Atheist claim: War is caused by religion if participants are religious.

[giblets]

Would converting cause God to change from not forgiving my sins to forgiving my sins?

[Kidlicious]

Really, Biblical literalism didn't come into play until quite recently, historically speaking--the past couple of centuries.

Indeed.

I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

John 6:51,52

[Elok]

Lenin's Russia was an attempt to start from scratch. The war had already pre-destroyed a lot of the old order for him. It had destroyed the Czarist army for example, turned it into a rabble, which the strongest element, the strongest element were mutineers who already supported the Bolshevik party. It had crucially undermined the autocracy, the Romanov dynasty. And I think it had very much discredited the Russian Orthodox Church, for which he had a particular dislike. But he was very willing to finish those jobs, all three of them, to wipe out the Romanov family, to rebuild the army, and under Trotsky's leadership of the Red Army, and to seize the opportunity to confiscate church property and to dissolve, as far as possible, the influence of the church.

One of Lenin's great achievements, in my opinion, is to create a secular Russia. The power of the Russian Orthodox Church, which was an absolute warren of backwardness and evil and superstition, is probably never going to recover from what he did to it.

http://www.pbs.org/heavenonearth/interviews_hitchens.html

"What he did to it" involved looting, imprisonment, execution without trial, torture, and a complete disregard for freedom of conscience. But, hey, reactionary elements! Leaving out his well-known fondness for the smell of roasted Muslims in the morning...

[Kidlicious]

Would converting cause God to change from not forgiving my sins to forgiving my sins?

No. Your sins are already forgiven. You just have to make the choice.

[Berzerker]

God doesn't change, but religion does.

doesn't that suggest a detachment between the two?

[Kidlicious]

doesn't that suggest a detachment between the two?

What do you mean by detachment? Of course we are detached from God. That is why we change.

[giblets]

No. Your sins are already forgiven. You just have to make the choice.

What choice? Am I going to go to hell even though my sins have already been forgiven?

[Kidlicious]

What choice? Am I going to go to hell even though my sins have already been forgiven?

If you choose so.

[giblets]

If you choose so.

Should I carry around a card in my pocket that says "would prefer not to burn in eternal hellfire" so the angels will know where to take me when I die?

[Kidlicious]

Should I carry around a card in my pocket that says "would prefer not to burn in eternal hellfire" so the angels will know where to take me when I die?

You're already where you choose to be.

[giblets]

You're already where you choose to be.

On Earth? At some point leaving will be mandatory.

[Kidlicious]

On Earth? At some point leaving will be mandatory.

Why would you choose differently after you die?

[giblets]

Why would you choose differently after you die?

Why would anyone say "sure hell sounds like fun!" ? Or is hell different from what I've been led to believe?

[Kidlicious]

Why would anyone say "sure hell sounds like fun!" ? Or is hell different from what I've been led to believe?

I suppose they don't like God.

[giblets]

I suppose they don't like God.

Do you get to tour heaven and hell and make an informed decision? Or are you supposed to guess which one will be better?