The existence of HELL

[MisterLove]

There is no hell, and there is no biblical scripture to demonstrate that anyone is going to heaven either.

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I don't know what you mean. Hell is frequently mentioned in the scriptures, even more so than Heaven.

And the scary part is most of us are going to Hell, not Heaven: the 'official' number is 1000 to 1. Being good is not enough, you have to be a believer and a follower of Christ.

[MisterLove]

As a non-Christian, and I apologize if my opinion is not wanted on this thread,)

Your opinion is always wanted, Sweetie.

[Adam]

Well...Sartre said that Hell is other people, and I've always found truth in that. Evil exists, but is powerless until people embrace it.
As for Heaven, Hell, Purgatory and all the other things I was force-fed as a child - I don't know - no one knows - that's what makes the topic so fascinating.

[Eromir]

John Lennon explained it much better than I ever could:

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

[Edward]

Well....sometimes it seems to me that the Hell is here on the Earth.

[BlueStar]

I don't believe there's exactly heaven or hell. I believe there's a moment of judgement and justice right after death, where one receives whatever good or bad they deserve. I agree that the humans build their own happiness or sorrow, whether accepting unchangeable things or creating a new environment, routine, and moral values during lifetime on earth. After that judgement, I believe souls and bodies enter an eternal sleep, unconscious but not suffering, not feeling anything... Just dead.

[HumbleTangerine]

so Hell is not a disproportionate punishment.

This is the part I have the most problems with. Putting my atheism aside, there's still no way that I could ever call hell anything but a disproportionate punishment. I don't think it's possible to commit a crime so horrible that a proportionate punishment is eternal suffering, without any chance of redemption. Billions of years spent in extreme agony; billions of years of reflection and sincere regret; it doesn't matter. You're in hell forever for the sins you committed.

May I ask respectfully how this is reasonable or proportionate?

[MisterLove]

This is the part I have the most problems with. Putting my atheism aside, there's still no way that I could ever call hell anything but a disproportionate punishment. I don't think it's possible to commit a crime so horrible that a proportionate punishment is eternal suffering, without any chance of redemption. Billions of years spent in extreme agony; billions of years of reflection and sincere regret; it doesn't matter. You're in hell forever for the sins you committed.

May I ask respectfully how this is reasonable or proportionate?

You have to see things from God's perspective.

To God, there is no such thing as big or small sin, there is just sin. And every sin can and will affect the entire universe in a negative way (butterfly effect).

This means that even the most vicious murderer can have a chance of redemption. But it also means that some sins that are commonly seen as venial or insignificant actually aren't and can stop you from going to Heaven.

[East]

You have to see things from God's perspective.

To God, there is no such thing as big or small sin, there is just sin. And every sin can and will affect the entire universe in a negative way (butterfly effect).

This means that even the most vicious murderer can have a chance of redemption. But it also means that some sins that are commonly seen as venial or insignificant actually aren't and can stop you from going to Heaven.

The problem is...you are defining God. for someone else other than yourself so your reference to sin might not be at all relevant.

In my personal spiritual POV...there is no sin...only balance...some people call it karma but that has so many negative connotations I hate using it...balance being every action has a reaction.

[Jake]

You have to see things from God's perspective.

To God, there is no such thing as big or small sin, there is just sin. And every sin can and will affect the entire universe in a negative way (butterfly effect).

This means that even the most vicious murderer can have a chance of redemption. But it also means that some sins that are commonly seen as venial or insignificant actually aren't and can stop you from going to Heaven.

Who's saying that? You or god or the church you go to? See the problem with excessive believer is that they can't just take their own responsibilities for their act and they always need a middle man to explain their actions.

The god that you're talking about never came down to earth to tell us anything, if so there will be very tangible, visible proof and that my friend after 2000 years of Christianity and 1500 years of Islam none of the books have been able to prove that.

Leave god aside for a moment and tell us what YOU think...

I do not believe in the concept of hell or heaven and no religions and not priest will ever scare me with their beautiful stories about purgatory and ass kissing for eternity. The life you have right now is the one that you are conscious of who you are. When this life is gone, you as we know you now have ceased to exist in a physical form, but you will remain living in the conscience of those who have survived you. Unless you become a legend and that a religion has been created after you.

If you truly follow the teaching of Jesus, and take some time to properly analyze the way he was presenting its plea, you will quickly understand that Jesus was teaching by telling stories, like it has been done thousands of years before him. The jews have not reinvented the wheel when it comes to vocal teachings. Jesus used a lot of making up stories in order to properly convey its message. Now to whom Jesus was he teaching? To fishermen, now I don't mean that today's fishermen can't be intelligent, but the fishermen of his time were for the most illiterate, and very uneducated.

So when Jesus first talked about its father and the kingdom in the sky, this was all metaphoric sentences made for the people of that era to understand that there was greater power than the men itself, and one of this greater power is mother nature and beyond that is all the forces of the universe, for which Jesus may have not understand and couldn't understand it himself fully, but he truly believed that there was a greater power.

There were many prophets before Jesus, and if you take time to read and understand the nuances, you'll understand quickly that most gods where all elements of natures. I am not saying here to stop believing in your one and only god. But you should question more than just always relay everything to God and saying that he wanted this and that for us. This is the way religion started and this is the way religion has created wars and so many other problems in the world.

Your god for me is is that gelatinous gray matter that wake you up in the morning, make you able to read this and temper at what i'm saying, this is also that gray matter that makes you believe you're in cloud nine when the sperm is trying to comes out of your penis. You are your own god and there's not only one of them, there's billions of them... we call it humanity.