The specifics of burning in hell for all eternity

Oh dear.

Someone once said that St. Anselm's ontological argument might as well be
God is that being than whom no more evil being can be conceived.

It is also said sometimes that Christians have the sort of religious philosophy they have because they simply aren't capable to understand anything better.


Anyway, I really do have trouble accepting that fire and brimstone notions could not be true, that they are simply an error or a whip to hold unintelligent people (including Christians) in check.
So much harm has been done in the name of those fire and brimstone notions, so much suffering, so much time and energy invested - that to think that it was all for naught, or nothing but a controlling strategy is very difficult to accept, for me at least.

 

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I don't know how specific you can get about a hypothetical burning of an undefined metaphysical concept in an unknown location for a time without end.

The Christian understanding of hell is diverse among various sects and individuals, so one can only go to the source.

As has been stated before, the concept of burning for eternity comes from the Book of Revelation.

Many will be thrown into the lake of fire, only three are explicitly declared to burn for ever and ever: The beast, the false prophet, and the devil.

 

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The problem is that we have at least three factors (soul, suffering, hell), and each seems to receive their respective definitions in relation to the definitions of the other two. So it's not simply about hypothetical or undefined factors, but that in trying to explain the phenomenon of burning in hell for all eternity, all three need to be defined at once. Or so it seems.

In other words, I entered the discussion with some idea about what the soul and suffering are, but it would be up to anyone explaining the issue to clearly define the terms, probably changing my initial definitions. If I could have defined the terms to begin with, I don't think I would have any topic to post.

 

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In that case, we need only to find someone willing to share their experience of a bad chemical burn, objectively measure their level of suffering, and understand hell to be at least that bad all the time.

 

So other's have free will, but not you.

 

And to take a different take than Swarm on the problems of this idea:
How would you know?
The collective had determined your ideas on this.
You really would have no way of knowing if you are the only one who is so determined by others or not.
You could think your reasoning makes sense, but given that it is controlled by the collective your confidence in your idea is utterly determined, by definition.

 

there is no place to move forward you have died, suffering is eternal and externally around us. you can over come the suffering by opening your mind and heart, those who dont will go through live with a lack of understanding and commitment. churches suck, no one should listen to them, except for one, but im not going to tell you that unless you want to know.

 

its all a state of mind, no one is right, unless they are righteous in themselves.
atheists arent righteous nor do they hold any value. except for what they can grasp with there brain, shallow thoughts, your mind is capable of all.

 

you have to look past everything that has already been written down.

 

So which is the one church?

 

So the one chruch is????

 

wouldn't you like to know, look it up.
i would tell you but you wouldn't even appreciate it if i told you.

 

It was a common practice 2000 years ago to toss human sacrifices into pits of fire. In laymans terms, the fire represented the under world gods and the smoke the stair way to heaven.
Christ used fire as a metaphore because the Jews and others were well aquainted with the practice of certain societies that burned people alive for theism purposes. Now toss in some of the older teachings/stories of the jews of certain Israelites being put into fires but remaining alive and unburnt and you had people with attentive imaginations.
Christ's real purpose was to explain that a seperation from the God that made them for time and eternity was like living in burning flames all their remaining spiritual lives, not burning but to suffer the painful burning sensations constantly.
Many people when reading the Bible (regardless if you believe it true or a story) miss a crucial point in Revalations when Lucifer is ran out of heaven and bound to the earth, no fire is mentioned. As is heaven, so is hell. The differance being is who is in charge of which plane of existance and with what attitude they govern it by.
My opinion of course.

 

So you lied when you said: "but im not going to tell you that unless you want to know."

Is that really what you wish to represent?

 

We are spirits. We live in bodies. We have souls (mind/will/emotion). The worst part of Hell is eternal separation from God. Then there's the fire and burning and unquenchable thirst. When we die our bodies begin to decompose, our spirits go to Heaven or Hell. For eternity. End of story.

http://books.google.com/books?id=yj...sult&ct=result&resnum=12#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

Supposition.

Um okay...

So spirits get thirsty?
And can be burnt?
Wow

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I don't know exactly what happens nor can I explain everything. I have never been to Heaven but I believe the Bible.

 

So you believe in bronze age illiterate Jewish sheep herders?

Why?

 

what strikes you as a means of production that vies for greater credibility?

retail?
advertising?

 

No wonder you believe in bronze age illiterate Jewish sheep herders, you believe retail advertizing. :crazy: