Does Hell Have a Purpose

[MovingOnAgain]

Someone once told me that there needs to be a hell because there are so many people who escape their crimes on Earth. I couldn't disagree more. Although I don't believe in Hell, I spend my time questioning the thought process behind having created a Hell. For what purpose? And till now, I see absolutely no good reason for Hell to even exist. Not even for the worst beings on this planet. Why? Because if the goal of any punishment is NOT rehabilitation, then it’s simply cruelty.

When your parents punish you, it is in hopes that you reflect on your actions. Good reason. When you are punished by going to jail, it is in hopes of you reflecting on your actions, so that you can become a better person when you leave. Good reason. But Hell… is eternal. There is no point in which you are given an opportunity to make up for your past actions. Whether or not you’ve become a better person, it doesn’t matter. Even if you’ve reflected on your actions and have seen the error of your ways, you’ll still suffer. Where is the positivity in this?

Is there no justice to those who have learned their lesson?

And let’s say, we have someone as evil as Adolf Hitler burning in Hell… what’s the goal in making him suffer? Is it the gratification in knowing that someone we wanted to hurt is finally suffering? Does that make us better people? Does that justify our own form of cruelty? No, we simply think: He deserves it. But when we embrace these thoughts, we become a darker form of ourselves because we practice hurting others. Either don’t bring the criminal to an after-life or punish them in hopes of a change of heart… but Hell is neither. If our idea of punishment is eternal damnation, I question maybe we’re the ones who are broken. Maybe we’re the ones in need of rehabilitation. Because at it’s worst, those who have repented will continue to suffer… and at it’s best, we’ve become monsters for accepting this endless form of cruelty with absolutely no goal, no form of rehabilitation, in sight.

We may have good intentions, but the result does not reflect that

[bobair]

Hell isn't a real thing or a real place, from my long life of experience and understanding. For many of the good reasons you've laid out. If there's a God why would he punish us for eternity? It makes no sense, and I have to assume a real all knowing, all loving God wouldn't waste efforts on cruelty or punishment.

There seems to be a "Justice Gene" within us that seems to make us want things to be fair. Because fairness promotes prosperity for the propagation of our species. If one human was able to have all the resources then many others would die for no good reason. And so nature seems to have bred into us the motivation to make things "fair" and "even" and "just."

But in reality "fair" is an ideal, and if you look up the word "ideal" you'll see this: existing only in the imagination; desirable or perfect but not likely to become a reality.

Fairness is an ideal, but ultimately it's not a real thing more is it obtainable.

So we might be driven to want to see justice for people who don't seem to follow the rules like the rest of us, but it's not something that's worth wasting our efforts on.

Places like prison aren't really for rehabilitation and growth... they're to keep rule breakers away from the rest of us.

Basically my point is that nature has made us seek equality because we're communal creatures. Sharing is caring.

Here's a good article that touches on this very topic:
www.scmp.com/.../human-desire-equality-innate-science-suggests

Basically it's advantageous for the human race to keep things even so that more of us can work towards the betterment of all. Which makes us want to prevent outliers who get greedy or who harm the welfare of the group.

And as a way of managing this existential stress... being unable to control people who do what ever they want... religious ideals try to sooth us by saying "Oh don't fret, that guy will get his punishment from God in the after life."

Plus the idea of hell is an easy way to try to control the masses through fear... "Be a good boy or God will punish you in Hell." The same way we try to control children... "Be good or Santa won't bring you gifts."

:D

[MovingOnAgain]

I much prefer your idea of Hell, as I believe it follows through more logically. The person I spoke with saw Hell as an opportunity to hurt those who escape justice on Earth. I agree with essentially everything that you said. Only thing I'm unsure about is whether or not jail is for rehabilitation. Some people believe it is, some don't. I mean, if it isn't to rehabilitate, then we have no reason to think that they wouldn't commit the same crimes all over again. In which case, the best move for criminals without change would be to keep them in jail. But I do believe that most U. S. prisons aren't really showing any positive results in rehabilitation. We suck at that. Thanks for having posted the link! It was an interesting read.

