How Hell work?

[Belated]

Strangely enough, I do believe in Heaven, but not Hell. As a religious man of sorts however, I'm never closed to the idea that there might be a Hell. If there is one, I just don't think it would be like the one described in any book, because I don't believe anybody deserves that kind of suffering. It's an eternity we're talking about here. And a fate in Hell is worse than any other fate. Mathematically speaking, no matter what you do on earth, you cannot possibly deserve an eternity of punishment. You cannot steal enough lives, you cannot rape enough people, you cannot scam enough money, to equal an eternity. Let alone an eternity in the worst possible place in existence.

Given this idea, if there is a Hell, I picture it as a place where a special punishment dependent on what you did on earth would be arranged for you. Empathy, after all, is one of the most effective ways to make people feel bad for other people. If put through the same thing they put other people through, they'd understand what they did was wrong. So they are placed in an area designed to create the right atmosphere, and the same terrible thing they did on earth happens to them on a weekly basis. And any time left over would be spent either working in hard labor, or socializing with demons (who look just like people except with maybe a couple slightly different features, and are not evil) who are more than happy to explain what was wrong about your actions whenever you ask.

Then every week you are examined with mind reading magic to determine if you truly feel remorse for what you did. And if you do feel bad, and it's been long enough for the punishment to fit the crime, then you are finally released from Hell and allowed into Heaven. Because an eternity of punishment is something nobody deserves. On this idea, you could end up spending just one measly week in Hell, or several decades depending on your actions.

Nobody deserves an eternity of punishment. So if there is a Hell, I imagine it probably works something like this.

 

[darthotaku]

in hell, the cooks are british, the police are german, the engineers are french, the bankers are italian and your lover is swiss.

 

[Mr.logic]

As depicted in the Bible, those who do not wish to follow God in this life will be relocated to hell. Think of heaven as Valhalla except its the righteous, innocent & redeemed that enter rather than warriors slain in battle. Hell is for those who hate God or wish not to live for him.

How do you think Hell works? Further more, what do you think Satan's like?

Read Dante's Inferno

Read Larry Niven's Inferno

Read the Twilight series in an inferno for all eternity, that is what hell is like

To understand Hell you must understand just how appalling sin really is to God. Although not outrightly stated in the bible, (It is kind of told in an allegorical story in the Old Testament, but I believe the main meat of the story comes from added Hebrew mythology) Satan was an angel, who got too proud and believed that he knew more than God, and wanted to usurp God and take over the universe. This single sin meant that God banished him from Heaven for eternity. Satan isn't remorseful, it wasn't a mistake, it was a deliberate calculated act, and he continues to attack God by attacking what God loves most; us, tempting us to sin, condemning us to the same eternal punishment, (If it wasn't for satan, Adam and Eve wouldn't have sinned and thus man wouldn't need a saviour.)

The bible talks more about Hell than it does Heaven, it calls it a place of "gnashing teeth, where their worm will not die" and Jesus tells the story of a rich man going to Hell, where he cries up to heaven to help him, because he is in torment. So it is not just a place of separation, but active suffering, and we are fully guilty of the punsishment and deserve it. I'll stop here, because this post could go on forever.

Thank you for the informed post dude. I know it's a mainly athiest site but this is serious stuff to certain people.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

I believe the part about the rich man is a parable.

You're absolutely right, and therefore we should be wary about taking it at face value, but it was Jesus who gave the parable, and personally I think that if he were going to include Hell in a parable, then he would give it an accurate description.

Are you, by any chance, a Christian, or have you just studied the Bible enough to know?

I am wary about saying I'm a Christian, as the term encompasses such a broad spectrum of beliefs, e.g. The Woodsboro Baptists in America would consider themselves to be Christian, I would be very, very surprised if they truly are. Basically in a few quick paraphrases of the Bible, I believe that all have sinned and fall short of Gods standard, the penalty of that sin is death and Hell afterwards, but God provided a way out through Jesus substituting his life for ours, and we can be saved if we sincerly ask him to take away our sins and are sorry for the times we've disobeyed God.

Oh, and on topic again, Did you know that in the Bible Hell is basically just a waiting room, where souls go and wait until they are judged for their sins, which happens at the end of the world. The real place that they and Satan will spend eternity is called the Lake of Fire, (Revelation chapter 20 verse 14 and 15) And as for what it will be like, well, it sounds pretty self explanitory

 

[Hero in a half shell]

And I'm not generally the snobby correcting type, but for future reference it's the Westboro, not the Woodsboro, Baptist church. And as far as I can tell, at least here on the Escapist most people don't regard the Westboro church as Christian, more as a group of... well, I'll leave the name calling to others.

Ahh, I knew that sounded strange when I typed it in, I generally try to ignore their exploits now,

 

[Littlee300]

While I don't believe in Hell, I will play your game.

Hell, as depicted in the Bible, is fire, nothing else. Satan is trapped there just like everybody else. No circles, no rulers, just fire.

Yeah, this.

It's pretty frustrating when people say things like: Go to heaven for the weather but hell for the company.

