As I was rushing off the my horticulture lab after more than an hour of interesting debate with the non-theists who stayed to talk after round one of God vs. The Flying Spaghetti Monster, I caught a bit of a conversation Dan was having with another guy.
The other guy argued that since Christians believe that the world contains suffering but heaven doesn't and we believe we go to heaven when we die (let's just ignore misconceptions about defining heaven and where it is and all that), if we were logical we would all commit suicide (for which we would be forgiven) so we could go to heaven. And, from the self-centered perspective of a naturalist, his line of reasoning is reasonable. However, this guy was missing the central point of Christianity.
As Paul says in Philippians, for us to die would be personal gain but for us to continue to serve others would be gain for the kingdom. We have more to live for than ourselves. We know God's love, and teaching others about that is worth living for. Even at the expense of personal interest and personal gratification.
While most of us aren't having to restrain ourselves from suicide, we should be sacrificing other desires to spread God's love. I will admit that I have, overall, failed at this in the past. I'm already making progress, and I plan to work to continue this progress.
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