"Fearmongering is not an effective way to convince people that Jesus loves you, it's just fearmongering". Very well said, Dr. Dan.

@alanb8884

Ай бұрын

It is very effective in controlling people however.

@langreeves6419

Ай бұрын

​​@@alanb8884It's the weakest way to control people It doesn't encourage anyone to actually change It just encourages you to try to avoid punishment

@MarcosElMalo2

Ай бұрын

@@langreeves6419They don’t want people to change or increase their understanding, they just want to keep them in line. As far as convincing people that “Jesus loves you”, 1) it’s not hard to convince people that they are special and better than others outside their identity group. 2) the fear mongering reinforces why you need to march in lockstep and not lose the favor of Jesus. Dan misses the point of fear mongering in this video. I do not dispute anything else he says.

@langreeves6419

Ай бұрын

@MarcosElMalo2 wow, you need to try a different church! All the churches I've been with do not teach such nonsense I grew up Baptist. They were so emphatic that God saved us through grace and there's nothing we can do to earn or keep salvation. "Once saved, always saved". Fear of punishment just wasn't a thing. Most churches I've been with would teach that lawbreaking causes problems, but not thru divine punishment. Stealing, hitting, murdering...these things cause their own consequences without God having to "smite." Guilt was used as motivation, not fear. The teaching was "after all that God has done for us, we should be grateful" Also a big teaching was that God loves those outside the church Just as much those inside the church. The teaching wasn't God loves US, but God loved EVERYONE. And we cannot do anything to lose the favor of Jesus. Unfortunately the Baptists also have some teachings I don't agree with, so I'm no longer affiliated with them. But their focus on God's love and forgiveness for all I have kept.

@donaldwert7137

Ай бұрын

"For God so loved the world" that He first condemned everyone in it to Hell then sent is Only Begotten Son to one tiny place on earth to die in torment to redeem everyone who believes in Him. Of course, most of the world's population wouldn't hear the message for centuries, so... Yeah, no, I'm good.

One scholar described Revelations as “1st century revenge porn.”

@eilyschneider5370

Ай бұрын

The Apocalypse of Peter definitely is 😅

@MrDalisclock

Ай бұрын

Reading it again as an adult and a non Christian that really stuck out to me. Especially the fact Jesus is the one killing everyone in revelation and Satan is a bit player in the whole thing. Satan gets allowed to do some stuff by Jesus, tossed in naughty jail for 1000 years and then.. released on good behavior I guess?

@MrDalisclock

Ай бұрын

@@eilyschneider5370 *Dante is NOT copying ideas from the apocalypse of Peter. Why would you suggest such a thing?* /S

@MusicalRaichu

Ай бұрын

Revelation's "revenge fantasies" are as just that, fantasies of how some like to think, not what God will do. Their net result is "people did not repent" and therefore futile. God's way is instead to "slay with the sword of his mouth", win people over with the gospel, not wrath. Those in the lake of fire are still around outside the city in the next vision where the gates are permanently open. Inside there is healing for the nations.

@Taranaki66

17 күн бұрын

Julia Sweeney calls Revelation "the Bible on acid."

It's so funny to me that Dante's Inferno was basically fan fiction but has come to completely dominate the Christian concept of the afterlife.

@jamesjarvis3486

Ай бұрын

I met Virgil in Hell and he thought I was cool and we totally hung out together...

@VoodooChild333

Ай бұрын

Scathing political fanfiction directed at the Greek senate for being a bunch of creepy hypocrites.

@Duragizer8775

Ай бұрын

I dunno. Dante's Hell has nine circles with different punishments of varying severity for different sins. Fundagelical Hell is just a one-size-fits-all flambé.

@themattylee

Ай бұрын

​@@Duragizer8775 I never claimed they actually read it. Much like the Bible, they just use a mishmash of the highlights.

@MusicalRaichu

Ай бұрын

@@jamesjarvis3486 If it's unbearably hot and you meet someone cool, it can only help, right?

"It's a rhetorical whip we use on the backs on people to get them to behave in certain ways we want them to behave"... Exactly what people don't seem to get

@langreeves6419

Ай бұрын

And based on what dan said the concept of hell was never developed for that purpose Hardly anybody seems to get that People are so stupid they think hell was come up with just to make people behave a certain way When actually the Jews were so oppressed, they were just trying to figure out. Is there going to be a happy life after we die and will the people causing us pain be punished 1 day?

