Christianity and hell.

That,too.

 

rhetorical question?

 

The idea of hell, or a place where bad people go to be punished, has been around since the Egyptians and Babylonians. Some ancient civilizations, like the Egyptians, Hindus, and Buddhists, combined it with a belief in reincarnation, as a kind of purgatory souls would go to temporarily while awaiting reassignment to another life form. Interestingly, the Jews didn't have the concept of hell for most of the Old Testment period. God would punish sinners in the here and now, rather than in the hereafter. They had Sheol,the underworld abode of the dead where everybody went, but hell as a place of punishment entered Judaism during the "Babylonian Captivity" period and gained ground after the Holy Land became part of the empire of Alexander the Great and later the Roman Empire. Even then, one of the dominant Jewish sects, the Sadducees, rejected it, although the Pharisees accepted it. Some ancient Greek and Roman writers, like Plato and Livy, while not necessarily accepting the belief, saw its merit as a means of keeping people in line.

Jesus mentions Gehenna on six occasions (each reported twice in various books of the New Testament). Gehenna is a Greek term for the valley of Hinnon, where worshippers of the Caananite fire god Moloch used to sacrifice their children in the flames. It became a burning refuse dump, where garbage and the bodies of dead animals and criminals were thrown. Fundamentalists think Jesus was speaking literally of a fiery place, but some Christians (like me) think this was only a metaphor for the worst fate a Jew could think of.
Although Paul seems to have had the concept of real burning, everlasting destruction, and separation from God in hell, it wasn't until a couple of centuries after Jesus' death that the graphic details of hell as a place of eternal torment began to be worked out among Christian theologians. Tertullian (himself later branded a heretic for a different reason) overlapping the second and third centuries, and St. Augustine in the fourth century played important roles, but it was the Roman Emperor Justinian who made hell officially eternal, by decree, in the sixth century. Protestant Universalists say this was based on a mistranslation of a Greek word "aionis" or "aeon"--a long,indefinite period of time, but not necessarily forever. Islam, also, has a horrific view of hell, but at least it's not eternal.

 

You're probably right, but I don't know for sure, and that's the problem. Hell is an example of what's been called the zero-infinity dilemma: what do you do when something you think is extremely improbable would have catastrophic consequences if it happened? e.g, a Chernobyl-style melt down at a nuclear power plant. Hell is the ultimate nightmare. What could be more terrifying than the prospect of excruciating torture, not for an hour or a day but forever. And we don't know for sure whether or not it will happen to us. Humans can't be 100% sure of anything. But the preachers tell us we can be sure if we follow their guide book. You've seen the post by Samwise: "Are you 100 % sure you're going to Heaven" (Read: not going to hell)? Follow these easy steps... What do you do? Surrender to fear, or take a stand? I say, take a stand and say "Hell no", or more accurately:No hell! If I'm wrong, I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune some day--in high C.

 

You're probably right, but I don't know for sure, and that's the problem. Hell is an example of what's been called the zero-infinity dilemma: what do you do when something you think is extremely improbable would have catastrophic consequences if it happened? e.g, a Chernobyl-style melt down at a nuclear power plant. Hell is the ultimate nightmare. What could be more terrifying than the prospect of excruciating torture, not for an hour or a day but forever? And we don't know for sure whether or not it will happen to us. Humans can't be 100% sure of anything. But the preachers tell us we can be sure if we follow their guide book. You've seen the post by Samwise: "Are you 100% sure you're going to Heaven" (Read: not going to hell)? Follow these easy steps... What do you do? Surrender to fear, or take a stand? I say, take a stand and say "Hell no", or more accurately:No hell! If I'm wrong, I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune some day--in high C

 

I was never taught that outright, but it was said that the only way to salvation is through Jesus Christ.

 

haha...
I always thought u were annoying . But now, as I am losing my faith in God, I am starting to like u.

 

don't get me started. if you believe this fairy tale horse shit you need to have your head examined.

 

I just find him funny...

 

"It's nothing but fantasy and fiction. A legend. A fable. A nursery rhyme to frighten children and feeble minded adults."

Call me crazy, call me delusional, call me stupid, hell you can call me Susan if it makes you happy.

But do not ever refer to me as WEAK or FEEBLE.

 

It's not "just" a fairytale. the majority of our country subscribes to this bullshit and it affects their votes.