There is no hell.

[Susan Arendt]

Hell is other people.

Or it may be sitting through back to back viewings of Twilight. It's definitely one or the other.

 

[Robyrt]

Hell is other people.

Or it may be sitting through back to back viewings of Twilight. It's definitely one or the other.

Sartre was definitely hanging out with the wrong people.

 

[gim73]

Blah... Don't believe any of that crap that the pope's word is Gods law. The church has put some vile, evil bastards in that office who have tainted it beyond all recognition.

I can't believe most of you guys haven't heard this yet, it's been known for a LONG time.

There is NO HELL... yet.

Technically, hell is earth on judgement day, after all have been sorted out and the dead have returned to life. The good are brought to God's side, and the evil are utterly destroyed in the lake of fire, snuffed from existance. 1000 years later the earth is remade into a new paradise.

Purgatory/limbo: yeah, this is what they call a money making scam. 'yeah, your mother was ALMOST good enough to get into heaven. If you attend church regularly and tithe a bit more, then God's grace will let her in.' Classic scam of religious proportions.

 

[TerraMGP]

You know I find it amazing that NOBODY paid attention to anything but the title, The atheists still go 'I don't beleive in either' rather than discussing the actual TOPIC of the thread which is the huge lie perpetuated in christian theology about hell, while the christians just keep saying 'if there is a heaven there is a hell' without reading the links I put up.

Could someone please READ the material I put in the thread and get an understanding of what I am talking about? Please?

Having actually read the first article, it makes some good points:
[*]The Old Testament term sheol really means "the grave", not "hell." This is a fault with the KJV, as most modern translations do not make this switch. Same with "Easter" for pascha.
[*]The "unquenchable fire" used as a description of hell is unquenchable because it is divine fire, like the burning bush, not because it lasts for eternity.

However, I disagree with its interpretation of Luke 12:4-5:

I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.

To say this refers to a nation or an idea is an unbelievable stretch; it clearly refers to a single person's fate after their death. In fact, this destruction is specifically being contrasted with the earthly destruction spoken of in Jeremiah, which was a similar punishment by God for sins, but accomplished by men and clearly not unending torment.

His idea of Gehenna as unambiguously referring to a place is inconsistent with the construction "the Gehenna of fire", but that's just the beginning of the problems.

The entire argument in general is predicated upon the assumption that the New Testament prophesies the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and not the final judgment of the "Day of the Lord" from earlier prophecies. This is not a settled question by any means, and I happen to disagree. Revelation 20:11-15 is very clear IMHO that it is referring to an individual moral judgment - "each according to his works" - rather than a collective judgment of the kind God is famous for doing on earth. His treatment of Isaiah 30:33 makes the same error.

He is also begging the question in some places. In the discussion on Isaiah 66:24, he uses the New Testament to prove the meaning of the Old - a specific national destruction. Earlier, he used "there is no mention of hell in the OT" to arrive at this interpretation of the NT. Isaiah 66 is actually a counterargument, not a support to his thesis, because "their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched" is clearly poetic language describing the duration of fire.

Beyond that, the strongest argument for the popular conception of hell is in Luke 16, the rich man and Lazarus. This guy is hilariously wrong about this passage, but the post is long enough already.

tl;dr version: Christianity actually does teach about Hell. Don't believe the hype.

See to this I would like to ask, other than the influx of Zoroastrianism into the Jewish faith later on (something That Paul spoke against, yet still seems the most prominent part of Christianity) The Jews have no concept of hell. It simply is not in their Canon. You can ask any Rabbi. This is another reason its doubtful that Jesus actually talked about it, and frankly Some of the passages I would suspect would be among those that were inserted later.

But then you have to get into 'what parts of the bible were tampered with' and that's a whole other issue.

 

[DA GOD A CRUNK]

there is no hell no devil just god when he drinks.lol

 

[Galletea]

It's all entirely subjective. You posted two links but there will be several 'proving' that there is a hell. It all depends on which version of your faith you prefer.

 

[TerraMGP]

According to Ronnie James Dio:

Sing me a song, you're a singer
Do me a wrong, you're a bringer of evil
The devil is never a maker
The less that you give, you're a taker
So it's on and on and on, it's heaven and hell
Oh well

And they'll tell you black is really white
The moon is just the sun at night
And when you walk in golden halls
You get to keep the gold that falls
It's heaven and hell, oh no

And as far as I'm concerned, Dio is the final authority in anything.

Read your links, but after I saw this, I stopped caring. This wins.

I will agree that Dio is made of win.

I just wish more people read the links, especially the Christians. This is their faith, 'our' faith we are talking about after all.

Anyway, this is from Mark 9:
And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.

Hell is most definitely in the Bible.

No, its not, its a mistranslation as is said over and over again in those two links. Hell is not in the original texts, the CONCEPT of hell is not in the original texts. The Jews had no concept of hell.

Are they highly credited sources? I didn't check their credentials, but on the internet, one mans word, is just as good as the next psycho's.

