My theories on why Hell cannot exist...

I have spent a lot of time throughout my life, contemplating the existence of Hell, and I have come to the conclusion that it cannot exist. I know this will piss off a lot of people, but I think that my reasoning is sound.

The Christian faith teaches that the God of the Bible is infinite, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent (or existing EVERYWHERE, knowing EVERYTHING, and being ALL POWERFUL).

If this is the case and God is omnipresent, then nothing can exist that does not have God present within it. Also, since God is infinite, nothing can exist that is not contained WITHIN God.

Since God is in everything, It would be within and around "Satan" and the "fallen angels" as well. God may be able to cast them out of heaven, but how would It cast them out of Itself, if God is infinite?

I am more inclined to believe that "Satan" is our human nature, and "hell" is the physical destruction of our bodies when we die. I think that ALL souls are pure, and that when they are released from their flesh & blood bodies, they rejoin with the infinite spirit that is God.

Apart from the above reasons, my opinion is also based on a more spiritual understanding.

I do not believe that God has human traits, like jealousy, anger, or a desire to punish non-believers. I also don't believe that God seeks to be worshiped or praised, nor does It damn those who do not worship It. I do believe that God deserves our respect and appreciation for everything that exists around us. By being respectful of God's creations, other humans included, we show our respect for God.

I do believe that God is the pure essence of love, and that is why love is necessary for our survival (as much as food, water, and shelter are). This point can be argued, and I suspect it will be, but if humans do not feel they are loved by anyone, they either spend their lives searching and compensating for it with other things, or they just give up and die.

A God that is pure love, would be compassionate, forgiving and understanding, as well, since those actions are born from love. If God was not willing to forgive, then God would not be pure love. Especially, if that refusal to forgive resulted in eternal damnation to unimaginable torment. That is not an example of tough love, as many claim, because there is no way to redeem yourself, once you are condemned, and it is too late to learn any lessons.

If God is all knowing, It knew from the beginning, which of us would believe, and which of us would not. God would have to have chosen who It was going to condemn to "hell", before humans even existed. If that were true, then God would be a God of hate, not love.

I know this is contrary to most people's beliefs, and I would like to hear some valid rebuttals on these points, if there are some. I have asked for answers to these questions, since I was a little girl, and have never received any. What do you guys think?

I'm inclined to agree 100%.

You might not be in the Book of Life, meaning not go to Heaven for eternal life....but dying and ceasing to exist does not equate to a fire & brimstone eternal suffering of Hell.

I've heard this from biblical scholars and even preachers countless times.

"Hell" is manmade.

How can you say Hell cannot exist? We're in it!!! Maybe it's up to US to make it a bit more like heaven, not some fictional character who we let forgive us for our sins, rather than doing some good RIGHT NOW whilst we are here.

Originally posted by John Nada
How can you say Hell cannot exist? We're in it!!! Maybe it's up to US to make it a bit more like heaven, not some fictional character who we let forgive us for our sins, rather than doing some good RIGHT NOW whilst we are here.

I was referring to the belief in hell as a place of eternal torture and pain, reserved for those who fail to be "saved" by the Biblical God.

While I don't think that we are currently in "hell", I do agree that we should be trying to change our world for the better. This is the only chance we are gonna get to consciously experience life from an individual perspective. Why spend that time hating each other, when we could be spending our short lives loving and enjoying the amazing world and people around us?

Jezebel- looks like you're in sync with the "new and improved catholic dogma"

"Hell ''is not a 'place' but a 'state,' a person's 'state of being,' in which a person suffers from the deprivation of God,'' declared La Civilta Cattolica, an influential Jesuit magazine based in Rome and closely tied to the Vatican, in a long editorial in July."


www.karenlundegaard.com...
personally I've been deprived all my life but I'm OK with it

That is a very nice way of putting it but the problem is, that doesn't go with the Biblical version of Hell. And if you don't believe in the Bible, I'm afraid it is difficult to call yourself a Christian. That is why Hell always puts believers in a Catch-22. If you don't believe in Hell, you aren't a true Christian but if you do believe, you believe in a place of eternal punishment, torture, and pain.

Originally posted by deevee
Jezebel- looks like you're in sync with the "new and improved catholic dogma"

"Hell ''is not a 'place' but a 'state,' a person's 'state of being,' in which a person suffers from the deprivation of God,'' declared La Civilta Cattolica, an influential Jesuit magazine based in Rome and closely tied to the Vatican, in a long editorial in July."


www.karenlundegaard.com...
personally I've been deprived all my life but I'm OK with it

I think, maybe, you misunderstood me. I think that the reason we seek the love of other people, our parents, partners, friends, etc. is because our spirit is the same as the pure Spirit of love (or God). It is imprisoned by our physical body, and longs to be surrounded again by love's infinite Essence(God).

Because the spirit is confined to the material world, for the time being, it must seek love through connections with others in the material world. It cannot experience love any other way, until the body dies and it can rejoin the infinite Spirit. The more love we share with each other, the more comfort and happiness it brings the spirit.

I do not think that "hell" is a state of mind. I think that it is the physical deterioration of our bodies after we die, and our spirit is released back to God.

