I need help letting go of the idea of hell

**The Sandman** · 04-17-2012 04:03 PM

I don't know if this has already been said, or if this is otherwise irrelevant, but here is my take on Hell.

First, where is Hell? Supposedly it is a really hot place, right? So, is it the center of the Earth? You think about burning for an eternity. Fire isn't nearly as hot as the sun; perhaps you would burn in a nuclear reaction such as our sun then. Also, don't you think burning in Hell forEVER is kind of harsh?

For there to be a Hell, there should be a God, yes? God/Satan...Heaven/Hell, you know. As for everything working out so nicely with Yin and Yang, could you do anything so bad that it deserved you burning in Hell forEVER! Perhaps some people, but could you? Also, if there is a God (therefore a Satan and a Hell), and if God made us in "his" image, consider this.

If God were a man, wouldn't he have made women want sex as much as men do?
If God were a woman, we she allow women to be drug around by the hair as they have been by man for thousands of years? I mean, men are capable
of horrors to women. Is that right?

God supposedly made a mate for all the animals, but didn't make a mate for Adam right away. Adam had to ask for a mate. If Adam were made in God's image, wouldn't God know that Adam would want a mate? If God is Omniscient, he wouldn't really have needed Adam to ask for a mate.

Anyway, does a soul burn? A body has mass, but the soul? I don't know. Why do we attribute physical qualities to a place in the spiritual realm? I can't make that fit in my mind.

That's just my take on hell.

**Silent_Lucidity** · 05-07-2012 02:26 PM

TS: you believe in Hell, but not in the G man, Satan, or that? That means no one is in charge. ANARCHY!!!!

Hell is an idea derived from the Old Testament asshole God universe conceived to scare people. You will burn for all eternity for something you did during your lifetime. Isn't that a little extreme? Are there various "sentences"? Will you burn for 5 minutes if you were a moderate douchebag or burn a year if you murdered lots of people? If you murdered evil people, does that mean they're in Hell too? If so, are you evil in the first place? And also, if Satan is so evil, why would be punish like-minded spirits? Yeah, spirits. I assume you lack a physical body in the afterlife.

/my two cents

**the real pieman** · 07-16-2012 02:26 AM

Here's something really depressing, the alternative to hell, which according to the bible pretty much everyone in the world can qualify for is nothingness, just fading away. I think that's a much more scary prospect, completely vanishing. People say that the idea of heaven makes people live a good life but the idea that this life is it, that there is nothing else just makes me want to live it to the full more, its one thing to die expecting more hoping/fearing what comes next and to die in retrospect looking back on everything and say that "ive really lived" and im ok with it ending. I would rather have the second option personally.

**Original Poster** · 07-16-2012 03:29 AM

I dont find nothingness depressing so much as disillusioning.

**The Sandman** · 07-16-2012 03:59 AM

Originally Posted by the real pieman

Here's something really depressing, the alternative to hell, which according to the bible pretty much everyone in the world can qualify for is nothingness, just fading away. I think that's a much more scary prospect, completely vanishing. People say that the idea of heaven makes people live a good life but the idea that this life is it, that there is nothing else just makes me want to live it to the full more, its one thing to die expecting more hoping/fearing what comes next and to die in retrospect looking back on everything and say that "ive really lived" and im ok with it ending. I would rather have the second option personally.

So, what are you saying is worse, nothing after death, or Hell?

**Sageous** · 07-16-2012 04:34 AM

^^ How the hell could Hell be worse than oblivion? The choice between perfect suffering for eternity and nothing at all seems pretty obvious...

**The Sandman** · 07-16-2012 04:39 AM

Originally Posted by Sageous

^^ How the hell could Hell be worse than oblivion? The choice between perfect suffering for eternity and nothing at all seems pretty obvious...

Color me slow, but I don't know if you are being facetious. You think nothing would be worse than Hell? I'm just having trouble wrapping my mind around this idea. Is this really what you propose?
You use the word "oblivion." Is this "nothing" or something else in this scenario?

**Sageous** · 07-16-2012 05:00 AM

^^ You heard me right, I think. "Nothing," or oblivion, by definition means that you are not there, period, so there is no "You" on hand to suffer Hell or to understand that you're missing anything. In other words, the choice to me here seems to be between "Never knew what hit him," and having, for instance, a demon slowly tear all your skin off, over and over, for all eternity with no chance of rescue or change. Given that choice, I'd be willing to sacrifice my Self for oblivion. You, I imagine, would opt for the eternal agony. Can I ask why?

**The Sandman** · 07-16-2012 05:05 AM

You said, "How the hell could Hell be worse than oblivion? The choice between perfect suffering for eternity and nothing at all seems pretty obvious..."

I think it was a matter of how you intonate your question as to how it would be interpreted. We agree. The choice between perfect suffering for eternity and nothing at all is pretty obvious.

**Sageous** · 07-16-2012 05:39 AM

Sorry for the confusion ... glad we're clear now!