[MarkRet]

Hell was created for satan and his demons, who were once angels in heaven, but their evil disposition caused God to remove them to hell. I think that in God's world, he has a finite number of spirits there, and he wants each spirit to live once within a human body in this world. The spirit (or soul) has the opportunity in that lifetime to choose being with God, or choosing to not be with God. When that human's life ends in this world, the spirit is judged to either be acceptable in heaven, or not. If not, the spirit is cast into hell, where they become playthings for satan and his demons. The demons, being the cruel and evil creatures they are, will then torment those condemned spirits.

One day, the last spirit will have been within a human being, and when that happens, I think God will make his final judgement, and all that is in hell will be destroyed. We don't know when that last spirit will be within a human being. It could be 100 years from now, or it could be tomorrow.

[MovingOnAgain]

I like the sound of that! Even if some parts don't end up being true, this would be a great blockbuster movie lol.

[heyyyyy123]

I've actually had my thoughts on this as well, and I've always basically come up with the same answer and thats that I do not believe hell is a good punishment nor is it really necessary in my opinion.
It all comes down to psychology basically. I haven't even delved into it as much as I am about to in my college career since that is what I am majoring in, but even if you know some psychology you will understand how the human mind works.
Hell is a place for "bad/evil people" when if you do any psychological research on "bad/evil people" they are just a product of bad parenting essentially and chemical/hormonal imbalances in their brains.
"There are no bad children, just bad parents"
Psychopathy, narcissism, violence, and anger problems are all products of how a child is brought out and what kind of mental issues they were both with MIXED TOGETHER, nobody is born a psychopath.
So these peopel being sent to hell is almost like a penance for how they were brought into this world, and I don't agree with it. They are dead, its over. Life on earth is over, people do bad things everyday but its not worth a lifetime of torture and agony.

[MovingOnAgain]

Very good point! We are victims of the environment we grow up in. We don't have a say to who raises us, the early schools we get into, our classmates, and who influences us at such a young age. Nonetheless, we ultimately grow from exactly that. In essence, it would be irrational to take out our anger on someone who is, in some form, a victim of this world, as well. I appreciate your input :)

[Bluemax]

In his Sandman series, Neil Gaiman addressed this issue. Satan effectively decided to quit, and closed hell on the grounds that he was tired of his work and hell didn't do any good, anyways.

As for reforming people, it's conceivable to me that some people can't be reformed... even over an eternity. It's conceivable to me that Hitler could hate Jews for all eternity. Any omnipotent deity would know this, and know the individual can't be reformed.

As a mortal, I never know who can and who can't be reformed, so I tend to proceed under the assumption that the individual can be reformed. But I might be wrong...

It's also conceivable that some Jews could never forgive Hitler, no matter how reformed he is. It's conceivable they could go all eternity hating him.

Some Christians I met believe that hell is not fire and brimstone. Some Christians I know believe that hell is a death sentence of the soul. Your soul is permanently extinguished from the universe. The individual simply ceases to exist. This strikes me as much more just than torturing an individual for eternity.

[MovingOnAgain]

Interesting, I'm not sure I've heard of this opinion before... I may have misunderstood, so I apologize if I have. So you think it would be worse to end someone's misery, rather than have them suffer for eternity?

[Bluemax]

No, I believe it would be worse to have someone suffer for all eternity than to end their misery.

I don't think torturing someone for punishment is a good thing. And a hell of eternal flames yet the person is not consumed *is* torture. Furthermore, I would say that if any *mortal* ruler attempted to rule with the threat of torture, such a ruler would never be tolerated by good people. Yet curiously, good people seem to tolerate it when a god is doing it.

If there is a paradise in the afterlife, I don't think Hitler should be admitted. On the other hand, I wouldn't want him tortured for punishment, either. It seems to me the most just solution is to simply make him cease to exist.

[MovingOnAgain]

Ohhhh, I understand now. Thank you very much for sharing, that's an interesting thought.

[Vyxzuw]

The problem is the thought that the Afterlife's time is linear like ours.
If it isn't then the terms 'eternal' and 'change' start to fall apart.

