Christianity has this two-pronged system to try to keep you within the fold. There is the reward of heaven but also the threat of hell if heaven is not sufficient. There is god as the good cop who cares about you and wants to save but also the devil as the bad cop who just wants the chance to fry you for eternity.
But according to a Gallup poll, Americans are ‘the glass is half full’ kind of people, believing slightly more in god than in the devil, and in heaven more than hell.
Honest Book Of Truth; The Gospel According To Fred, 3:1
I am most amused by the comparative numbers of those who believe in hell versus those who believe in hell. The current poll has 70% vs 69% but in the past more people believed in hell than believed in the devil.
Which raises the question : who is running hell if not the devil?
Mike.
I think Christianity would make a lot more sense if the “God” character was allowed to be morally neutral. That way, you’d have Jesus as the good deity, pitted against Satan as the bad deity, and God sitting back and watching the whole game--and occasionally causing earthquakes just to be a dick. It would get rid of the theodicy weirdness and they’d still be able to worship Jesus and whatever.
I guess I shouldn’t be giving them advice, but hey, not like they’d take it anyway.