HELL

[abaris]

Think of it this way. Let's say a person murders someone and spends the rest of their lives regretting it miserably, to the point of severe depression and suicidal thoughts. Even if the law never found out this person was guilty and never put them in jail, the person is still being punished by their own actions. 

I'm not equating this in any way to Hell, I'm just showing how a person can be punished by their own choices, rather than by someone else.

OK, let's just say, the church was more honest about it when I was a child. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that god would dish out the punishment. The priests made sure of that at every given opportunity. They loved to talk about it, more than they loved talking about Jesus.

Now they wear a nicer face - I'm even tempted to call it a mask - trying to keep the blame from god. But the message remains the same. Eternal suffering for a short life. And supposedly the same kind of punishment for Stalin, Hitler or any random guy, who loved to jerk off or offended the commandments in any other petty way. Or for simply not believing.

But the church is flexible, I concede that. In the Middle Ages they invented purgatory, which worked as intended. As a giant mint to create riches by selling letters ofd indulgence. Kind of a limbo, which, when I was a child, was also supposed to be the place where kids went if they happened to die before they were baptized. Which, of course, happened a lot in previous centuries. And which again was turned into a money making machine, since you could buy them out.

By the way, the German word for purgatory is "Fegefeuer", which again has fire in it. They certainly love their flames.