Is there really a place called hell? In my opinion, there's no way that Jesus was speaking of, or referring to, a place of fiery punishment that lasts forever and ever . . . and ever after you die. From the extensive research I've done on the subject, I've discovered that, far from being a place of unimaginable size and heat, this "Gehenna" that Jesus mentioned was actually a device called the Gehenna-2000. These devices were mass-produced by some company contracted by God to make his fire-and-brimstone threats against humanity logistically possible. Without going into such things as inter and extra dimensions and time-lines (that would take at least four paragraphs to explain), the Gehenna-2000 is a one-man interdimensional containment chamber of sorts located in the non-time interval between the end of this life and the beginning of the after-life. It's not as complicated as it sounds. If you've ever watched Star Trek, just think of this chamber as something that operates on much the same principal as the ship's transporters. What happens is that, when you die, and you've been sinful, your atoms will have a distinct dark hue. When a certain shade of darkness is reached, rather than disperse and re-join with the All That Is, your atoms will be sucked into the nearest Gehenna-2000 chamber where your body will be reconstructed to the extent that your nervous system and your awareness of what's going on will be quite intact. In layman's terms, the soul is forced out of the body and made to enter this etheric chamber through one door, be subjected to the pain of four hundred non-etheric degrees for two minutes straight, be extracted from the chamber roughly through another door, and be extinquished once and for all. Sounds like a bitch, I know, but consider the fact that Jesus negotiated with God on our behalf, and through an intensely hard-fought bargaining session (some bargaining session--he ended up on the cross!), convinced God to reduce the penalty for sin from an eternity of burning alive in Hell at two thousand degrees down to just two minutes in the Gehenna-2000 chamber at four hundred degrees, followed by extinguishment. That's a victory in anybody's book . . . except Jesus' book I suppose. Goes to show that a changer- of-water-into-wine does not a good negotiator make. And the extinguishment part of the deal is actually a good example of God's mercy (in the broadest sense of the word) because even if you bore no physical scars from the experience, the psychological damage would be far beyond what even Jesus could heal on a Sunday afternoon after having rested all day Saturday. But don't get the wrong idea about God. Before doing something like that to you, you'd really have to mess up . . . bad. You would have to have done something like spit on a statue of Jesus (in the face) while having illicit sex on a horizontal six foot crucifix (any position but missionary) with an unwilling Christian girl who's been reduced to tears as a result of your sick idea of foreplay--forcing her to account for biblical contradictions and inaccuracies while being heavily petted. Bottom line is that you've got to be a real bastard to find yourself materializing in the Gehenna-2000 after kicking the bucket. A real bastard!
ieeeaaaa grands words. yes is existing hell. is in head. is that this you think ou sentiment me hell is Outaouais
("...won't know till we get there I suppose..." replied the goblin liking Storch's work immensely, adding "...I think that I changed when I read the gospel of thomas, the one that the church took pains to exclude from the bible for its gnostic stance and one's go'it'alone that results, where today it's my journey to self, which is inward, and not all that bricks and mortar, those rituals and sect affiliations, which are all externals...", so the goblin was alone in his gnosticism where in another age his life would be forfeit for such a refusal to conform or follow) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr47O72Kfh4"]The Smiths- Vicar In A Tutu (lyrics) - YouTube
There is a hell . It was not created by God , but by thoes that believe in hell . A post made by me on another forum . http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_out_of_body_experiences/hell2-t37080.0.html desert rat
("...ok, I joined that forum too now, anywhere else someone to like me to see then..." asked the goblin)
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+17:21&version=KJV in my opinion the same is true for hell. 20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. 22 And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.
It constantly surprises me that so many supposedly intelligent people believe in the concept of heaven and hell.
So much can get lost in translation. I respect all religions but I do not follow any organized religions. In my eyes hell is something of our own creation. We create our own personal hell's. You write well. I would like to see more.
Not trying to start a fight here, but why do you respect all religions? I only respect things, people oor ogranisations if I deem them worthy of respect. I agree with you about hell being a product of our own creation.
The misery of man is the human psyches notation for friction as what we see or feel conflicts with what we think we prefer. This friction/heat of personal metabolism is to the point of wailing an gnashing of teeth. Tar baby had been tormented in such a way and in those dire moments there remains no memory of better climes. What the hell? Where there is fear, love is forgotten. Where there is love, there is no fear. You are love, therefor there is no fear, only the misapprehension of who or where you are.
I have friends of all walks of life and belief systems. I respect all religions because if everyone believed in the same thing life would be boring and even if I do not agree with someones beliefs nor be able to relate to their state of mind I will be respectful of their beliefs. It is their path not mine. Just like what you deem worthy or not another individual will always view the opposite. I should not say all religions because if a religious group is violent and murderous then I would not respect them. Of course most religions had violent histories but I am talking about present tense not history.
I can't imagine a God that sends souls into punishment. But then again, I can't imagine a God that would send someone like a murderer or a robber into eternal paradise.
i liked this description: "Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it. Think'st thou that I, who saw the face of God And tasted the eternal joys of heaven, Am not tormented with ten thousand hells In being deprived of everlasting bliss? Within the bowels of these elements, Where we are tortured and remain forever. Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed In one self place, for where we are is hell, And where hell is must we ever be. And, to conclude, when all the world dissolves, And every creature shall be purified, All places shall be hell that is not heaven." * (Mephistopheles, on being asked how he can appear on earth when trapped in hell) although, written by an atheist of course.
