How can Hell be torture, painful and scary?

[Ouroboros]

I heard a preacher shouting that it's been proven that hell is 11 miles down inside the earth. And another said our souls will have their senses heightened so that we can feel indescribable sheer agony.

I heard a tape ones that supposedly was recorded during a drilling for oil in Sibiria. (Didn't we have a link to a website with this a while ago?) You heard screaming and spooky sounds. And looking back, this goes hand-in-hand with this topic, since if they were souls only, how could they make screaming sounds?

 

The tunnel thing sounds like a good idea. Aren't we going to be given shovels and commanded to dig to make hell "enlarged" for all the sinners coming? With demon taskmasters standing over us with their pitchforks and whips. There may be opportunity to break out. After all, the only thing we'll have is TIME.

With an eternity on our hands, we don't need showels. We only need to walk in circles for a few billion years, and we will through consistency wear down and create deeper and deeper holes. And we can use our hands and fingers too. It might be painful, but hey, it's an eternal life, we can't die anymore!

 

That's one of the things I never got about hell. Is hell the lake of fire? Because after judgement day, god casts Satan and his pals into the lake, too. What happens to the original hell?

Good question. Is it two Hells? The current hell and a later hell? So the current hell is not eternal?

 

And where does it say hell is run by Satan to punish sinners? If that's the case, isn't Satan really just doing god's dirty work? What would happen if Satan decided to reward sinners instead of torturing them?

Another good point! Satan changed his mind once, and rebelled against God, he could change his mind again and become nice and give us 100 virgins instead of the lousy 70! And if you're a woman or a guy that like guys, you'll have 100 hot guys to have fun with. I bet'ya Satan will set up bars with full liquor license all over Hell. It's gonna be heaven to go there!

[Jose]

I'm going to post my pre-deconversion imaginings of hell in the Creative Works forum titled, "God Helps Those..."

 

It's a short story that culminates in what I imagined hell would be.

[Mythra]

According to the Lazarus story, there is a huge chasm fixed between heaven and hell.

 

If that's true, then I'm doing a 2 1/2 forward flip in the pike position into the chasm. Can't be any worse than that "worm doesn't die" agony shit.

 

Might even feel kinda like flying. WTF. It can't kill me. I'd be already dead.

[Mythra]

Here. Maybe this will help some of you who are having trouble visualizing hell.

 

Can't figure out why this one wasn't included in the canon. Highly effective little piece of writing.

 

I like the punishment in verse 30. For the "userer's and those who take on interest". Perfect for a few bankers and credit card companies I've dealt with.

[Checkmate]

Here. Maybe this will help some of you who are having trouble visualizing hell.

 

Can't figure out why this one wasn't included in the canon. Highly effective little piece of writing.

 

I like the punishment in verse 30. For the "userer's and those who take on interest". Perfect for a few bankers and credit card companies I've dealt with.

I read that. NOW I know where the Inquisitioners got their inspiration! Good grief! What a sadistic imagination this "Peter" fuck had! People hanging by their tongues? Women hanging by their hair?

 

Nice.

[blueheron]

Christians would cite this verse in Revelations about death and hades being cast into the lake o fire:

 

Rev.20:14 (good news transl.)

Then death and the world of the dead were thrown into the lake of fire - this lake of fire is the second death. Those who did not have their name written in the book of the living were thrown into the lake of fire.

 

What I've always been led to understand is that this is hell being thrown in. So the people who've been writhing in agony forever in hell or wherever, get dumped into the lake of fire right along with those who were individually thrown in. It's still not talking about Hell though. I've been taught that Hades is a different place. On a map of hell someone posted today, Hades is one of the levels of hell. I've never heard of that. Hades had the river Styx and you can find a map of hades online too.

[Mythra]

Hades had the river Styx and you can find a map of hades online too.

 

A map!

 

Is that so you can try and get into a good neighborhood once you get there?

[Kryten]

I heard a tape ones that supposedly was recorded during a drilling for oil in Sibiria. (Didn't we have a link to a website with this a while ago?) You heard screaming and spooky sounds. And looking back, this goes hand-in-hand with this topic, since if they were souls only, how could they make screaming sounds?

I read about that urban legend. Check out the article from TruthOrFiction.com-- I've copied a portion of it here...

 

Secondly, in August of 1990, I was contacted by the pastor of a small church in Flagstaff, Arizona, who informed me that he had proof that this story was true. Apparently, a man from his church, who was believed to be a PhD in Physics from MIT, came forward in private to claim that he was a scientist who had been on a secret mission in Russia for the past year and had met with Mikhail Gorbachev several times. He verified that the Drilling to Hell story was indeed true. He claimed:

 

A hole was drilled deep into the crust of the earth in Siberia and a large cavity was found. Unfortunately, news of this was leaked to the press and was distorted. It is true that a recording was made of the sounds from deep in the hole, but the intense heat destroyed the microphone in spite of special cooling material around it, so that only seventeen seconds of sounds could be captured. At the present time, scientists are drilling a second hole to confirm what was found the first time. And a better system is being developed for cooling the microphone.

