Episcopal Bishop Says Hell Is Made Up By The Church

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[quote name='sixpence' timestamp='1349303217' post='2489710']
[url="http://www.upworthy.com/a-bishop-describes-how-the-church-invented-hell-to-control-people?g=2"]http://www.upworthy....trol-people?g=2[/url]

This was posted on the facebook of one of my militant atheist friends. Basically the bishop says he believes everyone gets the same afterlife no matter what and that the Church invented Hell to control the masses... wow
[/quote]


Well. He's partially right. Hell is made up.

[4588686]

[quote name='eagle_eye222001' timestamp='1349336308' post='2489864']
That bishop's office doesn't exist. It was made up to control the masses in the greatest scam ever.
[/quote]



The office does exist. You just don't think it has apostolic succession But that doesn't mean that the office doesn't exist even from a Catholic position. Church hierarchy is a scam, however. We can agree on that.

[4588686]

[quote name='qfnol31' timestamp='1349318876' post='2489800']
Karl Marx.
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Not really. Marx actually had a more sympathetic view, I think.


[i][color=#666666][font=Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif][size=4]“Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again. But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man—state, society. This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d’honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification. It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality. The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion. Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. [/size][/font][/color][b]Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.[/b][color=#666666][font=Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif][size=4] The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the [/size][/font][/color][url="http://www.surfcanyon.com/search?f=sl&q=halo&p=wtigck"]halo[/url][color=#666666][font=Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif][size=4].”[/size][/font][/color][/i]

Edited October 4, 2012 by Hasan

[Papist]

There is no hell......is exactly what Satan wants you to think.

[BG45]

Ah Hasan, I must respect you provided the full quotation there, so many just cut it down to a paraphrase of "religion is the opiate of the masses".

[qfnol31]

[quote name='Hasan' timestamp='1349336741' post='2489868']
Not really. Marx actually had a more sympathetic view, I think.


[i][color=#666666][font=Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif][size=4]“Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again. But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man—state, society. This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d’honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification. It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality. The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion. Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. [/size][/font][/color][b]Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.[/b][color=#666666][font=Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif][size=4] The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the [/size][/font][/color][url="http://www.surfcanyon.com/search?f=sl&q=halo&p=wtigck"]halo[/url][color=#666666][font=Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif][size=4].”[/size][/font][/color][/i]
[/quote]
Karl Marx' opinions of religion form much of the foundation for liberation theology, which says that ideas of suffering etc. are used merely to keep people in line.

[4588686]

[quote name='BG45' timestamp='1349383424' post='2490031']
Ah Hasan, I must respect you provided the full quotation there, so many just cut it down to a paraphrase of "religion is the opiate of the masses".
[/quote]


Which is a shame. Because I think his view is more nuanced and pretty beautifully expressed.

[Nihil Obstat]

Same with Nietzsche and the "God is dead" thing. I was just involved in a discussion about that on Reddit.

[cmotherofpirl]

The man should have the courage of his lack of Christian conviction and just admit he is anything but a Christian, and mostly and embarrassment to the Anglicans who actually have some faith.

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[quote name='cmotherofpirl' timestamp='1349400886' post='2490151']
The man should have the courage of his lack of Christian conviction and just admit he is anything but a Christian, and mostly and embarrassment to the Anglicans who actually have some faith.
[/quote]



He is pretty open about the fact that he is not a Christian as you, a conservative Catholic, would define the term.

[4588686]

Rowan Williams smacked Sponge down some time ago.


[url="http://anglicanecumenicalsociety.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/bishop-spong-and-archbishop-williamss-response/"]http://anglicanecumenicalsociety.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/bishop-spong-and-archbishop-williamss-response/[/url]

[Vincent Vega]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' timestamp='1349400886' post='2490151']
The man should have the courage of his lack of Christian conviction and just admit he is anything but a Christian, and mostly and embarrassment to the Anglicans who actually have some faith.
[/quote]
Anglicans and Episcopalians are only the same in the broadest sense. Most Episcopalians are more like Spong, while many Anglicans take more traditional stances on things (or, perhaps a better way to put it is that those who tend to the traditional side of things brand themselves as Anglican).

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='USAirwaysIHS' timestamp='1349409657' post='2490198']
Anglicans and Episcopalians are only the same in the broadest sense. Most Episcopalians are more like Spong, while many Anglicans take more traditional stances on things (or, perhaps a better way to put it is that those who tend to the traditional side of things brand themselves as Anglican).
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Except the Anglicans, at least the Anglicans outside of Africa as far as I understand it, are appallingly squishy. They do not stand up for their convictions ever. They can tend towards traditional Anglicanism as much as they want, but it does not mean a thing if they let the American Episcopalians run roughshod over them, as they do.

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='Hasan' timestamp='1349401069' post='2490154']



He is pretty open about the fact that he is not a Christian as you, a conservative Catholic, would define the term.
[/quote]

He is not ANY kind of Christian as he denies the dogmas of the faith. It has nothing to do with being conservative or liberal, there are some truths that are inherent to Christian belief and are not up for a vote.

[Vincent Vega]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' timestamp='1349410659' post='2490202']
Except the Anglicans, at least the Anglicans outside of Africa as far as I understand it, are appallingly squishy. They do not stand up for their convictions ever. They can tend towards traditional Anglicanism as much as they want, but it does not mean a thing if they let the American Episcopalians run roughshod over them, as they do.
[/quote]
I'm not really sure what you mean by any of this. Many (most) of the self-styled Anglican churches I've run into are very conservative, approximating or paralleling the Catholic Church on both social issues (abortion, matters of homosexuals in the public sphere, etc) and theological issues (especially their reverence for what they believe to be the Eucharist).

Edited October 5, 2012 by USAirwaysIHS