We can change during life because time is linear here. But if the afterlife is like existing in a picture, then you can't change. Hence it would be eternal experiencing of a moment.
***
Also, Hell was made for the fallen angels, not mankind. Angels are non-linear time beings.

It got used for fallen humans, because those that reject God can't join with him, and have nowhere else to go but Hell.

Also, technically, from a Catholic perspective, Purgatory and Limbo are in Hell as they are separate from God.
Limbo, by the way, is more of an Elysian Fields idea (from Greek Mythology) and not really a place of punishment at all.

There is also the thing that the people in Hell decide whether it's eternal, not God. THEY choose to stay there by not trying to change.
Like someone being sent to rehab until they give up drugs, but they keep trying to take it and just keep getting sent back, over and over.

Plus, there is the issue of if something is created, then it can never be destroyed. At least not the spirit. However, God is what gives life, so without God, they can't live.
Hence they exist but can't do anything, except remember and regret.

Yes, part of Hell is punishment, for the purposes of Justice and Rehabilitation, but that part is not eternal. Unless the person eternally refuses to change themselves.

[MovingOnAgain]

Oh wow, I've never heard of this perspective before! There are just way too many interpretations of this lol. I would only question why punish someone through torment, rather than logic? After all, wouldn't anyone still believe they are in the right without given good reason to believe they're not? In which case, this wouldn't actually qualify it as rehabilitation, would it? Or it might be, but... control by fear of being punished again. Would this be considered as a form of rehab?

[Vyxzuw]

You are assuming the torment is something being done, rather than a consequence.

For instance, giving a kid a timeout is a punishment where you intend for them to learn that what they are doing is wrong, and that actions have consequences.
The kid while thinking about what they did wrong, will feel guilty, which will cause emotional 'torment'.

Remember, that Hell is a Spiritual place. The torment is spiritual.

Think about any time where you were rejected by someone that you liked. Now think about what that feeling would be if it was YOUR FAULT.

Also, sin causes damage, which needs to be repaired. This requires spiritual work to achieve. Which, is suffering.
Think about how you grow muscles, you do that through working out, which causes pain.
Spiritually there is something similar.

However, if they fight the growing, then it's pointless pain. But that was not the intent.

[Vyxzuw]

Also, you mention using logic.

But God gave us commandments to follow, such as do not kill. Yet people do it anyways, even though they already know it's wrong.
That's called mortal sin. Which gets you sent to Hell.

Non-mortal sin gets you sent to Purgatory. That's where you sin but don't really know it's wrong, at least not fully.

The first person is sinning and doesn't care, hence rehabilitation will not work and it becomes an eternal thing.
The second person will learn that's it was wrong, and then will spend effort to correct the actions.

[MovingOnAgain]

I see. So there MAY be pointless pain in it all, but it's not Hell's intention.

But maybe they only did something bad because they misinterpreted what God wanted :( Like, God said you shouldn't kill, but then Leviticus 20:13 was like

"If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them."

I mean, you have to see the misunderstanding there :( They meant well, they probably just thought gay people were the exception or something.

[Vyxzuw]

Like I said, if they didn't really know then it's not a mortal sin and they go to Purgatory and it isn't eternal.

However, sin causes harm (either to others or to ones self) and it needs to be fixed, which will require work.

[MovingOnAgain]

Gotcha, that makes sense. Someone should delete lines, such as those, to save gay people from death then lol.

[Vyxzuw]

Um, no. It's fine in context.
That context being that Jesus shows mercy to an adulteress.
The other context is that homosexual acts are a serious sin.
So are heterosexual acts that aren't intended for procreation but only for physical pleasure.

Someone pursuing sex for only pleasure is disobeying God's commandment to reproduce and are profaning God's gift of sex by turning it into a loving act that produces life and making it into what is essentially just a way to achieve an orgasm.
Which just makes sex into a cheap drug.

Thus they will be putting themselves into spiritual death by choosing to pursue pleasure instead of trying to do what God wants.