@infiniti28160

Ай бұрын

@@langreeves6419 And yet where Moses learnt all his knowledge from has exactly that type of instrumentation to get people to behave in a certain way, Look up Crook and flail , and Ma'at from egyptian mythology. Or do you think Moses wasnt taught such because he was jewish? A scholar of the scriptures would know the construct where Hades and Tatarus are taken from to draw an analogy as is with the lake of fire and Abyss, but this scholar seems to brush it aside as being meangnless because it doesnt fit the hebrew understanding and as a later addtition that was added to fill up space between two covers is nothing but twaddle not to be studied. Scholar? naw more like a hebrew pharisee. If you should understand, the hebrew part of the scriptures is for children, they like to play within the duality, not knowing if anything is real but fun to entertain anyway, the NT takes a lttle more effort to work out and comprehend and will exhaust all false notions that are being harboured., so one can become sovereign within their own right.

@MusicalRaichu

Ай бұрын

@@langreeves6419 By "after we die" they meant they will come back to life when the Messiah comes and puts things right.

@langreeves6419

Ай бұрын

@@MusicalRaichu yes.. And... The point is... Did you have one? Is there more to your statement that got cut off?

@MusicalRaichu

Ай бұрын

@@langreeves6419 Nothing more, you're right, and I'm adding a clarification. Some readers might misinterpret what you wrote by conflating it with popular modern notions of afterlife.

"I take no pleasure in discussing this" Then why are you smiling so much? Thanks, Dan, for pointing out all the nonsense out there.

@evangelicalsnever-lie9792

Ай бұрын

Oh they take fantasy pleasure thinking about how all those "who don't agree with me are gonna get it!"

@SteveSmith-os5bs

Ай бұрын

I have never seen a Christian happier then when they are talking about how saved they are and how dammed you are and going to hell.

@AmandaTroutman

Ай бұрын

Some people are nervous smilers but I do not think that is this case.

@angelonzuji2457

Ай бұрын

😂

@spinnwebe_

Ай бұрын

@@evangelicalsnever-lie9792 honestly I think it’s just that she feels so blessed with the power of Jesus. Which frankly I find a lot creepier

#2 Hell is a lake of fire #4 Hell is a bottomless pit ME: *confused Jackie Chan face*

@spinnwebe_

Ай бұрын

Can God make a pit so bottomless that He can’t fill it with fire?

@emptyhand777

Ай бұрын

​@@spinnwebe_- can God microwave a burrito so hot even he can't eat it?

@ZootOfficial

Ай бұрын

@@emptyhand777 AAAAH WHERE WAS THIS FROM?

@emptyhand777

Ай бұрын

@@ZootOfficial - I heard Matt Dillahunty say it once a long time ago.

@ZootOfficial

Ай бұрын

@@emptyhand777 I searched it up and its a line that Homer says in the simpsons.

Thanks Dan. A few years after deconstructing evangelical beliefs, I was invited back to church by a friend. The Pastor said he felt compelled to preach on hell. I stayed as long as I could, but knowledge is power. It's control BS that toxic people and organizations use. Glad that "biblical" Christianity is in my rear view mirror.

Child tells parents "I don't believe you're my real parents!" Parents set Child on fire

I've heard that the roads to hell are paved with good intentions. At least we know that hell has paved roads.

@bretfisher7286

Ай бұрын

😂

@infiniti28160

Ай бұрын

Much like all roads that lead to Rome.

@futtbugly5986

Ай бұрын

@@infiniti28160No doubt, yet Rome's roads were cobbled together, at best, compared to Hell's super duper asphalt and brimstone. :~)

@VoodooChild333

Ай бұрын

I've heard their central heating system is pretty efficient too, a lot better than Helheims.

@davidgibson5756

Ай бұрын

One of the many good things the Romans have done for us

Hell is queuing up a Dan McClellan video and then losing your Internet connection.

It makes me sad, seeing these kids so confident and earnest about things created to make them controlled and fearful

"Fearmongering" was an effective way to convince me that either God was a sadistic SOB that I wanted no part of or what they were telling me about God was BS.

@DoloresLehmann

Ай бұрын

And at what conclusion did you arrive at?

@icollectstories5702

Ай бұрын

@@DoloresLehmann I drifted to "agnostic" and stayed there, likely because it is the WEAKEST belief one could hold. I fantasize that if I meet God in the Afterlife, I hope to be ready to deliver a detailed critique on Creation, after which He tosses me a universe and says, "Okay. Now you be God!" (This idea comes from Futurama's "Godfellas," which is an adaptation of "Microcosmic God.") But I think God is more like the God of Job, who does things for His Own reasons and doesn't really think about us at all. Which is to say, His existence matters not to us.

@DoloresLehmann

Ай бұрын

@@icollectstories5702 Very interesting point of view! Thanks!

You'd think the Bible would spend some time explaining how a benevolent God would create a Universe in which so many people end up in eternal torment...if the concept of Hell had existed at the time

@MusicalRaichu

Ай бұрын

I can't find infinite torment in the Bible. Mat 25.46 in Greek says "chastisement of the age" which actually supports universal reconciliation. It's because it was translated as eternal torment into Latin that the Roman church - which ended up the most influential - imposed it on everyone else. Even in Revelation, "smoke" is said to be long-lasting but not torment itself.

