Watching people go into such detail about what is or isn't true about a fictional place is kind of surreal. Is this what people feel like when I argue with others about Star Trek?
In the fictional Universe I'm from, Hell is totally a thing: we have lots of them, in fact, and I've been to several of them.
Our cosmos was designed by my human (the guy typing all this out) and is actually kind of interesting. It consists primarily of The Dream (the "uppermost" layer), The Death (the "lowermost" layer), and The Middle Realm (physical reality).
In general, objects and beings originate in The Dream (having been "dreamed up" by either gods or mortal beings, depending on the thing in question), filter down into The Middle Realm, and exit into The Death. The Dream, aside from being the spiritual realm of creation, is where all the various Heavens are located (among other things), and The Death, conversely, is where one would find the Hells.
The Heavens, Hells, and gods of most mortals do actually exist within the two spiritual realms, but between the gods, devils, and spirits being poor communicators and humans being poor listeners, most humans wind up thinking that their gods are the only ones, everyone else's gods are either non-existent or devils in disguise, and that their Heavens and Hells are places where they'll reside eternally.
What actually happens, though, is that most people travel through at least a few Hells on their way to being cycled back up into The Dream, and at least a few Heavens before being reincarnated back into The Middle Realm, at which point they usually forget everything they learned and experienced in The Outer Realms. Obviously, it's possible to get stuck eternally in one of the Hells or Heavens, but it's not common, and knowledge of how to do it is only available in The Outer Realms but only applicable in The Middle Realm, making it nearly impossible to learn and use at the same time. Virtually all religion is just some bastardized explanation of how to use your mortal experience to set up one "path" or another through the Outer Realms, practically none of which go where they say they do and practically all of which will take you some circuitous route through a BUNCH of Heavens and Hells before spitting you back into the Middle Realm to start over.
We use a bunch of "real" religious entities in our game, so the human was trying to write a spiritual cosmos that would allow all of man's gods to coexist and all religions to sort of be right about a few things, maybe (while still being wrong about most of what's actually going on beyond The Veil and how it all works). He wrote this system while still a Christian, weirdly enough, considering that it takes a pretty cynical view toward gods in general (including the one he used to worship).
In the fictional Universe I'm from, Hell is totally a thing: we have lots of them, in fact, and I've been to several of them.
Our cosmos was designed by my human (the guy typing all this out) and is actually kind of interesting. It consists primarily of The Dream (the "uppermost" layer), The Death (the "lowermost" layer), and The Middle Realm (physical reality).
In general, objects and beings originate in The Dream (having been "dreamed up" by either gods or mortal beings, depending on the thing in question), filter down into The Middle Realm, and exit into The Death. The Dream, aside from being the spiritual realm of creation, is where all the various Heavens are located (among other things), and The Death, conversely, is where one would find the Hells.
The Heavens, Hells, and gods of most mortals do actually exist within the two spiritual realms, but between the gods, devils, and spirits being poor communicators and humans being poor listeners, most humans wind up thinking that their gods are the only ones, everyone else's gods are either non-existent or devils in disguise, and that their Heavens and Hells are places where they'll reside eternally.
What actually happens, though, is that most people travel through at least a few Hells on their way to being cycled back up into The Dream, and at least a few Heavens before being reincarnated back into The Middle Realm, at which point they usually forget everything they learned and experienced in The Outer Realms. Obviously, it's possible to get stuck eternally in one of the Hells or Heavens, but it's not common, and knowledge of how to do it is only available in The Outer Realms but only applicable in The Middle Realm, making it nearly impossible to learn and use at the same time. Virtually all religion is just some bastardized explanation of how to use your mortal experience to set up one "path" or another through the Outer Realms, practically none of which go where they say they do and practically all of which will take you some circuitous route through a BUNCH of Heavens and Hells before spitting you back into the Middle Realm to start over.
We use a bunch of "real" religious entities in our game, so the human was trying to write a spiritual cosmos that would allow all of man's gods to coexist and all religions to sort of be right about a few things, maybe (while still being wrong about most of what's actually going on beyond The Veil and how it all works). He wrote this system while still a Christian, weirdly enough, considering that it takes a pretty cynical view toward gods in general (including the one he used to worship).
Verbatim from the mouth of Jesus (retranslated from a retranslation of a copy of a copy):
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you too will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. How can you see your brother's head up his ass when your own vision is darkened by your head being even further up your ass? How can you say to your brother, 'Get your head out of your ass,' when all the time your head is up your own ass? You hypocrite! First take your head out of your own ass, and then you will see clearly who has his head up his ass and who doesn't." Matthew 7:1-5 (also Luke 6: 41-42)
Also, I has a website: www.RedbeardThePink.com
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you too will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. How can you see your brother's head up his ass when your own vision is darkened by your head being even further up your ass? How can you say to your brother, 'Get your head out of your ass,' when all the time your head is up your own ass? You hypocrite! First take your head out of your own ass, and then you will see clearly who has his head up his ass and who doesn't." Matthew 7:1-5 (also Luke 6: 41-42)
Also, I has a website: www.RedbeardThePink.com