The scientist went on to claim that he was helping to design this microphone and was returning to Siberia shortly to further document the phenomenon. He planned to return in about a year with more confirming information on this amazing phenomenon.

Six months later, I got a letter from another member of the church saying that this man had turned out to be neither a graduate of MIT nor a scientist. In fact, he had skipped town with over $20,000 collected from church members who wanted to help finance his expedition.

 

Fundies will believe the darndest things...

[blueheron]

Hades had the river Styx and you can find a map of hades online too.

 

A map!

 

Is that so you can try and get into a good neighborhood once you get there?

 

That's a good idea, LOL

 

Here ya go:

 

What neighborhood do you guys suggest? I don't know my mythology (other than xtianity) Also, the map doesn't have a key. What are those distances, do you suppose? (click on map should take you to larger one)

[-Demona-]

That's a good idea, LOL

 

Here ya go:

 

What neighborhood do you guys suggest? I don't know my mythology (other than xtianity) Also, the map doesn't have a key. What are those distances, do you suppose? (click on map should take you to larger one)

 

Elysium, also known as the Elysian Fields. It's almost like Dante's version of Purgatory (which isn't quite the same as Hell, and much less painful). It's also kinda like a Greek mythos' version of Heaven. Except a little more "blah the weather's so boring" and less "rah-rah God is good".

[Jose]

I was going to build my Sinner Shack™ on the banks of the River Pleglethon.

 

It's supposed to be a river of alcohol (distilled from the damned souls of drunkards) and set on fire.

 

Party at my place when we get there!

[Levi]

1. SIN NATURE.

 

2. And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments. . .” Luke 16:23

How can we feel torment without a physical body and without nervous system?

 

Ask God.

[crazy-tiger]

1. SIN NATURE.

The same sin nature that God created us with?

2. And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments. . .” Luke 16:23

How can we feel torment without a physical body and without nervous system?

 

Ask God.

Nice, we get tortured for what God created us to do... Makes as much sense as blowing up a plane because it flew through the air.

[willybilly30]

levi do you do anything on this forum besides saying two things and having a big first aid kit symbol above it?

[Ouroboros]

I think he works for the red cross...

[All Gods Fail]

Hey, I forgot about this thread!

 

So has anyone figured out the hell conundrum yet? How many hells, outer darkness, lake of fire, who runs it, etc? Hell is still confusing - it's almost as if it were made up as the writers of the NT went along...

[Ssel]

So has anyone figured out the hell conundrum yet? How many hells, outer darkness, lake of fire, who runs it, etc? Hell is still confusing - it's almost as if it were made up as the writers of the NT went along...

Since it is supposed to be about your soul going here or there, has anyone decided on what your soul is?

[Levi]

1. Sin nature.

2. Ask God.

 

These are my two (2) answers.

Thanks for reading.

[Ssel]

I wish their was a way to figure out what a soul and spirit has.

Without this one, the discussion is moot.

 

And my two (2) answers are

 

1) Never

2) ALL

 

 

What was the question again??

[kevin]

Let's say arguendo that we do get punished in an eternal Hell.

 

 

My initial questions are:

1. Who is it that get punished?

2. How can "I" be punished?

 

And they will lead to follow-up questions.

 

 

1. Who is it that get punished?

 

To start with the first question, who am "I"? According to the Bible we are body and soul, and possibly a spirit too, depending on denomiation. And also according to the bible, it's the lust of the flesh, our body, that leads us to sin. When we die, we leave this body behind, so it's only this supposed soul and/or spirit that can be punished.

 

Follow-up question: Why should the soul/spirit get punished for the acts of the body?

 

 

2. How can "I" be punished?

 

Since, according to the Bible, the soul is the "True" Me, and we know when we die the body will still be here. Biology and science have proven that pain, thirst, hunger and emotions are all in the head, our brain, i.e. our body. Going to hell and feeling thirst, hunger, pain would require that we get a body again, which the Bible doesn't say we do. Only the people going to Heaven will get a new "glorified" body.

 

Follow-up question: How can we feel pain, hunger or thirst or even gnash our teeth, without a body or a nervous system?