I'm talking about real Rabbi that you would meet on the street. Yes the internet lacks credibility by itself but with things like this where you are looking at doctrine of a faith in terms of what is commonly accepted its quite easy to find out what they believe in.

 

[Ursus Astrorum]

Eh, I'm more of a Nirvana-esque, become one with the world kind of guy. True, how you act affects how close you are to achieving enlightenment, but you're not going to burn for all eternity for what you've done. You'll just come out a lot worse than if you'd been better in the long run.

 

[mwhite67]

I don't know what you guys are talking about. It's obvious that Zeus made us all out of clay and that we all go to the underworld when we die this heaven and hell idea is nonsense. What would Apolo and Hermes think if they read all this baloney.

 

[Limasol]

Hell is other people, for evidence i use this thread: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.81874?page=1

 

[space_oddity]

There is no hell. When you die you are dead. You return to what you were before you were conceived.

On what knowledge do you base this on? For all you know, the moon could be made of cheese.

Because every theory to the contrary is based on the inescapable human desire to conquer death, instead of any logical process.

Yes, but what kind of cheese? Bree i could believe, but Gouda? Bah! You're a madman!

 

[Mr. Purple]

There is no hell. When you die you are dead. You return to what you were before you were conceived.

The idea that one would be punished for an eternity for a handful of 'sins' most likely committed in ignorance is ludicrous.

I usually a pretty upbeat guy, sorry if this post has a bit of a negative tone haha.

So you came here to propose your religion or ummm...non-religion? Or did u just want to put down christianity? I'm all for giving your opinion, but I wouldn't come into a seemingly christian debate forum like this and say "There is no God, Heaven or Hell." That seemed out of place.

On the other hand I don't believe this either, but the christian faith has been changed dramatically since it started. I think ppl need to believe in something and stick with it.

I've never heard of that convent thing that xitel mentioned though. Thats interesting. Kinda makes u think of what COULD happen....if it were true. I'm scared. O.O
Lol.

 

[GenHellspawn]

Because every theory to the contrary is based on the inescapable human desire to conquer death, instead of any logical process.

There's your problem. When your dealing with something as fantastical as hell, logic will do you no good.

 

[Railu]

There is no hell. When you die you are dead. You return to what you were before you were conceived.

On what knowledge do you base this on? For all you know, the moon could be made of cheese.

Because every theory to the contrary is based on the inescapable human desire to conquer death, instead of any logical process.

Yes, but what kind of cheese? Bree i could believe, but Gouda? Bah! You're a madman!

I love bree. Bonaparte is my favorite. But if the moon were made of Gouda, it would make sense. You might try it once out of curiosity, but never go back again.

 

[CZTM]

http://gospelthemes.com/hell.htm
http://www.tentmaker.org/articles/ifhellisreal.htm

For the sake of the OP, I'll talk about the links given.

1) Very convincing and has me (as a Christian) reviewing other materials other than these links now, and possibly taking a religious course next semester at my university..

2) I'm not overly trusting of websites that look that way, nor have proper citations or logical based facts, and who are trying to sell material (site #1). Also, when trying to prove a mistranslation, it's always nice to provide a link to a site that shows the translation.

It's definitely worth thought around the subject, to say the least, but then again, I've never really been all that scared of Hell. I mean, what most Christians fail to realize is that unless they royally "screw the pooch" (I mean that metaphorically, and not in reference to bestiality), then surely they're not going to be punished by God.

 

[TerraMGP]

http://gospelthemes.com/hell.htm
http://www.tentmaker.org/articles/ifhellisreal.htm

For the sake of the OP, I'll talk about the links given.

1) Very convincing and has me (as a Christian) reviewing other materials other than these links now, and possibly taking a religious course next semester at my university..

2) I'm not overly trusting of websites that look that way, nor have proper citations or logical based facts, and who are trying to sell material (site #1). Also, when trying to prove a mistranslation, it's always nice to provide a link to a site that shows the translation.

It's definitely worth thought around the subject, to say the least, but then again, I've never really been all that scared of Hell. I mean, what most Christians fail to realize is that unless they royally "screw the pooch" (I mean that metaphorically, and not in reference to bestiality), then surely they're not going to be punished by God.

Well the two links were more intended to give an initial overview of the concepts and kind of show the concept as it has evolved. Granted it is hard to find reliable sources of information on the internet, so I am also working at compiling a short list of books that may help people understand the evolution of the concept of hell, like other concepts, without requiring people to learn Hebrew or Greek.

 

[Robyrt]

I had a big post on the second of the original links ("If Hell is Real") but accidentally deleted it.

I will merely say that the page sounds convincing, but on closer inspection is full of half-arguments, logically inconsistent and stupid misreadings of Scripture, a big argument for universal salvation (that most weak-kneed and nonsensical of heresies), etc. So I'm not inclined to trust the bits I haven't done research on, when the arguments from the Bible are so terrible.