Does the mere possibility of hell slightly bother anyone else?

Obviously I won't give that much thought to something that has a 99.99% chance of being false, but I still sometimes get a gnawing "what if" near the back of my head.

Being an ex-christian has it's good sides and it's bad sides. http://www.totse.com/bbs/frown.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/frown.gif)

I'm an ex-Christian too.

The way I see it is this:

1) Hell is eternal pain and suffering. If one is exposed to an environment for a given amount of time, they eventually become neutral to that environment. In other words, pain for eternity is only painful until you get used to it.

2) Assuming, somehow, the pain manages to 'get worse' (although it is already supposed to be the worst, so I don't know how it could progress any further), pain is entirely in your mind. Think about the burning Buddhist monk who protested the Vietnam war. Burned alive, he maintained the Lotus position. While those around him screamed and panicked, he remained calm, resolute, and focused as he died. So while burning for eternity, I am still my own conciousness, meaning I still control what I see, feel and experience. It will only be so long until I'm fully capable of blocking out the misery and then I'll be free within my own mind and thoughts.

3) If hell exists, and it is truly eternal, it shows what a childish ass God is that he can't give humanity that he created a second chance. All those in heaven are stuck 'praising him' for eternity. There is no free will in heaven! You become a mindless drone that does nothing but worship God 24-7. So between that, and being in hell, I'd rather be in hell.

Are you saying:

"familiarity breeds indifference?"

I'm not sure about the thought of existing in eternal torment is an acceptable plan.

I've tried to forget about the whole Christian thing and even tried to purge my mind of knowledge of the bible. I did many things to prove I don't belong to it but, it kept coming back picking at my conscience.

What I'm saying is it wasn't the fear of hell that drove me. It was the fear of being seperated from God. This is why I believe so strongly today is how many times He reached down and pulled me out of my own misearble situtions I kept getting into. You may not be as wayward as I have been so this may not make any sense.

Once I knew it was God that was setting me straight through His different ways I was convinced that there is a better life to lead. The idea of hell really never played a part of it.

I just knew that a part of me was being cared for and when I walked away from it the despair sunk in and I just wanted to come running back to the sanctuary.

I could of easily kept up my rebellion in trying to run away from it but like Jonah I God swallowed me up and set me on dry ground again and again.

I see no point in hate anymore or for running away. I just realized that I can not outrun it so I surrendered and life has never been better for me.

In a matter of years I went from a doped up suicide candidate living in a converted garage to a straight, life loving husband and father living in a large comfortable home. God's blessings don't come as material things but by the changes He makes inside of us so that we have the ability to produce good things and recieve their rewards.

I'll stop rambling now but I hope that is recieved well.





[This message has been edited by Interest (edited 04-13-2006).]

Dude, Elephantitis:

I don't think Hell's pain would be the kind that you could get used to, if it is physical pain at all. Maybe it's a type of spiritual pain, where you realize that you had the perfect chance to look to God, and gave up that chance. Knowing that you can't feel His warmth and love could be the punishment you're getting.

And I doubt you have the type of resolve a Buddhist monk has. You say your conciousness is your own, but when you die, all you have is your conciousness. God has surely found a way to keep your attention where he wants it after death. You can't change your experience of Hell by thinking

"I'm on a beautiful beach."

And what could you possibly have to think about for eternity? You could replay your life countless times, go over every decision again and again, and then still be in Hell. It's like an eternity in the corner to think about what you did wrong without a chance to turn around ever again.

Just take the easy, route (like me) and go/stay Atheist.

[HomoBlaxican]

Merlin has the right idea. Hell is what you make of it, being stuck there and realizing that you could have - should have - done better. But you're stuck there forever. Without warmth. Oh, and God does give second chances. You can change, even after death. Though after death it is much much harder.

When you think of hell, do you think of a Dante's Inferno type environment with demons putting the whoopass on you?

I'm a masochist. Satan can't think of a punishment painful enough for me.

Merlin, how do you know your consciousness exists after you die. People have problems dealing with the fact that we COULD be impermanent, and that we CEASE TO EXIST when we die, christianity offers an answer to that but it is not reached through logical thought.

Yo dude, read again... Atheist.

When you die, you die. Blow out the candle.

What conciousness after you die?

Sorry dude, its like 5AM here and I can't really see straight, my bad.

quote:Originally posted by smallpox champion:

When you think of hell, do you think of a Dante's Inferno type environment with demons putting the whoopass on you?

i do sometimes. hell in almost any form doesnt bother me. if i end up tormented until existence itself is snuffed out, so be it.

quote:Originally posted by chubbyman25:

Merlin has the right idea. Hell is what you make of it, being stuck there and realizing that you could have - should have - done better. But you're stuck there forever. Without warmth.

In Hell without warmth? I doubt it.

You might like to know, Pope John Paul II conceded that there is no such place as hell--rather it is more a metaphor for the desolation that one feels being apart from God. (this was not in a papal bull, but said in a private audience in the Vatican in 1999.)

You might like to know, Pope John Paul II conceded that there is no such place as hell--rather it is more a metaphor for the desolation that one feels being apart from God. (this was not in a papal bull, but said in a private audience in the Vatican in 1999.)

What nobody has ever stopped to think about, as far as I know, is the notion that heaven and hell are precisely the same place, namely wherever your consciousness goes when you die (if anywhere, and it doesn't just get snuffed out).

Think about it.

When you dream you can have good dreams and bad dreams, and dreams that are indifferent. But would you argue that you go to a different 'place' when you're having different dreams? Of course not. It's just something for your brain to do.

Towards the literal aspect of it, it's fairly clear that the concept of 'hell' was devised much later in the timeline of Christian canon than the concept of 'heaven'. My personal theory is that it's just a notion that's used as a ploy to keep people in line. Of course, much like the rest of Christianity.

It's one thing to say that if you sin god won't be your friend. If you'll allow, big fucking deal. But the concept of a place where you suffer eternally (and literal descriptions of just how such a thing is supposed to work varies by author and time period - naturally because nobody's ever gone there and come back to report) results in precisely the same sort of widespread paranoia and fear of the 'what if' that the church needed and needs to keep people following its doctrine.

Hell is just something that happens to you as a result of your actions. I don't feel like explaining because i've already done it so many times and am tired of this forum.