Remember, it's not the ACT that's the sin, it's the mindful disregard for doing God's will that is the sin.
We're not on Earth to have fun. We're here to do our part in God's plan.

John 12:25
Whoever loves his life will lose it, but whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

[MovingOnAgain]

But like... why does God care what butt people put their penis into D: Why does he need us to do his stuff? He created the entire universe so easily! He sounds like a very bad person if he demands us to do everything he says :(

[Vyxzuw]

Funny thing. That's why Hell exists.

So that people who don't want to agree with God can do their own thing.

Of course God IS love. Not a being of Love, but the conscious emotion itself. So being in Hell means being without God, which means not being capable of feeling Love.
To say that is mean, is to tell God that he has to be inside people who don't like him. Is that fair? I mean he gives you a whole lifetime of being Life and doesn't stop you from doing anything, even though he is capable of stopping you.
***
You forget that Life is about bring souls to Heaven. Either through procreation and raising them in the right way, to a religious vocation to convert souls who are doing evil things, to martyrdom, which is suffering so that souls can get to Heaven faster.

During Lent, we give up meat. Not because eating meat is wrong, but because giving it up is suffering so that others debts can be repaid.

Living life as you want, is to say, to heck with them, I'll do my own thing.

[MovingOnAgain]

But why doesn't He like guys sleeping with other guys :( Or girls sleeping with other girls? I understand that He would consider it sacred, but I don't see why it is still a big deal to him. I think it looks kind of gross when I see a movie that has a gay sex scene, but I'm tolerant of people doing that in real life. It doesn't bother me too much and I wouldn't punish them by taking away my love for them because they wanted to do something else. I would let them do what they want because I want them to be happy. Would that not be loving of me to do? Why would that bother God to the point that he stop you from sensing his love? Because from what I understand, I'm more tolerant than God when it comes to gay sex.

[Vyxzuw]

Um, who says he does?

Did you read the part where I talked about Lent?

Life isn't about enjoyment, it's about bring souls to Heaven. Gay sex does not contribute to that goal, and even hinders that goal.

It doesn't lead to procreation. Also remember, that when the Old Testament was written, many people had arrange marriages. Which meant that people were many times married to people they weren't attracted to. Yet they were still expected to procreate.
In fact, in the Torrah, married couple were EXPECTED to have sex regularly (if they wife wasn't pregnant) to maximize the amount of children. So, gay people could still participate in this, but were choosing not to. Hence it being a sin.

It doesn't lead to people repenting of their sins and turning to God.
And, as I said, it wasn't the third vocation of martyrdom.

Staying single (and not having sex) was a type of martyrdom that could be used to help save souls.

They were choosing NONE of these routes.

[Vyxzuw]

Here's a question:
When people did and go to Heaven, will they have sex?

From the Bible, it says they will not marry nor be given in marriage. But marriage is for creating families, so that would lead us to assuming that we can't procreate once we did.

However, we can form bodies for ourselves.
So, can we have sex? Would God deny that to us?

And the follow up, if sex can only be used for pleasure and not procreation, and suffering can no longer be used to save souls (since we no longer live through faith, but would now know that God exists) then would it matter how we physically create that pleasure?
Or what I'm asking is, would gay sex be banned in Heaven?

I don't think it will.

Hence, it's not that ACT that's the sin, it's the doing of that act when we should be doing other things.

We are here on Earth to work, and people want to play games. Would your boss let you play games at work?

[MovingOnAgain]

Maybe the last bit wasn't the best example, cuz my boss plays games himself at work, haha. But I think I get what you mean. So the act isn't the sin, it's specifically the blatant disregard for what God believes is necessary, such as bringing souls to Heaven. But I'm still confused about some things. If procreation brings souls to heaven, then would it be a sin for a woman to not allow her husband to have sex with her? In other words, if the woman does not give consent to her husband to have sex with her, but the husband forces sex, would that be moral or immoral? Is the wife being immoral for not doing what God wants us to do, which would be to procreate? Would they both be committing immoral acts for the husband raping the wife, but the wife not following through with what God wants?

