Why is there Hell?

Why is there hell?

Because heaven is full of moral elitists who don't want to have to associate with the rancid howling masses.


ATS'ish enough of an answer for you?


Honestly, there's as many reasons for hell as there are reasons for men to want to tell the tale. Compliance, Recruitment, Entertainment, Tithing, Ego, Righteousness, whatever. Mythologically/Theologically, I tend to see Lucifer and Prometheus as very similar literary characters who accepted punishment for giving mankind fire, light, knowledge, free-will, etc, against the will of the gods. Satan's lake of fire is similar to that Caucasus peak that Prometheus was chained to while raptors shredded and ate his bowels every day. The punishment for man in his part in the bible is the wages of sin and death - of evil. Similarly, the same punishment - the release of all that is evil and corrupt was beset upon man via (surprise) the creation of the first woman, named Pandora, who opened the box of evil despite being entrusted to keep it closed.

Although, In the bible - god creates hell to contain Lucifer and those corrupted by him. There is not direct parallel IIRC in Greek mythology. But then again... a fire & brimstone hell is more associated with Christianity, whereas the Jews had more of a concept of eternal rest in the grave or sheol.


Myself, I see Hell as a cultural metaphor for social entropy or highly stressful undesirable position, as well as a fascinating mythos underpinning some damned fine works of literature - such as Dante's Divine Comedy & Milton's Paradise Lost. As a part of a currently practiced religion, I think it's also important to recognize it's impact on culture and society throughout history when trying to understand what shaped the minds of the men that shaped our history.

Because we all need a place to call "Home"

I think we Are All Dead and we are still in denial of he fact that we've allready screwed it up.


[edit on 17-12-2009 by azureskys]

Originally posted by LocoHombre

And if Hell is for the sinful, why pray for repentance, because if you are sinful, you'll end up going to hell anyway!

If you are really serious,..here is some info from the Bible. The Creator at the least is to be recognized and worshiped as such (Command #1). 100% of mankind and at least some number of the created angels have rebelled from the Creator. This = imperfection. The Creator is perfect in totality. Perfection is incompatible with imperfection. Thus, imperfect flesh dies. The spirit remaining after the death of the body must be separated in a physical/nonphysical place/realm. The concept of the Creator making himself flesh in Jesus Christ is His act to reconcile and reunite with what is imperfect thru His own atonement in the place of the atonement of Man. Reconciliation/salvation is thru the spirit (i.e. Jesus said one must be "born again" thru the Spirit.) Bible says the heart of man is fundamentally wicked all the time. All mankind, as rebelous creatures, are called to repent. The Creator says that for Man it is impossible to reconcile oneselves with Him, but for Him, nothing is impossible. No human being however, can ever know the heart of another and who truly is or will be reconciled with the Creator. Put all labels aside.

reply to post by LocoHombre


Hell is for those people who forgot to ask forgiveness just before they died. God is a Just God! (and God is Love doncha know!)

I could be wrong, but I don't think there is a Hell yet. It comes after the Judgment Day. Right now, there is a spiritual prison for bad souls, and apparently there is room there for instruction and preaching, so there may be teaching for those who do not know Christ...perhaps to give them a time to repent and to go to Heaven. See I Peter 3:19-21.

well i think, theoretically, it's the grave. meaning your body doesn't resurrect or isn't resurrected. but it appears the english translation, and perhaps older ones, initially misunderstood it and combined the grave, the trash heap, the abyss, and bottomless pit, into one big mish-mash. occassionally they are separated in the book of revelation, which adds to the confusion. from what i can tell it's either in a wormhole/blackhole or at the other end of one. it could be one of many places either in the earth, on another planet or in another dimension.

Originally posted by LocoHombre
Ok, i've been tossing this around in my head for a while, so here goes.

If you are a Christian, and you pray to Jesus for repention of thine sins, why is there Hell? because, when you think about it, a lot of really religious people commit horrible crimes. like the corrupt midieval papacy, and a lot of simony and child rape that goes on today.

And if Hell is for the sinful, why pray for repentance, because if you are sinful, you'll end up going to hell anyway!

the bible is constantly contradicting itself.

[edit on 17-12-2009 by LocoHombre]

Faulty premises lead to faulty conclusions.

- Repentance is not the same as simply asking for forgiveness. It is the actual act of turning away from a lifestyle of sinning.

- Religious people are simply people that still think that there is some way in which the can please God by their works, which is FALSE

- Only God knows who is a true servant. We lack the ability to see people's thoughts, and motives. So simply judging a book by it's cover doesnt work.

- We are all destined to hell by default because of our sin. You must turn away from your sin and accept the fact that Jesus took your deserved punnishment on Himself. God being outside of time means that He can forgive your sin past/present/future.

- Hell must exist for people that reject God. Your soul has to go somewhere after your body dies. Would it be less torture if someone that hated God was forced to be with Him forever in heaven?

Originally posted by Copperflower
Hi. I've heard this question from many and asked it myself. Christ said hell was prepared for demons and for Satan, not for man.

No he didn't. Where are you getting this information?

"If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell." - Matthew 5:29

You believe Satan and demons have bodies? I have a book that says otherwise.

"Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." - Revelation 20:11-15

Demons and Satan did not die, they are not the one being brought before judgement here, each person was judged, and anyone is thrown into the lake of fire who was not found written in the book of life.

Originally posted by blujay
There is only a hell if you think there is a hell.

All is consciousness, where the thoughts go, so goes the reality perceived.

