On Hell and Forgiveness

[Fake Messiah]

Why does god feel compelled to eternally punish only those folks who don’t love him back?  

LOL why? Because Jewish god was invented by small tribe of people who were following basic tribal mentality which is "we are better than everyone else" so they automatically invented god that preferred them and destroyed every other tribe (Amalekites, Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Per’izzites, the Hivites,  the Jeb’usites etc.)
Then after centuries that kind of mentality created a similar god that you have to be in Christian tribe or you'll get tortured forever.

[The Valkyrie]

Scare tactics.

[LadyForCamus]

If I were to die tomorrow and realize I was wrong, and I begged god for forgiveness but he refused, how could my exile be considered self-imposed?

Dante’s Inferno poetically presents the answer. Those in Hell love sinning more than they love God and thus cannot turn toward the Good and Truth that could otherwise be theirs. You would be begging to enter Heaven but asking to take your sin in with you. It is like the proverbial monkey trap. The monkey won’t drop the fruit bait and as such, he cannot pull his fist out of the narrow hole in the coconut.

So, people in hell are actively choosing eternal agony and suffering over god?  That doesn’t make any sense.  Are they sinning in hell whilst suffering?  What sins would someone who has already died and gone to hell not be willing to give up in the name of ending that suffering?

[Amarok]

Dante’s Inferno poetically presents the answer. Those in Hell love sinning more than they love God and thus cannot turn toward the Good and Truth that could otherwise be theirs. You would be begging to enter Heaven but asking to take your sin in with you. It is like the proverbial monkey trap. The monkey won’t drop the fruit bait and as such, he cannot pull his fist out of the narrow hole in the coconut.

What sins would someone who has already died and gone to hell not be willing to give up in the name of ending that suffering?

Their dignity 

So, people in hell are actively choosing eternal agony and suffering over god?  That doesn’t make any sense.  

This assumes that eternal suffering is worst then serving the Christian god noting the bible i can't say which would be worst really

[brewer]

It's all done for manipulation of the religious by the religious themselves. 

God Schmod.

[Whateverist]

Dante’s Inferno poetically presents the answer. Those in Hell love sinning more than they love God and thus cannot turn toward the Good and Truth that could otherwise be theirs. You would be begging to enter Heaven but asking to take your sin in with you. It is like the proverbial monkey trap. The monkey won’t drop the fruit bait and as such, he cannot pull his fist out of the narrow hole in the coconut.

So, people in hell are actively choosing eternal agony and suffering over god?  That doesn’t make any sense.  Are they sinning in hell whilst suffering?  What sins would someone who has already died and gone to hell not be willing to give up in the name of ending that suffering?

No, we're in hell right now.  We prefer our perverted sexual practices and gluttony to the alternative offered by God's church.  When suffering is this much fun why opt for hypothetical bliss which sounds so boring?

[Catholic_Lady]

Dante’s Inferno poetically presents the answer. Those in Hell love sinning more than they love God and thus cannot turn toward the Good and Truth that could otherwise be theirs. You would be begging to enter Heaven but asking to take your sin in with you. It is like the proverbial monkey trap. The monkey won’t drop the fruit bait and as such, he cannot pull his fist out of the narrow hole in the coconut.

So, people in hell are actively choosing eternal agony and suffering over god?  That doesn’t make any sense.  Are they sinning in hell whilst suffering?  What sins would someone who has already died and gone to hell not be willing to give up in the name of ending that suffering?

LFC, like I said, no one knows exactly how it is like. So I hope people can keep in mind that what I am about to say is my opinion only. I could very well be completely wrong, and I'm not presenting this as any sort of Church doctrine. These are my thoughts only:

I believe Heaven and Hell are more comparable to states of being, not physical places.

The blissfiulness of Heaven doesnt come from being in a tropical paradise with lots of good people, pleasures, and fun things to do, etc. It comes from being completely fulfilled due to accepting, and thus experiencing, love and goodness to its absolute fullest. So you are blissful because you are in a state where you have rejected all evil. There is no selfishness, no pride, no envy, no greed within you. You have fully rejected those things, and fully embraced love and goodness. In doing so, you are liberated and left feeling completely fulfilled. Think of it as the blissful euphoric feeling of being in love.

Hell, on the other hand, is the opposite. The person isn't being burned and tortured in a dark cave with little demons running around with pitch forks. Rather, your misery comes from your own decision to reject goodness and love. Maybe out of pride. Maybe out of lack of remorse for the wrongs you have done. Maybe out of bitterness of some sort. Maybe you have a sense of entitlement - thinking that you deserve to experience eternal happiness even while being selfish... rather than being humble and remorseful. Basically, you are caught in your own negative sentiments and your own darkness. It is miserable, because when you are not in this life anymore, the only thing you take with you to the next is your soul. So you don't have distractions. If your soul is in a dark state, that is the only thing you will have and the only thing you will feel, and it is awful. That is what I believe Hell is like.

A couple years ago, I actually wrote a thread about this where I went pretty I depth, and provided a link that also explains my opinions on it. You can read it here if you are curious: https://atheistforums.org/thread-35781.html

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LFC, I cant say I know for sure how it all works, neither is it my judgement to make. But I do hope very much that God takes those who upon dying realize their mistakes (whatever they were) and feel a genuine sense of remorse.

Thanks for your honest answer as always, CL. ❤️  Let me ask you, what if you knew that he didn’t?  Would you still regard him as perfectly moral and worthy of worship?

I really don't know. I haven't been on the other side to see how all this works out, but I imagine God knows people's hearts much better than I do.

[Fireball]

Dante's inferno is horror fiction written long before it was a popular genre. There's a lot in there that is just from Dante's fevered imagination and hell was never like it is portrayed in his book, before that.

[Catholic_Lady]

Christians. Endorsing thought crime since 33 A.D.

If you could read someone's mind and you could see that they hated gay people and black people and wished ill will upon them (though he didn't make it outwardly shown), wouldn't you still have a negative opinion about his character? Or would you say that since this is all in his mind, that it doesn't matter at all and plays 0 role in the type of person that he is?

[vorlon13]

Well, we have a little problem (again) in Holy Inerrant Scripture:

PS 30:5, JE 3:12, MI 7:18 note that God's anger does not last forever.

JE 17:4, MT 25:46 notes that it does since God provides ETERNAL punishment.


Jesus fucking Christ, this is important, why is Scripture fucked up on this crucial point?

What is a believer to do ??

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