@loomiere-gs1qc

Ай бұрын

That's actually a good observation.

@MusicalRaichu

Ай бұрын

I might add that the Bible is not a living thinking entity that "spends time" or "explains how".

@epicofgilgamesh9964

Ай бұрын

​@@MusicalRaichu Matthew 25:31-46 When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” . . . Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. . . . And these will go away into **eternal punishment,** but the righteous into eternal life.”

@MusicalRaichu

Ай бұрын

@@epicofgilgamesh9964 The original Greek says "chastisement of the age". For the first half a millennium the predominant view was universal reconciliation where punishment was reformative. Compare Jesus's explanation of fire in Mat 13 as "furnace", fire put to constructive use. The phrase "chastisement of the age" was poorly translated into Latin as "eternal punishment". Because the Roman church had the most influence, that idea became dominant. It was developed in the middle ages into the mythology we have today. The protestant reformers' legal background led them to misunderstand the gospel consistent with a need for "punishment" so they retained that idea even while revising others. Modern English versions will say what fits their theology or what potential customers want it to say, not what the original Greek says. This is true for other passages too.

"Sola scriptura" my *ss. Give 'em Hell, Dan.

If your husband/wife/partner told you they love you unconditionally but then tortured you for not returning their love - would that make ANY sense?

Wow, this was just 8 mins long and is absolutely packed with info and context

@Jaymiranz

27 күн бұрын

Info of what? Dudes a Mormon who believes each one will get their own planet😂

I love how she is talking about eternal torment with a pink mic and a pink background 😂

@Bildgesmythe

Ай бұрын

My vision of Hell.

I've been trying to tell ppl for years, I don't fear burning for eternity without a nervous system and brain activity.

@xenicmark

Ай бұрын

😂😂 As a young kid I was into science and the concept of eternal anything made no sense to me. I always thought, 1. Everything adapts to its environment given enough time. And eternity is certainly long enough. 2. How can heaven be eternal happiness for everyone? This assumes we either all want to do the same thing or that we will have no free will. And since most Christians assert that we indeed do have free will. Would it not be eternal punishment to take that away. 3. If there was a rebellion in heaven before, what guarantee is there that there would never be another. Again, eternity is a long time. 4. What happens to people who's joy in life was to be with their loved ones. If their loved ones ended up in hell, how could they find happiness in heaven. 5. How was a place that only plays choir music to one person for all eternity a happy place? And this is how I started to learn about the "Rhetorical whip"

@anthonyedwards2024

Ай бұрын

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

@digitaljanus

Ай бұрын

Mickey: Aren't you afraid of dying? Mickey's Father: Why should I be afraid? Mickey: Cause you won't exist! Mickey's Father: So? Mickey: That thought doesn't terrify you? Mickey's Father: Who talks about such nonsense? Now, I'm alive. When I'm dead, I'll be dead. Mickey: I don't understand. Aren't you frightened? Mickey's Father: Of what? I'll be unconscious. Mickey: I know, but, never to exist again? Mickey's Father: How do you know? Mickey: Well, it certainly doesn't look promising. Mickey's Father: Who knows what'll be. I'll either be unconscious or I won't. If not, I'll deal with it then. I'm not gonna worry now. - _Hannah and Her Sisters_

@KnuttyEntertainment

Ай бұрын

@@xenicmark You have just accidentally discovered the Latter-day Saint understanding of the afterlife which solves all of those problems.

@MusicalRaichu

Ай бұрын

Jesus said that God can send you "body and soul" into Gehenna. So whatever it's supposed to be, you will have a nervous system.

Even as a Christian, I genuinely love this content. Thanks Dan!

@jacobmetts2668

Ай бұрын

I'm saying this in love fellow Christian, you should not love content that is "antichrist "!

@Nick-o-time

Ай бұрын

​@@jacobmetts2668Dan is a Christian, and adheres much closer to Jesus' teaching than whatever trash you believe

@brettjohnson536

Ай бұрын

@@jacobmetts2668What are you talking about? He literally just gives info on the bible. Are you on drugs or something?

@flowingafterglow629

Ай бұрын

@@jacobmetts2668 You approve instead of ignorant people who distort what the bible to advance an agenda?

@randybaker6042

Ай бұрын

@@jacobmetts2668 🤣

What is interesting to me is that Paul's concept of salvation is not specifically s salvation from Hell. The idea of being saved from hell doesnt seem to be particularly important to the theology of most authors in the Bible

@juliachildress2943

Ай бұрын

Exactly. Hell avoidance is not the purpose of Judaism or Christianity. For Christians, the purpose of the faith is to bring the kingdom of God to earth "as it is in heaven." Jesus lays out how to do this in his words and actions. The foundation is love.

