Important to remember that the word 'Hell' is an artifact of translation. Hell is actually a pagan concept from the goddess Hel who rules the Norse 'underworld'. The word 'gehenna' does not imply a physical 'hell' and is not interpreted as such for many centuries. Augustine, for example, could never have believed in the existence of Hell since evil has no reality but is the absence or diminishment of good. It is more accurate to see the cursed as being in the same boat as Adam and Eve, simply banished from Eden. They are both literally and figuratively 'the leftovers' exactly what you'd expect to find in 'gehenna' the landfill site of Jerusalem. — Barry Etheridge
They just take themselves and everything else too seriously to get past the door. — Barry Etheridge
Religions take themselves too seriously to realize the historical development over time based on people's social and psychological needs. Both fed into each other to create a scenario where first animistic gods, then polytheistic, then monotheistic (consisting of dualistic/polythesitic/animist tendencies). — Schopenhauer
The failure to appreciate that Jesus (like his father) has a 'wicked' sense of humour (also evident in those parables that can reasonably be attributed to Jesus) is one of the great tragedies of the Church's history. — Barry Etheridge
What I observed was that there are Christian philosophers who say that 'hell' or 'damnation' can be understood as the rejection of salvation, so, in some sense, those who suffer it have chosen that fate; it is a consequence of their actions. It parallels the doctrine of 'evil as the privation of the good', which is also associated with Augustine. — Wayfarer
Here is the hard line theology: there is no reward for virtue, and no punishment for vice but that which man initiates. Because, if virtue were rewarded, it would be reduced to mere prudence. — unenlightened
...by oneself one is purified, by oneself one is defiled'. — Wayfarer
But I think the basic insight must be that humans are in some sense related to (i.e. 'children of') the higher intelligence (however conceived) that is the origin/source/ground of being. — Wayfarer
The fatal flaw with all such analyses is that they presume a privileged perspective from which they claim to really know what is 'behind' religion, in a sense that religion's hapless adherents cannot possibly know, they being so caught up in the muddled superstitious ways of thought, etc, which scientific rationalism and modern political theory have so helpfully swept aside. So they are invariably materialistic and tendentious in my view. — Wayfarer
That is a strand of Buddhism... — Unenlightened
Monotheism was a simple derivative of taking the president of the gods and pretty much making that one subsume the other gods' roles into a unified being that handles all of it and who doesn't like the petitions going to anything else.. — Schopenhauer
you get a situation where there is a neo-emphasis on uniting with the impersonal force of the universe rather than petitioning so-and-so god for a particular event to occur or for favorable outcomes in a particular aspect of life (fertility, good agricultural conditions, trade, etc.). — Schopenhauer1
But yoga, asceticism, trance states, and those kinds of practices, are more derived from shamanism than from deity worship. — Wayfarer
Important to remember that the word 'Hell' is an artifact of translation. Hell is actually a pagan concept from the goddess Hel who rules the Norse 'underworld'. The word 'gehenna' does not imply a physical 'hell' and is not interpreted as such for many centuries. Augustine, for example, could never have believed in the existence of Hell since evil has no reality but is the absence or diminishment of good. It is more accurate to see the cursed as being in the same boat as Adam and Eve, simply banished from Eden. They are both literally and figuratively 'the leftovers' exactly what you'd expect to find in 'gehenna' the landfill site of Jerusalem. — Barry Etheridge
Now, "believe in me or burn forever" seems to me indicative of a certain vindictiveness, and is somewhat surprising in an Almighty being, as is the idea of him being jealous. — Ciceronianus
I don't think we should assume those who wrote scripture were merely using such analogies to impress the dullards among them, but themselves knew better or thought differently.'Vindictivness', 'jealousy', etc, are analogies. They depict 'the holy' in a kind of anthropomorphic way, so as to get through the thick skulls of tribal nomads. — Wayfarer
Luther said that the greatest thing about heaven would be its view of hell. — Wosret
Yes, especially the dancers; very evil. Notice he didn't mention lawyers? He was one himself. He may not have been a very successful one, though. Roman magistrates had judicial authority, and he pictures them liquefying in flames.Excellent! Seeing evil destroyed is a good thing! — Agustino
Well we have justice precisely so that punishment isn't up to the harmed one to decide - because again the punishment needs to be fair. Vengeance would occur more frequently if there was no law. And still it occurs in cases which are not adequately and fairly governed by the law, and in which people are not adequately protected by the law.on a person by another who has been harmed by that person — Wosret
To each as they deserve - that's what justice is. If that's what justice is, then the evil deserve to suffer no?f you'd said justice in the sense of preventing future harm, you'd be right. You didn't. "Paying back with suffering and pain" is always vengeance. It's jealously over the favoured world which someone took away from us. A fantasy we have power over others, which can return the lost world we desire so much-- "Burn them for eternity and the loss will be resolved."
It won't be. What is lost cannot be undone. — TheWillowOfDarkness
Can you justify this please?No. No-one deserves it, not even Hitler. — TheWillowOfDarkness
Who said this? It's only been said that if someone does something wrong they have to pay for it - the fair share of payment, not more and not less. The fact that they need to pay for their sins isn't to say they don't deserve any sort of existence or happiness - that, at least in most cases, is too extreme of a punishment considering the offence.doesn't deserve any sort of existence or happiness — TheWillowOfDarkness
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