Why Eternity?

[Casualfanboy16]

Y'know, I've been thinking... what's the point in eternity? With Hell, why punish someone forever and ever for a finite crime? How is that just or fair? What is the person being sent there supposed to get from this? I mean, why go straight to eternal punishment rather than rehabilitation? Why give such a finite amount of time for us to decide our eternal destination? What the hell is the point of Hell?!

 

Likewise, what's the point in Heaven? I can't really think of a good reason as to why anyone deserves it considering what I've been raised to believe is apparently we don't deserve it, but God provided a way for us to get there or whatever through Him. Why do we deserve eternal bliss and God's infinite goodness and love or whatever? What's the point of eternal salvation How is that fair if someone who's been of good character outside of the Christian faith goes to Hell, but someone who's done so many wrongs and does repent at the end of their life gets to go to Heaven? How is this a just or fair system? I don't get it.

 

Eternity in either context feels kinda pointless. Either way, it doesn't feel like it's a just or fair system. What good is eternal punishment? Personally, it'd probably be more effective to rehabilitate sinners rather than punish people for eternity, but that's just me. Same with eternal salvation. The requirements for that seem so simple, but at the same time confusing and complex. It's all confusing, really.

 

Again, my knowledge of the Bible is still rusty. I can't pick it up quite yet without reverting to my old way of thinking. I'm also still a bit worn out from vacation so I'm taking a day off to recoup because I need a day of just nothing since we've been running around the past few days and even typing this up was difficult because I am running on irregular hours of sleep. Gonna start studying the stuff I have been recommended in my previous posts tomorrow though so I can officially get started with deprogramming everything.

[pantheory]

On 7/28/2023 at 10:55 AM, Casualfanboy16 said:

Y'know, I've been thinking... what's the point in eternity? With Hell, why punish someone forever and ever for a finite crime? How is that just or fair? What is the person being sent there supposed to get from this? I mean, why go straight to eternal punishment rather than rehabilitation? Why give such a finite amount of time for us to decide our eternal destination? What the hell is the point of Hell?!

 

Likewise, what's the point in Heaven? I can't really think of a good reason as to why anyone deserves it considering what I've been raised to believe is apparently we don't deserve it, but God provided a way for us to get there or whatever through Him. Why do we deserve eternal bliss and God's infinite goodness and love or whatever? What's the point of eternal salvation How is that fair if someone who's been of good character outside of the Christian faith goes to Hell, but someone who's done so many wrongs and does repent at the end of their life gets to go to Heaven? How is this a just or fair system? I don't get it.

 

Eternity in either context feels kinda pointless. Either way, it doesn't feel like it's a just or fair system. What good is eternal punishment? Personally, it'd probably be more effective to rehabilitate sinners rather than punish people for eternity, but that's just me. Same with eternal salvation. The requirements for that seem so simple, but at the same time confusing and complex. It's all confusing, really.

 

Again, my knowledge of the Bible is still rusty. I can't pick it up quite yet without reverting to my old way of thinking. I'm also still a bit worn out from vacation so I'm taking a day off to recoup because I need a day of just nothing since we've been running around the past few days and even typing this up was difficult because I am running on irregular hours of sleep. Gonna start studying the stuff I have been recommended in my previous posts tomorrow though so I can officially get started with deprogramming everything.

 

Eternal life after death is an important part of most religions. Most people would like to believe that we are not animals and that life continues in a spiritual form after death. Many rulers have used religion to keep the flock in line when their hasn't been enough funding allotted for state policing. 

 

Johnny must be a good boy or he will burn in hell forever.  Intimidation can sometimes serve a purpose as well as physical punishment, at a cheaper price.

[Wertbag]

It's a classic carrot and stick setup.  Do what we say and how we say it, and you'll be rewarded with everything you can dream of.  Do anything that we disagree with and the worst thing you can imagine will happen.  It screams control tactics, and being the most extreme in both directions just makes it sound ridiculously over the top.

 

Some philosophers believe living forever would be a nightmare, due to our brain's capacity being reached we couldn't keep making memories and having done everything there is to do boredom would set in.  You can love cake, but after you've had it a million times it's no longer a special treat.  You can get yourself the coolest Ferrari, but give it a month and it'll just be the car you use to get from point A to B.

 

People naturally don't want to die, so offering them an escape is a tempting prospect.  It's Pascal's Wager, telling people to believe "just in case".  Sadly, as much as I would love it to be true, it just doesn't convince me that it's anything other than man-made.  As such I can't force belief in something that I'm not convinced of.

[Casualfanboy16]

5 hours ago, pantheory said:

 

Eternal life after death is an important part of most religions. Most people would like to believe that we are not animals and that life continues in a spiritual form after death. Many rulers have used religion to keep the flock in line when their hasn't been enough funding allotted for state policing. 

 

Johnny must be a good boy or he will burn in hell forever.  Intimidation can sometimes serve a purpose as well as physical punishment, at a cheaper price.