I began to ponder why this confusion has persisted for so long within Christianity when IMO the plain reading of the text reveals contradictions that ought to lead to corrections, and then I remembered this thing called cognitive bias. I suspect it would be easier to list the cognitive biases that don't lead to this kind of mistake than the ones that do.

...So it's going to be a bottomless pit _and_ a lake of fire? Is the lake of fire _in_ the bottomless pit? Where in the bottomless pit? Presumably not at the bottom so...

@DoloresLehmann

Ай бұрын

No, the lake of fire is filling up the whole bottomless pit from top to bottom... oh, wait.

@MrDalisclock

Ай бұрын

Metaphorical/metaphysical geography is bizarre.

@MusicalRaichu

Ай бұрын

bottomless just means so deep you can't perceive the bottom. native english speakers take things so literally sometimes ...

@Zahaqiel

Ай бұрын

​@@MusicalRaichu No, the idea of a "bottomless pit" is one that is well-established in English and it doesn't match what you just said - most English-speakers would just call what you just said a "very deep pit" or "a pit of indeterminate depth" or "a pit where you can't see the bottom". The fact that you're objecting to "native English speakers", when _discussing what someone who is a native English speaker is trying to say_ is absurd. Additionally, she is taking it literally because she's lifting it directly from the text and assuming it to be true on its face. Thirdly, under the premises she is assuming it to be true, God has said that the pit is bottomless, and her conception of God is that he is all-powerful so he can genuinely create an infinitely deep pit according to her conception of the universe. Ergo, _she very clearly means it is an infinitely deep pit_ irrespective of what the text says in the original Greek, and so my pointing out that her own claimed descriptions are incompatible is valid. Try to keep up. Oh and finally, since you clearly want to validate what she's saying and yet simultaneously not agree with what she means by it... and I really can't stress this enough... *_if there's a lake of fire at the bottom of the pit, then you can perceive the bottom!_* So your objection to my critique is equally as nonsensical as what she's trying to claim.

@Zahaqiel

Ай бұрын

@@MrDalisclock She's being literal too, so... she's just literally bizarre.

Willing to bet that this content creator doesn't know a fraction of the facts Dan is providing. And even if she was made aware of them, she probably wouldn't accept them. The Dunning-Kruger effect is strong with this one. Smh...

I would happily listen to more theological scholars like Dan.

Just leaving a comment for the algorithm. Thank you so much, Dan, for this video. Hell anxiety has been so hard for me in my deconstruction journey. I can't tell you how much your content has helped me. So many people "in the trenches" need to hear this!

@warrenroby6907

Ай бұрын

I hope this video gets a wide circulation. He packs much content into a brief space. I too want to help the algorithm.

@gaynchor

18 күн бұрын

Does it really help? Bc it makes me scared bc he says the bible teaches the eternal torment. Or am I misunderstanding?

@deltajuliet2533

18 күн бұрын

@gaynchor No I don't think you're misunderstanding. I think the bigger picture is that the Bible doesn't agree with itself on the topic of hell, and people in church leadership will pick the readings that support their end-goals, and minimize the texts that speak to the contrary. There's a good case that can be made for early universalism, but I'm not strong enough on that knowledge to make it. Dr. Roberto J. De La Noval has written a book on it, though, I believe.

‘Hell is a very real place whether you believe it or not’ and I’m going to prove it’s real by telling you about some obscure passages in the bible.

@evangelicalsnever-lie9792

Ай бұрын

🔥👀 Now we're so skeered, because we're deeply superstious!

@infiniti28160

Ай бұрын

@@evangelicalsnever-lie9792 The person that is superstitious is the one that thinks something is true without having any rational explanation to substatiate the claim. If there is a heaven, then it makes sense in a world of duality, there is an equal and opposing force called hell. There is a saying that states evil is the absence of good. yet evil is an active force amongst many upon the planet.

@evangelicalsnever-lie9792

Ай бұрын

@@infiniti28160 Presuppositional Strawman and Tu Quoque Fallacies are noted, rejected and dismissed.

Jean-Paul Sartre was right. Hell is other people.

@johnburn8031

Ай бұрын

All his friends were French! 😂

@alanb8884

Ай бұрын

@@johnburn8031 😅

Notice prostilitizers cannot do a video without emotive music as a crutch & manipulation / gaslighting tool to add drama to the snake oil pitch being made?

I always find it funny that people like her are so certain about their final resting place. How is she so sure about herself but so easily judges others? And why in the world would you ever be interested in a god that does the things she is saying?

In my opinion, the fact that the OT and then Paul in the NT, literally do not mention any place of eternal torment is more than enough for people to re-think or examine why they believe in an eternal torment being taught in the Bible. Cherry picking verses and taking some out of context is of no value to anyone. Great video, thanks!

