Hell - does it really exist?

I came across this article recently: www.exposingsatanism.org...

It disputes the premise that there is a place called hell where souls are tormented forever. Using bible quotes it explains that those who rejected god will simply destroyed, and explains how these same quotes were misconstrued to create the idea of hell.

Most of the times the word hell appears in the bible is when it was translated from a word which simply ment grave. People won't go to hell, they will simply be dead forever, their souls destroyed with fire. It's all explained in the article.

This site is total BS but a funny read. Talk about scare tatics.

www.av1611.org...

First off, this has been covered extensively within ATS:
Theory about Heaven and Hell
HELL
Your Going To Hell?
Romans 6:23....
95% of people go to hell
Hell is a pointless concept
My theories on why Hell cannot exist...
Hell Question
Death & heavan, hell

Secondly, since the description of this forum has been recently updated and clarified, this topic is not necessarily a 'conspiracy', but more a doctrinal or theological discussion type, and will be moved to the proper forum.



seekerof

How can Hell, as in a place of eternal torment, possibly exist? Because the Bible says so? Where would it exist, if God is infinite? Nothing can exist outside of that which is infinite; therefore Hell must be Nothing if it is a place of separation from God, the Infinite.
If Hell exists within God, then it must be a part of God, and thus, can not be a place of separation from God.
How could an all-loving, all-knowing, and all-forgiving God, also be a God of damnation and vengeance? How could God condemn ANY of Its "children" to an eternity of agony, of feeling their flesh burning and melting off of their bones FOREVER, and still be considered all-loving or forgiving?
Could a God, that is all-knowing and all-powerful, NOT know from the beginning of the universe who would be damned to Hell at the end? If It didn't know the answer to all questions and the destinies of all men, then God would not really know ALL, would It?

Hell is the result of following the selfish, greedy desires of our temporary body, when we only follow our logical, anti-spiritual brain.
Judgement is the death and destruction of our flesh, which we all must experience, since we are all trapped in this world until our bodies die.
Our soul is the part of us which is the image of God, perfect and infallible. It acts as our intuition, our conscience, and our connection to everything else in the universe. It is what inspires our creativity and drives us to try and find love, even when we deny its existence.

Violence, hatred, deceit, envy, etc., all come from our inability or unwillingness to stop thinking and reacting long enough to listen to and understand the message that the Spirit of Truth, Universal Consciousness, Brahman, or whatever you want to call it, is trying to show you.

The Bible and other Holy Books are written in metaphors because what they are trying to convey cannot be expressed thru literal words or phrases. We use language to define and classify the world around us.
How do you describe a feeling or concept to another person, so that they KNOW what you feel and mean on the same level as you experience it?

What is a tree? Is it green? tall? rough? Is it rustling leaves? Is it shade from the sun? Those are attributes of trees, but they are not a tree.

Words may be able to describe what a tree looks, feels, and sounds like, but to a person who has never seen a tree, those words are meaningless. They could ask you a million questions, and read a million books but they still won't KNOW what a tree is really like. The only way they can fully understand what "tree" signifies, is to stop asking questions, and go find a tree to feel, smell, listen to, and sit under.

God did not speak to the authors, who wrote God's messages, in human words. God instilled in them spiritual understanding. It was up to them to convey this inspired wisdom and truth in a way that other people could comprehend. Unfortunately, since language is insufficient when it comes to expressing spiritual truths, they had to explain everything thru metaphors and allegories. This resulted in confusion and misinterpretations by people who were looking for God in the words, rather than behind them.

God does not condemn people to an eternity of Hell for something they did in their physical life (which in relation to FOREVER is barely a flash in the pan)! We don't need a punishment beyond death. The people who allow themselves to be consumed by hate, fear, and greed, suffer every day they are alive, no matter how hard they try to hide from it. Life is Hell for those who can't or won't accept that Love is Life.