You're only a millionaire if you think you're a millionaire. Right? Unfortunately perception does not a reality make. Tell a doctor that his/her patient is cured of cancer if s/he thinks the patient is cured. No lawsuit there. The problem with this paradigm is the lack of facts that everyone else in the world has to deal with.

Originally posted by azureskys
Because we all need a place to call "Home"

I think we Are All Dead and we are still in denial of he fact that we've allready screwed it up.

Nah, Hell is much worse than this. This life varies from slightly uncomfortable to downright painful, but it doesn't scratch the surface of what Hell truly is.

Originally posted by Jim Scott
I could be wrong, but I don't think there is a Hell yet. It comes after the Judgment Day. Right now, there is a spiritual prison for bad souls, and apparently there is room there for instruction and preaching, so there may be teaching for those who do not know Christ...perhaps to give them a time to repent and to go to Heaven. See I Peter 3:19-21.

This passage shows that Christ went there to preach two thousand years ago...so apparently Hell exists already. It's called a dungeon/prison in a few places:

"For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;" - 2 Peter 2:4

Cross reference where Jesus speaks of people who are long dead by now:

"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'

"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'" - Luke 16:22-26

There is Hell, because you create it. If you live in fear, that is. Trust in love, and live in the light. You'll be fine.

Originally posted by saint4God

Originally posted by blujay
There is only a hell if you think there is a hell.

All is consciousness, where the thoughts go, so goes the reality perceived.

You're only a millionaire if you think you're a millionaire. Right? Unfortunately perception does not a reality make. Tell a doctor that his/her patient is cured of cancer if s/he thinks the patient is cured. No lawsuit there. The problem with this paradigm is the lack of facts that everyone else in the world has to deal with.

Proof of my point, if you don't believe, your consciousness not go.

Change your mind, change your life.

edit to add- we are also dealing with the collective here, so you must also untangle your self from the illusion

[edit on 18-12-2009 by blujay]

same reason why there is a good and an bad... the one cant live without the other,,,
it just a reprensentation of the 2 dimensional thinking- limit of the human brain...

reply to post by saint4God

Here you go

There is no "Heaven" as a placement, nor a "hell" as such. What people on Earth refer to as Heaven and hell actually are their approaches to situations wherever they are, and what each individual manifests as the circumstances of his life. …. Every single soul there creates his surroundings, and they are different from even the same "set of props" as they appear to those who are sharing that life in any close capacity. It is a matter of individual perception that creates each individual world, and one can choose how he wishes to perceive all aspects of his life.

It is just as easy to create the glories you attribute to Heaven as it is to create the horrors you associate with hell, and both conditions are being created right there! …. You have heard people say that someone "is creating his own hell," or "Heaven and hell are right here on Earth." YES! And neither as perceived there is in this spirit realm. ….

www.matthewbooks.com

It is said many ways, but you will ultimately have to figure it all out for your self, that is why you are here anyway.

I honestly feel that there is. I cannot stress it enough. Some people have seen things throughout on this site and I can honestly attest to it. There is a supernatural thing that is governed by other conscious energies in the universe. I'm happy that there is a hell. Because I don't have to hang with hitler until 1,000 from now. (1,000 hell will be cleared out and everyone in heaven). But why>? Because it is. The problem with a lot of people and the bible is when you have people fighting God and the forces of a conscious multi dimensional super being. You're fighting what it is. (if you believe in it). You're fighting what he created it's really non of our business
Has anyone seen the new Dante's Inferno Game?

Hell is for sin, sin can not permenantly be in the presence of God. To be with God is to be without sin, if not for Jesus sacrificing Himself for our sins and to make those that know Him whole and clean, then no person would go to Heaven. Hell is for those that are with sin, and refused Jesus. It is not a burning place with litttle red demons, it is emptiness, regret, absolute isolation from any love or hope. Yes, God does love you, and is even now giving all of us the chance to be free from sin. If I am wrong, the worst that can be said is "He was a nice, but iggnorant guy. " But if I'm right...

Originally posted by AlreadyGone
Hell is for those that are with sin, and refused Jesus. It is not a burning place with litttle red demons, it is emptiness, regret, absolute isolation from any love or hope.

"If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire." - Matthew 18:8

"They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." - Matthew 13:42

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." - Matthew 25:41

"In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire." - Jude 1:7

"But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur." - Revelation 19:20

"And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever." - Revelation 20:10

"But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." - Revelation 21:8

I'm not sure why these passages are so unclear, other than to say that it is a picture no one likes to see...so perhaps many choose not to see it. Averting one's eyes does not make it disappear, however.


[edit on 19-12-2009 by saint4God]

reply to post by AlreadyGone


of course ther's fire! why else would there be fire in every possible conception of hell, even in The Inferno?

although Dante Alighieri threw in various punishments, such as being frozen for eternity (murderers), being chased by dogs (homosexuals, i think), losing your hands (bankers), etc., but most of the punishments involved fire, from rivers to rain.

[edit on 19-12-2009 by LocoHombre]

Originally posted by LocoHombre
Why is there Hell?

My guess is they invented it knowing it was going to get under your skin, so they could mess with you.

Don't be so quick to dismiss the idea of "heaven" and the idea of "Hell" so easily.

You cannot prove that neither exist, any more than i can prove that they do.

If you want to believe that they don't, and have no proof, then you have faith that they don't exist...in which case, we're right back into religious ideals.

Why is there Hell?

Because of all the universe, and all known creation, there's a law that rings true "for every action, there's an opposite reaction"

yin and yang

though - you probably will dismiss my answers as coming from an "idiot God believer"