Heather, I’m not at all surprised by the phenomenon that you see either as ‘dissonance’ or an ‘unconscious’ mitigation of an older, sterner rule book. Think of (many) religions as being, in some ways, like the US constitution. There are some believers who will be ‘strict constructionists’ and others who will see the sacred writings of their faith as something similar to the ‘living constitution’.
As for the question of why some religious folk do not do more to try to save their more irreligious friends from hellfire, I’d think that the doctrine of free will has a great deal to do with it, along with simple good manners, a belief in a merciful God, the power of prayer and the temptation of redemption.
For what it’s worth I did, way back when (well, law school), once ask a devout friend of mine whether he thought that I was hellbound. A nice, kindly fellow, he was (rightly) a little pained by the directness of my question (we were in England after all), but politely and sadly replied that my somewhat lackadaisical approach towards religion did indeed carry with it a distinct risk of brimstone. Some churchgoing, he felt, would be in order. It might, he thought, lead to a kinder, gentler final destination. We both then returned enthusiastically to our drinks – and I to my plans for a spectacular deathbed conversion.
“We both then returned enthusiastically to our drinks – and I to my plans for a spectacular deathbed conversion.”
Fast-forward 100 years and this post will be exhibit “A” in some creationist’s chat. The new “Lady Hope” story…
Bradlaugh wrote about “deathbed apostasies” a while back on the corner. I’d love to hear more about them.
Sounds to me like some people who may have been persuaded by “Pascal’s Wager”-reasoning most of their lives realized that it wasn’t so cost-free to be a believer after all.
But the religious will never talk about death-bed apostasies, just like they gloss over failed prayers and God’s *choosing* to let tsunamis wreak havoc and the like.
Probably some of these people went through a phase of seriously trying to save their friends’ souls, only to discover that the more souls they tried to save, the fewer friends they had. Simple unpopularity can be a deterrent.
Aw, heck; they’re at my door, trying to save my soul, all summer long. If it’s not the Mormies, it’s the J-Wit’s, or some other glassy-eyed automatons. I’m thinking of rigging my doorbell to a shower head, but then I’d probably never get my Girl Scout cookies.