I was just thinking: heaven and hell cannot be infinity in size, right? Because if they were, they'd be everywhere, and that would mean that we are in heaven and hell right now, and that there's really no difference between the two.

Maybe I just have a misunderstanding of infinity, but if this is true, then how is there enough space in heaven and hell for all the souls of dead people?

They could extend infinitely in opposite directions.

Imagine the arrows below are infinitely long.

<--------------- --------------->

Both infinite but never intersecting. Our plane of existence would be that little gap in the middle.



Also, I dont think you should be trying to put heaven and hell in such literal terms. Neither one is even that concretely described in the bible from what I can tell and seem more like concepts than places. Most of our conceptions about heaven and hell as either a city in the clouds or a lake of fire actually come from literary works.

No way. Heaven and hell are paralel(SP) universes.

quote:Originally posted by SilentMind:

No way. Heaven and hell are paralel(SP) universes.

lol, I guess that that is one way you can explain it.

i personally dont believe in that. asumming your soul went to heaven or hell it wouldnt be in this dimension. souls wouldnt be a living object, its a spirit therefore it would go to the place for spirits. i like the parallel universe idea.

quote:Originally posted by Raw_Power:

Maybe I just have a misunderstanding of infinity,

Which infinity do you speak of? As a Mathematician, I do not comprehend which infinity physicists speak of. There are multiple infinities. Though, I assume physicists only speak of infinity such as 1, 2, 3, 4....

There are no such places.

If you want a Christian authority, how about Pope John Paul II. In 1999, he stated that there is no such location as hell--it is a state of mind we create for ourselves.

Hell is a metaphor, heaven is a metaphor. Just how far do these metaphors stretch?

Hell and Heaven defy logic as is. What makes you think they would be bound to your logical size restrictions?

quote:Originally posted by Raw_Power:

they'd be everywhere, and that would mean that we are in heaven and hell right now

Zing!

"hell is other people"-Satre

If they are parallel and actually physical places, maybe they are like this;

<------->

<------->

With us in the middle, and maybe everything is only 2d, rather than 3d, so everything can only stretch in 2 directions.

They don't actually have to be infinite, considering all it has to do is fit the number of each type of human. And considering that there aren't infinite humans to begin with, there'd be even less sinners and innocents respectively. They'd only have to be freakin' huge.

But hell totally is other people.

quote:Originally posted by socratic:

They don't actually have to be infinite, considering all it has to do is fit the number of each type of human. And considering that there aren't infinite humans to begin with, there'd be even less sinners and innocents respectively. They'd only have to be freakin' huge.

But hell totally is other people.

Are you saying that animals don't go to heaven or hell?

quote:Originally posted by Elsrick:

Are you saying that animals don't go to heaven or hell?

got put the millions of other life forms on this planet for humans enjoyment, didnt you know?

If heaven and hell exist in more than a metaphorical sense, they exist in a different dimension and thus don't really follow the same space constraints we do.

Would souls take up space, anyway?

quote:Originally posted by Elsrick:

Are you saying that animals don't go to heaven or hell?

Sheeps go to heaven, goats go to hell!

They are not places they are states of mind.

Life exists. Your perception makes it a heavenly or a hellish experience, or somewhere in between.

quote:Originally posted by ---Beany---:

They are not places they are states of mind.

Life exists. Your perception makes it a heavenly or a hellish experience, or somewhere in between.

Succinctly said, my friend. But this entire discussion reminds me of a story:

A thermodynamics professor had written a take home exam for his graduate students. It had one question: "Is hell exothermic or endothermic? Support your answer with a proof."

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law or some variant. One student, however wrote the following: "First, we postulate that if souls exist, then they must have some mass. If they do, then a mole of souls can also have a mass. So, at what rate are souls moving into hell and at what rate are souls leaving? I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for souls entering hell, lets look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to hell. Since, there are more than one of these religions and people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and all souls go to hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change in volume in hell. Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in hell to stay the same, the ratio of the mass of souls and volume needs to stay constant. So, if hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter hell, then the temperature and pressure in hell will increase until all hell breaks loose. Of course, if hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in hell, than the temperature and pressure will drop until hell freezes over. And considering the fact that Tiffany, in my freshmen year, said she'd only sleep with me when hell froze over, and considering that we had sex last night I'm going to assume that hell exists. Which may explain why Tiffany kept saying "Oh God!"

The student received an A"

^^^lol.

I too also believe, that heaven and hell are just what you make your life here on earth.