Does hell really make sense?

[kentonio]

Thinking about it, you have this concept of a place that is pure evil incarnate, but where wrongdoers are sent for punishment. How does that make sense? Surely the devil should love evil bastards! Why would he bother wasting his time torturing them? Wouldn't it make much more sense for him to be trying to get hold of good people to do nasty **** to?

Obviously looking for things like logic in theology is always going to be a bit like trying to hunt invisible unicorns, but this is now annoying me.

[giblets]

You're supposed to be in a state of despair because God isn't around for you to suck up to for eternity, or something.

[Jon Miller]

I don't think it does.

I personally believe in annihilationism, but I also like the ideas of universalism. I just think it isn't reality.

Both positions have been held by Christians since the earliest recorded times. The dominant position (damnationism) was held by Rome back when Rome became dominant.

"In some religious groups of Christians who hold that the wicked will perish, annihilationism is the belief that sinners are destroyed, rather than tormented forever in "hell" as in the lake of fire. It is directly related to the doctrine of conditional immortality, the idea that a human soul is not immortal unless it is given eternal life. Annihilationism asserts that God will eventually destroy or annihilate the wicked, leaving only the righteous to live on in immortality."

"In theology, universal salvation , also called universal reconciliation (in context, simply universalism) is the doctrine that all immortal souls — because of the love and mercy of God — will ultimately be 'reconciled' with God."

Obvious wiki links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annihilationism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_reconciliation

JM

[Kidlicious]

He does harm good people. He does whatever evil he can.

[kentonio]

You're supposed to be in a state of despair because God isn't around for you to suck up to for eternity, or something.

Yeah but if you're truly evil why would you give a **** about god not being around? Surely you'd be quite happy about that.

[kentonio]

I don't think it does.

I personally believe in annihilationism, but I also like the ideas of universalism. I just think it isn't reality.

Both positions have been held by Christians since the earliest recorded times. The dominant position (damnationism) was held by Rome back when Rome became dominant.

"In some religious groups of Christians who hold that the wicked will perish, annihilationism is the belief that sinners are destroyed, rather than tormented forever in "hell" as in the lake of fire. It is directly related to the doctrine of conditional immortality, the idea that a human soul is not immortal unless it is given eternal life. Annihilationism asserts that God will eventually destroy or annihilate the wicked, leaving only the righteous to live on in immortality."

"In theology, universal salvation , also called universal reconciliation (in context, simply universalism) is the doctrine that all immortal souls — because of the love and mercy of God — will ultimately be 'reconciled' with God."

Obvious wiki links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annihilationism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_reconciliation

JM

Why would god annihilate his own creations though? Surely that would mean that his creations were flawed, which is supposed to be impossible for an omnipotent being, no?

[MORON]

Hell is the place that you can never overdose: why would anyone what to avoid that?

[Jon Miller]

Why would god annihilate his own creations though? Surely that would mean that his creations were flawed, which is supposed to be impossible for an omnipotent being, no?

Rejecting God means going away from Him. If God is the source of life, then rejecting Him implies the cessation of existence.

If God gives us freewill, because that is 'good', then we have the free will to reject Him and thus die.

Beings that can choose to disobey/reject/etc are more perfect than beings which can not choose, God in His power and perfection created us with the ability to choose to disobey/reject.

JM

[MORON]

eternal life without infinite memory is rather pointless anyways

[giblets]

What about people who would prefer to not stop existing after death but think Christianity sounds like a fairy tale? Are they choosing to stop existing?

[kentonio]

If God gives us freewill, because that is 'good', then we have the free will to reject Him and thus die.

What kind of choice is that!?!

[Martin Gühmann]

Obviously looking for things like logic in theology is always going to be a bit like trying to hunt invisible unicorns, but this is now annoying me.

That's called freedom of religion. Religion is free of those stupidities like reality, logic, and the human ratio. And yes it is about hunting invisible unicorns but also about hunting ghosts, which may even be holy from time to time. And once you think you have caught one of these ghosts, it turns out that you got only thin air. In the end all the religious claims are thin air. There is no hell and there are no gods. And bad things happen to good people, because well sh!t happens.

-Martin

[Jon Miller]

What kind of choice is that!?!

One that many people make.

JM

[Jon Miller]

What about people who would prefer to not stop existing after death but think Christianity sounds like a fairy tale? Are they choosing to stop existing?

Probably. I am not the judge though, maybe they choose to not reject God in some other fashion?

I think that perhaps they would be unhappy, though.

By the way, some amusement:

http://youtu.be/M4AXOmPZ6fo

JM

[Kidlicious]

What kind of choice is that!?!

Good question. Why would anyone choose that? But maybe you don't know what fools people are.