Can you think of an act that deserves damnation?-

[digonswine]

I mean---what can any person do-here on Earth-in our three score and ten-that ACTUALLY deserves eternal damnation. Forever-constant torment? No mercy if we realize the harm we did? This was inspired by a post about folks' view of OBL's current residence, by the way. I would not wish this sick thing on him or anyone.

[LeftinOH]

1. Molesting a child (and worse.. to a child) n/t

[digonswine]

14. You know-

they were most likely molested themselves. I worked for 13 yrs with juvenile sex offenders. I always wondered why they were in treatment and the parents were free to roam. Cycles.

[Dash87]

33. I think even they can be forgiven, but that's not up to a fictional character in ancient mythology.

It's up to the victim to forgive or not.

[RZM]

40. I don't know . . .

Sexual abuse by adults inflicts horrible trauma upon children. I feel for all of those who have to go through such an terrible ordeal. But at the same time, I've never thought that there is much choice associated with sexual preferences. People like what they like and we have strong impulses to go out and partake in what we like, even at the risk of potentially serious consequences. I believe in harsh penalties for child molesters because we have an obligation to protect children from them, but I've always refrained from singling them out as the worst type of criminal, because in the end I don't think they have any more ability to control their sexual impulses than a 'regular' person.

Also, the relative lack of concern over the treatment of sex offenders in our prison system is a shame.

[LAGC]

69. I struggle with that as well.

I mean, I know there are studies that many sex offenders were abused as children themselves, but there are many who weren't. What causes them to be the way they are? If there really is a biological component, that's disturbing because it lends credence to the social conservatives who like to say: "If we accept homosexuality just because they were just born that way, pedophilia will be next!" The flip-side is, what kind of God would have created even the possibility of pedophilia being part of the random diversity of nature? A God with a very sick sense of humor, that's who.

But obviously, biological or not, we have to protect the children. And even though its tough for sex offenders in prison, its much tougher for their victims to have to live with the abuse for the entire rest of their lives.

[customerserviceguy]

82. That was my first thought

But I don't believe in eternal anything, so I can't say that I'm completely in agreement with your premise.

On the other hand, interminable torture of child rapists might satisfy me a bit more than the thought that they might spend eternity without Jaysus.

[Luciferous]

84. It was my first thought as well.

[yankeepants]

2. Wearing white after Labor Day?

[texastoast]

No, it's white shoes

Before Memorial Day. Duh.

[Snoutport]

85. Not in the old days....my grandmother counted how many times you chewed,

would return letters unopened if you used blue ink and she once sent back an envelope because I had abbreviated Colorado to CO. ("If you don't have time to write out someone's full address you shouldn't bother them in the first place.") And, dear God in heaven, don't you dare wear white before Memorial Day. (Cream was ok)

[graywarrior]

3. I like Sartre's idea in his play No Exit where he determines that Hell is People

Getting stuck for all eternity with two other people who continuously point out and disapprove of you and your crime and you have no way to change it.....ever.....forever.

[blondeatlast]

8. Yeah; I like the idea of our own little Hell.

For me, it would be spending eternity with my overly tanned, overly surgified, overly ignorant about all but American Idol neighbors.

I just realized--I've already arrived. Oy.

[graywarrior]

10. My mother was always afraid she'd be hand-cuffed to her mother-in-law in hell forever

[digonswine]

15. Assuming those two others were completely blameless in all things.

[blondeatlast]

4. Killing 2800 completely innocent people with calculation and by essentially remote control.

I'd add lynchings and the Holocaust to that as well.

[digonswine]

17. Lynchings, etc.

Can you say that you would not be among the cheering crowd if put in that exact position? Same upbringing, same environment.I can't imagine it, either--but I can't say for sure.

[blondeatlast]

27. Yes, I can quite comfortably say that. My roots are Southern,

and my ancestors had a tough time of it because they worked for equality and justice.

Nice try, though.

