Greetings one and all!

We all know Hell is a horrible place, a place to avoid going to if at all possible.

But is Christian Hell especially bad compared to other ones? I would posit that yes it is.

The Hells of the ancients (Norse,Greek, Egyptian etc.) weren't necessarily punitive, but just a place for the vast majority of the dead (a few exceptional heroes excepted.)

Most people there just lived in a shadowy place, and the only the truly repellent sinners were punished (think tartarus and sisyphus.) Some traditions (such as Persian Zoroastrianism) posited that Hell is just temporary, and at the end of time all souls shall be united with The Divine.

Christian Hell... is really something else. Even YHWH, in his pitiless OT form, no matter how many people he killed (Jericho,Sodom, First born Egyptian sons) he never sent anyone to Hell. Hell as we know it, only really came from the lips of Christ Jesus, meek and mild.

Unlike Hell of the ancients, the Christian (not Jewish) Hell is truly awful. It is where unrepentent sinners wail and gnash their teeth, and are not given the slightest joy or pleasure. According to later Catholic theologians, souls in Hell cannot give or receive the slightest bit of love, and have great hatred toward the living and the saved, desiring nothing more than for them to join them in Hell.

Given the Christian nature of Hell, one could even pity Satan and the demons, despite how horrible they are. Satan and demons know that they eventually will have to roast in agonizing fire for all eternity, and can only really tempt other people to suffer with them.

Hell seems inhumane, and if God were real, you think he'd be morally obligated to destroy Hell and all it's occupants immediately .

Truthfully, the Christian doctrine of Hell almost makes me not want to be a Christian. . Almost  !!!!!!

Thoughts?

(January 10, 2016 at 4:38 pm)TrueChristian Wrote: Greetings one and all!

We all know Hell is a horrible place, a place to avoid going to if at all possible.

But is Christian Hell especially bad compared to other ones? I would posit that yes it is.

The Hells of the ancients (Norse,Greek, Egyptian etc.) weren't necessarily punitive, but just a place for the vast majority of the dead (a few exceptional heroes excepted.)

Most people there just lived in a shadowy place, and the only the truly repellent sinners were punished (think tartarus and sisyphus.) Some traditions (such as Persian Zoroastrianism) posited that Hell is just temporary, and at the end of time all souls shall be united with The Divine.

Christian Hell... is really something else. Even YHWH, in his pitiless OT form, no matter how many people he killed (Jericho,Sodom, First born Egyptian sons) he never sent anyone to Hell. Hell as we know it, only really came from the lips of Christ Jesus, meek and mild.

Unlike Hell of the ancients, the Christian (not Jewish) Hell is truly awful. It is where unrepentent sinners wail and gnash their teeth, and are not given the slightest joy or pleasure. According to later Catholic theologians, souls in Hell cannot give or receive the slightest bit of love, and have great hatred toward the living and the saved, desiring nothing more than for them to join them in Hell.

Given the Christian nature of Hell, one could even pity Satan and the demons, despite how horrible they are. Satan and demons know that they eventually will have to roast in agonizing fire for all eternity, and can only really tempt other people to suffer with them.

Hell seems inhumane, and if God were real, you think he'd be morally obligated to destroy Hell and all it's occupants immediately .

Truthfully, the Christian doctrine of Hell almost makes me not want to be a Christian. . Almost  !!!!!!

Thoughts?

The Christian hell is modeled after the Zoroastrian hell.  Consider it like being in jail until Judgment Day.  And then everyone makes bail, never to return to hell.  But people do return to the Zoroastrian hell.

The worse hell of all is the Islamic hell.  You will be royally screwed if you end up there.  It's to be avoided at all costs.  Most people are probably thinking about the Islamic hell when they think of hell.  It contains all kinds of horrible tortures.  

In the Christian hell Satan and the demons aren't in hell.  They are in the lake of fire being tormented for eternity.  The fairy tale doesn't say that people will be tormented alongside them, only that some people will be tossed into the lake of fire with death and hell.

