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Concepts of hell?
- Thread starter VoidCat
- Start date
Secret Chief
Veteran Member
Hell can be a real place in the mind.
VoidCat
Use any and all pronouns including neo and it/it's
Care to elaborate in case I am wrong as to what you mean?
JoshuaTree
Flowers are red?
Full of people that look, act, and believe differently?
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
A place where you can laugh with the sinners instead of crying with the saints?
I think it means another word for the state of being after death when one is absent of god. The nature of that state, when, whey, and where depends on the abrahamic religion-symbolic, literal, in the mind, in fire, total poof out of existence.
I think it means another word for the state of being after death when one is absent of god. The nature of that state, when, whey, and where depends on the abrahamic religion-symbolic, literal, in the mind, in fire, total poof out of existence.
VoidCat
Use any and all pronouns including neo and it/it's
That wouldnt surprise me if hell was like that.
Martin
Spam, wonderful spam (bloody vikings!)
"Hell is other people", to quote one of Sartre's plays.
LightofTruth
Well-Known Member
The N.T. use three words translated by the KJV as "hell".
The first is 'hades' which corresponds to sheol (Hebrew) of the O.T. it means the grave.
The second is 'gehenna' which refers to a garbage dump outside of Jerusalem where bodies of criminals were burned. Called "the lake of fire"
The third is tartarus which refers to the abyss where those who were drowned in the flood went.
The first is 'hades' which corresponds to sheol (Hebrew) of the O.T. it means the grave.
The second is 'gehenna' which refers to a garbage dump outside of Jerusalem where bodies of criminals were burned. Called "the lake of fire"
The third is tartarus which refers to the abyss where those who were drowned in the flood went.
Been there, no fun.
And the christian concepts of hell is pretty weak in the bible, the idea most christians associate with hell is based on the work of Dante Alighieri and Hieronymus Bosch. Its good to know that when a christian is threatening me and mine with hell because we don't believe their particular brand of faith they are threatening me with a comedy and art masterpieces
Ahh The Inferno. The epic self insert fan fiction that set all the standards for self insert fan fics
Secret Chief
Veteran Member
Like heaven, it is a created state of mind. This is a little story involving Hakuin, a Buddhist priest:
A samurai once approached Hakuin, who was deep in meditation. Impatient, the samurai interrupted him and demanded “Tell me the nature of heaven and hell. Do they really exist?”
Hakuin looked at the soldier and asked “Who are you?”
“I am a samurai,” came the proud reply.
“Ha!” exclaimed Hakuin. “What makes you think you can understand such insightful things? You are merely a callous, brutish soldier! Go away and do not waste my time with your foolish questions,” Hakuin said, waving his hand to dismiss him.
The samurai couldn’t take such an insult. He drew his sword and readied for the kill, but Hakuin remained calm and simply said, “This is hell.”
The warrior was taken aback. Humbled by the wisdom of Hakuin, he put away his sword and bowed before Hakuin.
“And this is heaven,” Hakuin said, just as calmly.
VoidCat
Use any and all pronouns including neo and it/it's
Lots of guts Hakuin had...couldve been killed if the warrior didn't listen to him.
I also particularly like C. S. Lewis' "Great Divorce" which is a novel about hell. A quote that illustrate that noted Christian theologian's thought as expressed in that book book. I don't agree with the theology but to me there's psychological validity in his points about what constitutes hell:
“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.”
...
“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.”
...
Heyo
Veteran Member
Hell is the logical consequence of a belief in a just world.
The cognitive dissonance between the belief of justice and the obvious absence of it lead to the creation of an "afterlife" where injustice is levelled out. In Hinduism that is the rebirth in a lower caste, in Christianity it is a place where the soul goes. Catholicism found that some injustices don't warrant eternal damnation so they also invented purgatory, a pre-hell where punishment is dealt out for a finite time.
So the pictures of hell are creative but the concept behind all of them is the wish for a just world/deity which can't be found in the real world.
Shall I reiterate?....
"In the Bible, there is no "hell" as it is believed in many churches. "Hell" was introduced as a concept to control the ignorant masses early on....to emotionally blackmail those who were denied access to the Bible, and who had to rely on corrupt leaders to spoon feed doctrinal errors to their flocks. Christendom is the result....the "weeds" that Christ foretold...but the "wheat" never went away.....they were always there in the background and occasionally a brave soul would stand up and make a point and pay with their lives. (like Jesus did and many prophets before him)
"Hell" in the Bible is "hades", which according to the scriptures is nothing more than the common grave of all mankind....we all "go to hell". It is a place of rest where the dead sleep in an unconscious state, according to the Tanakh. (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10) In time, Greek influence changed all that however. The idea of an immortal soul which crept into both Judaism and later Christianity, meant that places had to be invented for these "souls" (who could not die) to go. Some in the early church got really creative......but this notion finds no grounds in scripture.
The ancient Jews did not believe in life after death at all. "Sheol" (hades) was the place where all the dead slept awaiting their resurrection. Jesus said he was going to call all the dead from their tombs.....because they were all still in them. (John 5:28-29) He does not call them from heaven because that is not where God designed humans to live. He placed them in an earthly paradise because this is where they were to live forever.
There is another word erroneously translated "hell" in many Bibles. It is mentioned in the scriptures by Jesus and is called "gehenna" which is not a hell of eternal torment either....it is a place of eternal death....a place from which no one returns.
Jesus used the garbage dump outside Jerusalem's walls to illustrate what happens to unrepentant sinners.
Gehenna was kept burning night and day by the addition of sulfur (brimstone) and the carcasses of dead animals as well as the bodies of executed criminals were cast for disposal. What the flames missed, the maggots finished off. This place represented eternal death because those cast into this fire had no memorial tomb inscribed with their name and lineage, seeing as how they were not considered worthy of a decent burial. To a Jew, this meant God not remembering them in the resurrection and so they would never be restored to life when Messiah's Kingdom would rule the earth."
That is what I believe about hell......it is nothing to fear.
Not a believer so perhaps shouldn't be answering, but Hell and the afterlife (Heaven and such), for me are just carrot and stick appendages to religions to entice people in or to keep them in. Many religions seem to have such in one form or another. Apostasy and ex-communication fall into the same category.
VoidCat
Use any and all pronouns including neo and it/it's
Anyone can answer just cuz its mainly directed towards christians doesn't mean only christians have to answer..I am curious to see other people's opinions if they have them.