What is the Point of Hell?

[Sunstone]

So.. putting murderers in jail is to you, revenge?

Okie dokie then.

Oh, please! Quit making straw men.

 

[Nooj]

If you believe in hell, especially if you believe it is eternal, what is its purpose? A person may learn by punishment that what they did was wrong, but it hardly makes a difference if this punishment is never ending. Once in hell, there's no need to worry about them sinning any longer, their sin will no longer have effect on the innocent.

I've also heard that hell is to keep the sinners out of heaven, causing chaos. If that were truly the case, why not delete their soul from existence instead of making them suffer? Or perhaps isolate them from the rest of heaven? Perhaps even have them reincarnate until they get it right...

To me it seems rather harsh and pointless.

i believe hell exists and i believe it is eternal. i don't think there's a point to hell. it's pointless.

but that's what i believe. i may be and probably am wrong. god knows best.

 

[Tiberius]

It's all advertising. Fear-based advertising. Try to sell us a product by making us afraid to live without it.

You need X or you'll suffer from Y.

You need our beauty cream or your skin will get wrinkly and ugly!

You need to believe in God or you'll go to hell!

All the same rubbish.

 

[Nooj]

If I understand what you say here correctly, you would interpret hell as separation from God? What is being separated from God like? Or, perhaps more to the point, what about separation is considered undesirable?

some people think of hell like separation. the absence of god. some think of hell and heaven as being in the presence of god. for some this is intensely painful, for others this is a cause for joy. like a flower in sunlight. some burn up. some flourish.

so which is it? separation or presence? maybe they're just two different ways of thinking about hell. the reality is something else.

if you read dante's divine comedy, specifically inferno, you'll see that hell bears a close resemblance to our world. that's because many people think that this world is a foretaste, an aperitif of the feast or the famine that will come for us. heaven and hell as described resemble the world we live in.

if you believe like i do that heaven is the perfect communion between god and humans, and consequently perfect communion between humans and humans, then there are moments in this life when you can see, smell, touch and taste heaven.

if you believe like i do that hell is the breaking of this life-giving and life-creating communion, and consequently discord between humans and humans, then there are moments in this life when you can see, smell, touch and taste hell.

remember when you were the happiest in your life and felt like you were truly existing. remember when you were the lowest in your life and felt like you were wasting away. that's what i think of heaven and hell like.

 

[sun rise]

One thing that I think has been ignored is the difference between the subjective feeling of eternal punishment and literal eternal punishment. When something is very painful, I feel as if it's gone on forever whereas objectively only a few minutes have elapsed.

I think of the intense agony of the hell state like that where the agony of regret at one's actions while on Earth is overwhelming and feels eternal.

 

[ametist]

there is suffering as long as there is consciousness and recognition of another outside of yourself. One way or another..as long as there is two.

Assuming that there is eternity for an individual soul:

Lets say there is you and the one you love. It really causes tremendous suffering when you see him/her in bad condition. Imagine these two spirits being immortal. As long as there is somebody outside of yourself and as long as there is suffering your consciousness can travel all the way to eternity out of its love for what happened to your love or is likely to happen.

Lets say there is you and the one you hate and again imagine these two spirits are immortal. There is eternal suffering there also. Probably both emotional and physical in this case

Imagine there is only you. Forever.Nobody else, nothing else. Never have been. Could you even?


So hell is eternal in way. it is naturally in design untill we can imagine being all that is.

 

[Cardboard]

The idea of hell just has never made any logical sense to me.
So an omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent creator made us, but before the point of our creation he /she/ it knew the choices we would make, and that roughly 98% of these people that were created, will “choose” to go to this place called hell , that god himself had created for them. ( not much logical sense there )
And eternal torment…..? The only logical point of that being in existence would be for the pleasure of the one who created it, in other words sadism. Doesn’t sound like a good or loving god, to me.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

What a weird notion that you seemed to have made up yourself. No evil can exist in Heaven as nothing impure can exist in God's Kingdom. That's why when the rebel angels rebelled, they were cast out of Heaven.

Not sure if you're one of these people, but if that's true, then it would make it absurd to say God can't get rid of the evil in our world because it'd break our freewill.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

One thing that I think has been ignored is the difference between the subjective feeling of eternal punishment and literal eternal punishment. When something is very painful, I feel as if it's gone on forever whereas objectively only a few minutes have elapsed.

I think of the intense agony of the hell state like that where the agony of regret at one's actions while on Earth is overwhelming and feels eternal.

That would still make the literal time elapsed eternal. If it feels eternal, it is non-stop, continuous. You're not thinking it: Eternal! You have to truly envision it. If you think about how long it feels to have lived your life so far, imagine doubling it... tripling it... 100x it... That's not even half of it. Eternity is never ending, nothing can feel like eternity without the literal time going by being is eternity as well.

And all still, if the punishment is never-ending, if there never will be resolution from it, then the time spent in punishment is useless. Hell can simply have no other reason for being other than revenge.

