Hell

Because it’s not part of actual life. It’s part of an afterlife. It has characteristics that aren’t part of the parameters of life, like being immaterial, eternal, permanent, purely negative…

The Bible says hell is a place that destroys soul and body. We are souls or have a souls in the biblical sense when we’re alive

So you’re an annihilationist? I would get that, but not seeing how it squares with your other views on hell. It’s just over then, right?

Of course, I’m just making a point that perhaps it’s in our human nature to hang on to things that cause us pain instead of letting them go. Ergo, suffering like hell.

Or not annihilation? Leaving that aside, if you’re just trying to say hell is like suffering, it seems to me you’re going a long way around the block to get there.

Not impressed on external force from my perspective. Self imposed.

So it’s not in God’s power to send people to hell, or it is?

It’s in the Mods power to send this to a Religion thread :joy:

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I’m applying mercy, for now.

That’s exactly what I was thinking. Separation of church and state or something.

We are souls according to Christianity. Our souls are eternal. So yes, it would be part of actual life.

Sorry, in Greek the translation of destroy in the passage I’m thinking of would be to corrupt or loss of well being. I don’t mean destroy as in not exist anymore.

I’m not sure. There’s not exactly a list of things god can and can not go. But God can not go against his nature and his nature is to be forgiving and merciful. So maybe he can not.

What I mean is this scenario.

If your father says you can live with him as long as you don’t go against his will. But you choose to go against his will and therefore can’t live with him. Did he kick you out or did you choose to not live with your father.

Obviously Catholics and some other denominations would say this explanation is blasphemous, so bare that in mind as I don’t present the Catholic and other denominations interpretation of hell.

My understanding of hell is mostly from CS Lewis and his book The Great Divorce, here are some quotes from the book where he puts it more eloquently.

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I get your arguments, but presented to three different individuals, your probable answers would be different… threefold. Philosophically, it would wholly depend on their belief system.
There can be no right or wrong , ergo, just subjective opinions .
I am sure that our visions of Hell or Heaven , would depend on many factors, even within the same Doctrines.
Atheists may still believe in “Hell on Earth”, Agnostics…well they are hedging their bets just in case, Believers…who knows?
As with most religions , some of the beliefs would seem to depend on when and where one was born and lived. That says a lot , surely?

Is it God’s nature to be divine as opposed to mortal?

You could ask a member of a religion you despise, is there anything God can’t do? The response might be a certain passage of a book you despise, where it says basically, God can do whatever he wants, period, no exceptions, no explanations needed.

Speaking of that religion, it’s also been said by its adherents – I don’t recall the details – that children under a certain age are automatically saved, even if they grow up among the non-believers, but after a certain point they’re responsible for their beliefs and, if non-believing (for whatever reason), do indeed go to the other place. :baby: :angel: :fire: :imp: :child:

There’s a film about that, 1940’s, set in New York, with a Rhett Butler-type protagonist. The title escapes me.

That’s entirely unhelpful as an explanation to me. Where is hell or the people in hell? We can’t see or detect them anywhere in our reality. Hell isn’t even said to be part of our physical reality. Why is there any reason to think it would be like the things in our physical reality?

A junkie can stop get help and turn his life around. Is anything analogous possible in hell?

Ok, I got you. You did say destroy.

I don’t buy it. Who created hell? Who created the parameters by which people are sent to hell?

Evil people who never seem to suffer in the mortal realm really make me hope that a hell exists and that they will end up burning in it when all’s said and done. There’s no justice in this world sometimes…

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Read Dante’s Inferno.

It’s not true, many bad Christians out there!

BTW, who’ll end up at the purgatorium?

The pope and all those child molesters in the Vatican…they better be going to hell. Any catholic who knowingly took communion from a child rapist…same deal. Any god that forgives those scum…he can go to hell too.

You think ‘Evangelists’ are free of ‘sin’?

Would I be correct to assume you’re thinking of hell from a more catholic point of view with images of Dante and purgatory?

So in Christianity, we our souls. We have a limited time on earth with a physical mortal body. But when our bodies die, our life does not end as our soul is eternal. Only our physical body die.

So scripture doesn’t really say it’s a actual place, more like a state of being of the soul. To be without God and Gods grace is hell. There’s isn’t a complete and detail literal definition of hell, as I’m sure even if You ask God himself to explain it to you more, our finite minds might not be able to comprehend it.

It’s not a nice concept, not only because it seems overkill to have something like a hell. But @Hanna points out she wishes there was hell for bad people to suffer. That’s also wrong, it’s not really for bad people to suffer as justice. That’s more of a Buddhism idea, do bad in this life and suffer in the next. Christianity is not like that, it’s about grace and really being unfair. Because we are fallen and can not be perfect on our own. Gods grace allows us to be excused of our nature. So literally you can be hitler and kill millions of people but if you accept God grace through Christ. You would be saved. But that’s not to say you wouldn’t have to answer for what you did during judgement and have a damaged relationship with God as a result.

God created hell. But not for humans. As I said in my example. You’re not sent to hell, you choose to be in hell. Hell is not a likable concept, but I also understand it’s a consequence of free will. We are free to choose to be without God or to be with God.

Sorry if I can’t explain it as eloquently as I like. But hopefully I’m being a little more clear now for you to understand the concept.

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Like I said, I don’t speak for all denominations or religions. I can only answer this question with the best of my understanding for what I find as the truth.

No. I have no idea what to think about it. I’m most inclined to think the whole idea is silly.

I get it.

It sounds like you’re trying to tell me you don’t understand it. I get that, but then how could you explain anything about it?

Indeed, I’d call it immoral.

But @Hanna points out she wishes there was hell for bad people to suffer. That’s also wrong, it’s not really for bad people to suffer as justice.

I could understand a just and proportionate punishment for bad people, but I get that a lot of people don’t think of it in this way.

That’s more of a Buddhism idea, do bad in this life and suffer in the next.

It’s pretty rational at least.

Christianity is not like that, it’s about grace and really being unfair. Because we are fallen and can not be perfect on our own. Gods grace allows us to be excused of our nature. So literally you can be hitler and kill millions of people but if you accept God grace through Christ. You would be saved. But that’s not to say you wouldn’t have to answer for what you did during judgement and have a damaged relationship with God as a result.

Unlike certain aspects of Christian doctrine, like this one. It’s like trying to cram a square peg in a round hole, much like infinite torment dished out by a merciful God.

God created hell. But not for humans. As I said in my example. You’re not sent to hell, you choose to be in hell. Hell is not a likable concept, but I also understand it’s a consequence of free will. We are free to choose to be without God or to be with God.

It doesn’t make logical sense to me. God is in control of everything. God created hell. God set up standards by which people either will or won’t go to hell. Do you disagree with any of those? The inescapable logical conclusion is that God is responsible for sending people to hell. I choose not to go. Now the ball’s in Gods court, he can send me or not. I understand that you’d like to find a way around this in the light of your belief that God is merciful, but the two ideas simply aren’t logically compatible.

I think you’re being totally clear. It’s not like I haven’t thought about it before of course, as I’m sure you have. It’s just not something that’s going to make a lot of sense to atheists in general :slight_smile:

Nothing is eternal, when you die you die, it’s like a battery, when the juice is gone it’s over. No more energy, you’ll return to earth as minerals and fertilizer, water.

Places like heaven and hell are fabricated to keep people in check! It’s like a gulag or a department store, the choice is yours!

But this is really not scientific…energy is never created or destroyed.

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It will creep into the soil to feed weed! Anyways, I know many ways to create energy, and destroy. Or just take a 100 km run, your energy is gone if you don’t eat and drink.