My basic answer to that question is no, I don't believe that thinking something through, or studying it will send you to Hell. I do believe that our brains were given to us for us to use. We should study things out and decide if they are good or bad. That being said, we are responsible for our thoughts. If we know something is bad and we continue to think about it that could have a negative impact on our salvation.
It was also asked why were some religious people taking it WAY too seriously? I don't have an answer to that. I know what I believe. I would consider myself a religious person. I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, sometimes referred to as "Mormons". I go to church every Sunday. As a family we pray over meals and read scriptures together at night before kneeling as a family for prayer again. I attend our temples as often as I can and quite often participate in week day church activities. Yes, I would classify myself as religious. That being said, I realize that not all good people believe the same as I do. I know many people who would classify themselves as more spiritual than religious. These are good people. I believe in what our 11th Article of Faith says,
"We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may."
Of course I would be overjoyed if everyone in the whole world decided to join my church. I would love for the world to hold to the same virtues and standards and beliefs that I have, but that isn't the case. I will defend my beliefs and stand up for the things that I think are right and stand against the things I think are wrong. If someone tries to take away my freedoms I will defend that.
Case in point. A while ago there was a bill on a state's ballet that would legalize marijuana. Now, I am not a supporter of any addicting substances. I don't drink or smoke. For those reasons, I would have voted against the measure, but I can understand why people would vote for it. I don't believe that would have taken away any of my freedoms unless by passing it grocery stores that sell tobacco would also be required to also sell marijuana and I didn't want to do that. If it was telling me I would be punished for not agreeing to sell something I didn't believe in, that would be taking away my freedoms.
There has been a lot of discussion on Proposition 8 from California. As with the stance of my faith, I don't believe homosexuality is right. I grant that those feelings and urges are real for a number of people, but I still don't agree with it. I may believe that a relationship is wrong without believe that the people in the relationship are bad people. Going along with the above quote, I believe that people may think and choose according to the dictates of their own conscience, but please don't punish me for disagreeing with you. I don't care who you have a relationship with. I do care that you want me to have to accept it as okay and normal. If the state wants to accept such unions as valid, fine, but please don't make my church perform the union if we don't believe in it.
In summary to the discussion, we should all use our minds and intellect to think about and ponder issues. We should study it out in our minds and then act according to our conscience. We should also realize that others may come to a different conclusions, they come from a different background and may have different information. Above all, we should realize that all people should be treated with love and respect.
A quote a friend once told me in college really stuck with me. It was something like this "Please don't judge me because I choose to sin differently than you do". It's true. We are all sinners.
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