Yeah, the threat of eternal punishment used to scare the fuck out of me. Eternity as a whole scares me. Wether it's Heaven or Hell, I don't want to exist someplace forever. Heaven would just drag on after a while, and Hell just sounds horrible. Also Heaven would probably have homophobes in it, so it wouldn't be worth going to anyway. I mean the God of the Bible makes it clear I'm an abomination not worthy of gaining access to the Pearly Gates, so I don't particularly want to go anyway lol.

 

1 hour ago, Wertbag said:

It's a classic carrot and stick setup.  Do what we say and how we say it, and you'll be rewarded with everything you can dream of.  Do anything that we disagree with and the worst thing you can imagine will happen.  It screams control tactics, and being the most extreme in both directions just makes it sound ridiculously over the top.

 

Some philosophers believe living forever would be a nightmare, due to our brain's capacity being reached we couldn't keep making memories and having done everything there is to do boredom would set in.  You can love cake, but after you've had it a million times it's no longer a special treat.  You can get yourself the coolest Ferrari, but give it a month and it'll just be the car you use to get from point A to B.

 

People naturally don't want to die, so offering them an escape is a tempting prospect.  It's Pascal's Wager, telling people to believe "just in case".  Sadly, as much as I would love it to be true, it just doesn't convince me that it's anything other than man-made.  As such I can't force belief in something that I'm not convinced of.

Personally, life after death in the context of Heaven and Hell just sounds like a nightmare to me. I'd rather just cease to exist honestly. Heaven would get boring. Hell is an unjust, cruel and disturbing punishment for a finite crime. Neither sounds appealing. Eternal sleep would be nice though. I don't know what's after death, nor do I believe any of those stories of people dying and coming back to life. If there is an afterlife (and that's a big if), it's probably nothing like any of these manmade religions are talking about. I don't believe in Heaven or Hell or any form of afterlife. I know people are scared of death, but when I used to believe that crap, the maddening concept of eternity was scarier than death itself to the point I'm kind of content with death more than most people, I think. I don't actually know how most people are with death lol. Like, death doesn't bother me. It's the existential horrors of eternity that do.

[◊ Weezer ◊]

1 hour ago, Casualfanboy16 said:

 

I know people are scared of death, but when I used to believe that crap, the maddening concept of eternity was scarier than death itself to the point I'm kind of content with death more than most people, I think. I don't actually know how most people are with death lol. Like, death doesn't bother me. It's the existential horrors of eternity that do.

 

That fear of death seems to lessen with age.   It seems that many people get to the point (christian or not) that life is a burden they want to get rid of.  

[Casualfanboy16]

On 8/17/2023 at 7:32 PM, Weezer said:

That fear of death seems to lessen with age.   It seems that many people get to the point (christian or not) that life is a burden they want to get rid of.  

Honestly, when I get old and wrinkly and shit, I wanna be one of those old people that psychologically tortures the youth of the newest generation with outdated slang terms and horrible puns that make their eyes roll so far back into their heads you swear they were dead. My hips may fail, my memory may not be like it used to be like right now, but when I get old and gray-haired, I'm gonna make the most of it until I'm taking my eternal rest.

 

Then I'll turn into a ghost haunt people from beyond the grave and do things that'll minorly inconvenience them every day from the great beyond.

[borgus]

I'd like to think that death for good people is the end of a good life, and you find peace and happiness, and then get to sleep as long as forever. For bad people I hope they are alive and get exactly what they've always wanted, for all eternity ("be careful what you wish for" being the thought there). I'd rather have good people have peace and move on to something new, or the ego dissipates, and that truly evil actors are able to experience forever.

 

I also like to think the old argument "well everyone is a mix of good and evil" is a bit of a bad argument because it is premised on something amounting to "there is absolute good and if a bottle had a bit of poison you wouldn't drink it, right? Well what about a well of water with a drop of poison?" - but the problem with the argument is that it's not real - the human body needs arsenic, but it's a terrible poison, and so yes there is actually a ratio whereby you want poison in your water, so to speak. I'd like to think there's a point where a person is "certifiably devilish," vs "normal," "healthy," or "passing."

[Casualfanboy16]

22 minutes ago, borgus said:

I'd like to think that death for good people is the end of a good life, and you find peace and happiness, and then get to sleep as long as forever. For bad people I hope they are alive and get exactly what they've always wanted, for all eternity ("be careful what you wish for" being the thought there). I'd rather have good people have peace and move on to something new, or the ego dissipates, and that truly evil actors are able to experience forever.

 

Honestly... I'd be on board with that. Like, eventually eternity would get boring no matter what they would get. Teach 'em a little lesson too lol. They'll have plenty of time to learn where they went wrong

 

22 minutes ago, borgus said:

the human body needs arsenic, but it's a terrible poison,

Wait, like actually? Why exactly do we need it? Why do we need a poison?