I love how the bible, and every other religious text seems to go so in depth about god and heaven and how good heaven is, yet never say anything specific about hell a part from the general consensus that "It's a bad place", never anything telling you specifically how it's a bad place, and why it exists. Guess that's just part of playing in to peoples fear of the unknown though.

(January 11, 2016 at 11:50 pm)Heat Wrote: I love how the bible, and every other religious text seems to go so in depth about god and heaven and how good heaven is, yet never say anything specific about hell a part from the general consensus that "It's a bad place", never anything telling you specifically how it's a bad place, and why it exists. Guess that's just part of playing in to peoples fear of the unknown though.

For most people throughout history life itself has been hell.

(January 11, 2016 at 11:50 pm)Heat Wrote: I love how the bible, and every other religious text seems to go so in depth about god and heaven and how good heaven is, yet never say anything specific about hell a part from the general consensus that "It's a bad place", never anything telling you specifically how it's a bad place, and why it exists. Guess that's just part of playing in to peoples fear of the unknown though.

Really? I've always perceived the opposite, that heaven is often described in vague and nebulous terms while hell was given detail, particularly in works of art through the middle ages. Medieval heaven is priests and angels (all men) just standing around with Jesus in some dull looking city of sorts, while hell is pictured with gruesome, bloody detail with demons and fire and inventive scenes of evisceration and ironic punishment.

(January 12, 2016 at 4:04 am)ApeNotKillApe Wrote:

(January 11, 2016 at 11:50 pm)Heat Wrote: I love how the bible, and every other religious text seems to go so in depth about god and heaven and how good heaven is, yet never say anything specific about hell a part from the general consensus that "It's a bad place", never anything telling you specifically how it's a bad place, and why it exists. Guess that's just part of playing in to peoples fear of the unknown though.

Really? I've always perceived the opposite, that heaven is often described in vague and nebulous terms while hell was given detail, particularly in works of art through the middle ages. Medieval heaven is priests and angels (all men) just standing around with Jesus in some dull looking city of sorts, while hell is pictured with gruesome, bloody detail with demons and fire and inventive scenes of evisceration and ironic punishment.

The demons and gruesome bloody horror aren't from the Bible at least not that I'm aware of, but tacked on for fear mongering by people to emphasize the most torturous imaginary place they can think of.

(January 12, 2016 at 3:47 am)Wyrd of Gawd Wrote:

(January 11, 2016 at 11:50 pm)Heat Wrote: I love how the bible, and every other religious text seems to go so in depth about god and heaven and how good heaven is, yet never say anything specific about hell a part from the general consensus that "It's a bad place", never anything telling you specifically how it's a bad place, and why it exists. Guess that's just part of playing in to peoples fear of the unknown though.

For most people throughout history life itself has been hell.

True.
I imagine in the midieval ages hell must have not been much a threat, as they probably couldn't imagine being worse off than they were at that point in time. 

Now we have the luxuory of being able to fear whatever our imagination can conjure up that's worse than eating pizza, watching the football game, and taking a nap.

(January 10, 2016 at 4:38 pm)TrueChristian Wrote: Greetings one and all!

We all know Hell is a horrible place, a place to avoid going to if at all possible.

But is Christian Hell especially bad compared to other ones? I would posit that yes it is.

The Hells of the ancients (Norse,Greek, Egyptian etc.) weren't necessarily punitive, but just a place for the vast majority of the dead (a few exceptional heroes excepted.)

Most people there just lived in a shadowy place, and the only the truly repellent sinners were punished (think tartarus and sisyphus.) Some traditions (such as Persian Zoroastrianism) posited that Hell is just temporary, and at the end of time all souls shall be united with The Divine.

Christian Hell... is really something else. Even YHWH, in his pitiless OT form, no matter how many people he killed (Jericho,Sodom, First born Egyptian sons) he never sent anyone to Hell. Hell as we know it, only really came from the lips of Christ Jesus, meek and mild.

