Here is my take on hell. Hell is a place where God has removed his presence. The importance of this comes into play as you consider a human being, trapped, for an infinite amount of time. Even if hell was a place much like earth, as the eons passed boredom would, sooner or later, become much more torturous than our worst visions of hell. God's ability to provide endless novelty, being an infinite God, will prevent this in heaven.
*Originally posted by Mattman2112 Here is my take on hell. Hell is a place where God has removed his presence.* In other words, nowhere? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. (Psalms 139:8, KJV). *The importance of this comes into play as you consider a human being, trapped, for an infinite amount of time.* Nobody will be trapped for an infinite amount of time. But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away. (Psalms 37:20, KJV). As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. (Psalms 68:2, KJV). *God's ability to provide endless novelty, being an infinite God, will prevent this in heaven. * Sounds good, except no one will be there. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (Revelation 21:2,3, KJV). And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, (Revelation 21:10, KJV).
So god is in heaven and hell, at least that clarifies the "hell is an absence from god" explaination rather than fire, brimstone and endless torture as the jesus character described it. I wonder why god is in hell? Admiring satan's work or maybe because he is "as bored as hell" in heaven? He probably tires of those sycophantic worshipers anyway.
*Originally posted by Master of Illusion So god is in heaven and hell, at least that clarifies the "hell is an absence from god" explaination rather than fire, brimstone and endless torture as the jesus character described it.* There isn't any "endless torture." But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away. (Psalms 37:20, KJV). *I wonder why god is in hell?* Because he's everywhere?
Tony1, You think you know everything...... Here's news for you... hell doesn't actually exist, it's all a fabrication, just another part of the hoax of christianity.
here's my take on hell: get the HELL out of here. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! ...and heaven too...
well that just sucks to know that if u dont beleive that this person is some sort of savior to u then automaticaly the bible states that u are an ENEMY. this just does not sound like a God i want to be a part of...seems to be very vengious dont u think and vengfulness is a sign of humanistic flaw. so all i can saw about this is that any type of God would NOT permit this to happen and there for the bible has been mis-interpreted at this point. that view is of humanistic traits, not of a God.
God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness..." human flaws are gods' flaws. want to see what gods look like? look in the mirror.
yes. but if bible is written by man, then man made god(s) to be like man, and that's pretty stupid, if your goal is to make all people to believe in it. and we can all see the results of that right here.
Just so you know, Hel (one L) was originally a Scandinavian realm of ice, snow, storms, and bitter cold, ruled over by a goddess of the same name. The fire and brimstone stuff was ripped off from the Greeks (Hades). Me being an atheist, the only hell I believe in is Utah. Weird place. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
so what is your stand on the bible varkas? are u trying to tell me that it is the word of God or are u saying it is merely written by humans and has no godly worth?
let's see. talking serpent, human made from a rib bone. imaginations of man. if there's a god, he cannot write. if he could, there would be a better book available. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! so to me, bible is just a book. "letters from earth" is much better. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! (baptized with holy water, drinking holy beer, eating holy food, taking holy s*it...)
i was thinking about this whole adam eve thing and was wondering, arn't adam and eve suppose to be sinless right in the beginning? if so they wouldnt have taken the fruit from the tree. as for punishing me for something another person has done, i just dont think a true god would promote such a concept. i meen if i were adam, there is no way i would be touching this fruit and not because he is god (however im sure it doesnt hurt) but purely out of respect for him. if i stay at someone's house and they tell me the rules, and if u are a respectful person u wont break these rules. now if adam was laying down by this forbidden tree and he looked up while yawning and a piece of fruit droped in his mouth, i would expect god to be understanding hehe (of course he didnt eat the fruit but he injested some of its liquids ;p). thus accidental rule breaking is understandable to a degree.
Hello. Hell is an absence of God and the gifts he provides, to better state it. God is present everywhere, but Hell has been designed by him to be a place of torment. The Bible implies and explains that this enemy is a spiritual enemy rather than an earthly, physical one. The Hebrew word translated as image is dimyown. This word means more that simply "image" or "copy". Dimyown also extends to the meaning of "representative". We are God's representative in this physical world. Also, to be like God or made in God's likeness is not the same as being God. "To be like God" requires an agreed absolute of what God is. We are all "gods" of our clothing, our pets, and our opinions. We are not able to infinitely manipulate our environmet, or to create an environment however we would wish it to exist. By this idea, we can safely say that my idea of God is different than yours. It is a mistake to attribure man's faults as God's traits. While man has fallen, God is still the authority and perfect being in his own position. It was man that sinned, not God. Perhaps the Bible was written by God, through men, and for men. By studying the Bible, we can see that it is a collection of books that could not have possibly been written by men because of the very nature of it. Many of the concepts in the Bible could not have possibly been conceived by men at the time period in which the Bible was written. Or maybe lack of imagination or humility on your part. The talking serpent was not simply a snake. We all know that this is simply a manifestation of the Devil, as is it taught in many other places of the Bible. God could write if he wanted or needed to. Wait, he did. He wrote through revelation and inspiration. He also wrote on our hearts. Prime example of this: rape. Rape doesn't hurt the species. It doesn't hinder our survival. Rape is wrong, even among secular opinion, because God has written his law and moral code on our hearts. Satan tempted Adam and Eve. They did not know right from wrong, therefore they did not make the decision to obey God. According to their knowledge, everything was perfect. They had respect for God, which was the only higher power they knew of. When Satan came, they were both caught without any way to fend for themselves, because they were perfect in God, and helpless without him. Love in Christ, Ben
if hell exists, only in the minds of christians (c) by me Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
living sacrifice said: "Many of the concepts in the Bible could not have possibly been conceived by men at the time period in which the Bible was written." exactly. so some of them(how about moses...) made this stuff up knowing that people could not conceive this, therefore they would believe that it was really god who wrote it, because this almighty god is mentioned in the story and he made them...to believe. any man can write something that others cannot conceive. if the story is good enough, and the people are credulous enough, they will believe it. how do we know what the bible meant to the people of that time (when the bible was written)? it was different world then. to understand the bible, we would have to know their meaning of the words they used. maybe it started as a story by moses, then rulers noticed that it could be used to control people. they added things to moses' story. it was translated from languages they didn't know properly, and these stories became more and more amazing. questions to bible-readers: what have you gained by believing this book? or how has this god earned your respect? or simply: why do you believe in god? but i can see why it's easier to be theist than atheist (can i, really? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! ). if theist finds the proof that this god never was, so what? he moves on with his life. or commits suicide. big deal. but if atheist finds the proof that god exists, he goes to hell. not very nice place to pass eternity or two (note: duration of the movie "titanic" is only half of eternity). these words came from MY imagination. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
If hell is the absence of God, and God dosen't exist, does that mean we are living in hell already? You'd better believe it.