**The Sandman** · 07-16-2012 04:50 PM

It was the pie man's quote that I still believe is saying that nothingness would be worse than Hell. The idea that nothingness could be worse than Hell is stupid on the face of it. Like the sadist and the masochist in a room. What happens?

Nothing.

**Chimpertainment** · 07-18-2012 09:09 AM

Let go of hell....

Hitler did his best to kill as many of the people he didnt like....God takes all the people he doesnt like and tortures them for eternity...So, who is better? The one who tortures and kills, or the one who tortures endlessly?

Hell is the logical end to fear. Heaven is the logical end to love. They both exist here on earth.

Time to get over your fear buddy.

**Jesus of Suburbia** · 07-18-2012 07:56 PM

Originally Posted by Carôusoul

Not true. I'm a total atheist, however I believe in hell. Just not the devil, or God, or heaven.

Tis a grim lot in life.

Explain. Who decides who goes to hell and who doesn't if not God? And if you haven't done anything to deserve hell, where do you go when you die if not heaven?

**DrunkenArse** · 07-20-2012 10:33 PM

He was just trolling.

**Jesus of Suburbia** · 07-20-2012 10:39 PM

*Shakes fist*

**The Sandman** · 07-20-2012 11:06 PM

Originally Posted by PhilosopherStoned

He was just trolling.

Hmmm. I'm gullible.

**Carôusoul** · 07-25-2012 09:59 PM

Oh I have such sights to show you all. We can dance to the whining of thin flutes, played by blind idiot gods in the spaces outside of euclidian space

Trolling, indeed.

I don't believe in satan nor 'God' as such, but there is a hell, and there are.. other gods.

**Lseadragon** · 08-05-2012 07:59 AM

Just while we're on the topic I have no problem with reconciling my own idea of hell with an all-loving/all-forgiving god.

When you die, you're taken to God's presence, and he loves you, forgives you, all that jazz. But if you've done really badly in your life (and not out of circumstance, necessarily, purely out of what one might consider sin) then your own hell is there too in the all-revealing light of that presence. Because you understand what you did now; you understand the effects of your actions, the pain others suffered. You can understand it from all perspectives, each life relived.

And my oh my. God still loves you, even though you now understand definitively that you do not deserve this love in any shape or form. The guilt is a crushing thing. Whether it's eternal depends on your own personal views on the rebirth cycle and so on.

I'm an atheist, though. It's nothingness for me.

Fuck.

**Jesus of Suburbia** · 08-06-2012 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by Lseadragon

Just while we're on the topic I have no problem with reconciling my own idea of hell with an all-loving/all-forgiving god.

When you die, you're taken to God's presence, and he loves you, forgives you, all that jazz. But if you've done really badly in your life (and not out of circumstance, necessarily, purely out of what one might consider sin) then your own hell is there too in the all-revealing light of that presence. Because you understand what you did now; you understand the effects of your actions, the pain others suffered. You can understand it from all perspectives, each life relived.

And my oh my. God still loves you, even though you now understand definitively that you do not deserve this love in any shape or form. The guilt is a crushing thing. Whether it's eternal depends on your own personal views on the rebirth cycle and so on.

I'm an atheist, though. It's nothingness for me.

Fuck.

lolwut

**Lseadragon** · 08-08-2012 02:40 PM

Originally Posted by Jesus of Suburbia

lolwut

I'll fucking cut you.

**Jesus of Suburbia** · 08-09-2012 12:27 PM

Originally Posted by Lseadragon

I'll fucking cut you.

Can't cut what ya can't catch. I'm slippery, nigga. Slippery like a trout! An I'm fast too, like if a cheeta an a lightning bolt had a baby.
So you can run n' tell that.
(but not as fast as me)

**Lseadragon** · 08-10-2012 01:29 AM

Originally Posted by Jesus of Suburbia

Can't cut what ya can't catch.

Yes I can. Have you never heard of knife-on-a-rope?

**Jesus of Suburbia** · 08-10-2012 02:04 AM

Originally Posted by Lseadragon

Yes I can. Have you never heard of knife-on-a-rope?

**Universal Mind** · 08-13-2012 06:37 PM

This is awesome...

If God Were a Firefighter - YouTube

**the real pieman** · 09-22-2012 04:08 AM

I think your very wrong, existence is the last thing you have in the worst situations. Nothingness would be far be worse than hell, i think the other way is stupid because

1. Perfect suffering doesnt exist as hell doesnt exist the truth is our actions on this earth are all we have.
2. My own personal hell would be not existing, i think thats the worst case scenerio in any situation physical and mental pain is still a feeling.

Also, might as well throw in my atheist beliefs blatently:

3. Heaven and hell are awful things to live for and this ideas of heaven existing in the world have let people live horrible lives under the false pretense that they will be rewarded later on. The idea of hell is to keep people in line or their souls will be perminantly punished for all time in some cases denying their own human impulses to stick to these rules.