Which is a no-brainer because one can not exist without the other.
I believe there is a God , but yes this thread is about if there is a hell. (I was brought up Methodist)
How does that work?
While we’re at it, is there a purgatory? And how do we know for sure there isn’t a tenth circle of hell, or if there’s actually just eight
Also, hate to call Dante out but Virgil is basically his Shawn Mendes.
I’m not trying to preach a sermon, or tell anyone what they should believe or not believe; I’m just posting a few snippets from older English translations of scriptures, highlighting some things, and making some remarks.
In one English translation of Matthew, Jesus seems to say that loving one’s neighbor is like loving God:
(Boldface added by me.)
In Luke, by choosing a Samaritan as an example of a loving neighbor, Jesus seems to expand the definition of neighbor to include all of humanity:
(Boldface and ellipsis added by me.)
To repeat, I’m just posting some parts of an older English translation of scriptures, highlighting some parts of those parts, and commenting a little bit.
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The Bible or Bibles use the word “Hell” some 60 times I seem to recall. Half of those uses do not relate to the Fire and brimstone depiction most imagine.
Awful lot of ambiguity in that Book to rely on passages as accurate…
An example is The New Testament symbolically compares the utter despair of the eternal separation from God with the flames of the valley of Hinnom, where refuse was burnt up.
The symbolic was imagined as a true representation .
Seems to me that the Bible did not say much about the nature of Hell, indeed , never once in the original Old Testament.
So how does one fabricate , or at least , propogate , the idea of “Hell”, if not from the Scriptures as originally written ?
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Dante’s Inferno and the Catholic Church created the picture
Certainly the “Fire and brimstone” depiction.
I think there were other motives at play in that construct , also.
My personal hypothesis is that , throughout the ages , versions of Hell were a means to instill fear …ergo…obedience, unto Followers ,in an attempt to create a moral code and reward for adherence, punishment for non-adherence.
Morality , I hope, is perfectly possible without Religion .
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Yes, that’s the one! Not to be confused with the 1978 film of the same name starring Warren Beatty & Julie Christie.
That’s also it! (Life and Death, actually.)
I wouldn’t say it enforced anything, except for trans-Atlantic cultural differences. 
Remember the Shakespeare reference? It’s the same trope as Midsummer, but focusing on the afterlife instead of the mysteries of love – the trope being that mortals will explain things in whatever way makes sense to them, without really understanding what’s going on.
Some children understand things differently, Andrew. I’ll just leave it at that.
Just to be fair to other Christians, okay? 
But serious question: what do you think of this explanation?
Why? Suppose Hell isn’t the absence of God (because for argument’s sake God doesn’t exist) but simply an unpleasant state of being that you can experience after your conventional life ends. Is that not fathomable?
Sorry, you lost me. I mean I know who they are, but how is Shawn a modern Virgil?
his virgil.
That’s pretty funny, but I still don’t see the Virgil connection. 
Well then you should probably get yourself a copy of Inferno and start-a-reading
I did, years ago, but I remember the sufferings of the sinners and all that, not the part where Dante turns into a star-struck schoolgirl. I’ll keep your idea in mind next time I have a look at it. 
Hell is other people. Especially those who go on about Heaven and Hell as if they were real.
Yes, so that person is likely living in a “Fallen State”
yes, but it becomes way more subjective, would you suggest that everything should be relative or are there moral absolutes? We decide the age of consent is 18 not 21 or 15. Why ? This law could shift easily to a higher or lower age depending on the views of the populace of that time. Whereas in theory judeo Christian religions to this day still follow rules written “in stone”. Often people will not commit crimes for fear of being caught for believers when God can see all then you will always be “caught” , so they will not commit crimes even when tempted to do so. Yes, I agree you can have a good morality without religion but whose morality ?
Isn’t Dante’s hell based on some sort of Aristotelian framework?
Here’s a great cinematic presentation (from Little Nicky):
Who’s “we”? The legal age of consent differs in various places.
Like the one about the age of consent right? (hint: don’t bother looking.) What few morally useful rules there are are very general, and Christians happily toss the many rules they don’t think are important.
To many D. Trump is god, working for him his hell!
Just because people may or may not follow the rules of “their religions” has no bearing on the moral standing of the religion itself. Does it?