Irational fear of hell still naggs me from time to time

[chimp3]

Being a young adult, the idea of hell doesn't really make a whole lot of sense- yet I still fear it! I think it makes sense that the concept would have been created to scare people into being law abiding citizens in a era where law didn't exist. There was no police to stop them, so fear was the only surefire method. Today, people still buy into the fear. Although this explanation makes the most sense, I still fear the concept, that if I don't believe and I end up being incorrect, that I may suffer an afterlife of torture. Some of my fear stems from a few videos and books I have read about people who make the claim that they visited hell-- I KNOW! Being a young adult I should know better than to buy into some propaganda online or in a book, but for me, it's easier said than done. I want to let go of this, but I feel the best way to do this is to write down why I fear it, and deduce some logical conclusions with the help of others on a site where religion isn't the primary focus. On the contrary, logic is the primary focus.
I saw a few videos where people either had a Near Death Experience, or had a dream that they visited hell. What I found to be somewhat frightening was the fact that many people described the same concepts in their versions of hell. Commonly, they were:
- fire and brimstone
- demons which look like reptiles that attack them
- the people who say they went to hell often report being put into a cage or a cube
- they hear other people suffering and whaling
- often they get burnt or beaten, and when they lose a piece of skin or a body part, it grows back and they get tortured again.
Now, I know this all sounds like some fairy tale, but I saw at least 10 accounts like this. I don't know what to make of it. I know the concept of fire can be found as early as Augistine in the 300s or 400s, and I know the bible implies torment to those who do badly in their lives. Much of the imagery isn't too much of a shock there, but the idea that people report a multitude of cases seeing demons which they report look similar among accounts, and often torture or laugh at people suffering is what I cannot understand. Being raised Christian, I always had an image of what hell may look like. I could totally imagine how my brain during a Near death experience or a dream could create most of the fire and suffering imagery, but I would never expect hell to be filled with demons who look like reptiles. I asked some of my Christian friends, and they say the same thing. Why then, is this demon thing so consistent across "hellish" experiences? If I could get a logical answer to that, then I would be willing to say that these experiences are nothing more than a brain that is scared and confused trying to fill in the gaps during an episode. Does anyone have a plausible explanation here? It would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks and have a great day,
Arsoo

But think how hell, if it existed, would REALLY work.

See, you presuppose an infinite, omnipotent and omniscient God and how would He design Hell?  (The logistics and operating parameters and procedures, etc.)

The best possible hell (for God) would be something very much like this:

God, since in this scenario, is omniscient, He knows EVERYTHING.  So, among everything He knows, is precisely what your eternal souls end state would be after an infinite amount of torment for an infinite amount of time.  So why would he muck around with a Hell that literally takes forever to do its job?  Instantly upon arrival in Hell, your immortal soul would be transmogrified into that end state.  Instead of building up to an infinitely tormented state over an infinite amount of time, God would hit you with it ALL AT ONCE.

WOMP !!!!

And there you are, or more precisely, there your immortal soul is, infinitely tormented for an infinite amount of time, instantaneously !!!


See how much worse that is?  Instead of building up to that final state infinitely slowly, ZORCH !!!    You absorb it all in ZERO amount of time !!!!


ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZPPPTHTHTHTHTHTHJKKJKKKKXXXX !!!  and you are all tormented completely and infinitely !!!!




PRAISE GOD AND HIS EFFICIENT AND PERFECT HELL !!!!

Best post ever!!! You win the internet for today! You are a fucking nut!