i recently got into a discussion with a person of mormon belief who was quite adamant at convincing me of his faith, he went as far as to pressure me into reading his bible and to ''accept the grace of his father'' as he described it. naturally i invoked my right of discussion and started asking him some deep questions about life, the universe and death. when he told me that god loved me regardless of my believes i asked him wich god he meant, at wich point he got agressive and told me i would rot in hel and that my entire family would be dragged down if i didn't change my ways. this didn't convince me ofcourse, nor would it convince any of my family members to adopt religious believes, but it did spark a question in my mind:

why do most litteral theists always act in extremes, it's either you are loved by this god or that deity or you will burn eternally in hellfire, paying for your sins because you didn't believe. what do you say to an individual with such strong beliefs?

whenever i meet someone that believes in heaven or hell, i feel sorry for them because they wil never know true freedom, they live their lives in anticipation for paradise, not noticing that now is the only paradise they will ever know. when they lash out and say you will go to hell, they talk from their own deepest fears and that's what gets me, i don't feel offended but i do feel a certain amount of sadness.

the idea of hell and heaven is a prison for the mind, there are only two directions so you better watch out folks, or you'll fall.

my apologies if there were any spelling mistakes, english is not m native language.