 

 

Any Christians up for the task to explain this? (I have my own answers, but they're secret. )

 

 

Very good Hans. I never thought of it in this way. It made me wonder what the "True Me" would be like when stripped away of its earthly KFC infested body. What will I remember? What part of my memory will remain? Will I still be addicted to Maynards Wine Gums? I used to say that hell was separation from god, and for a christian, that would certainly be enough to define it as hell. As with many things in the bible, I now see it as a metaphor. (The gnashing of teeth etc) I'm going to be thinking about this topic the whole day now. Bloody Hell!

 

Kevin:

[Mythra]

1. Sin nature. 2. Ask God.These are my two (2) answers.

 

Hey dude: did you know that the letters in your name spell EVIL?

 

Kind of like religion. Once you gain another perspective, it looks very different.

[Ssel]

"I have found Christian dogma unintelligible..."

That is one of the most important things to say that I have seen in this forum.

 

But speaking of such..

 

For what its worth, your "soul" refers to your most fundamental efforts (spirit) of your life. To the Jew, this refers mostly to your children and family linage, this is why they end up being racist. To Jesus (not necessarily the Christian) this refers to what truly concerns you and all people the most whether your family linage is involved or not.

 

What concerns a person most is sometimes the future of world. When the efforts that you make help to lead humanity toward a better world, then that is where your soul "goes". When your efforts in life lead toward a more hellacious world, then that is where your soul "goes" (leads and lends toward).

 

If you were to record all history and then go back to see who was helping versus who was hindering, your fundamental efforts would be recorded as being a "part of the construct of heaven, or a part of the construct of hell"

 

Or you could think of it as a business that you started and truly wanted to keep going even after you die. Will the business help to create a world where it is constantly struggling to stay in business, or will the business help to create a world where staying in that business is easy. - Heaven or Hell

 

This your "after-life"

 

The methodology of Satan, after the war with Michael (michah-eel = voice of God) was determined to be something that creates a hell. Thus, "Satan reigns over Hell."

 

The stories about God are not about punishments for doing "bad", but about consequences for not being more careful of what you are causing.

[NotBlinded]

"I have found Christian dogma unintelligible..."

That is one of the most important things to say that I have seen in this forum.

 

But speaking of such..

 

For what its worth, your "soul" refers to your most fundamental efforts (spirit) of your life. To the Jew, this refers mostly to your children and family linage, this is why they end up being racist. To Jesus (not necessarily the Christian) this refers to what truly concerns you and all people the most whether your family linage is involved or not.

 

What concerns a person most is sometimes the future of world. When the efforts that you make help to lead humanity toward a better world, then that is where your soul "goes". When your efforts in life lead toward a more hellacious world, then that is where your soul "goes" (leads and lends toward).

 

If you were to record all history and then go back to see who was helping versus who was hindering, your fundamental efforts would be recorded as being a "part of the construct of heaven, or a part of the construct of hell"

 

Or you could think of it as a business that you started and truly wanted to keep going even after you die. Will the business help to create a world where it is constantly struggling to stay in business, or will the business help to create a world where staying in that business is easy. - Heaven or Hell

 

The methodology of Satan, after the war with Michael (michah-eel = voice of God) was determined to be something that creates a hell. Thus, "Satan reigns over Hell."

 

The stories about God are not about punishments for doing "bad", but about consequences for not being more careful of what you are causing.

I like the way you describe it. I also see it as a working medium though which one produces effects. It will do exactly what it is instructed to do, whether that be for good (heaven) or bad (hell).

[Mythra]

What concerns a person most is sometimes the future of world. When the efforts that you make help to lead humanity toward a better world, then that is where your soul "goes". When your efforts in life lead toward a more hellacious world, then that is where your soul "goes" (leads and lends toward).

If you were to record all history and then go back to see who was helping versus who was hindering, your fundamental efforts would be recorded as being a "part of the construct of heaven, or a part of the construct of hell"

 

I gotta be honest with ya, Ssel. I don't understand half the shit that you say. I am a person who remains happily sipping a marguerita at the shallow end of the pool. (not necessarily the gene pool)..

 

But.. I got this. And I liked it.

[NotBlinded]

I like the way you describe it. I also see it as a working medium though which one produces effects. It will do exactly what it is instructed to do, whether that be for good (heaven) or bad (hell).

 

I hope you don't like the way he singles out Jews as racist though, I can't imagine you agreeing with that aspect.

Actally, I had to go back and re-read it in order to find it. I obviously glanced right over it. I would think that it would apply to anyone that took a separatist attitude toward anyone else. And, I also think the reverse is true; anyone that takes an inclusive attitude would naturally evolve to a better person. Jesus and the Jews aren't the only ones involved.

 

Ssel, why did you separate out the Jew and the Christian when it can be shown that the understanding of what a soul is is applicable to many philosophies? It does imply that one is evil and the other good.