If hell were real, would that really be so bad?

[Weebster]

Wouldn't we evolve over the eons and adapt to the fire thus becoming fire creatures? Then we can kill God!

 

[JakeFlake]

It is not like I don't feel like I'm burning away now.

 

[Weebster]

It is not like I don't feel like I'm burning away now.

Exactly. If anything hell would be better. No worrying about money, homelessness, death, etc

 

[Circles]

I remember in Dante's Inferno that the whole idea of hell isn't about just making you suffer and prolonging it forever, it's about torturing you inside and out until you give up hope and not once but countless times. Whether worse than the hell that life is now that's debatable.

 

[Pluto]

There's no respectable source in any spiritual discourse that regards hell as real, especially as an eternal dwelling. It's the sort of thing used to scare children into obedience. As I've mentioned several times, the most common reference is Catholicism, which turned early Christianity's idea of atonement of sins in the afterlife into a place of eternal torment. Considering this was popularised by a political institution hellbent on controlling the masses, it's hard to take it seriously.

What is bad is that many sources I respect suggest rebirth in which we have to face whatever we were trying to run away from in death. Even so, I might just have to go through that. Life is so mean.

 

[Weebster]

I remember in Dante's Inferno that the whole idea of hell isn't about just making you suffer and prolonging it forever, it's about torturing you inside and out until you give up hope and not once but countless times. Whether worse than the hell that life is now that's debatable.

Sounds like life

There's no respectable source in any spiritual discourse that regards hell as real, especially as an eternal dwelling. It's the sort of thing used to scare children into obedience. As I've mentioned several times, the most common reference is Catholicism, which turned early Christianity's idea of atonement of sins in the afterlife into a place of eternal torment. Considering this was popularised by a political institution hellbent on controlling the masses, it's hard to take it seriously.

What is bad is that many sources I respect suggest rebirth in which we have to face whatever we were trying to run away from in death. Even so, I might just have to go through that. Life is so mean.

Death is kind

 

[Pluto]

Death is kind

It would be if it existed.

The universe is 13.8 billion years old, which itself is an infinitesimal fraction of an infinite timeline. What are the chances that our miserable few decades of existence happens to be happening right now?

 

[Alex6216]

Wouldn't we evolve over the eons and adapt to the fire thus becoming fire creatures? Then we can kill God!

That isnt how evolution works, at all. Evolution is basically genetic mutations in your children which might or might not get passed on,ergo evolution doesnt affect you currently but your children/grandchildren. If Hell is real and is the firey place people say it is, I'd say it's pretty bad; I mean cmon most of us cant stab our necks to die due to wanting to avoid pain, imagine being boiled in hot lava forever?
Also I doubt God is killable if he is real, he's probably so powerful he can make everything vanish in less than the blink of an eye

 

[Weebster]

That isnt how evolution works, at all. Evolution is basically genetic mutations in your children which might or might not get passed on,ergo evolution doesnt affect you currently but your children/grandchildren. If Hell is real and is the firey place people say it is, I'd say it's pretty bad; I mean cmon most of us cant stab our necks to die due to wanting to avoid pain, imagine being boiled in hot lava forever?
Also I doubt God is killable if he is real, he's probably so powerful he can make everything vanish in less than the blink of an eye

I studied evolution under Richard Dawkins. Anyway, yeah I guess there's no adapting unless one becomes a masochist.

 

[FuneralCry]

This life is hell, there is nothing after death, death is the end of all suffering. The fact that this life is a thing in the first place really is so horrifying. Life is so pointless and unnecessary, but at the same time so awful. If there was something after this life could it really be much worse than this.

 

[BeansOfRequirement]

What is bad is that many sources I respect suggest rebirth in which we have to face whatever we were trying to run away from

So for me the entire thing is going to be a dating simulator.

 

[adesertrose]

Depends which interpretation of hell. But they all seem terrible, since, in my view, they were made to scare people into social rules and moral values. I've heard people say that those who commit suicide are doomed to repeat their suicide for eternity in hell. Sounds pretty bad if it were painful, and even if not, the repetitiveness would be awful. Life on earth is already really bad for me. It is so unfair that I would have to stay in a horrible place in the afterlife, when I didn't even choose this stupid life.

 

[motel rooms]

There's no respectable source in any spiritual discourse that regards hell as real,

What is bad is that many sources I respect suggest rebirth in which we have to face whatever we were trying to run away from in death.

Respectable sources in various spiritual discourses... How do you accurately differentiate between respectable & unrespectable sources when it comes to fanciful speculations about hells, heavens, rebirths & all that jizzy jazz?

 

[Someone123]

Wouldn't we evolve over the eons and adapt to the fire thus becoming fire creatures? Then we can kill God!

If there is a hell and it is as it has been described then it is eternal suffering with no way to escape- there would be no way to adapt and make things better. I really hope there isn't one and if there is I really hope to not go there, though I haven't been able to convince myself that any religion is correct, so according to many religious beliefs that's where I would go.

 

[Niko66]

Respectable sources in various spiritual discourses... How do you accurately differentiate between respectable & unrespectable sources when it comes to fanciful speculations about hells, heavens, rebirths & all that jizzy jazz?

I would personally say beliefs that don't mean to induce fear of punishment or impose the way you must live, nor judging of others like most religions do... I do a bit of Yoga, purely for the practical benefit of my back not feeling like it was ran over by a truck every morning, but some instructors talking about connecting to the world, the source, the essence of things, whatever you wanna call it, it's spirituality in the most ambiguous form. Real or not they are reasonably healthy and may aid people find some peace with themselves without causing harm, not unlike placebo effects at the very least. I find that respectable, not scientifically but if it's something bringing something good to someone then that's respectable enough in my book.

