A few weeks ago, I read the following tweet from an atheist:
Dear child, I love you unconditionally.
Sincerely, God
P.S. If you don’t return my love, I will set you on fire forever. Love you!
It would be one thing if folks all recognized this as a trolling caricature. Just a bit of naughty fun at the expense of Christians.
Unfortunately, many people didn’t recognize it, as such. Instead, they seemed to think it presented an incisive critique of what Christians actually believe about posthumous judgment. As if God is an insecure abuser who arbitrarily strikes out at those who do not obligingly bend the knee by “setting them on fire forever.”
When I pointed out that this tweet was, in fact, a gross caricature of Christian views of the nature of posthumous judgment, the defenses came quickly. One fellow actually scolded me for failing to “steelman” the tweet.
So I should’ve steelmanned the strawman?
Oh, the irony.