Why I'm not a Christian or Muslim. One of the major reasons is the concept of hell and adherence to this idea. Terrorizing people by brandishing inhumane punishment shows an abysmal disregard for the dignity and respect of the person. The most serious is when it is inflicted on children. It’s children abuse! I consider myself lucky to live in a secular society and to be born into an apatheist family.

@christalimerick

Ай бұрын

Consider becoming a christiam again and spreading the real biblical truth about "hell", which is that it's not for humans and not eternal

@karldehaut

Ай бұрын

@@christalimerick I'm old enough to remember considering joining a religion. I rejected this because ample data shows me that all religions are man-made. Even the concept of religion is a human creation (conceived around the 16th century). When you say the biblical truth, I hear it and I understand it as a literary truth, I might as well talk about the “truth of Boccaccio’s Decameron”. So why join this religion over that religion? I don't believe in the existence of supernatural entities.Believe in what you want as long as it harms neither yourself nor others.

Me too used to live in constant fear when i was an evangelical. Even tho i had the hope ("knowing") of salvation through Christ i was also in constant fear of ever messing it up. I was thought that Satan was like a hungry lion constantly walking around me waiting for me to misstep

Brilliant as always. Even shared this to FB. There should be a PAC or something to get this info info PSAs to the public. Especially the notion of the 4th century addition of Revelations which is the prime source of most cringey, crazy Christians today.

Excellent! Thank you. The concept of hell never made any sense to me.

@infiniti28160

Ай бұрын

If there be a heaven, hell is its direct opposite.

Excellent 😌 I've come to the realization that with all the proof and truth of the fact that there's no such place as hell, people will still hold on to the concept of it just to keep themselves on the so called right path. They feel that without a punishment, they're incapable of doing what's right.

Dan, keep telling the truth, just like a thermometer. I can adjust to what the thermometer says, instead of claiming it doesn't say that.

So good, Dan. Absolutely “hell” is a fear tactic for manipulation within religion.

Fantastic sir, thank you so much for your time

You’ve been killing the game non stop!!!!! Loving this

Awesomeness!

When will people stop saying “Revelations”? It’s Revelation. There’s no “S”. Don’t know why it bugs me so much, but it does.

@evangelicalsnever-lie9792

Ай бұрын

Yes, it's not plural. Seems rather pedantic however, as there is no confusion what the person who says the thing that everyone now knows bugs you, is referring to. "Revaltions" 😀

@DoloresLehmann

Ай бұрын

@@evangelicalsnever-lie9792 Did people already say "Revelations" before the Matrix movie? Or is it a residue from the movie title? I don't know, since in German, it's called "Offenbarung". Always singular.

@np4231

Ай бұрын

Mandela effect

@johnburn8031

Ай бұрын

We are talking about the same people who say "Evidences" 🤦🏻‍♂️

@stevenbatke2475

Ай бұрын

@@johnburn8031 😂 touché

What is christian love? Baby don't hurt me Baby don't hurt me No more.

The Old Testament consistently teaches the annihilation of the wicked, not eternal conscious torment.

I love this so much

Growing up Jehovah's Witness we were so proud of our soul sleep hell is not hot doctrine. We'd get reminded all the time about how the founder of Watchtower "turned the hose on hell" in the 1800s.

@spinnwebe_

Ай бұрын

Can you explain “soul sleep hell is not hot doctrine”? Never heard this, curious

@cygnustsp

Ай бұрын

@@spinnwebe_ soul sleep is the idea that there is no separation of soul/spirit from the body at death. You are unconscious, asleep, which is generally how the Bible talks about death. Jesus and Paul talked about death as sleep, and not existing incorporeally in some other existence. You're awoken when your body is recreated in the resurrection. "Hell" is simply the common grave of mankind, which is how the Hebrew Bible portrays it. It's not hot, it's just a state of non existence. Like Dan says it itself gets thrown into the lake of fire in Revelation. The one issue is when King Saul summoned Samuel from death and his spirit showed up. Just reading the text it seems like the writer meant that it was actually Samuels soul, and there's Jesus with the story of Lazarus and Abraham having a conversation in the afterlife, but soul sleepers will say "Samuel" was a demon, and Jesus' story was just a parable.

Amazingly put Dan.

thanks Dan

Thank you so much! That was just perfect.

Well said!

Thank you.

I suddenly find myself interested in ANY follow-up to these posts from Dan where the original creator actually reconsiders his/her position and recants, or adjusts, or even decides to become an actual scholar on the subject (do research / think critically / etc). Anyone know of a story?

Since I visited Israel my religious studies have expanded to include an Eastern religion and Judaism. When I visited Israel I had an energy experience at the site of a small Catholic Church of the Beatitudes. This small park is believed to be the site of the Sermon on the Mount. Small pavers are engraved with each of the Beatitudes. Shortly after I got there as I went around the circle of stones the energy became noticeable and then stronger and stronger. I finally sat on the grass and let the energy flow around me. This type of thing doesn’t happen often. The last time I felt this kind of intensity was when I went to Pearl Harbor and visited the USS Arizona. Such sorrow I experienced that day.