[Vyxzuw]

Procreating doesn't bring souls to heaven, per se, since people have free will, a child can grow up and not go to Heaven.
However, procreation is the first commandment God gave to us, even before the fall of Adam and Eve.
Without procreation, no new souls will be made and thus no new souls will reach Heaven. The other vocations exist because there are souls that are trapped in sin.

[Vyxzuw]

There was a lot of thought put into those ideas over the centuries.
I'll try, at any rate.

"then would it be a sin for a woman to not allow her husband to have sex with her?"
Um, depends. But generally speaking, yes. And it's a sin for a man to not have sex with his wife.
That means procreative sex. So they would be required to procreate, but not do other things.
Sort of. Sex is also used to reinforce a bond between the couple, so non-procreative sex is allowed, as long as they are also procreating.

Jewish law basically said, we don't care what sexual acts you do together as long as you are producing children. So foreplay can be whatever, and sex while pregnant is allowed.
However, sex with the desire to NOT have children, is not. (Use of contraceptives.)

It should be noted, that not having sex for health reasons is valid. As well as not having sex because of other emergencies.

[Vyxzuw]

"if the woman does not give consent to her husband to have sex with her, but the husband forces sex, would that be moral or immoral?"

God doesn't force us to do anything. There will be consequences for our actions (and non-actions) but he never MAKES us do anything.
Remember, he could make you do things, or even make you think that you want to do things.
(Demons also have the power to do this, which is why we can never know if people are truly responsible in some cases. Which is why we can't judge a soul but God can. We can judge actions, though.)

So, the man forcing himself on his wife is a grave sin. (While the woman not wanting to have sex can be a venial sin.) The man is committing a sin that will send him to Hell, if he doesn't repent. And even then, he will go to Purgatory.

The woman may not even be committing a sin. If they are having marital difficulties, then seeking to fix those first, IS valid for not having sex.
However, she would have to be willing to try to fix them.

[Gedaria]

Hell is a mythological place.. The bible does not mention it, hell the word is a malgum of hades which is greek and shehal which Hebrew both mean the same thing common grave of mankind basically where you are buried.. Also in the bible there is no hellfire that came from the catholic church, a way of keeping its followers in check plus purgatory , this place where the dead go not to heaven or hell. But if you pay the priest some money he will pray for them so they can go to heaven. There are a lot more in the bible if you study it , and you can see the lies of main stream religion...

[MovingOnAgain]

Why does donating green paper have a say on our chances on whether or not we go to heaven :(

[Gedaria]

They pay it not to go to hell. Its a money spinner for the catholic church ,

[MovingOnAgain]

Ohhhhhhh, gotcha!

[BigJake]

The notion that it's somehow "cruel" for someone to go to hell is a subjective view--your view. Maybe you have it backwards. Maybe rather than people becoming evil and being punished by banishment to hell, they are already evil, and they created hell to suit their afterlife housing needs. After all, they attempt bring hell to earth when they're here, so who's to say that they aren't happier in hell than they would be in heaven. There are people who see the face of purity and goodness and light and want to vomit.

[MovingOnAgain]

Very true, cruelty is subjective. But if they are evil, why would they be brought to Earth in the first place? D=

[BigJake]

Because there would be no good without evil, no land without sea, no up without down. Would a 7-foot man be tall if the average height were 7 feet? Things only exist in relation to their opposite. It's juxtaposition that creates contrast and enlightenment. So God shows us the good and evil, and we can see firsthand that the light is the only true way.

[MovingOnAgain]

Yeah, but... couldn't he just strike down on people before they did bad things? :( Like kill a someone who's about to rape a woman or something along those lines? Even if we didn't have these evils, we would probably be better off without them, no?

[BigJake]

But if all we had was good, would we understand it as such? Good is best described as the absence of bad. If there were no bad, how would we appreciate the good? If every basketball player were as good as Michael Jordan, would Jordan be special? The bad players were just as important as Jordan because they were the canvas upon which Jordan painted the masterpiece, the contrast to his greatness.

[MovingOnAgain]

Yeah, I understand what you mean, but I don't want anyone to be raped, though :( He should just do something to stop rapists, no?

