Recently, someone told me that while addressing his flock, the late Pope John Paul II said that there was no Hell, after which the cranky Vatican higher-ups promptly shut him up. I Googled but found mostly anti-Catholic crap, John Paul II death articles, and some John Lennon lyrics. The person who told me this buys into all that Kryon crap, so I took it with a grain of salt, but it would be interesting if it were true. Please confirm or deny this event's occurrence or modify it so it is truthful.

quote:Originally posted by Angiospermicidal:

Recently, someone told me that while addressing his flock, the late Pope John Paul II said that there was no Hell, after which the cranky Vatican higher-ups promptly shut him up. I Googled but found mostly anti-Catholic crap, John Paul II death articles, and some John Lennon lyrics. The person who told me this buys into all that Kryon crap, so I took it with a grain of salt, but it would be interesting if it were true. Please confirm or deny this event's occurrence or modify it so it is truthful.

I had heard that the Vatican just decided that Limbo wasn't real. Not sure if their stance on hell changed.

Yes he did say such a thing. I think what he said ( I'm paraphrasing, but this is what it comes down to ), is that Hell isn't a physical place, per se, but rather a state in which man is devoid of and separated from God.

[This message has been edited by Dre Crabbe (edited 03-15-2006).]

Oh, so I guess it was taken out of context. Thanks.

quote:Originally posted by Dre Crabbe:

Yes he did say such a thing. I think what he said ( I'm paraphrasing, but this is what it comes down to ), is that Hell isn't a physical place, per se, but rather a state in which man is devoid of and separated from God.



sounds an awful lot like earth.

Maybe Hell is Earth, and the people who live really long have the longest sentences. The people who die have fulfilled their sentence and go to Heaven. Of course, it wouldn't really account for war, and I don't believe in either anyway. Oh well.

Hell is just what happens on earth when you've done too many bad things on earth due to there consequences.

Catholics are so far away from God and the Bible they don't even acuratly represent Christians anymore.

quote:Originally posted by Angiospermicidal:

Maybe Hell is Earth, and the people who live really long have the longest sentences. The people who die have fulfilled their sentence and go to Heaven. Of course, it wouldn't really account for war, and I don't believe in either anyway. Oh well.

I thought the first victims of war were 'innocents'? Perhaps those killed in war are innocent or deserving of repentence? Or those who do the slaying are those who free them from their coil and earn brownie points in the eyes of the Lord.

In short, kill thy neighbor.

There was a documentary on just recently called "Banned from the Bible". It was about all the religious texts left out of the bible because they were considered threatening to the biblical storyline.

One of the stories was about how after jesus was crucified he went down into the underworld or hell for a better word. Everyone in hell wasn't being raosted alive though, they were simply sleeping. Jesus went along and gathered up a bunch of people and took them with him to heaven.

Now the thought of hell not being a fire and brimstone place didn't into the whole enternal damnation plot in the bible so it was turned down.

I'm not sure if this next part is from the same text or another one, but it said something about how someone asks jesus while looking down at the people in hell and says,"If God is all forgiving, then how could he let anyone be punished for all enternity?". The response was "It's a secret, but they won't be there forever, only a short time then they will be set free."

This story didn't make it either as the church needed it's people to fear all sin with every fiber of their being. There were other stories that depicted young jesus or(joshua)as he was known; as a cosmic brat that even pushed another child off a roof to his death, only to bring him back to life when an angry mob of villagers wanted to know why he did it. Needless to say that this didn't make it either.

So we are left to believe that isn't really all forgiving and punish people forever or they will simply be asleep there, or there's no hell at all.

Im not really sure where you got your info about these texts that were banned from the Bible. The 'If God is so loving how can he send people to hell' argument has repeatedly been defeated because the Bible says that not only is God merciful, but he is just. He sent his son Jesus Christ to the earth to die for all of mankind, and if they reject him and don't ask for forgiveness, then the just thing to do is send them to hell to attone for their sins.

quote:Originally posted by Dragonsthrone:

Im not really sure where you got your info about these texts that were banned from the Bible. The 'If God is so loving how can he send people to hell' argument has repeatedly been defeated because the Bible says that not only is God merciful, but he is just. He sent his son Jesus Christ to the earth to die for all of mankind, and if they reject him and don't ask for forgiveness, then the just thing to do is send them to hell to attone for their sins.

I don't recall ASKING anyone to send his son to attone for MY sins. I never asked anyone to take responsibility for my actions. It isn't just, he just forces his laws on me.

quote:Originally posted by Dragonsthrone:

Im not really sure where you got your info about these texts that were banned from the Bible.

If you go back and read the first part of my reply you'd see that I said it was a documentary which I now remember was on the history channel. The show was called "Banned from the Bible".