Thank you for your thoughts! I fully appreciate your honesty and being willing to talk about what you believe.

First of all, the law of non-contradiction is a law everybody believes in (weather they know it or not, Christian or atheist) and is not naive at all. If somebody walked outside and truly believed your car was a banana, you would call them insane. If I asked you to pass the salt you wouldn’t pass me the catchup. “A” cannot be “A” and “Non-A” at the same time in the same relationship. We all know this to be true and act accordingly, unless we have a mental illness. It seems to be only when we talk about God when we think we think we believe in no absolutes. Then we contradict ourselves by saying “I absolutely believe there are no absolutes.”

By believing that ones faith should guide them in their actions and emotions is great advise, only if that belief is based on truth, not lies. I think it is naive to think that faith in nothing, or false truths, is healthy. Also what do you mean by being “open to The Light”? Jesus is “The true light, which enlightens everyone” (John 1:9) So if you mean that being open to Jesus will help with questioning motives, then I agree. But if you mean being open to a nonfactual, unintellectual, illogical and relative “Light” then I strongly disagree.

Secondly, the bible is the earliest “Christian doctrine” we have to date and Jesus taught on the subject of hell more often and more clearly then anybody. If you want references I will be glad to debate them with you as well as the original Greek and Hebrew. But the truth of Hell isn’t a reason to believe, it’s the truth of the existence of a Holy God that should cause us to repent.

Lastly, I’m going to have to disagree with Matt a little and say that true “Happiness” is one of Jesus’ main goals in coming, teaching and dying for us. But this is a true Happiness, a Godly, lasting Joy. Not a worldly happiness that is fleeting, non-lasting and always wanting more. This Joy is in conjunction with holiness and is clear in the Gospel of John and the teaching of Christ:

“These things I have spoken to you,that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” – (Jesus) John 15:11

“Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full: – (Jesus) John 16:24

“But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” – (Jesus’ high priestly prayer to the Father) John 17:13

God wants you to be happy, but happy (joyful) by listening to the words of Christ, praying in His name and seeking to know the Father intimately by being “in the world and not of the world”, in short, by being Holy. We need to be as John Piper says, Christian Hedonists. This Joy is fought for and is painful to achieve because in order to become Holy we must die to ourselves.

Tozer writes in ‘The Pursuit of God’, “Self is the opaque veil that hides the face of God from us. It can be removed only in spiritual experience, never by mere instruction. We may as well try to instruct leprosy out of our system. There must be a work of God in destruction before we are free. We must invite the cross to do its deadly work within us.”

He continues with the stark reminder,

“Let us remember that when we talk of the rending of the veil we are speaking in a figure, and the thought of it is almost poetical, almost pleasant, but in actuality there is nothing pleasant about it. In human experience that veil is made of living spiritual tissue; it is composed of the sentient, quivering stuff of which our whole beings consist, and to touch it is to touch us where we feel pain. To tear it away is to injure us, to hurt us and to make us bleed. To say otherwise is to make the cross no cross and death no death at all. It is never fun to die. To rip through the dear and tender stuff of which life is made can never be anything but deeply painful. Yet that is what the cross did to Jesus and that is what the cross would do to every man to set him free.”

- Jacob Hart

According to much early Christian doctrine, the fiery he’ll was a construct of the Church in order to keep new initiates in line. The literal interpretation of the word is up for debate.

For some doing what feels good works. Others act based on fear.

I don’t believe either attitude is healthy.

I believe that ones faith shoul guide them in their actions and emotions. By being open to The Light one will never have to question motives.