THANK YOU DAN…..

no rest, 'day or night'? Hell, I'm not even there yet, & I'm tired of it already. PASS! 🙃

Short and informative as always

So interesting.

Why is Barbie telling me to go to hell? I though I was Kenough?

I can see the lake of fire as a metaphor for total destruction. Even trash, remnants of things that we would consider destroyed already, is burned to destroy it "completely". Also destruction still counts as an eternal punishment, as long as the destroyed thing is gone forever

@MusicalRaichu

Ай бұрын

Fire can be used to inflict pain, to destroy, or to refine. It can be interpreted any way you like. The term translated "eternal" is aeonian, meaning pertaining to an age. It only means infinite duration if what it is applied to is already known to be of infinite duration. Destruction is not of infinite duration, so it would just mean "destroyed in the age [to come]". Although, it might mean "ruined in the age to come", that is, refined of all evil to the point where there's not much of the original you left.

Weird coincidence. The Machinations of Athanasius was the name of my death metal band in high school.

Wow. Might be my favorite Dan video yet.

Nobody wants to worship a God that will throw you into an eternal Hell after putting you through Hell on Earth🤦🏼 I understand the threat of Hell nobody would join your religion if they weren't afraid of something😊 If you need a book to be a good person then you're not a good person 🤷🏼

Thanks Dan for calling it out for what it is. You need to be careful about nuances in these texts. "eternal punishment" renders Greek "eonian chastisement", punishment intended to reform, in "the age", presumably the age to come. Similarly, Jesus explained that "fire" refers to a "furnace", exclusively fire for constructive use e.g. to refine. The gospels is silent on what happens to people after they're chastised/refined. Revelation's revenge fantasies can be understood as just that, fantasies of what the readers imagine, not what God will do. Their net result is "people did not repent" and thus futile. God's way is instead to "slay with the sword of his mouth", win people over with the gospel, not wrath. Those in the lake of fire are still around outside the city in the next vision. The city gates always remain open and inside there is "healing for the nations". Paul's view is the clearest. There will be "distress" for those who do wrong, they "will not inherit the kingdom" (Christians included), but at the same time, "one man's act of righteousness leads to justification and life for ALL", God will reconcile ALL to himself, EVERY tongue will profess Christ as Lord. Paul thought that in spite of "not inheriting the kingdom", somehow everyone will be reconciled to God.

@warrenroby6907

Ай бұрын

Ultimate Reconciliation is what the Bible as a whole teaches.

Dan, with such a grounded/realistic/human view of concepts that are in scripture, where do you land on your own testimony. I've seen in some of your content you said you were and active Latter Day Saint. Is that still the case? I'm always intrigued to find where intelligent folks land on the supernatural.

@fernlovebond

Ай бұрын

Dan has repeatedly noted that he will not discuss his personal beliefs and/or his scholarly work in connection to those beliefs. The most he's said is that he is LDS, but has made no additional remarks about how he reconciles that with his textual criticism of the biblical texts or the "Mormon scripture" texts. If you check more of his videos, and podcast, you should be able to find him stating such things for himself.

@ChocoboSaint

Ай бұрын

That’s totally fair. I just found his stuff recently and hadn’t seen enough to hear that yet. Thanks for the heads up!

@ChocoboSaint

Ай бұрын

And it does shield him to a degree from the accusations of engaging in apologetics. So the more I think about it the more it makes sense. As LDS myself I just always appreciate the critical eye overlapping with the eye of faith. But if you ever touch something from that perspective I can understand how you lose “objectivity”.

@scottmaddow7879

Ай бұрын

Dan was interviewed and pretty much said Faith is something you believe but hope it will be revealed as truth one day...heavy on paraphrase but I think that is it in a nutshell. He rarely replays on KZread comments, especially about his personal tradition. That's why I like his content, he represents a scholarly approach without the encumbrance of apologetics. I find it funny he is often accused of being an Atheist.

@ChocoboSaint

Ай бұрын

@@scottmaddow7879 and that makes perfect sense, I appreciate what I’ve seen because of his ability to critically think about things that often times even the faithful, or should I say, especially the faithful, refuse to think critically about.

Hi, Dr. McClellan. Why don't you do a video on the three concepts of hell?

I believe that people like her are victims of religious trauma too.

There’s no hell? Oh the hell there is! There’s no hell? Oh, hell no there ain’t any hell!

I believe in reincarnation and I’m born from above through faith in Christ

Hells yeah !

Revelations is very symbolic. Rather than the place Hades, could Hades be the Greek god of the underworld being thrown in the fire, interpreted by some to mean Satan?

