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What's hell's Purpose?
- Thread starter nonbeliever_92
- Start date
OmarKhayyam
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately, he loves you too much to leave you alone. He does not want you to be separated from him.
So your god is a stalker. How endearing.
OmarKhayyam
Well-Known Member
And why is that? The purpose of punishment is to correct behavior. Torture that never ends is not punishment but sadism.
Oh wait . . this your god we are talking about.
Forget I said anything. Understood,
OmarKhayyam
Well-Known Member
That proves my point. Your god is a sadistic monster and his followers as well.
Just as Augustine said.Here is what Augustine said -
It is highly absurd to say in one
and the same sense: 'Life everlasting
will be endless, but everlasting punish-
ment will come to an end.' Therefore,
since the eternal life of the saints is to
be endless, there can be no doubt that
eternal punishment for those who are to
endure it will have no end.
It is highly absurd to say in one
and the same sense: 'Life everlasting
will be endless, but everlasting punish-
ment will come to an end.' Therefore,
since the eternal life of the saints is to
be endless, there can be no doubt that
eternal punishment for those who are to
endure it will have no end.
OmarKhayyam
Well-Known Member
What I said, a sadistic monster. Just what the godly saint said. Just didn't have the intellectual honesty to be forthright about it.
fallingblood
Agnostic Theist
I think one of the biggest driving forces for the Christian understanding of hell actually came from Zoroastrianism influence. Looking at the Bible, we can see a distinct difference in the view of Satan. In the Old Testament, Satan is not an opponent of God. Instead, he is basically an angel with a crappy job. He does not reside in hell, but is in heaven. Actually, there is no hell in the Old Testament. It is not until the New Testament that we see a change, and historically, only a radical segment of Judaism actually believed this.
In the New Testament, Satan becomes the opponent of God. It is very likely this happened because of the influence of Zoroastrianism idea of duality. This is a concept that a group of Jews adopted, and Satan became the evil being that we now know him as. I believe this is where the idea of our current hell eventually started. Looking at the Bible, one can see somewhat of an evolution of hell, up to the point in which it becomes a place of torture that we see in Revelations (not saying that Revelations is even speaking of hell, but that belief was later adopted).
In the New Testament, Satan becomes the opponent of God. It is very likely this happened because of the influence of Zoroastrianism idea of duality. This is a concept that a group of Jews adopted, and Satan became the evil being that we now know him as. I believe this is where the idea of our current hell eventually started. Looking at the Bible, one can see somewhat of an evolution of hell, up to the point in which it becomes a place of torture that we see in Revelations (not saying that Revelations is even speaking of hell, but that belief was later adopted).
Kimberlee
midians mommy!
God doesn't send souls there. people send themselves there. God gave us free will to make our own choices here on earth so we have to choice to live for God or not so if we end up there it's because of our own actions not just because he felt like putting us there. there is a reason you're there if you end up there. and hell doesn't exist right now. i don't believe that. satan and his angels are on this earth doing their work right now.
RamaRaksha
*banned*
That's a new one - I haven't heard that before - but it all boils down to how physical and mental suffering is supposed to make a better man out of you. I don't get it. Let me tie you down and go to work on you with a hot poker I bet I can make you say or do anything i want. Heaven & hell are primitive concepts.
Mahatma Gandhi would never think of torturing his enemies. Nelson Mandela would not run a hell, nor would Mother Teresa. A Stalin would gladly run a hell, so would a Hitler or a Saddam Hussain. And this is the side God is on? These primitive ideas need to go.
zenzero
Its only a Label
Friend RamRaksha,
Personally there is no place called heaven or hell. It is a mental construct and is the state that one is moment to moment and those moments when one is in a state of hell he learns something and tries not to come back to the same experience and so mentioned it steelifies the individual.
Besides as you know am still to find that *I* who can be sent to hell.
Yes, besides friend eselam is arranging a ticket for hell. read post 5 & 40:
http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/religious-debates/89239-question-non-muslims.html
Love & rgds
You missed the point.
Personally there is no place called heaven or hell. It is a mental construct and is the state that one is moment to moment and those moments when one is in a state of hell he learns something and tries not to come back to the same experience and so mentioned it steelifies the individual.
Besides as you know am still to find that *I* who can be sent to hell.
Yes, besides friend eselam is arranging a ticket for hell. read post 5 & 40:
http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/religious-debates/89239-question-non-muslims.html
Love & rgds
RamaRaksha
*banned*
No, I did get the point Zen
I describe myself as a Atheist Hindu. Atheists are right, there is no God, man made God as a crutch. Say you are being abused and beaten by someone who is bigger, stronger, richer and more politically more powerful than you are, and if you try to hit back things might get worse! So what do you do? This is where God comes in - this evil man will be punished by God - now that's a comfort. So some religions made God in the image of their King while we made her in the image of a Teacher.
X will punish you if you do wrong, X will reward you if you do right, pretty simple concept, even a monkey can come up with this. Where some religions decended into cults was when they changed the rules - join us and you get rewarded or else!
But I feel that we are stuck with old ideas - the idea that an evil man will be punished physically as he abused us, is a comforting thought, but it is a primitive one, IMHO.
Can we move forward? Can we think of a scenario where God will not punish X for being bad? Hitler is not going to be punished in Hell, or on earth, but is going to be retaught! A non-violent way to impart a lesson (no wonder - only a Hindu could have come up with the concept of non-violence). A child who misbehaves, in the olden days it was either the carrot or the stick, but today we have moved forward. I hope we can do that with religion also.
JustWondering
Jerk
Thats great and all but the main problem with your JUSTIFICATION of hells existence is that if God were trully loving and merciful he would never have created a hell in the first place.
Tell me, why is it you believe you are saved and a dirty non-believer like myself is not? Is it because your God is a saddistic dictator that cannot tolerate dissonance. Your God reminds me of Hitler and Stalin. They had ways of dealing with people who did not fall in line as well.
Technically, hell was made for lucifer-now known as satan- and a third of the angels that wanted to follow him. Since satan doesnt want to be alone, he decited to deceive, kill, steal, and destroy people so he can have there souls. The people who decide to yield into sin, dont want to follow god, or know god and dont listen or care about his plan for their life will soon join him. Some people already have but thats another story... -lulu-
JustWondering
Jerk
Technically, hell was made for lucifer-now known as satan- and a third of the angels that wanted to follow him. Since satan doesnt want to be alone, he decited to deceive, kill, steal, and destroy people so he can have there souls. The people who decide to yield into sin, dont want to follow god, or know god and dont listen or care about his plan for their life will soon join him. Some people already have but thats another story... -lulu-
So God is a saddistic dictator. Thanks for clearing that up.
zenzero
Its only a Label
Friend RamRaksha,
Read : http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/comparative-religion/89231-truth-digestable-form-discuss.html
maybe it covers what you have in mind?
Love & rgds
Read : http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/comparative-religion/89231-truth-digestable-form-discuss.html
maybe it covers what you have in mind?
Love & rgds
Kimberlee
midians mommy!
people choose how they live. people put themselves there by their own actions. you have a choice rather to follow God or not. plus satan REBELLED against God and a third of the angels followed him and he is trying to turn people away from God. so it is your choice as a human rather you rather you follow God or not. satan plays a big role in bringing you to hell.
Or God could change the rules.