[MikkiM]

This make sense. But if we can only think of the good why do bad still exist. Hell is like calamity. Why do earthquakes happen. Why is there is tsunami. Problably God have reasons

But i m sure God wanted us to know, that there are evils. And he warns us to do good and not bad

[MovingOnAgain]

B-But... Couldn't he warn us that there are evils in this world by not making such devastating natural disasters that kill so many people? :( Like, make us lose the lotto! Or... Have someone call you a jerk! That would be enough to show evil :(

[MikkiM]

there is one thing im sure about. Nothing is permanent in this world. We all gonna leave the earth. and if heaven is a great place to go, I think criminals dont have a place to go there, because its a place of peace. And they will just cause commotion in that place. I think why on earth we created such place as jail. because we all do know that not people will do good. And in the eyes of God he gives justice to all His children. God give one way to turn back to Him. It is Jesus Christ who becomes a way to forgive all our sins. even though hell is a very scary place, God still give us chance not to be forsaken.

[fuctt]

It's a mirror of our justice system: not rehabilitation or to help the imprisoned, but for revenge and to punish instead.

People might be thinking they're doing the right thing, but what they really want to see as an end result is all in their intentions and reasoning for it.

[MovingOnAgain]

This was my mentality, but I love the way you said it in the very first sentence "It's a mirror of our justice system". It sometimes appears as though the celestial world isn't far from ours. Thanks for sharing! :)

[fuctt]

Haha I had a lot more to say but it's 5 in the morning and I'm sleepy so I kept it short. Sometimes you don't need to say much to get a point across

[fuctt]

And what you said about the celestial world not being all that different from ours isn't much of a surprise - after all, haven't we modeled it after our own world? Everything needs something else to reference to, and this is no exception. We're not much different from all the religious figures we think so highly of ourselves

[MovingOnAgain]

I understand. My opinions are generally essays, so I wish I could cut it down as much as you did lol.

[MovingOnAgain]

Agreed, we're essentially the same as the stories and people we've praised. Good point :)

[fuctt]

Ha I wish I wrote this short all the time though, I never not go over the word/page limits for all the essays and papers I write and end up having to cut down half of my content to fit. Maybe I should try doing them more sleep deprived

[MovingOnAgain]

Lmao, when it comes to regular school essays and that sort of stuff, I only ever do just enough. Hell, back in high school, I had to write a small Spanish essay that required 500 or more words. My essay ended up being only exactly 499 words, so then I added "Gracias" at the end of it. 500. What I write for hobby and what I write for school are two completely different ball games lol.

[fuctt]

Dead at the little gracias you ended it with so it'd fit lol
Oh nah what I write for fun is twice as long as what I do for school lol. I've been trained to write long so pages and pages of essay writing just comes to me naturally, and I've had a tendency to overwrite everything since.
But honestly I feel like the quality of the stuff I write for fun is subpar compared to what I hand in for school, I guess it's just this pressure knowing it's going to be read by someone else that has me writing better which I really need to work on

[MovingOnAgain]

I can see why you would try harder in school. I only wish I had the same drive. You were forced to write a lot from a young age? Were your parents one of those parents that are really strict about you studying and turning in good work and going above and beyond? :P Or something else?

[fuctt]

Ha no my parents were happy as long as they knew I was "trying," nah all that pressure was actually from me and all these sky high expectations I'd set myself. A was acceptable, B was bad, a C was can't face anyone ever again and so on. I'm a little more relaxed now but just staying second best in class semester after semester now does get really frustrating and I'm wondering if I should turn back to that again, but I haven't got nearly as much drive and motivation anymore now as I did then lol

[MovingOnAgain]

I see. I grew up similarly but I gave up on trying way too much on subject matter that I cared very little about. As my mother always told me "The highest grade you can get is an A. If you don't believe the material is too important for your future career, then just do what's enough. Any extra effort won't be recorded and you probably could have done something more productive with the extra time"... My brother puts 1000% on anything school related though and doesn't listen lol. To each their own :)

[hellionthesagereborn]

Their was a theologian, I believe his name was Origen, who stated that if hell exists at the end of days then that proves that it is at the very least as powerful as good. By that reasoning he determined that the fires of hell where not to punish but to purify, to cleanse people of their sin so that at the end times they will be able to rejoin all others in heaven. I do not believe in heaven or hell but if their is one that would be the one that makes most sense to me.

