Hell

I'm gonna be ridiculous and actually talk about what Hell entails (according to C.S. Lewis)... instead of just mentioning the goofy "fire and brimstone" tradition and how it was "created to keep you in line."

The actual reality of what hell is, (now remember, we're assuming that it exists in some kind of other dimension or plane or whatnot...), is just the absence of God. Plain and simple.
You can't be sent to hell kicking and screaming; if anything, you walk into hell by your own volition. The door to hell is locked from the inside.

Hell is just populated by those who don't want to have anything to do with God... even when confronted with the reality of God after death. (So this has nothing to do with atheists, don't pounce on me! xP)

Either way, we have no way of knowing whether there is such a thing as an afterlife... never mind being able to know about different death destinations... (*giggles* alliteration. Classic.)

Does anyone remember the footage posted on you tube,with reagrds to hell sounds in Siberia. Was that debunked? Was it proven to be false.

To me that sounded more like hell more than anything I have come across.

reply to post by snowgirl


The common idea of hell was cooked up by Catholic priests in the dark ages to make homilies more entertaining and to scare asses into pews. It's also one of the big doctrinal hangovers that remained with nearly all Protestant sects after the reformation.

The Eastern Orthodox have a totally different concept of Hell, mostly based off of Daniel, cross referenced with Acts, what Ya'hshuah actually said about the afterlife, and an understanding that nearly everything in Revelations is symbolism. In Daniel it says “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2) that combined with allegories of fire used by Ya'hshuah to describe the torment of those who are out of communion with God does not work with fiery torture pit where you are separated from God. The Orthodox believe that it is impossible to be separated from God, because he is omnipresent. However, there are two spiritual conditions in the full presence of God. These are everlasting love and life with the Father and the shame and contempt that comes from being estranged from a hated father. This is where divine fire comes in. Like the burning bush, those who love their father and obey him are not consumed by his glory whereas the wicked and the rebellious burn in their shame. There is most certainly fire in heaven and it is all throughout the Bible such as: the burning bush, Ezekiel's visions of Heaven and the Angels, Elijah calling fire down from heaven, Enoch's description of the throne of God, and tongues of fire coming down from heaven that fill the apostles with the Holy Spirit. There is a pit (Tartarus) where the Angels are imprisoned and then there is Sheol and the Bosom of Abraham which are intermediaries after death and before the judgement, but none of these are permanent and I'm pretty sure the Bosom of Abraham is empty now.

Hell is simply bad theology and translating that stems directly from Roman Catholicism. It started with the Vulgate translating Sheol (shadowy abode of the dead; no flames), Hades(same thing as previous), and Gehenna (flaming garbage dump commonly used as a metaphor for God's wrath) as infernus. In English, this is translated as Hell which has it's roots in the Nordic Hel who was the patron of the Nordic abode for the dead who died of natural causes (no awesome Valhalla unless you die in battle) which incidentally isn't flaming either.

ALL any of us can do is speculate about this, because noone has actually come back from being dead. EVEn if someone did, and told us 'what happened' we couldn't assume that what happened to them is what happens to everyone. AAs is the same in life where people have vastly diffetrent experiences, maybe this is so with death. So I am gonna speculate, using hints and inferences etc that might help. But my signature is this: know and unknown arise together simultaneously meaning that we can never know everything, there will always be mystery, and Death is a real Mystery:

Now, I am not sure how many of you have experienced taking psychedelics/entheogens? I have, and I was inspired to research about mythology when I found that our ancestors ALSO knew about them, and that much of the mythologies have been greatly influenced by them also!

Now I can assure you that you can have hellish experiences on entheogens, as you can have heavenly ones. So......could it be that many of the ideas of 'heaven' and 'hell' were inspired from such experiential experience? And that what happened is that certain mindsets COOPTED this actual experience and set it in stone/script as dogma using it as a means to control others through reward and punishment? Feel me? Ie., we all know that we can feel pleasure and pain, right, but that this is always changing. For reality is polar-related---we have dark and light, inside and outside, good and bad, and you cannot have one WITHOUT the other, or reality would make no sense would it? So same with hellish and heavenly experiences. But what the dogmatists do is make out you can--hence cometh a concept of EVERLASTING 'hell' and eternal 'heaven'.

Now we also have Near Death Experience reports also. This is where people will ALSO report heavenly experiences and hellish experiences. Maybe their experiences are influenced by their belief system, but there are also reports from atheists who experience religious themes.

So is it all about that reality, even the reality of death is polar-related experience?

What do you think about the idea that life and death is learning, exploration? Ie., what do you think happens when a serial killer dies for example?

reply to post by snowgirl


Everyone thinks they have to die to go to heaven or hell.
I have experienced both, in life.
Hell is not knowing god, the true master.
Hell is believing in mind made stories.
Satan is thought/mind.

Hell is somewhere else, somewhen else, with a made up person playing your role, trying to make it go your way.
Thought can not do anything, except think.
If thought rules, you will live in hell.

Heaven is right here and right now.
This is where you always are, just notice it.
To abide in the moment always.
Presence will be felt.
Gods presence.

Originally posted by Laurauk
Does anyone remember the footage posted on you tube,with reagrds to hell sounds in Siberia. Was that debunked? Was it proven to be false.

To me that sounded more like hell more than anything I have come across.

Yeah, I remember it. The "Gates to Hell" thing.

It was proven false.

"Hell" is not just a noun, it is also a verb. In the old days, before refrigeration, if you did not have a root cellar, you might just hell the potatoes, turnips, apples, etc. You would dig a trench to below the frost line, and put some straw in the bottom. Then you would put down a layer of potatoes (or whatever), put some more straw on top of that, and cover it all with the dirt you dug out. That was called "helling" the potatoes (or whatever). "Hell" simply means the grave, nothing more.

I believe in the resurrection, not the rapture, reincarnation (or as some call it, reincarceration), not hell. God intends to save humankind to the uttermost. The Lake of Fire is for the Devil and Demons. Anyone else who is thrown in is simply purified, and goes into the Kingdom later. It all depends on whether you believe the fire of God is a destroying fire or a purifying fire.

If you believe in a just God, you will tend to subscribe to the eternal punishment of the wicked.

If you believe in a merciful God, you will tend to subscribe to the eternal death of the wicked.

If you believe in a loving God, you will tend to subscribe to the universal salvation of the wicked.

Note well that the wicked will pay for their sins, but also note well that God's Holy Law prescribes no punishment harsher than death for any offense. Since death is only temporary, eternal punishment is excluded. If we think of sin as debt which must be paid off, the principle of the Jubilee decrees that all debts are eventually cancelled. It is man who wants that debt paid to the last penny, but God says that your sins are forgiven if you repent.

I can only hope that the OP is not too confused by the plethora of opinions in this thread.