The specifics of burning in hell for all eternity

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greenberg

until the end of the world
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The specifics of burning in hell for all eternity



It is sometimes said that the soul cannot be hurt; but when it identifies with the body (or mind, emotions, possessions, relationships) and the body (etc.) is afflicted, the soul feels hurt - but that hurt is felt due to the identification with the body (etc.). No such identification, no suffering.


I am not sure though that this holds true for the case of the Christian understanding about souls who burn in hell. It appears they posit another kind of suffering, one that is not contingent upon being entangled into material existence, but one that the soul experiences directly or in-and-of-itself somehow.

This is something I don't understand about the common Christian notion of burning in hell for all eternity: How exactly does suffering take place there? It is said that after we die, we get spiritual bodies, whether we go to heaven or hell. If souls suffer in hell for all eternity, this would then imply that their spiritual bodies are such that they are conducive to eternal suffering, no? Or can a soul suffer directly or in-and-of-itself somehow?
 
greenberg,

When Xians talk about burning in hell, they're thinking of when a child is spanked. That's as deep as they think about this sort of thing.

I always thought that hell was simply nothingness and heaven was a place with swimming pools and hot babes, that I would kick it with my buddies in the sun floating in the clouds. Of course I was a teenager when I use to believe in these sorts of things.
 
Souls in hell still BELIEVE they have bodies...in the same way that you can experience physical suffering in a dream.
 
greenberg said:
I am not sure though that this holds true for the case of the Christian understanding about souls who burn in hell. It appears they posit another kind of suffering, one that is not contingent upon being entangled into material existence, ...
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Have you ever had a nightmare? ...a really vivid nightmare of your own suffering in some dream situation? Awakened in a cold sweat, panicky and fearful?

If you haven't, there certainly are many, many people who have such vivid dreams. The "Dream Being" that you "are" in your dreams feels pain, no? What's the difference?

Baron Max
 
Hell is as amorphus as Heaven. There are some descriptions of both places, but all are subject to interpretation. I just think of the worst thing possible. Hell-So much joy that joy is meaningless. No escape from Joy. Heaven-A place which you experience things much like you do here, just less to worry about. No crime, no death, no illness, no starvation. and so on. The fiery pit/Lake of fire is supposed to suggest something that sucks. Ever had a nasty burn? They suck pretty bad.
 
Being burned is no picnic. Hell is a logical make believe destination for bad guys because it doesn't break the cycle of life after death. Still eternal thus pepetuating the notion of an afterlife, albeit painful.

You would think that oblivion would be a better place for evil doers. But I guess that would be too easy, but it might cast doubt upon a hereafter.
 
Interesting. Several months ago I watched an old Star Trek movie about a "mad" scientist seeking immortality via a rip in time and space. Generations, I think the movie was called. So he confronts Captain Picard and says, "time is the fire that consumes." And I thought... but couldn't that be reincarnation, as Hell—the soul forever returning corporeally and then burning up? An interesting vision.
 
Carcano said:
Souls in hell still BELIEVE they have bodies...in the same way that you can experience physical suffering in a dream.
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Baron Max said:
Have you ever had a nightmare? ...a really vivid nightmare of your own suffering in some dream situation? Awakened in a cold sweat, panicky and fearful?

If you haven't, there certainly are many, many people who have such vivid dreams. The "Dream Being" that you "are" in your dreams feels pain, no? What's the difference?

Baron Max
Click to expand...
I've never felt pain in a dream. I've felt terror, but not physical pain.


Actually one kick I get out of dreams is when I have some amount of control the first things I do, after sex :), is stare at a door and say airplane, airplane, airplane and then walk through onto an airplane - I immediately grab the emergency handle and get sucked out into free fall. That's really really great fun :)

Too bad I'm sooo f*cking busy nowadays to ever have a lucid dream anymore :(
 
Specifically, the only people to "burn eternally" is the devil himself and his antichrist, at least in most christian bibles.
 
If anyone burns in hell for all eternity then that God is evil or deceived.

If a man full of love for all life dies not believing in Christ, if that man goes to hell then Satan rules this part of the Universe.

:(
 
I don't and haven't and won't read the bible, but how exactly is Hell illustrated therein? Isn't it all just symbolism—a manner or language of description best interpreted within the context of its own period, its own level of cognition?
 
Ripley said:
I don't and haven't and won't read the bible, but how exactly is Hell illustrated therein? Isn't it all just symbolism—a manner or language of description best interpreted within the context of its own period, its own level of cognition?
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There is only one place describing "torment" in "Hell"(translated from Greek-"Hades" to Wotanic "Hel(l)" for the benefit of Germanic conversion.) The poorly adopted/translated story of Lazerus and Dives. It actually seems to describe the place Hebrews->Jews called Sheol. Again a poor translation and conversion from Jewish tradition.

All other references to punishment in hell lay in the Book of Revelations, nobody even knows what person wrote this book. It is ridiculous that book got put in the Canon and say ...the Book of Enoch did not. Fear mongering suited the Romans better I suppose.
 
The idea is not so much to be stressed upon BURNING, but the idea of HELL.

Hell, well, is just the Idea that there is a separation from Heaven, that God, in order to keep Heaven Perfect, must toss the Rubbish somewhere, that somewhere else being Hell.

There is never any pleasing Atheists. In one breath Atheists blame God for Universe full of Imperfection. Boo God! On the otherhand they blame God for trying to do something about a flawed Universe... when God tries to toss out the Trash, they blame God for suddenly imposing Standards.

Well, ask yourselves, do you really want Hitler and Genghis Khan for neighbors, or do you WANT God to assign such Republicans to some Hell, somewhere, anywhere but your own Neighborhood?


greenberg said:
The specifics of burning in hell for all eternity



It is sometimes said that the soul cannot be hurt; but when it identifies with the body (or mind, emotions, possessions, relationships) and the body (etc.) is afflicted, the soul feels hurt - but that hurt is felt due to the identification with the body (etc.). No such identification, no suffering.


I am not sure though that this holds true for the case of the Christian understanding about souls who burn in hell. It appears they posit another kind of suffering, one that is not contingent upon being entangled into material existence, but one that the soul experiences directly or in-and-of-itself somehow.

This is something I don't understand about the common Christian notion of burning in hell for all eternity: How exactly does suffering take place there? It is said that after we die, we get spiritual bodies, whether we go to heaven or hell. If souls suffer in hell for all eternity, this would then imply that their spiritual bodies are such that they are conducive to eternal suffering, no? Or can a soul suffer directly or in-and-of-itself somehow?
Click to expand...
 
nietzschefan said:
There is only one place describing "torment" in "Hell"(translated from Greek-"Hades" to Wotanic "Hel(l)" for the benefit of Germanic conversion.) The poorly adopted/translated story of Lazerus and Dives. It actually seems to describe the place Hebrews->Jews called Sheol. Again a poor translation and conversion from Jewish tradition.

All other references to punishment in hell lay in the Book of Revelations, nobody even knows what person wrote this book. It is ridiculous that book got put in the Canon and say ...the Book of Enoch did not.
Click to expand...
So the principle of perpetual punishment was added in afterwards? It all fits in, doesn't it? Fear, and that terrible Christian vindictiveness that sees to overcome its fear.
Fear mongering suited the Romans better I suppose.
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Psychological manipulation, huh?
 
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