BlameThePixel!

Or you could possess both qualities, like me (and approx 6 million other people out there).

To Akuryou, if God did indeed create us, don't you think he should be entitled to exclusive devotion from mankind? It doesn't show arrogance on his part, it shows gratitude on our part.

its fine that he accept the praise, and even ask for it, but to require it with pain of damnation isn't merciful, fair, or anything else that god is supposed to be. if someone made something great, they can show it off in order to get praise all they want, but they wouldn't require you to praise them for it or they'd shoot you.

Eternal damnation is, suprissingly enough, not a Bible teaching. When people die, they go to Hell, Sheol, Hades, whatever you want to call it. This is simply mankind's common grave. "The dead are conscious of nothing, in the day of their dying their thoughts do indeed perish." (Can't remember the quote). As for thost that are punished for their actions, they are punished for ruining the earth and , moreover, for persecuting those that serve God. That will only happen in Armageddon, and these people will have no hope of whatever afterlife you believe in (in my case, resurrection). Other than that, they still have the properties of all the other dead, they can't feel/think/whatever.

If a person is kind, forgiving, helps the poor, etc., but does not believe in a god, go to church, or evangelize, what happens to them when they die? Do they get "eternal life", or are they sent away to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels?

If this non-believer is doomed with God's curse, I don't think it fits with the profile of a loving, forgiving god.
If the non-believer is allowed into heaven, then faith is optional, and people are judged not on their religion but on their character.

That is the biggest gray area in every debate about religion ever conceived (other than the very existance of God). All I could say is it's up to God what to do with those people.