Originally posted by maynardsthirdeye
That is a very nice way of putting it but the problem is, that doesn't go with the Biblical version of Hell. And if you don't believe in the Bible, I'm afraid it is difficult to call yourself a Christian. That is why Hell always puts believers in a Catch-22. If you don't believe in Hell, you aren't a true Christian but if you do believe, you believe in a place of eternal punishment, torture, and pain.

I don't believe the description of Hell in the Bible is literal. I believe that it is metaphorical and the theory that it is the process of our dead bodies rotting away, is just one possible interpretation.

You did not give me an answer to refute my reasons for why it is not possible for "hell" to exist. Do you not believe that God is infinite, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent?

hell can't exists unless we're in it now, if there was a god he would have to be one insanely evil mother f*er to even think up somewhere worse than tis #ty planet, let alone making his ppl go there

Interesting....

Of course, your theory makes complete sense except for this: when I was insunday school, conformation class, and whatever I was never taught God was infinite.

However, it makes a lot more sense then most things i've been taught. It would go along perfectly with how a person could change the Bible and no one would notice. (The whole control idea.)

What does the bible say?

Hell is a complete, never-ending separation from God.

Jezebel, there's nothing wrong with questioning. No one should flame you for it.

Originally posted by jezebel

Originally posted by maynardsthirdeye
That is a very nice way of putting it but the problem is, that doesn't go with the Biblical version of Hell. And if you don't believe in the Bible, I'm afraid it is difficult to call yourself a Christian. That is why Hell always puts believers in a Catch-22. If you don't believe in Hell, you aren't a true Christian but if you do believe, you believe in a place of eternal punishment, torture, and pain.

I don't believe the description of Hell in the Bible is literal. I believe that it is metaphorical and the theory that it is the process of our dead bodies rotting away, is just one possible interpretation.

You did not give me an answer to refute my reasons for why it is not possible for "hell" to exist. Do you not believe that God is infinite, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent?

No, I don't believe that. I'm more of an anti-theist. See here:

www.belowtopsecret.com...

Originally posted by EastCoastKid
What does the bible say?

Hell is a complete, never-ending separation from God.

But how can Hell be never-ending separation from God, if God is everywhere, and in everything? If God were not infinite, that would mean that there was something greater than God, which existed before It did. I don't believe an all-mighty, all-powerful being could be anything other than infinite.

If you don't believe in Hell, you aren't a true Christian but if you do believe, you believe in a place of eternal punishment, torture, and pain.

Really there is little mention of this other than the parable of the rich man. Usually where 'Hell" is mentioned it is related more to the grave and as a place ALL people go to.

In the book of revelations it only states that satan and the falling angels reciving Eternal damnation and seems to suggest that hell or death along with the "evil" people will be destoryed.

I find this more in keeping with a loving God than one that would torture someone forever for chosing the wrong religion or merely dying without ever being babtised

Perhaps, this is the true meaning of what we know as 'hell'. Now, I never believed that 'hell' was an actual physical place, but it was meant to mean something else. Perhaps, we expierence 'hell' throughout our lives, such as pain, suffering, and oince we do good, and understand the "outside" forces, are good to our fellow man, we pass from this 'living hell' and into the divine unknown. Hell, in my opinion, ceases to exist as a physical place, but it is more of a mental/state of mind/or suffering we expierence here, in our lives on Earth.

"In the book of revelations it only states that satan and the falling angels reciving Eternal damnation and seems to suggest that hell or death along with the "evil" people will be destoryed."

This would make some sense. It makes this sense because this would mean that God could be in "hell", so to speak. If evil people are doomed to eternal damnation, God could be there watching over them, which would mean he would still be there, and would not contradict his 'infinity', correct?

-wD

[Edited on 3-1-2004 by WeBDeviL]

Hell is a Man made concept created by the Church to hold the People in submissive fear to them. Nothing more, thats it.

WHAT IS HELL



[Edited on 3-1-2004 by Sapphire]

If evil people are doomed to eternal damnation, God could be there watching over them, which would mean he would still be there, and would not contradict his 'infinity', correct?

To me it seems to suggest they will be TOTALLY destoryed witch would also take them out of the infinity loop.

Hell was created to keep the flock of sheep inline.


Behave, and bow to the will of the church or face eternal damnation, heathens.


sickening really.

The only Hell is here, the test of physical life.

1 Question: Do you believe in God? ( I was just wondering because you seem to be against the church)

-wD

This message is directed to all of those who believe that hell cannot exist, and therefore has been created to 'scare' people in to believing in god. And Therefore Naturally God and Heaven do not Exist either.

Firstly you are all deluding yourself's because you are living on the vey edge of heel iself, and its torture and punishiment.

Hell is not a Physical place. It is where our souls go when we pass from this world, if we have pulled ourselves away from the light of God. When we have cursed and blamed God to the point that we have forgotten who he is. Then we have condemed ourselves to hell. God does not condem man to hell, man condems himself.

Purgatory is the place that souls are trapped. These are the souls of people that have not pulled themselves compleately from Gods grace, but nonetheless have committed sins that need to be repented for. Essentially these are the souls of people who will not ask God for forgivness.

So Naturally if hell exist then so to must heaven. And this is where a soul goes when it knows God and his loving forgiving nature.

Simple stuff really !.

Feeling's can some times trick us and our feeling are how the devil will trick us to forget god and eventually end up in hell.

The only thing that we can trust is faith. Which is not an easy thing to obtain for some people. But when you do have it the answers are clear and simple.