 

[Mycroft]

If you believe in hell, especially if you believe it is eternal, what is its purpose? A person may learn by punishment that what they did was wrong, but it hardly makes a difference if this punishment is never ending. Once in hell, there's no need to worry about them sinning any longer, their sin will no longer have effect on the innocent.

I've also heard that hell is to keep the sinners out of heaven, causing chaos. If that were truly the case, why not delete their soul from existence instead of making them suffer? Or perhaps isolate them from the rest of heaven? Perhaps even have them reincarnate until they get it right...

To me it seems rather harsh and pointless.

Hell's single purpose is to make Heaven seem attractive.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

Hell's single purpose is to make Heaven seem attractive.

I can see the purpose of the concept, but I'm talking about what is the purpose of putting an individual in hell? What is this meant to fulfill when there is no resolution, only eternity.

 

[Nooj]

That would still make the literal time elapsed eternal. If it feels eternal, it is non-stop, continuous. You're not thinking it: Eternal! You have to truly envision it. If you think about how long it feels to have lived your life so far, imagine doubling it... tripling it... 100x it... That's not even half of it. Eternity is never ending, nothing can feel like eternity without the literal time going by being is eternity as well.

eternity is atemporal. time doesn't come into it. heaven or hell could feel like a blink of an eye. or not.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

eternity is atemporal. time doesn't come into it. heaven or hell could feel like a blink of an eye. or not.

If there is no end, than end cannot be felt. There is no blink to an eye that never closes.

 

[InChrist]

I can see the purpose of the concept, but I'm talking about what is the purpose of putting an individual in hell? What is this meant to fulfill when there is no resolution, only eternity.

I think the Bible indicates that hell is a temporary holding place, like a prison, for those awaiting their final judgment. According to the scriptures it is after the judgment that the second death occurs and those who would not receive the gift of eternal life are cast into the lake of fire and eternally separated from God. The lake of fire was actually created for Satan and the demons, not humans. Humans were created to spend eternity with their Creator, yet when someone refuses God's perfection, goodness, and love there is no other alternative place for them to spent eternity.

The purpose of the lake of fire is to remove and isolate anything harmful, sinful, wicked, and imperfect from God's realm of eternal beauty and perfection.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

I think the Bible indicates that hell is a temporary holding place, like a prison, for those awaiting their final judgment. According to the scriptures it is after the judgment that the second death occurs and those who would not receive the gift of eternal life are cast into the lake of fire and eternally separated from God. The lake of fire was actually created for Satan and the demons, not humans. Humans were created to spend eternity with their Creator, yet when someone refuses God's perfection, goodness, and love there is no other alternative place for them to spent eternity.

The purpose of the lake of fire is to remove and isolate anything harmful, sinful, wicked, and imperfect from God's realm of eternal beauty and perfection.

I could see a use in that. However, the question is more aimed toward those who believe in an unscapable, eternal hell

 

[Nooj]

If there is no end, than end cannot be felt. There is no blink to an eye that never closes.

i believe in a hell, eternal, but hopefully not infinite. i sincerely hope that there is a real, definite possibility of an *end* to hell.

so yes, perhaps there may be an eternal blink of an eye. not a million years added onto another million years, as if hell was an accumulation of time, but just no time at all. it could even be worse than a million years added onto another million years forever.

perhaps there will be a closing of the eye and an opening of the eye again. for the eye must close, but the closed eye must also open again for it to be a blink, no? i hope for that opening of the eye again.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

i believe in a hell, eternal, but hopefully not infinite. i sincerely hope that there is a real, definite possibility of an *end* to hell.

so yes, perhaps there may be an eternal blink of an eye. not a million years added onto another million years, as if hell was an accumulation of time, but just no time at all. it could even be worse than a million years added onto another million years forever.

How can it be eternal if there is an end?

perhaps there will be a closing of the eye and an opening of the eye again. for the eye must close, but the closed eye must also open again for it to be a blink, no? i hope for that opening of the eye again.

I'm unsure if you understood what I meant by the unclosing eye.

 

[InChrist]

I could see a use in that. However, the question is more aimed toward those who believe in an unscapable, eternal hell

The scriptures indicate that the Lake of Fire is an inescapable, eternal destiny. A destiny which should be avoided.

 

[Debater Slayer]

I think the Bible indicates that hell is a temporary holding place, like a prison, for those awaiting their final judgment. According to the scriptures it is after the judgment that the second death occurs and those who would not receive the gift of eternal life are cast into the lake of fire and eternally separated from God. The lake of fire was actually created for Satan and the demons, not humans. Humans were created to spend eternity with their Creator, yet when someone refuses God's perfection, goodness, and love there is no other alternative place for them to spent eternity.

The purpose of the lake of fire is to remove and isolate anything harmful, sinful, wicked, and imperfect from God's realm of eternal beauty and perfection.

Is this your idea of "Christian love"?

 

[InChrist]

Is this your idea of "Christian love"?

So what do you think? Should "LOVE' allow evil and sin to continue existing, growing, spreading, and causing harm and damage forever?