[Marcov]

NOTE: Before you vote, REFER TO THIS:

“Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, AND FEW THERE BE THAT FIND IT” (Matthew 7:14; Luke 13:23,24).

This is particularly a discussion thread about the concept of Christianity's well-feautured "eternal fire" concept. Remember, I shall not force anyone to conform to any particular opinion. But feel free to debate if you like.

Non-Christians may also vote/discuss too. I'd like to hear an outside view of this concept.

I'm pretty sure there may have been threads like this in the past if I'm not mistaken. Well, anyway, here it is again if that's the case.

My Stand:
- I am actually confused of this. Yes, I do think it's sort of ridicoulous. If Christianity is based on such positive concepts like grace, forgiveness, love, compassion etc. bring about such a horrible concept? I mean, hell, Jesus supposedly came into this world to "save" us, and there's such a passage stating that most of the Earth will fall down into turmoil. What a really, really scary declaration, and if possible may turn some people paranoid of it.

However, I do not, in any way, ask you to believe in my opinion. It is merely my stand on this topic.

[Sushi]

My reaction to yet another thread like this:

[Rodo]

In these cases, Snuffy is the option.... but I don't see it 


Personal thinking:
Christianism is a flawed faith, all their answers mean nothing to me so hell can go to hell, and heaven as well.. I don't want to be happy after I'm dead, I want to be happy now.

Personal opinion, not subject to change.

[StarSlayer]

Where is the "If hell exists but everyone but the zealots are there" option? 

[General Battuta]

Today I gave Pandora too much feedback and it stopped playing anything but Foreigner and hair metal

Hell is real

[Bobboau]

"youith willith sufferith foreverith ifith youith don'tith submitith to my authorityith followith allith these ruleiths in this bookith that I justith worteith gotith fromith a sentient pasta creatureith that knowith everythingith. seeith it sayith right hereith that it knowith everythingith"

[Darius]

This guy says it more eloquently than I can.

[Kolgena]

Wasn't christianity in its earlier (and I guess truer?) form all about hardcore god-fearing? Hell makes a lot of sense in that context.

(I'm probably wrong. My knowledge of christianity comes from common knowledge and a picture bible I read when I was 6 years old)

[General Battuta]

Actually in its original form I think it was about giving up all your worldly possessions and loving everyone.

[Nuclear1]

Jesus Christianity is about love and forgiveness.  Of course, we don't really know what Jesus actually said and what the early Church cherry-picked to be in the Bible for the poor in Europe to think being poor, downtrodden, and oppressed was something to be happy about...

But I think it's about love.  So **** Hell, if God really is a compassionate person, he wouldn't send people just because they loved people and didn't hear Jesus tell them to.

[Beskargam]

I think a lot of what christanity is was made for the time when it orginally started and some time after that. I think this is an example of it being off with the time. but that means that culture would determine the validty of religion and isnt that sorta counter to the whole point of religion?

 Honest response? Im not much for religion in general but I'm just gona try and do what i think is right. If it turns out i was wrong whoops ill burn, but i will do so knowing i tried to do right. if i was right, well that sucks that theres nothing outside this life.

[Luis Dias]

No one will burn, hell is like a super-bogeyman, its "existence" is merely for putting people into good behavior.

The chances you will burn in hell are on par of you reaching a nice bed with 72 virgins on your afterlife, i.e., zero.

So if you want to have some fun, I'd advice you to take the opportunity that you have by living on doing exactly that.

Alternatively, you can think like this: if you don't sin, Jesus died for nothing.

[Nuke]

my opinion is:

if hell exists, then everyone deserves to go there, especially bible thumpers.

hell is one of the many things christianity borrowed stole from paganism (several holidays another). in most forms of paganism you usually go to hades to repay your moral debts in life and at some point you are allowed to leave. this is an idea i somewhat like. i also kina like the ancient egyptian mentality where you were simply denied an afterlife for doing bad things. i cant much say that i like the concept of an afterlife at all. i view life as more of an iterative process where death is essential to make room for the next iteration. there is also the question of if there is an afterlife then what? do you just sit around and do nothing for the rest of eternity? i kind of think that would be a form of hell in and of itself.

then you take a more bizarre view of hell from a particular satanic cult (now defunct, because cult leaders shouldn't kill themselves before the number of followers are greater than a few), the misanthropic luciferian order, describes hell as a chaotic realm of infinite dimensions where anything is possible and thus is a path of true freedom, in sort of an odd mix of satanism and string theory. in this sense hell = heaven. this is another idea i find compelling.

as for what i believe, i dont believe in anything. nihilism works great. its fun to think about this kinda stuff though. but if i was god, i think id just ship human souls straight off to hell as soon as they die.

[Mars]

I do not believe in a hell, or a heaven, or a god.

I find presumption of such knowledge. . . amusing. (I've been there)

[Scourge of Ages]

Disclaimer: In general, I try not to get into religious discussions online, as it's hard to not come off as nuts, so I'll make this short.

Hell, as the popular image of eternal fire and torment, does not exist. The word translated as "hell" is Sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek. In the Bible, it's just the condition of being dead, or the grave. The torment part was a concept adapted from the Greek and Roman religions by the church long after the death of Jesus, and from misinterpreting a few verses in Revelation.

Example:
1) Job asked to be concealed in Sheol, to avoid the torment of living. Did he want to be tormented?
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job%2014:13&version=NASB
2) Jesus, for the three days he was dead, was considered to be in Hades.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%202:27&version=NASB

(Of course, ninja'd by Nuke)

[Marcov]

Actually my biggest complaint about Christianity is the existence of hell.

I would not deny that I am a member of Christianity and am actually currently believing in it now, though I can actually see some logical flaws in it.

For example, why hell? If God is reputedly described as some perfect daddy who can rescue everyone, sadly, God is also portrayed as a "God of Justice". And what is that "Justice"? Why, that is a declaration of only "few" mortals who shall be able to be "saved", as described in the above passage.

Then, if God is "eternally good" why should He send perhaps about 95% of all humanity into a forever-plasma prison? Logically, we have a 5% good God in that way. It would now thus be so "hard" to please God.

Furthermore, a critical point in Christianity is that Jesus was supposed to have "died for our sins". If He truly did, then it's somehow surprising that Earthly logic goes on, people do bad stuff again and again.

[Snail]

We're all in hell

[Pred the Penguin]

Maybe our lives on Earth are punishment for transgressions in previous lives.

No one will burn, hell is like a super-bogeyman, its "existence" is merely for putting people into good behavior.

This I guess...
It makes sense if it is purely invented, if I may says so, just to scare people into believing.

[newman]

I'm not entirely sure that the Universe has been informed of our concepts of heaven and hell.
Heaven and hell are simple carrot and stick methods of keeping people in line. Like every organization, the Church is nothing without members. If you want to appeal to large masses and then keep them in line, you need a simple system like that.
Also, Sushi's answer here is by far the best one.

[Nemesis6]

If there is a hell, it's listening to the religious people.

On a more serious note -- Jesus came to save the world, but whosoever does not believe stands condemned already. A lot of people don't know that. That is to say, people trump John 3:16 as proof that the bible isn't seeking to condemn people, yet in 3:18, that is exactly what it says. This, by the way, is the verse that the Phelps use to justify that the world is doomed.