Or:

Sorry bro.

Alright; if there were a hell I don't see why Satan would punish us in it. If Satan hates god then shouldn't he be super stoaked about all the terrible things we do? If anything he would reward us.

Not how hell works.

Have you ever been to hell?

 

[Littlee300]

How do you think Hell works? Further more, what do you think Satan's like?

It doesn't because it isn't real.

...You're a poor sport.

Sorry bro.

Alright; if there were a hell I don't see why Satan would punish us in it. If Satan hates god then shouldn't he be super stoaked about all the terrible things we do? If anything he would reward us.

If hells exists the reason Satan likes it when we sin, and wants us to do it is to bring as many people into eternal suffering as he can so he's not alone, .

Aww... Satan just wants to have friends

 

[Gustavo S. Buschle]

Since everyone who ever lived is there, I cant see how it could be much different from the earth

 

[Chameliondude]

hmm hell, a place devoid of religious people of any kind, sounds like heaven to me....

Seriously though, i think hell is mentioned once in the bible as a furnace where there is gnashing of teeth, it doesnt say youll be there forever or if lucifer is there or anything, The very idea of god punishing anybody for eternity seems completely illogical to me, seeing as he is all loving and forgiving and what not, so its probably just until you have attested for your crimes and bam, heavanerino.

 

[Nocturnal Gentleman]

Hell is like Butcher Bay and the devil is like an eternal prisoner Riddick. He's supposed to be detained and controlled but he still runs things in the shadows. Like Butcher Bay there are different levels. Lesser levels your only threat are your fellow prisoners and life is fairly normal, higher levels you worry about your prisoners and those in charge, top level you have no free reign and are miserable all the time.

 

[Blindswordmaster]

How do you think Hell works? Further more, what do you think Satan's like?

It doesn't because it isn't real.

...You're a poor sport.

Sorry bro.

Alright; if there were a hell I don't see why Satan would punish us in it. If Satan hates god then shouldn't he be super stoaked about all the terrible things we do? If anything he would reward us.

See, it's more fun when you play.

 

[Dango]

You are forced to constantly create really interesting threads, which Satan and his friends then troll the hell (unintentional pun) out of.

 

[Blindswordmaster]

Wow, a lot of people said that they don't believe in hell or that it doesn't exist. If I had asked about how you thought the Government of the United Federation of planets worked, no one would have said that it doesn't exist. Just saying.

 

[StellarViking]

Hell is a small town with a population around 230 located on the Southern Peninsula of Michigan. Founded in 1841, it received its name when German settlers were heard to exclaim "So schoen Hell! (So beautifully bright!)", and when one of the founders, George Reeves, was asked what he'd like to name the town, he answered "I don't care, you can name it Hell for all I care."

Hell Creek runs through the town and over a small dam, and the town has come to capitalize on its name with various Hell-themed attractions, including a general store called Hell in a Handbasket.

Hope this helps!

 

[StBishop]

Have you ever been to hell?

See,

While I don't believe in Hell, I will play your game.

Hell, as depicted in the Bible, is fire, nothing else. Satan is trapped there just like everybody else. No circles, no rulers, just fire.

Yeah, this.

It's pretty frustrating when people say things like: Go to heaven for the weather but hell for the company.

Or:

Sorry bro.

Alright; if there were a hell I don't see why Satan would punish us in it. If Satan hates god then shouldn't he be super stoaked about all the terrible things we do? If anything he would reward us.

Not how hell works.

Care to actually expound on the Not how hell works" ?
I mean you're saying it as if it is some kind of fact that you know. And I'm honestly curious what you think is the exact way hell works. I mean how can you possible make any statement about how hell works in any way shape or form when it is an unconfirmed place and the source material for said unconfirmed place is a book that is very sketchy in terms of fact and history.

If we work with the assumption that, as a construct of the Christian Church, that the only people who actually know how hell would work are the Christian Church, we can assume that the Bible, which is where they get their information (we hope), is correct in it's depictions of how hell works.

The bible portrays hell as a horrible place where people are punished for their sins and that the devil is indiscriminately horrible to all who reside there.

This doesn't work with the theory that Satan is proud of our misdeeds and feels like rewarding us for being arses.

If we want to assume that hell exists and that the Christian Church is wrong about it, then we may as well stop this conversation as we're no longer talking about "hell" we're talking about a portion of the afterlife.

So yeah, that's all I have, it's not really well thought out or well written but it boils down to "Why would they tell me something in Sunday School if they're all wrong about it?" If you're talking about a different version of hell that isn't what's taught to children who go to church then we're not having the same conversation.

that response.

If I were to tell you that Middle Earth actually worked differently to how Tolkein portrayed it, but you told me that I was wrong because in the books it is a certain way, I'd be wrong.

The difference being that everyone accepts Tolkein's works as fiction, this doesn't hold true with the Bible.

Just because someone believes that Hell isn't make believe doesn't make it any sillier to assume that the only description of it is accurate than to assume that Tolkein wasn't lying in The Hobbit about his world.