Oblivion is a sobering concept for sure. But like Mark Twain said, "I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it."
I have a hard time understanding the reality of hell. The Bible talks about a place of eternal separation from God, so if that's hell, then yes, it's eternal. Those of you who would rather not experience the love of God, but would rather live by your own Will, may experience that separation by your own choice. I think we get a choice during our short years here; God knows our deepest hearts. Whether we go to church every Sunday (and not all church-goers love God) or we smoke cigarettes, drink and swear, God knows who we are from the inside. We won't be surprised when we get to where we're going; it will all make perfect sense. I agree with Takiji though - I'd rather cease to exist than exist without God, who is Love himself.
Well if death means going into nothingness or hell, I might want to go to hell. But we are so small compared to everything that how can we really know anything. Look up into the sky and realize that is a grain of sand compared to what is around it and perhaps layed within it. you are looking at a grain of sand. so what are we.
I don't believe in an eternal hell because I can't imagine any situation that warrants that type of punishment. That's true whether we're talking about a hell of physical torment or a hell of separation from God.
If hell exists in the manner in which it is usually portrayed (ie. externally imposed rather than an internalised alienation from goodness) then there can be no forgiving God. It isn't really reconcilable with the teaching of Jesus, so I presume it's just an invention of the later Church. Certainly if it did exist it would have to be eternal, because how would you perform enough good acts to earn your ticket out of it? Wipe the brows of others in torment? You'd probably be a bit busy for that.
My housemate makes a good point. Why would we get an infinite punishment for a finite act? Even serial killers only do so much damage. So burning forever? I don't think that applies to 99.99% of the people who have lived on this planet.
I have no reason to believe that Hell exists any more than I have reason to believe that Heaven exists. The idea of Hell is probably eternal though because so many people seem to find it useful, and congenial to their way of thinking.
The modern Christian idea of hell comes more from classical literature than Biblical accounts anyway. So I don't put much stock in that notion, it doesn't even stay true to the original source material. Besides if you ever manage to have a face to face with god the notion of hell just kind of goes away. Literally the last thing I could imagine even thinking about.
No, hell is strictly on a limited time basis. How long you stay there depends on whether you end up in the Arbuda, the Nirarbuda, the Atata, the Hahava, the Huhuva, the Utpala, the Padma, the Mahapadma, the Sanjive, the Kalasutra, the Samghata, the Raurave, the Maharaurava, the Tapana, the Pratapana or the Avici hell. You only stay there until your Karma balances out and then you move on.
Exactly. Plato, who never intended for it to be taken as truth by the cognoscenti. I believe that initially Christians generally thought that the punishment for not believing was death, ceasing to exist, as opposed to everlasting life. But apparently that didn't seem scary enough to keep people in line when the Church started to get more and more involved in temporal matters and political control.
I forget where I read it but there is a quote I'd like to paraphrase, I want to say it was a Richard Dawkins quote but I'm not sure. It posits that the extreme unpleasantness of hell is necessary to scare people because it is so unlikely to exist. It's been a few years, and I couldn't find the exact quote unfortunately.
I'm told that SirThomas More firmly believed that Hell was the destination of all heretics. And presumably non-believers as well. And saw the burning of these people as necessary to keep them from corrupting other souls and causing them also to be cast down into the pit. And this from an educated man trained in reason and the law. Just goes to show you. It worked. Plato was right. Even more so than he had anticipated.
Some would argue, with biblical support, that hell is in fact nothingness. A complete and utter seperation from God and one another. Try to imagine living that way - without anyone. No family, no friends, no TV, no internet, no one (including even yourself) to interact with in any way. But here's a question for the faithful out there. When God in Revelation promises to create the "the new and the new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth have passed away," does that include the destruction of hell? Even to the point of destroying those trapped in it. Because if God does destroy hell, then it's not eternal. But one has to be VERY careful saying something like that.