[MovingOnAgain]

I'm glad it makes the most sense to you because I did not understand what you mean, haha. I'm not saying you're wrong or anything like that, I just don't think it was too clear for me to understand. The very first sentence, specifically. What led him to believe that it was as powerful as good?

[hellionthesagereborn]

If evil exists after the destruction of everything else then clearly if the only things left are good and evil then evil must be by extension equivalent to good, because its a draw. They would be in a stalemate meaning that neither is more powerful then the other as neither one was able to destroy the other. So believing that good was more powerful then evil he came to the conclusion that good would have to triumph not by punishing evil but by converting it to good and so the fires of hell are not punishment but are purifying, they are their to burn away the sins of the fallen (metaphorically speaking) thus allowing them to become good again i. e. its not punishment its redemption and rehabilitation.

[MovingOnAgain]

This is the weirdest explanation I've come across, but the one that sounds the nicest, haha. That's a very interesting possibility. Thank you very much for sharing this view :)

[hellionthesagereborn]

Not a problem.

[Ram0n83]

Good post. I agree with a lot of your points.

I also have an idea as to why this is impossible: every single person on the planet would wind up in hell for at least one reason or another. It's impossible to follow all of the various Old Testament laws and remain a free mortal on this earth because you would be imprisoned or executed in every country that exists. Not to mention that the laws are contradictory (i. e. a commandment about not killing is offset by circumstances where death sentences are justified, such as disrespecting your parents). It's impossible to follow the bible and also not go to hell, although supposedly following the teachings of the bible are specifically to prevent just that.

[WhereAmI]

He'll could just be never getting to heaven and re-living your miserable existance on earth till you get it right. There's no mention of hell in the bible is there other than the prophesized lake of fire?

[MovingOnAgain]

Well that sounds rather unfortunate. What would "getting it right" mean and why should we be put through such torture when we cannot even learn from our past mistakes? D:

[WhereAmI]

Maybe that's what deja vu is all about in some sense. Either that or we just suffer till we get it right by chance.

[MovingOnAgain]

Well, damn... I would be quite unhappy with Hell's service, haha.

[Anonymous]

here ill make this simple GOD is above the dome
Jesus Christ is the son of GOD he is the only way to heaven you gotta ask him
for all must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAcp3BFBYw4

and hell is under the earth so yeah its not hard to figure out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU2HFFCr71k

[RumbleBuffin]

I once heard a priest give an explanation of hell as simply living with the absence of God. It could simply be a place where God has abandoned us...

[MovingOnAgain]

Why would he do such a thing Q___Q

[Deathraider]

Hell just seems like man's archaic conception of a fictitious afterlife meant to keep people in line and justify cruelty.

[MovingOnAgain]

That is also what I think, but that's simply my opinion.

[Anonymous]

There is simply no purpose for hell... Cuz u can't separate good and evil,. Those forces are interconnected and interdependent... Evil is a natural thing that should we should not belame a dark force for... I am wiccan, and in our. Religion, after death you go in a place named Summerland, no matter if you where good or bad,. And there you can reflect. At your actions from the past life... and when you came. To a conclusion you ware ready to start. A new life

[wyldun]

heaven and hell are constructs of our own making, when you die your consciousness/soul rejoins the eternal energy of the universe and you will reward or punish yourself with help from the other consciousnesses about you

[AngelLily]

Yes hell has it reason it was made for satan and his fallen angels and so that the evil and unrighteous get what they deserve.

[genericname85]

the sole purpose of hell is to make you scared of doing bad things.

[Revolver_]

Yeah

[MovingOnAgain]

I want to give you the Most Helpful Opinion star, so bad D:

[Revolver_]

Thank you

[Anonymous]

I think so.