dB-Paradox Posted September 19, 2009 Share Posted September 19, 2009 Sorry if this has been discussed before, or is not a new "revelation". I put revelation in quotes because I'm referencing from the book of revelations...specifically the lake of fire in chapter 20 verses 14 and 15. This is where most Christians get the image of hell, so it's important to address. I'll also be looking at the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:40, so if you'll open your bibles there now. Sorry, just had to put that in there! Anyway, Jesus is commonly believed to have gone to hell after dying on the cross. He makes mention of it in the Matthew passage by relating it to Jonah being in the belly of a whale. In the same way, says Jesus, he'll be in the heart of the earth for three days (it wasn't three days, but whatever....that's another topic for another time). No doubt it was believed that hell was on earth, or under its surface rather. Now let's jump to Revelations. In chapter 20 verses 14 and 15, hell is visually described as a lake of fire. Previous to this description, it's referred to as a "fiery furnace" and a place where there will be "weeping" and "gnashing of teeth" (taken from the books of Matthew and Luke). I started thinking about all these descriptions and put them all together. According to the bible, hell is in the earth where it is a fiery furnace which is described later as a lake of fire. Sound familiar? Again, I apologize if this is not a new revelation to anyone or if it's been discussed before. I'm not trying to insult any one's intelligence. But just today, I realized that molten lava fits the description very nicely. Is it possible that the writers of these biblical references to hell had seen a volcanic flow? I know nothing of geography, so I don't know if there are (or were) volcanoes in and around the area. Anyway, I felt the need to start a new thread since there has been a lot of talk on hell, and I wanted to share my theory on what "hell" actually is. When looking at it like this, there's nothing to fear! Hell, throw my dead body in the "lake of fire", I don't care. It's not like I'll feel anything! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agnosticator Posted September 19, 2009 Share Posted September 19, 2009 Hi Paradox! I have just what you are looking for http://www.av1611.org/hell_proof.html Some wacky christian beat you to it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dB-Paradox Posted September 20, 2009 Author Share Posted September 20, 2009 Okay, I'm not reading all that! So I wasn't the only one. But how does that make hell a scary place then? It's no different than a Christian dying in a fire! Once you're dead, you're dead! No more physical senses. I don't get how lava can be a wailing and gnashing of teeth. I mean literally. ***EDIT*** Sorry, my daughter needed me and I had to go quickly. If hell is a physical place representing spiritual punishment, then there's no eternity. Maybe I went the wrong direction with this topic. I suppose I was trying to prove hell is the grave and Satan does not actually live there (nor will he), hence it is not an eternal punishment. Heaven would be the stars and the rest of the universe. And if that's the case, we've been there already. Yeah I think I've lost my momentum. I don't remember where I was going with this. I guess thinking about mythology was what started the thought process. Basically, hell is in the earth, heaven in the universe, and God is nature and Jesus...probably never existed as a real man. At least not as the bible says. In fact, most biblical characters probably never existed as literal people. Constellations, perhaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Davka Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 There have been no active volcanoes in the area around Israel for a long, long time. Pre-history, in fact. The "lake of fire" comes from Greek mythology, and probably was inspired by volcanic activity in the Nothern Mediterranean. "Gehenna," on the other hand, is a valley outside the Old City of Jerusalem where they dumped the city's garbage. It smoldered continually. It was also the location of some altars where pagans used to sacrifice infants to Baal on red-hot metal idols. What's fun about Revelation is that Hell gets thrown into the Lake of Fire along with death. So Hell is obviously not the same as the Lake of Fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dB-Paradox Posted September 20, 2009 Author Share Posted September 20, 2009 There have been no active volcanoes in the area around Israel for a long, long time. Pre-history, in fact. The "lake of fire" comes from Greek mythology, and probably was inspired by volcanic activity in the Nothern Mediterranean. "Gehenna," on the other hand, is a valley outside the Old City of Jerusalem where they dumped the city's garbage. It smoldered continually. It was also the location of some altars where pagans used to sacrifice infants to Baal on red-hot metal idols. What's fun about Revelation is that Hell gets thrown into the Lake of Fire along with death. So Hell is obviously not the same as the Lake of Fire. Oh, right. I forgot about death and hades getting thrown into the lake of fire, which is the "second death". Good point. It's a pretty interesting read, that Revelations. My favorite books of the bible are Genesis (first 11 chapters) and Revelations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agnosticator Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 There have been no active volcanoes in the area around Israel for a long, long time. Pre-history, in fact. The "lake of fire" comes from Greek mythology, and probably was inspired by volcanic activity in the Nothern Mediterranean. "Gehenna," on the other hand, is a valley outside the Old City of Jerusalem where they dumped the city's garbage. It smoldered continually. It was also the location of some altars where pagans used to sacrifice infants to Baal on red-hot metal idols. What's fun about Revelation is that Hell gets thrown into the Lake of Fire along with death. So Hell is obviously not the same as the Lake of Fire. Oh, right. I forgot about death and hades getting thrown into the lake of fire, which is the "second death". When you put all those biblical verses together, anyone can get confused as to what and where hell is. The differing versions of hell, plus the Lake of Fire, and the second death are totally nonsensical. It only makes sense when we consider the historical development of it. It makes for good horror flicks though! And Satan is way cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpheliaGinger Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 I don't think the CoC accepts the theory that Jesus spent those 3 days in hell; if anything, he was just asleep. I think it kinda funny how the Christians think their god is so powerful that he can throw Hades into his own hell, Tartarus. Hades had been ruling....Hades...long before then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyone Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 I you read enough of different interpretations of Hell, you get a lot of different ideas - from annihilation to everybody gets to go to heaven (or only 144,000), to "separation from God" and on to the Auschwitz of Revelations. Bsically, they can't make up their collective minds. Or, more precisely, when they decide Hell is something other than what some people say, Bingo, it's different. It's all make believe. But you can really make a hellish make believe that scares little children. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
★ Citsonga ★ Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 http://godvsthebible.com/chapter13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dB-Paradox Posted September 23, 2009 Author Share Posted September 23, 2009 I posted this on my blog. Should get a few chuckles...I hope! http://paradox-db3.blogspot.com/2009/09/sounds-from-hell.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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