As a staunch unbeliever I'm a fan of annihilationism. A god not allowing me this option is a PoS not worthy of my worship. I don't want eternal life in Heaven. The eternal company of christians like this girl is a horrible prospect.

Just Curious. I think I read that even Martin Luther wanted to remove the book of Revelation out of his New Testament translation. As well as Hebrews James Jude, and the Epistles of Peter, where we find more vengeful concepts of God’s wrath in the New Testament. Is that correct or am I out to lunch? Thanks

It is that 'revenge fantasy' that seems to be the draw of this Fifth Not So Great Awakening going on now. It isn't piety, it's anguish that fuels this new surge and that anguish is fueling a contemptible fascination with seeing others suffer for their 'sins'.

Objection! Asserting a loving and merciful God assumes facts not in evidence. Univocality has not been established, your honor.

Revenge fantasy, smacks of Dante.

I love Old School Hulk. The Hulk I first read.

@ Hell is eternal torment. And what could anyone do that justfies that? I can see, for example, tyrants, serial killers being punished severely and then destroyed. But, does it sound even remotely proportionate to set them on fire for a trillion years? The human race would be extinct. The Universe we lived in would likely be gone. They're still burning. Now scale that down to someone who, say, committed adultry, shoplifted and committed a few other petty sins. I would submit that over-punishment makes you the bad guy.

So the eternal torment is applied by the lamb and angels but not the devil and demons? Interesting.

@DoloresLehmann

Ай бұрын

Yes, that has always been a strong misconception. The Bible never talks about the devil and his demons running hell or torturing the damned, but the devil and his demons are cast into hell just like all the others.

@digitaljanus

Ай бұрын

​@@DoloresLehmann It's interesting in Dante's _Inferno_ , the pop culture template for modern conceptions of Hell, the Devil is not only not the active ruler or chief tormentor, but the most restricted prisoner. He's literally frozen in a lake of ice up to his waist, chewing on (in Dante's estimation) history's three greatest traitors: Brutus & Cassius (the ringleaders of Julius Caesar's assassination) and Judas Iscariot.

@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana

Ай бұрын

@@DoloresLehmann Depends on how you interpret it. Otherwise it just has the torment of Earth 🌍 existing forever.

As a Latter-day Saint myself, it's deeply saddening and troubling when I see other Christians who feel like they have no other choice than fearmongering to get people to behave. The point of the gospel of Jesus Christ is for people to become the kinds of people who want to do and be good because that's where joy and happiness lie. The point is to have a change of heart, a new birth, to the extent that you don't to do bad things anymore. If you have to use the stick, then clearly you haven't explained or understood the carrot well enough.

Where do you buy your tees from?

Hi Dan. Just wanted to clarify something. Here in this video you said that the pit would he the place of “Satan’s imprisonment”. In previous videos ive understood that Satan as a singular person doesn’t exist in the bible. Have I misunderstood the latter?

@maklelan

8 күн бұрын

Satan doesn't exist as an individual in the Hebrew Bible, but they absolutely become a named individual in the New Testament.

@harleybigger5031

8 күн бұрын

@@maklelan ah great! Thank you for clarifying that for me.

“Revelation was included due to the machinations of Athunatius of Alexandria” That explains why Calvinists love Athunatius

@evangelicalsnever-lie9792

Ай бұрын

As an atheist, I love Pre-Determination 'Chosen Ones' Calvanists! They are the most hatefully honest! 😀

@alanb8884

Ай бұрын

​@@evangelicalsnever-lie9792Ooh! New rabbit-hole to climb down! Thanks!

@MrDalisclock

Ай бұрын

​@@evangelicalsnever-lie9792agreed. Honestly I see little evidence the Bible supports the idea of free will in it's worldview. Yahweh doesn't seem to care and flat out manipulated people (sometimes entire nations)in certain stories to get what he wants.

@dorothysay8327

Ай бұрын

Let’s not dismiss Athanasius so glibly, m’kay? Dan likes to use terms like ‘machinations’ to give a negative connotation to historical figures he doesn’t like for various reasons. We don’t know exactly why Athanasius and others wanted the inclusion of the Revelation of St John; but we DO know it was read and used in many Christian communities, which is why it was up for inclusion in the canon.

@dorothysay8327

Ай бұрын

@@MrDalisclockit’s not just the Bible that sketches ‘free will’ as a boondoggle. Please see modern psychologists, psychiatrists, and quantum physicists. They’re all on KZread viz. the nonexistence of ‘free’ {sic} will.

At some point, we should pull up the old article about how heaven is hotter than hell....

