Is torture in Hell really eternal?

[wynn]

Do you believe that torture in Hell is really forever? Is it really physically possible, according to physical laws I mean, to torture someone for all of eternity?

According to some sources, the translations of the Bible that state that hell is forever, are not accurate.

See for example:

What Does “Eternity” in the Bible Mean?

Terms for Eternity: Aiônios and Aïdios in Classical and Christian Texts

AIÓN -- AIÓNIOS, TRANSLATED Everlasting -- Eternal IN THE HOLY BIBLE, SHOWN TO DENOTE LIMITED DURATION.

 

[Aqueous Id]

Hell, the place of fire, hence torture, originates methinks in ancient persia among... Zoroastrians?

They had a fire-based religion first, also the first Satan, so I would ask, how does their mythology affect us moderners?

Further sayeth I not.

 

[Aqueous Id]

But what does Zoroastrianism to do with us?

 

[Aqueous Id]

The modern English word Hell is derived from Old English hel, helle (about 725 AD to refer to a nether world of the dead) reaching into the Anglo-Saxon pagan period, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *halja, meaning "one who covers up or hides
something".

So fiery hell is a Viking nomenclature for an ancient Persian religious belief.
So therein lies the torture?

 

[joepistole]

No, you see there's this wonderful thing called entropy. Torture is work, work requires usable energy. In a closed system(and hell, by all accounts, would be a closed system) entropy increases thus ensuring that only a limited amount of work can be done as all the usable energy disappears. Therefore the amount of torture that can be done is limited.

This, of course, requires that hell be a physical place.

But if God is as claimed, who says God cannot suspend the laws of the universe as we know them? Hell would also have to be a physical place if Hell is eternal as time is an attribute of space.

 

[Aqueous Id]

if god can cancel physics then god can cancel history fact and evidence and pretty soon we really don't have anything to go by

does god cancel the fact that the notion of a fiery hell has its roots in a religion from ancient persia

does god cancel the fact that superstition legend and myth were the ingredients of ancient religion back in the day when the world was flat and magicians walked on water

 

[joepistole]

if god can cancel physics then god can cancel history fact and evidence and pretty soon we really don't have anything to go by

does god cancel the fact that the notion of a fiery hell has its roots in a religion from ancient persia

does god cancel the fact that superstition legend and myth were the ingredients of ancient religion back in the day when the world was flat and magicians walked on water

If God is truely omnipotent, then yes he can do all those things by definition.

 

[Aqueous Id]

God is a liar?

 

[joepistole]

God is a liar?

Is God a liar or are the liars those who claim to represent him?

 

[Big Chiller]

Only if they are immortal, which I think is still in the realm of fantasy.

Immortality isn't enough, 'immoratlity' (without end) is required.

God is a liar?

God isn't a liar, God isn't a truth teller (not that God tells lies), God isn't in such a category.

 

[kx000]

Another laughable thread.

 

[Dywyddyr]

You're back!
And still with nothing worthwhile to contribute.
Why is it "laughable"?

 

[Aqueous Id]

so are we agreed that the notion of a fiery hell was imported from the Zoroastrians?

If so, what the hell does hell have to do with us here and now who are presumably not Zoroastrians?

except for the guy a few posts up who was lighting a joint with his beard

 

[kx000]

Hell is of the imagination. You see, everyone has to believe in something.

 

[Arioch]

Yay, we have our pet theobot back!

 

[Dywyddyr]

Hell is of the imagination.

Evidence?

You see, everyone has to believe in something.

Evidence?

 

[Aqueous Id]

Maybe people believe because they are told to and it is more comfortable to conform than to get spanked or whatever...

I wonder where we would be today if the Zoroastrian Avesta (ancient sripture) had been the first thing to hit the press (i.e. Gutenburg) instead of the Bible? Build it, they will come. Publish it, they will fall down in apoplectic fits, claiming discovery of God etc.

 

[pluto2]

But if God is as claimed, who says God cannot suspend the laws of the universe as we know them? Hell would also have to be a physical place if Hell is eternal as time is an attribute of space.

If Hell is a physical place then it would have to be governed by the laws of physics. I doubt God is nearly powerful enough to rewrite the fundamental laws of physics. Because if God could do that then why did he not do it before when people were in trouble and why is he not doing it right now when people really need it?

God probably isn't real. If God was real, then he probably would not have let 6 million helpless German Jews to be slaughered by the Nazis and he would not let helpless children starve to death in Africa.