Hell-fire

[Brownie]

How many Christians on this forum believe that all the 'unsaved' are off to 'the burny-burny place' when they die? (I like that description Rhiannon )

Not me!  The Bible is full of fantastic pictures that tell a story, conveying a truth.  That was how it was done in days gone by, pity some people take it literally.
(As a child I saw a picture in a museum depicting Hell and it scared me for years.)

[trippymonkey]

And THAT'S the idea.
Gettem while they're young !!!!!

[Enki]

How many Christians on this forum believe that all the 'unsaved' are off to 'the burny-burny place' when they die? (I like that description Rhiannon )

-
Oh, look....yet another atheist post wondering aboiut hell......

Hi Anchorman,

The idea of Hell doesn't concern me at all. So for this atheist it isn't a problem.

But it can be for others. For instance, I know a lady who, in the sixties, became pregnant whilst being an unmarried teenager. In those days that was socially unacceptable, So her only option was a mother and baby home resulting in adoption.  The home that was chosen for her was run by a group of Catholic nuns. I won't go into detail about the unpleasantness that she had to put up with or how her baby was taken away from her, except to say that she was constantly reminded that she had no one to blame but herself, and that she had to pray to God for forgiveness or she would go to hell. I have, some time ago on this forum, given an account of her experiences told in her own words. This ended with this sentence.
"The ethos was coldness and punishment with the constant reminder that we were sinners and had to pray daily for Gods forgiveness."

I believe she was damaged by that experience, and I know that for many years she was haunted by the feeling that she had committed some terrible sin for which she had to pray to God to forgive her for, and the terrible emotional spectre of a hell figured strongly in her thoughts.

So, when you make what I consider a rather thoughtless comment like the one above, perhaps you could remember that for some people it can be an emotional scar which is hard to get rid of.

[OH MY WORLD!]

HELL is not about controlling people. It is about complete and everlasting separation. Shame on people that do use it that way.

[SweetPea]

Floo, you seem obsessed with 'hell'.... thread after thread.

Hell is just the grave, sheol.... the silent, dark, unseen resting-place of ALL the sleeping dead, the land of oblivion and forgetfulness -- and not the eternal, flaming torture-chamber of orthodox superstition man-made ideology.

See the meaning of the Hebrew word שְׁאוֹל, Sheol (Strong's 7585) translated Hell the Grave.

[jeremyp]

Floo, do you know where the idea of hellfire comes from?  .

I do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en1uwIzI3SE

[Shaker]

I believe she was damaged by that experience, and I know that for many years she was haunted by the feeling that she had committed some terrible sin for which she had to pray to God to forgive her for, and the terrible emotional spectre of a hell figured strongly in her thoughts.

So, when you make what I consider a rather thoughtless comment like the one above, perhaps you could remember that for some people it can be an emotional scar which is hard to get rid of.

Also, Google "Jill Mytton," interviewed by Richard Dawkins for the Root of All Evil? programme a few years back, and try and tell the rest of us that hell isn't used as a tool of threat, oppression and control.

You have to be a credulous gimp to believe in this obnoxious and pernicious twaddle in the first place, but to infect a child's mind with it - that's within spitting distance of evil.

[Shaker]

HELL is not about controlling people. It is about complete and everlasting separation.

From what?

[OH MY WORLD!]

Read the Bible Shaker or try google for the answer. And then you can stand in front of a mirror and argue against it.

[Shaker]

Read the Bible Shaker or try google for the answer. And then you can stand in front of a mirror and argue against it.

Oh, you clearly don't know, then. OK.

[OH MY WORLD!]

Sure I do and I encourage you to seek the answer in the Bible.

[Hope]

(As a child I saw a picture in a museum depicting Hell and it scared me for years.)

Dante's Inferno, by any chance?  I think I'm right in saying that that was the first pictorial representation of Hell.

[floo]

Floo, you seem obsessed with 'hell'.... thread after thread.

Hell is just the grave, sheol.... the silent, dark, unseen resting-place of ALL the sleeping dead, the land of oblivion and forgetfulness -- and not the eternal, flaming torture-chamber of orthodox superstition man-made ideology.

