Should you be afraid of Hell?

[thecrazyscot]

Isn't forgiveness at the very heart of Christianity?

So is justice. The tension between the two can be a tough nut to crack and a lot of ink has been spilled on it.

 

[Borachio]

I'm confused. I don't remember any mention of justice in the Beatitudes.

Hang on. I'll go check.

In fact, I can't remember justice being mentioned at all in the Gospels. But it probably is, somewhere. Just I don't recall it.

 

[thecrazyscot]

It's one of the foundational tenets of Christianity.

The reason Jesus came to earth to die was to take the punishment for humanity's sins, to fulfill God's justice.

 

[Borachio]

Oh. Is it?

I thought it was for the forgiveness of sins. Pardon me.

 

[thecrazyscot]

Because the punishment has already been made our sins our forgiven.

 

[Borachio]

Yeah!

Tell me how that works again?

 

[thecrazyscot]

If you're actually curious, I'd be happy to indulge you. As you appear to have made up your mind about what Christians believe, though, I don't think you're really interested. Cheers

 

[Borachio]

No. I'm quite curious.

Imagine my brother murdered someone, and I go to the court where he's being tried. I, being extremely generous, put myself forward to accept his punishment. The court, being a highly compliant one for some reason, accepts my suggestion.

Now. How does my accepting my brother's punishment mitigate for his crime? Even if it were possible, he's still guilty of it, isn't he?

(Not that I think that retributive justice is justice at all, btw. But that's another matter.)

 

[thecrazyscot]

In that case I'll respond in depth tomorrow as I don't have the time right now, but I'm not ignoring you.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Is Michigan really that scary a place? Is it worse than Edmonton?

Of course if you're referring to the place mentioned in the bible, why should I be afraid of a place that isn't real?

 

[Borachio]

How do you know it isn't real?

What if it is real? Would you be afraid of it then?

 

[Cheetah]

How do you know it isn't real?

Because:

Considering that we know pretty well how ancient Canaanite religion evolved into Judaism, and how concepts such as monotheism, heaven and hell developed, I think it's pretty fair to say that a Hellenistic-inspired Hades with Egyptian-influenced characteristics ruled over by a Canaanite minor god (or just spiritual being?) made absolute evil through an adaption to Zoroastrianism and named after a garbage-filled valley outside ancient Jerusalem is extremely unlikely to exist, to put it mildly.

 

[Borachio]

But, given all that, if hell is "only" a construct of the human mind, the experience of it could still be just as real as... anything else.

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

You dont have to die to feel Hell. Its absolutely real. Is it eternal? No. The pain we feel sometimes only delivers us to higher and more potent life. Without this process no pain or Hell has any meaning...

 

[gay_Aleks]

Apparently, however, moving to a higher plane requires a lot of hot mud baths and whip-cracking demons running lava pools.

 

[El_Machinae]

Unlike with God, I'd not be perfectly okay with ignoring Pascal's Wager when it comes to Hell. If 90% of faiths have some fairly painless way of avoiding Hell, then why not?

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

Apparently, however, moving to a higher plane requires a lot of hot mud baths and whip-cracking demons running lava pools.

Nope, what is required is purification or getting rid of the unregenerate parts of existence. Hell or pain may just be sometimes the most efficient means for that.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Well, I once read a book saying there's a special place for people who are betting on Pascal's Wager, and the said person gets hunted around by all Gods. So there's that.

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

Unlike with God, I'd not be perfectly okay with ignoring Pascal's Wager when it comes to Hell. If 90% of faiths have some fairly painless way of avoiding Hell, then why not?

Becouse if you let others to manipulate you into doing something which has nothing to do with reality you are going to miss the truth? Some would call that Hell ...

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

Well, I once read a book saying there's a special place for people who are betting on Pascal's Wager, and the said person gets hunted around by all Gods. So there's that.

You need to be devil first to be hunted by gods..