[digonswine]

29. I did not mean that-

When I say YOU--I don't mean you as you are. I mean you as you might have been. No ancestors working for justice. No equality. Just some poor ignorant slob who can take some joy in putting someone below yourself in their place? I think about this w/ regard to many from the past. I think it is no excuse. Historians are great at "putting people in their time" but it seems an empty excuse. But, really, can I TRULY say I would be different form them in the same position? I want to say "yes" but I can never really know.

[pipi_k]

46. Actually you can't say that

in relation to whom you might have been in the past.

Like I said a in another post...if you had grown up in a different time and place...one where certain things were accepted, you might also have held those same attitudes.


You can't base your behavior or attitudes on unknowns and things you never experienced.

[digonswine]

50. That's what I was getting at.

[pipi_k]

45. Good point...

It's so easy for us to sit here and say what we would or wouldn't have done under different circumstances than now.

People are usually a product of their environments...their attitudes,anyway.

If I had been born in the antebellum South, I might have thought slavery was perfectly fine.

Had I been born in Nazi Germany, I might have thought Hitler had a point about the Jews.

I don't think any of us can say for certain that we would be who we are today if we had been placed in a different time and place.

[RZM]

43. I'll agree and throw in Stalin's crimes too

Particularly during the 1930s (collectivization, famine, Great Terror), though the WWII ethnic deportations are up there too.

[Taverner]

55. 'eternal damnation'

Not damnation for 100 years

Not damnation for 1000 years

Not damnation for 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 years

But an infinite number of years

Does ANYONE deserve that?

To me, if the punishment fits the crime, the only person who deserves eternal punishment is one who would dole out eternal punishment...

[yankeepants]

5. self delete

[Mojeoux]

6. All B.T.K. people.

May they burn eternal.

Their humanity ticket has been revoked.

[digonswine]

18. This makes me think of the Dahmer types.

You know-some are driven through no fault of their own, to do these things. I know that we have to set the bar at personal responsibility, but MAN would it suck to feel the need to or compulsion to commit horrendous acts! Think of pedophiles. Don't get me wrong-I want them in a ditch-but imagine being sexually attracted to kids. That is a powerful force. Let's not just wish eternal punishment so easily. BTW---I don't believe in hell.

[Mojeoux]

41. BTK and Peds who hurt kids.

My vision of hell is that they are doomed to constantly reincarnate as a moth that flies into a flame.

Ouch.

[digonswine]

52. Maybe I am missing something-

I seriously do not know a good way to think about people of the sort you list. Maybe if I had a nucleobase out of place, I would be me, but would be compelled to do horrible things. I think there is no hope for some people, and they need to be removed from society. I just can't help but feel sorry for people for whom this is a part of life. Call me a softy. Naturally, I know, keep them out of society. And I won't feel bad if they are ground up and put on fields for fertilizer. I guess it is the eternal question of why I ended up "normal" and they did not?

[Ian David]

7. Someone who forces other to eat their poo.

Or, I suppose, someone who forces others to eat any kind of poo at all, really.

There should be a special poo-eating circle of Hell for that.

[digonswine]

22. My dog eats my cat's poo-

I guess I am somewhat responsible for that in a once-removed kind of way.

[Rex]

9. Raping a 4 year old probably would earn you eternal damnation.

Well, it would in my book.

[LAGC]

11. Unless you repent, after the fact.

Plenty of "born again" Christians on death row.

[BobbyBoring]

12. Mine too

There's a case in DE where a pediatrician has been charged with hundreds of counts of child molestation.
I think eternal damnation is in order after castration~

[Occulus]

13. No, I can't.

It's one of the contradictions of christianity's "infinite mercy".

They always seem to mean "infinite mercy for me, but none for thee".

Which of course is one of many purely logical reasons I don't identify with the religion.

[digonswine]

24. I guess that's the idea-

I can't see truly wishing hell on any person for any reason. I'm a bit of a misanthrope, but the idea of hell is truly awful to me. The idea that so many of those who walk among me can think that this is OK-and often for such a simple transgression-is truly troubling.

[JVS]

16. bad tipping

[denverbill]

19. Maybe causing someone else to be damned?

I mean, if someone was going to heaven, and something you do or say causes them to re-think their lives and either do or believe something that causes them to be forever damned, that's about as bad a thing as you can do.

