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ROME — Hell is a place where sinners really do burn in an everlasting fire, and not just a religious symbol designed to galvanize the faithful, the Pope said.
Addressing a parish gathering in a northern suburb of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI said that in the modern world many people, including some believers, had forgotten that if they failed to "admit blame and promise to sin no more," they risked "eternal damnation — the Inferno."
Fire is a creation of the material world and it does not exist in hell. Hell is darkness and those who go there are not in harmony with God. As they redeem themselves, they will progress and move into the lighter heavens. No one spends eternity in darkness. It's not God's design but a man made idea.
I admit the "everlasting fire" part has bothered me as I've grown older. Although "Outer darkness ... there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" sounds mostly acceptable to me.
You are in darkness as you are not in the light of God and the faithful. The weeping and gnashing of teeth is regret about a lack you never fixed and never will fix. To fix it after death you'd have to be changed into someone else, which is essentially a death of a different kind. You are eternally separated like a son who refuses to ever see a father again or a person serving a life sentence in prison. The afterlife however is eternal.
He didn't have to go there to know that. This is something that has always been taught in Christianity in general.
By the way, I realize you're entitled to your opinion/say, but must you be so snide about it?
I wasn't being snide. He's never died and seen what hell really is so he cannot possibly know for a fact.
Taught is the key word in your response. Just because something is taught, does not make it true. Truth lies in experience. If a person does not experience something, it cannot be true for them. Faith is totally different, however, and he based his answer on that faith.
Fire is a creation of the material world and it does not exist in hell. Hell is darkness and those who go there are not in harmony with God. As they redeem themselves, they will progress and move into the lighter heavens. No one spends eternity in darkness. It's not God's design but a man made idea.
You're so severed from doctrine, Reverend. Can I call you Severend?
You're so severed from doctrine, Reverend. Can I call you Severend?
Are you sure that you aren't severed?
Why is it that anyone who doesn't agree with particular religions, that they are the outcasts? You believe what you have been taught to believe without experiencing. I believe because I have experinced what I have been taught. Do you experience everything that is in the bible? If not, then it cannot be true for you. How do you know that what you believe is true? Have you asked God? Jesus? Any of the authors? Oh, that's right, you don't believe in communicating with the spirit world. Communicate with them and get their story instead of living someone elses story as your own truth.
Oh, that's alright... As soon as this Pope dies, all the cardinals will gather 'round and confer as to who the next Pope will be. The smoke will come from the chimney of the Vatican declaring a new Pope and all of a sudden an entirely new interpretation and declaration of the Catholic faith will be declared. It's quite possible that the next Pope will declare hell a "metaphor" or something to that extent. And, naturally, all of those following the Catholic Church will then say "Oh, I'm so glad God changed his mind and told the Pope of the recent change. Now we can believe it's just a metaphor."
Years will pass, another Pope will be elected, and then hell will become "real" again. This will require that all the followers of the Catholic Church shift their frame of mind and realize that hell is once again a "real" place.
So the cycle goes back and forth as the mindless masses shift their beliefs according to what an old man in a funny hat proclaims to be true.
Next week... why Saltines work just as well when performing the cannibalistic ritual of eating Jesus' cracker.
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