RE: What is the purpose of an everlasting punishment in hell?
November 30, 2011 at 1:55 am
(This post was last modified: November 30, 2011 at 1:56 am by Oldandeasilyconfused.)
(November 29, 2011 at 12:38 pm)Minimalist Wrote: "Hell" was created by men to threaten people they don't like.
SUMMER: would you mind correcting any errors of fact ?
( I will ignore comments by any of our resident theist apologists)
As an eternal punishment, hell was invented by Saul of Tarsus I think,it is not a Jewish belief. According to a rabbi I asked,the Jewish concept of afterlife punishment is much like the Catholic purgatory,IE EVERYONE gets out eventually.
My understanding is that unlike Christianity, Judaism is not a death cult. The emphasis is on daily life, the here-and-now, not pie-in-the-sky. The purpose of The Law (the 613 mitzvot Saul abrogated so gentiles could join his club) is about LIVING and about social cohesion. This was just dandy if you happened to live about two thousand years ago.-Mosaic law as it written can be every bit as cruel and barbaric as Sharia law at its most horrific. Today,not so much--that may be why even among Jews today Hassidim tend to be seen as 'eccentric' at best, as a bunch of nutters at worst.
