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On careful consideration of the possibility of eternal torture in Hell, I'm struck by some incongruities (i.e.: illogicalities).
First: after, say, the first 25 years in hell, wouldn't you sorta give up on being allowed to be tortured? I mean, we all get bored easily, right?
Second: torture as a concept requires a sentient, functioning, sane mind to "appreciate" and even to accept that one is being punished. After a few years of eternal damnation, wouldn't your mind just let go, and you'd be one of those cackling sorts for which the heat, the pitchfork in the butt, etc., would no longer have any meaning? and thus, hell would have no meaning?
Third: Seems to me the threat of eternal damnation was intended to produce a "quick scare" amongst the dubious, those considering a classic "listed" (registered?") sin against the Church. It was not intended for careful consideration by the sheeple about whether such a place is even possible.
Fourth: where, physically, is this place supposed to be located? We all know now it's not buried underground us here on Earth, beneath us as colloquial pseudo-knowledge would have you believe: "You'll be sent [ominous drum-roll...] down THERE!". Well, of course, that's all bunko, so where, again, could such a place actually exist, physically?
Fifth: What about going to hell for one simple, minor sin, such as, say, thinking unwholesome thoughts about your best friend's wife? Is that worth ETERNAL damnation, when, in fact, you also saved a few starving kittens from drowning, helped a butterfly get out of a spider's web once, and also held good respectful thoughts about your family preacher whenever you heard his sermons?
Is there a sort of godly scorecard? "He shoots, he scores, he doesn't go to hell!"
Sixth: how does one rationalize the huge logical and rational disconnect about the realities and un-realities of this supposed Hell with an intelligent mind, and why do the Christians not see this as simple fear-mongering for power, control and wealth?
Clue: perhaps it keeps them in line against their own wishful wanton desires to transgress, and they want mutual agreement by the general population.
Fifth: What about going to hell for one simple, minor sin, such as, say, thinking unwholesome thoughts about your best friend's wife? Is that worth ETERNAL damnation, when, in fact, you also saved a few starving kittens from drowning, helped a butterfly get out of a spider's web once, and also held good respectful thoughts about your family preacher whenever you heard his sermons
I have to say first of all that it was wrong to get that butterfly out of the spider's web. That spider spent a lot of valuable time, energy, and nutrients to produce that web to get that food you took away from it.. That spider may have died because of you... As a consequence, you would have had more unwanted insect in the area... I mean how would you like it if someone took the food from you that you spent so much effort on getting in the first place
secondly. The world wide church of god researched the origins of hell.. They found out that hell was a dark cool hole in the ground where you keep potatoes after harvest.. I suspect that after that, someone used That same hole in the ground to confine someone that was not doing something right. or at least right for those times. So to punish them they put them in hell. Thus if your bad, you'll go to hell. (That cool dark hole in the ground...) does that explain things a little..
Hell does exist. It's called "the Southeast during summer".
lmao
I would point out that the Christians were not the inventors of Hell...the concept of the "underworld" in the afterlife was defined by the Egyptians. Clear evidence of this influence on Christian mythology exists. However, it was not an important precept to Christianity until the dark ages, when CHristian leaders needed a "Scare tactic" to keep and control the converts (yes, Virginia, Christianity was an abusive religion back then too)
As for the reality of Hell, it defies all known scientific and physical prinicpals. But using scientfici theory, we at least know that IF it does exist, it is cooler in hell than in heaven.
Here let me add one more Idea to the OP
If I may ask, when is one man's heaven another man's hell? Suppose Heaven is populated with racist, judegemntal Christians, who hate everyone and everything outside of themeselves (which they too hate but will not admit) ???? Wouldn't it be Hell spending eternity along side of them in heaven?
Hell does exist. It's called "the Southeast during summer".
i live in the southeast...i love the beach...the water parks...the theme parks...i wear sunscreen year round, and shiver if the temperature gets below 80 degrees. i have seen snow exactly once in my entire life, when i was six (it snowed in tampa florida in 1977).
Here let me add one more Idea to the OP
If I may ask, when is one man's heaven another man's hell? Suppose Heaven is populated with racist, judgmental Christians, who hate everyone and everything outside of themselves (which they too hate but will not admit) ???? Wouldn't it be Hell spending eternity along side of them in heaven?
Very good point, LKC. If heaven is populated with the smarmy, holier-than-thou types that pass for mature Christians around here, I certainly do not want to go to such a place. For eternity no less!
Hanging with a bunch of self-righteous types all saying "I told you so!" since, in fact, a lot of them here living on Earth are really not so sure it exists, but are simply doing that "But what if you're wrong?" thing?
Lord save me from that! Especially if Billy Joel, Chris Smither, Gordon Lightfoot, Creedance, and a few others who used swear-words too often, are in the happy alternative location!
i live in the southeast...i love the beach...the water parks...the theme parks...i wear sunscreen year round, and shiver if the temperature gets below 80 degrees. i have seen snow exactly once in my entire life, when i was six (it snowed in tampa florida in 1977).
I'm miserable if the temperature is over 80, or 70 for that matter. You and I are very different.
The temp this week in central WA, near Yakima, is predicted (that'd be science at work, BTW) to be over 105˚ F. H$ll, that's hot! TDH!
Hey... maybe it's just God gettin' me ready for my future eternal destination? But why punish the elderly Christians here, one of whom dies recently from heat exhaustion. I thought God took care of His own, or as a poster said to me yesterday, if I accepted Jesus into my life, my arthritic state would be cured!
Imagine! There's absolutely no arthritic Christians, apparently, huh? Anyone wanna confirm this? If so, I'm a convert, this afternoon!
Makes me long for one of those days on the Beaufort Sea in January.... -70˚ C. Now THAT'S crispy cool! (no wonder I became arthritic; that's perhaps too d@nged cold!)
Imagine! There's absolutely no arthritic Christians, apparently, huh? Anyone wanna confirm this? If so, I'm a convert, this afternoon!
Sorry, severe arthritis runs in my family, along with fundamental Christianity.
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A happy alternative!