Unlike Hell of the ancients, the Christian (not Jewish) Hell is truly awful. It is where unrepentent sinners wail and gnash their teeth, and are not given the slightest joy or pleasure. According to later Catholic theologians, souls in Hell cannot give or receive the slightest bit of love, and have great hatred toward the living and the saved, desiring nothing more than for them to join them in Hell.

Given the Christian nature of Hell, one could even pity Satan and the demons, despite how horrible they are. Satan and demons know that they eventually will have to roast in agonizing fire for all eternity, and can only really tempt other people to suffer with them.

Hell seems inhumane, and if God were real, you think he'd be morally obligated to destroy Hell and all it's occupants immediately .

Truthfully, the Christian doctrine of Hell almost makes me not want to be a Christian. . Almost  !!!!!!

Thoughts?

I believe you have some ideas about hell that are just not reality, besides hell isn't the Christian hell, it's the place all those who chose not to believe in the living God will spend eternity and suffer through the sinful life they lead while living in the world. Those who go to hell determine what there punishment will be like because of the life they've lived against God. There are different levels of suffering in hell, those levels are determined by the sinful lives lived. If hell were about fire then all would suffer the same and that's not what scriptures teach. Just saying not criticizing.

GC

(January 12, 2016 at 4:50 am)Godschild Wrote:

(January 10, 2016 at 4:38 pm)TrueChristian Wrote: Greetings one and all!

We all know Hell is a horrible place, a place to avoid going to if at all possible.

But is Christian Hell especially bad compared to other ones? I would posit that yes it is.

The Hells of the ancients (Norse,Greek, Egyptian etc.) weren't necessarily punitive, but just a place for the vast majority of the dead (a few exceptional heroes excepted.)

Most people there just lived in a shadowy place, and the only the truly repellent sinners were punished (think tartarus and sisyphus.) Some traditions (such as Persian Zoroastrianism) posited that Hell is just temporary, and at the end of time all souls shall be united with The Divine.

Christian Hell... is really something else. Even YHWH, in his pitiless OT form, no matter how many people he killed (Jericho,Sodom, First born Egyptian sons) he never sent anyone to Hell. Hell as we know it, only really came from the lips of Christ Jesus, meek and mild.

Unlike Hell of the ancients, the Christian (not Jewish) Hell is truly awful. It is where unrepentent sinners wail and gnash their teeth, and are not given the slightest joy or pleasure. According to later Catholic theologians, souls in Hell cannot give or receive the slightest bit of love, and have great hatred toward the living and the saved, desiring nothing more than for them to join them in Hell.

Given the Christian nature of Hell, one could even pity Satan and the demons, despite how horrible they are. Satan and demons know that they eventually will have to roast in agonizing fire for all eternity, and can only really tempt other people to suffer with them.

Hell seems inhumane, and if God were real, you think he'd be morally obligated to destroy Hell and all it's occupants immediately .

Truthfully, the Christian doctrine of Hell almost makes me not want to be a Christian. . Almost  !!!!!!

Thoughts?

I believe you have some ideas about hell that are just not reality, besides hell isn't the Christian hell, it's the place all those who chose not to believe in the living God will spend eternity and suffer through the sinful life they lead while living in the world. Those who go to hell determine what there punishment will be like because of the life they've lived against God. There are different levels of suffering in hell, those levels are determined by the sinful lives lived. If hell were about fire then all would suffer the same and that's not what scriptures teach. Just saying not criticizing.

GC

You choose too believe while some people are not convinced enough to believe there is a big difference between atheism and theism.
Atheism is not a choice theism believing in a god(s) is. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/our...not-choice
How does one live a life against god anyways i mean if god supposedly exists how is me not believing in him affecting him in anyway? 
Is me not believing in him making him weaker is the fact that a good amount of people don't believe in god(s) affect him in anyway?

Since no hell's exist (xtian or other) this is a fantasy discussion. Dream up any hell that you like and compare it to any other fantasy hell. We might as well discuss Superman vs Bizarro Superman. Other than maybe being fun, rather pointless.

The only hell that any of us will ever experience is the hell that we make while alive. Once dead, dead. No hell.