Dan, i have a question. You say that there are only 3 concepts of divine punishment in the NT. However, I've heard there is a 4th one that is essentially like the Catholic concept of purgatory. This lady's third point quotes a verse about the contrast between eternal life vs eternal punishment. But from what I've read, this is a mistranslation: "eternal punishment" should have been translated as "era of correction." In combination with other verses, it may suggest inevitable universal salvation following a period of corrective punishment designed to restore people with God. However, you did not include this among the above options, which suggests you think this interpretation is bunk. So the question is: why isn't inevitable universal salvation a viable soteriological paradigm?

@infiniti28160

Ай бұрын

Dan uses hebrew understandings as gospel, if the NT doesnt fit he wont study it and rather label it as not fitting to belong.

@Duragizer8775

Ай бұрын

Universalism is likely a post-biblical development.

Hell is an invention.

I think Johnathan Roumie's portrayal of Jesus was the turning point where I "got it." Specifically the scene where the children come to visit him in the forest, and they recite a well known prayer of the time. His tearful reaction did it for me. I saw a Jesus that made me feel really shitty for abandoning him for "greener pastures".

This may be a bit off topic, but I’m curious, back in the time of the early church there were 6 main churches. 4 of which were universalist. What was the biblical canon, if any, at the time? Just wondering cause you said that at first, most did not want revelation to make it into the canon. I’m also wondering if what made it into the canon leaned more toward universalism than what we have today.

"Hell." Translation: "Believe as I/we say you better believe, _or_ my magical invisible dad, will torture you forever, in his Magical Invisible Torture Cave. Now I'm so skeered.

@Noneya5555

Ай бұрын

Don't be skerred. 😁

2 Thess 1:9 is horribly mistranslated. Translation committees add “shut out” to the text in order to better align with their eschatology.

Day 3 of asking Dan for his thoughts on the MEV translation of the Bible, if he has any.

@scottmaddow7879

Ай бұрын

He rarely interacts on KZread. He seems to reply more on other platforms. He did a video a while back about different versions of the Bible, try searching his content and see if something pops up.

Damn. That last line hits hard and we all need to say it louder for the Evangelicals in the back.

Where did the idea of Apocatastasis come from if it does not seem to be in the Gospels?

@warrenroby6907

Ай бұрын

Acts 3:21

The KJV renders sheol as hell 31 times, grave 31 times, and pit 3 times. That should be all anyone needs to know. All anyone needs to do is try using the word Hell in every instance and then trying to use the word grave in every instance. Can't do it with Hell....easy to do with grave. First instance...Genesis 37:35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. "He" is Jacob. Hell wouldn't work. We can't put it there. Don't worry. We can sneak it in someplace. Genesis 42:38 And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Dang it! We can't put it there. Don't worry, we can get it in somewhere. Genesis 44:29 And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Dude! When can we get it in! Settle down. We'll get it in. Genesis 44:31 It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave. I'm going to the King. This isn't working. That does it for Genesis. Exodus doesn't work. Dang it! Leviticus doesn't work. Numbers! Let's try Numbers! Nope. Going with pit. Deuteronomy! Deuteronomy has to work! Deuteronomy 32:22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. Woo-hoo!!!! Got it! Hell! The lowest Hell? What the hell is that supposed to mean? You can't put it there. Dude, fire. Burning. It doesn't get any better than this. Ok. You do have a point. I'll stop here. There is no way anyone with a functioning brain can be translating one word from one language into another and going from grave to what has been defined as hell. There is an obscure case that the English word hell was used to describe a low point in the ground in a certain region at the time. As obscure as it is, it makes a lot more sense than sneaking Hell into the translation wherever one could get away with it and people swallowing it; hook, line and sinker.

Is their any place in the bible where God talks about Sheol?

This is a big part of what made me leave the faith, but at the same time I wonder how it is that the early church didn't seem to have a problem with this, contrasting Jesus's high ethical teaching of caring for the least of those and his main commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. A lot of Jesus's parables can sound very universalistic and Pauline doctrine certainly makes it seem like the sacrifice of Jesus was for the whole of humanity, one would think the Omni-god, if so desiring (as it is stated in Christian scriptures), could and would save the creation that it made, especially if creation was actualized by its desire in the first place. I guess a good summary of the point I'm trying to get across is that the ECT understanding of Christianity essentially tells you "I God command you to care for the widow and the orphan. That is until I throw them in hell, and if you don't do that you're going in there with them" and the early church said "yup makes sense to me". This is probably as close to ontological evil and lunacy for me.

👏

What do you think "eternal judgment" means in Hebrew 6? It's a basic/elementary principle

It can't be a bottomless pit and a lake at the same time.

BOOM

THE ANCIENT RABBIS TAUGHT "GOD DID 7 THINGS BEFORE CREATING THE UNIVERSE, ONE OF THEM WAS THE CREATION OF HELL. THE RABBIS REPORTED IT WAS NOT MEANT FOR PEOPLE❤

Will we be allowed to wear make-up and false eyelashes in the afterlife?