See the meaning of the Hebrew word שְׁאוֹל, Sheol (Strong's 7585) translated Hell the Grave.

I am not obsessed with hell,  which I don't believe exists. Your comment about the mythical place is an assertion without the slightest bit of evidence to support it.

[ad_orientem]

Floo, you seem obsessed with 'hell'.... thread after thread.

Hell is just the grave, sheol.... the silent, dark, unseen resting-place of ALL the sleeping dead, the land of oblivion and forgetfulness -- and not the eternal, flaming torture-chamber of orthodox superstition man-made ideology.

See the meaning of the Hebrew word שְׁאוֹל, Sheol (Strong's 7585) translated Hell the Grave.

That's only a half-truth. It's true that "hell" or "hades" can and does refer to the grave or the abode of the dead (and consciousness exists there too) but then you also have the New Testament to deal with which deals with the fate of the unsaved after the last judgement, that is "Gahenna" and "the lake of fire".

[Hope]

... but then you also have the New Testament to deal with which deals with the fate of the unsaved after the last judgement, that is "Gahenna" and "the lake of fire".

But then see what 'Gehenna' is actually all about, ad_o.  It references an existing Jewish underrstanding of a given place.

[Shaker]

Get your fairy tales straight at least, you two.

[Shaker]

Try this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0o39H1H6F0

[Rhiannon]

If it is true that we make god in our own image and our beliefs about our gods reflect ourselves, then this thread is quite illuminating.

[Hope]

I don't believe any loving God would torture people for eternity just because they won't succumb to being manipulated by other people.

Does he?  Remember that conversion to or from Christianity is a matter between oneself and God.  Others can encourage or even discourage you, but ultimately, it is for you to make the decision.  To suggest, as some here do, that I or anyone else here or elsewhere can convert someone to or from the Chritian faith is simply untrue.

[Shaker]

If it is true that we make god in our own image and our beliefs about our gods reflect ourselves, then this thread is quite illuminating.

Illuminating but not exactly new: a long time ago somebody (I forget who, at the moment) said that cruel people tend to believe in a cruel god whereas kindly people tend to believe in a kindly god.

[ad_orientem]

... but then you also have the New Testament to deal with which deals with the fate of the unsaved after the last judgement, that is "Gahenna" and "the lake of fire".

But then see what 'Gehenna' is actually all about, ad_o.  It references an existing Jewish underrstanding of a given place.

It may well but that was not my point. My point was that they're not the same thing as Sheol, that is, Hades. The term "hell" as used in everyday English refers to all of those.

[Dicky Underpants]

Floo, you seem obsessed with 'hell'.... thread after thread.

Hell is just the grave, sheol.... the silent, dark, unseen resting-place of ALL the sleeping dead, the land of oblivion and forgetfulness -- and not the eternal, flaming torture-chamber of orthodox superstition man-made ideology.

See the meaning of the Hebrew word שְׁאוֹל, Sheol (Strong's 7585) translated Hell the Grave.

I am not obsessed with hell,  which I don't believe exists. Your comment about the mythical place is an assertion without the slightest bit of evidence to support it.

Likewise, I do not believe that Hell, Gehenna or Sheol exist. However, SweetPea is quite right about how the ancient Jews regarded Sheol, and there is a very great deal of evidence in the Old Testament itself that SP's description is pretty close to how they envisaged it.

The ideas of places of 'fiery torment' for wrongdoings were all later developments (which you can see appearing in the Apocrypha).  But please note: I'm saying these were just different ways the ancients envisaged these things. I don't believe there is any concomitant reality to the beliefs they had.

[Sassy]

How many Christians on this forum believe that all the 'unsaved' are off to 'the burny-burny place' when they die? (I like that description Rhiannon )

You don't die in hell... you exist in the lake of fire for ever separated from God and the rest of the human race.

[trippymonkey]

AAH SOOO YOU believe there is a limit to God then if we can be seperate from Him, eh ?

[jeremyp]

How many Christians on this forum believe that all the 'unsaved' are off to 'the burny-burny place' when they die? (I like that description Rhiannon )

You don't die in hell... you exist in the lake of fire for ever separated from God and the rest of the human race.

Why did God invent that rule?