It would be even more damnable if it was done deliberately or on a large scale, like a preacher teaching people that Christian's should get rich, in almost direct contradiction to most of Jesus' teachings.

[digonswine]

28. Yes--I have no room in my heart for greedy hypocrites.

The end-times guys, prosperity gospel, other, etc. They just want to find their niche. They don't believe a word they say. My main idea, though, was that I can't think of any transgression, any act, that TRULY warrants damnation in hell. I don't believe in hell. My thought was that I can't imagine, IF I did believe, sending anyone to that fate for anything I can think of. Once you understand how people think, even a little, and by what they are motivated, the water gets muddier and muddier.

[tularetom]

20. Child molestation, animal cruelty

Just a couple of my favorite damnable pastimes.

[digonswine]

31. But really-damned to hell?

I was being serious.

[Deep13]

21. Talking in a movie theater. nt

[Deep13]

23. Urging people in AIDS-ridden Africa not to wear condoms under penalty of damnation. nt

[digonswine]

32. Yeah-that's pretty bad.

[gratuitous]

25. It's an interesting question

Responses upthread notwithstanding, and it was dealt with in an interesting book called "If Grace is True" by Phillip Gulley and James Mulholland. I recommend it for your edification.

[digonswine]

34. Thank you.

[JoePhilly]

26. Using the threat of eternal damniation as a way to control others.

[digonswine]

36. That comes real close.

[NutmegYankee]

30. Suicide Bombing.

It's a grave sin to murder someone and you kill yourself before you can repent.

[Dash87]

35. I believe that Osama Bin Laden could even be forgiven (if he was truly sorry).

However, there's no such thing as hell, so it really doesn't matter. :)

You know, Osama Bin Laden probably thought he was the good guy. So did the Nazis. People can be so wrong, and think that they're so right. Painting them as "evil" kind of diminishes the impact of what they had done, and blocks any analysis on why they did it (and how to prevent similar mindsets in the future), imo.

[digonswine]

37. I agree-

It doesn't excuse anything-but there are good and less good ways to think of things.

[wickerwoman]

38. Only for a crime that causes eternal pain or harm.

I think punishments should be proportional to the suffering they cause.

[digonswine]

51. I don't really know how to think of it-

Trauma can cause permanent brain changes/injury. Punishment doesn't tend to satisfy anyone or remedy anything. In a general sense it is satisfying, but it really does no one any good--victim or perp. Justice seems to do some good for the wronged. There is just no winning this, it seems. Quite depressing.

[dembotoz]

39. to vote republican

[REP]

42. You're right. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot et alia were just misunderstood.

[digonswine]

56. Yeah-that's what I said.

[REP]

62. If it existed, eternal damnation would be a bad waste of good sulfur on the likes of those

Other traditions think of eternal damnation as being forever separated from god. I believe there are some things for which there is no forgiveness. Knowing, intentional cruelty and mass slaughter are right up there. Some think that reciting a formula before death but after committing horrible suffering on others is enough; to a man of Jesus's intelligence, that is the proposition of a madman. (GBS, Androcles and the Lion)

[digonswine]

63. I'm right there with you-

I wasn't talking about forgiveness, though. Just plain old goin' to hell. If I was a praying man, I'd pray to be separated from that.

[REP]

83. Stupid iPhone. #67 was in reply to you

Though I do mutter to myself at times.

[REP]

67. Is damnation eternal torture or eternal separation from god?

The Christian version is the former. The Jewish version is the latter. Jews do not believe in a physical spook-house hell; that is a Christian perversion of Norse (and other) mythologies.

[FreeJoe]

44. No

Heck, I don't even believe in death or torture as punishments. Sorry, but nothing deserves eternal damnation.

[Dj13Francis]

47. Sure!

Voting for a Republican!

[LadyHawkAZ]

48. mass-slaughtering people over whose fairy tale is better

that is all

[digonswine]

65. Not enough. These are people wer're talking about.

[LadyHawkAZ]

86. I know

so are the people they slaughter.

It's an irrelevant question. I just picked the group for whom I most wish there really was a Hell or some form of after-death punishment.

