If someone held a gun to your head...
 

If someone held a gun to your head, and asked you whether or not you believed in God, and for the sake of the argument, you believe, and by saying 'yes' you would be shot, would you still say yes?

I believe in God, but there's no way I'd say yes. Sure, I'd be lying, but it's not like I'm lying to God, I'm just lying to some psyscho who doesn't have any respect for life. My girlfriend's like "I'd say yes. At least then if you die, you go to heaven, because you didn't deny God".

I say (well, thought) "Bullsh*t!". That's almost as bad as a suicide bomber, willing to die pointlessly for their god. If you lie just once to save your life, imagine all the stuff you can accomplish, religiously or otherwise in the rest of your life, that you would have otherwise wasted.

Or even better yet, if someone asked you whether you believed in God, and held a gun to your MOTHER'S head (let's, for the sake of the argument say you really loved your mother... not that I don't, but I mightn't be talking for everyone here), what would your answer be then? I think I'll have to put that second question there to my girlfriend...

I think the bible says you shouldnt lie about your faith even when persecuted.

This is kind of a stupid question. I won't give a response to this. Other people can offer their own response.

Good point Gameking. It would be too easy to say yes if you were going to be the victim. That's why I thought "Hang on, what if it wasn't YOUR life you were messing with...". How many people would you kill just to 'tell the truth'.

And aparrently the first situation happened once (according to some email I got ages ago... or maybe I read it on the 'net). Anyway, some chick apparently had a gun held to her head, got asked that question, said yes, and got shot. So yeah...

One girl in columbine (sp?) was asked 'the question' by one of the shooters. She said yes, and she was shot. Thought it kind of pertained to the post...

That took guts, yet I dont think you would be 'disqualified' from heaven, if it be there, had you said no out of fear. Though if the person shot you anyway after you said no, then your chances crash and burn...eternaly...

By saying no, and lying about my faith and belief in God, in order to save my life or the life of another, God would praise me with good fortune and well being for the rest of my life on Earth. Why you ask? Because I went as far as to lie because I appreciate and value the life he gave to me or other person being threatened. He would commence me personally for my bravery. And he would find it flattering that I would do such a thing for a gift he gave to me.

Absolutely GameMaster! They're my thoughts exactly!
The fact that Christians appreciate life is what distinguishes us from those terrorists and the like. Otherwise, our killing in the name of God makes us just as bad as them.

That is another example why religions are to control the population. Anyways, I don't beleive in any form of god so I wouldn't have any problem.

i would answer no simply because i don't beleive in god :p

then the question doesn't apply to you...

I would say 'No'...

My life comes before not lying about my belief in God.

And after I said "No", and the person drops the gun to their side, I would turn around, take the gun, hold it to their head and say:

"Answer the following question truthfully with 'YES': Are you dead?"

This question is weird.. because, if they asked me that question I would have to believe that they won't shoot me if I were to say no.

Now, if it's a person who I think would shoot either way, I'd say "yes". The thing is, he would have to kill me, because if they didn't I'd kill him.

Another slightly different question:

People seem to think that you shouldn't get yourself killed just for the sake of saying "yes" to a question. But was the girl at Columbine who answered "yes" (and die for it) somehow admirable anyway?

I don't believe in God, but I still found her actions admirable. Think about the courage she would have needed to do that. She's a teenager, her whole life in front of her. She has dreams and ambitions about what she's going to do in the next ten, twenty, thirty years. Maybe she's looking forward to college. Maybe she has a profession that she wants to enter.

As she was kneeling there with a gun to her head, she had all of that in front of her. She had to have been thinking that she was too young to die. But she was willing to throw it all away. Maybe it was because she wanted to see Heaven and didn't think she would make it if she lost her faith. Or maybe she was demonstrating that the material goods of her life just weren't that important compared to her spirituality.

We can talk about what we would do and what we should do and even what others should have done. But even I can agree that whether this girl at Columbine did the right thing or not, there was something about her to be admired.

me either, this topic is kind of pointless and has no really good answers for every way that you want it to go.

Xantar, maybe that girl from colombine didn't know that if she answered yes that she would get shot.

In all honesty, I would probably say no.