for persuading others to your views. It’s really convincing to tell a population of people that there is an imminent danger that is going to personally affect them, and that you alone have the cure they need. They might suspect you’re full of crap, but can they really take that chance?”
This describes the Global Warming mentality to a tee. Also two-party politics (I’d like to experience more party politics to see if it scales ;-)) — the other side is pure evil (or closet nazis etc…) and will do bad things X, Y, and Z. Funny that regardless of whether people believe in God, people still have a concept of sin and evil, even if they use other words for it.
Fear-mongering is a horrible but terribly effective way to short-circuit the rational thought process :-( Unfortunately, it seems like the only way to undo it is one conversation at a time — although perhaps well done media can be more effective, but my observations is that it mostly attracts people who leaned in that persuasion anyways.
Comment on December 23, 2009 @ 1:04 pm
Great Man
Comment on March 11, 2010 @ 4:13 am