[scheming daemons]

49. There's no such thing as hell (or heaven for that matter)... so the point is moot

The moment the bullet hit Osama's brain, his consciousness ceased to exist.

There's no place that he "went". His flesh and organs ceased living and became fish food. His "mind" or "consciousness" ceased the moment half his face was blown off.

[pintobean]

53. Prove it!

:)

[digonswine]

57. Yes-I know that.

I was wondering how people thought about it.

[pintobean]

60. How do you know that?

Maybe it's what you believe.

[digonswine]

66. Because it is silly and stupid to think it.

Easy enough.

[Taverner]

54. I think the concept of eternal damnation is in itself psychotic

And any "god" who promises this solely on theological grounds is a psychopathic personality

[digonswine]

59. Right.

[Rowdyboy]

58. A 28 year old man in NE Mississippi was convicted of "depraved heart murder"....

When a ski boat sank in a local waterway he and an eight year old girl were left with a single small life preserver. He was observed breaking her grip and pushing her away. He survived. She didn't.

May he spend every day of the rest of his life in Parchman penitentiary-trust me his life will be what he deserves.

[digonswine]

68. I'm not saying it's OK-

but if you are in same position-same position-let's see how you deal.

[Rowdyboy]

72. I'd probably be doing time in Parchman in his place...and I would deserve it

It would be just as wrong if I did it. I understand panic and desperate attempts to save your own life. The survival instinct is overwhelming but adults are capable of making decisions that are not self-serving. It was a heinous action and actions have consequences. Sometimes big boys have to suck it up.

[DireStrike]

61. Absolutely not

An entire lifetime, cradle-to-grave, of the most despicable acts imaginable still wouldn't warrant eternal damnation.

[polly7]

64. Murder / sexual assault of a child, torture of humans or animals. nt.

[digonswine]

71. I agree-but eternal damnation is not a trifling matter-

I feel in a very visceral way these feelings. I have to fight them constantly. But--we are way too cavalier in sending these fucks to hell, or to their deaths. We need to separate ourselves from our gut feelings. This is all we've got. Again--hell is a construct for which I have no belief.

[polly7]

74. It's strange, because I don't believe in the DP, I also actually don't

believe in hell, so that was more just wishful thinking. I guess what I'd like above all else is for those who do the evil acts that condemn people to a lifetime of trauma and hell to feel the same at some point .... not for punishment really, but to understand just what they've done and how bad it has hurt victims themselves or those who have to survive without them. Which makes no sense, because if they were able to empathize with the pain of others they wouldn't do the act in the first place. So .... hell, even a mythical hell to suffer a little damnation is the only thing left.

[digonswine]

80. Yeah-

there's never any satisfaction. They can't feel what they do. I think it stinks all around. Victim's family members, after a death penalty kill, are relieved when it's done-but it is no real help. The loved ones are gone or hurt. Dammit.

[Lucian]

70. Well, if god is really all loving, all knowing, all forgiving...

no one is going to hell.

Which is why I don't understand this contradiction in the bible.

[underpants]

73. Starting a war on a lie

[Warren Stupidity]

75. yeah: posting religion ops outside of the religion forum. nt.

[Bucky]

76. I thought of one act that should be damned

The Patriot Act

[hobbit709]

77. Don't know about damnation but I can think of some the Erinnyes should be after.

[stuntcat]

78. rape

actually most of the stuff people have listed here deserves it, in my mind (I'm not too forgiving :blush:) But the evil of someone forcing themselves on someone else, that way, is about as sick as it gets, to me.

Rape of the planet is next. Like by the species that wipes out other species, and trashes the seas, and tears down forests. But that's on everyone, a collective violation, just by existing I'm a part of it.

[MH1]

79. Voting republican.

Okay, just kidding!

Many people just don't know any better.

Since I don't believe any such thing as eternal damnation exists - although some people forced into a prolonged dying process might disagree - I won't spend much time thinking whether there's any act that deserves it.

[Odin2005]

81. Murder. Genocide. Rape. Pedophilia. Unrepentant Selfishness.

[palmtree guy]

87. blindly

sending in drones that haphazardly kill innocent women and children.