 

[motel rooms]

I find that respectable, not scientifically but if it's something bringing something good to someone then that's respectable enough in my book.

I don't find your criteria respectable.

 

[Ashu]

There's no respectable source in any spiritual discourse that regards hell as real,

Even if it were possible for anyone to be qualified to make such a generalization about such an infinitely vast and heterogeneous body of material, that person would not be here. Why not just say that you don't believe in hell? Speaking from my own extremely limited acquaintance with such material in one particular tradition, I read about hells every day in Sanskrit literature, and no, there was nothing metaphorical or symbolical about it for the people who wrote it. If modern seekers need to understand it that way, then good, I call that progress, but don't pretend that that is its true original blah blah meaning.

 

[Green Destiny]

Hell is real. We're all living it right now.

 

[WearyHSP]

There's no respectable source in any spiritual discourse that regards hell as real, especially as an eternal dwelling. It's the sort of thing used to scare children into obedience. As I've mentioned several times, the most common reference is Catholicism, which turned early Christianity's idea of atonement of sins in the afterlife into a place of eternal torment. Considering this was popularised by a political institution hellbent on controlling the masses, it's hard to take it seriously.

What is bad is that many sources I respect suggest rebirth in which we have to face whatever we were trying to run away from in death. Even so, I might just have to go through that. Life is so mean.

Agreed!

Gehenna (Hell) was the location where they burned trash. Also, "sin" is an archery term for "missing the mark." It doesn't carry the fire and brimstone meaning acquired over the years.

Having lived decades past the point when I had no quality of life, I'm less conflicted about the rebirth issue these days, but it remains a concern.
Still, for me in my spiritual belief system, I don't imagine God/Grand creator as uncaring and it shouldn't be as if I have to START ALL OVER with the same level of abuse/suffering. My almost 60 years of suffering and all the work I've done to overcome it should be taken into account. Whether I'm right or not is yet to be seen.

I've so frequently heard that our time in the physical realm is where the real hell is. Makes sense to me.

 

[Weebster]

Depends which interpretation of hell. But they all seem terrible, since, in my view, they were made to scare people into social rules and moral values. I've heard people say that those who commit suicide are doomed to repeat their suicide for eternity in hell. Sounds pretty bad if it were painful, and even if not, the repetitiveness would be awful. Life on earth is already really bad for me. It is so unfair that I would have to stay in a horrible place in the afterlife, when I didn't even choose this stupid life.

It'd be funny to forever jump off a bridge.

Respectable sources in various spiritual discourses... How do you accurately differentiate between respectable & unrespectable sources when it comes to fanciful speculations about hells, heavens, rebirths & all that jizzy jazz?

Exactly. There's no evidence. It's just man's imaginings like a Bosch painting.

Agreed!

Gehenna (Hell) was the location where they burned trash. Also, "sin" is an archery term for "missing the mark." It doesn't carry the fire and brimstone meaning acquired over the years.

Having lived decades past the point when I had no quality of life, I'm less conflicted about the rebirth issue these days, but it remains a concern.
Still, for me in my spiritual belief system, I don't imagine God/Grand creator as uncaring and it shouldn't be as if I have to START ALL OVER with the same level of abuse/suffering. My almost 60 years of suffering and all the work I've done to overcome it should be taken into account. Whether I'm right or not is yet to be seen.

I've so frequently heard that our time in the physical realm is where the real hell is. Makes sense to me.

What did you do to overcome it? Did any of it help?

 

[Niko66]

I don't find your criteria respectable.

Dang it, shattering my dreams of being liked by literally everyone just like that

 

[Weebster]

Dang it, shattering my dreams of being liked by literally everyone just like that

You get a B for bad grade.

 

[motel rooms]

Dang it, shattering my dreams of being liked by literally everyone just like that

Don't worry, the Source/Essence of Things loves you. It definitely isn't utterly indifferent to sentient beings' incessant screams of pain.

 

[Weebster]

Don't worry, the Source/Essence of Things loves you. It definitely isn't utterly indifferent to sentient beings' incessant screams of pain.

Would you be against re-emerging someday?

 

[motel rooms]

Would you be against re-emerging someday?

I think the human animal is laughably vain to fantasize about personal immortality. Our self-importance is nauseating. Our dead bodies get recycled; that's the only kind of reincarnation we get. Our craving for justice is pathetic. The Universe/Nature doesn't give a shit about us; all we have is each other, which is pretty fucking horrifying.

 

[lofticries]

but on a serious note the idea of eternal pain or eternal paradise for a single lifetime of choices always seemed a bit odd to me. Not to mention how morally gray humanity is in general. heaven or hell is so black and white. The idea reminds of something someone with bpd on steroids would come up with.

 

[Someone123]

Hell is real. We're all living it right now.

The descroptions of hell are way worse than what most of us are going through here- not that I'm saying that there is a hell, but if there is, it sounds much, much worse than anything that can happen on earth. I'm hoping there isn't one.

 

[WorthlessTrash]

It's hard for anyone to objectively know if there is an afterlife or hell or whatever after death. It cannot be scientifically proven and can only be speculated on at best. Religious people will use the notion of heaven and hell to scare people into conforming with morals.

 

[Weebster]

The descroptions of hell are way worse than what most of us are going through here- not that I'm saying that there is a hell, but if there is, it sounds much, much worse than anything that can happen on earth. I'm hoping there isn't one.

A mental all-consuming fire is what I experience

 

[Someone123]

A mental all-consuming fire is what I experience

I understand, it is similar for me. BUt a real all-consuming fire would be much, much, much more painful if it is real. My hop eis that it is not real, but I don't know that for sure. This fear hasnb't pushed me into believing a religion that doesn't make sense to me- I hope I don't regret that choice, but I just can't make any religion make sense to me.