What is the purpose of.....

i'm not sure if this is the right thread for this post but its religious in nature.


If 'God' (or whatever deity is worshipped by other religions) is so benevolent and forgiving and caring, what is the point of hell other than to keep the fallen in?

Priests always preach that sinners will burn forever in eternal pain yada yada, but then go on to say that God is all forgiving and will welcome his children back to him.

So, back to my point, does hell have a reason? Purgatory would suffice to burn the sins off the soul but Hell. It strikes me as odd that God would allow his children to be dragged down and made soldiers in the 'Devils' army.

Now, Hell must have a material purpose. In the middle ages it was used to prevent deviant behaviour (sin = hell) but why is it still part of our society as we have justice systems to do this, and less people than ever believe in hell and the devil. Why must it remain a part of our lives?

(apologies if i offend but i am not a firm believer in something that can't be empirically proven or lack have shaky video cam footage)

Originally posted by JackofBlades
So, back to my point, does hell have a reason? Purgatory would suffice to burn the sins off the soul but Hell. It strikes me as odd that God would allow his children to be dragged down and made soldiers in the 'Devils' army.

Now, Hell must have a material purpose. In the middle ages it was used to prevent deviant behaviour (sin = hell) but why is it still part of our society as we have justice systems to do this, and less people than ever believe in hell and the devil. Why must it remain a part of our lives?

(apologies if i offend but i am not a firm believer in something that can't be empirically proven or lack have shaky video cam footage)

If we consider that perhaps 'hell' is not a future destination, but rather, in essence, the nature of our present existence...

the purpose thereof would be a place and time for training (the spirit) in a material setting. Once the material proving ground is overcome, there will be no limits on the spirit.

We are being purged, day by day, slowly but surely.

Noothing is hidden from God, while law & justice are blind and demand evidence........! So God is 'needed'.

An oriental poet's saying means
'If we were satisfied with our and others deeds in this life, we would have never had belief in the after-life'

So its the unsatisfaction/dissatisfaction in human psyche that needs God with all powers, omnipotent, omniscient, etc....................!

I tried to be non-offensive, however, discussion on religions is often higly inflammable.

In a very simplified sense, I tend to think that life is like bootcamp.

Suppose you had a perfect world. In this world, you wanted to bring folks in, but not just anyone. You want good, honest folks. How do you know who is good and who will disrupt your world? Test them - put them in an environment where everything they is recorded, but they can't see the recorder. THis would weed out the good from the bad. Then you can allow the good into your world knowing that those you let in will continue to live right, because they passed 'bootcamp'.

I heard years ago that some secret ancient writing somewhere states that hell would be temporary. If I remember correctly, the good will plead with God to help those who are suffering for their sins and God will finally give in, giving them another world or another chance. Don't know how valid that is.

Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Death and hell exist because the God of Judeo-Christianity demands worship. According to the Bible, the only way to have your name written in the "book of life" is to accept Jesus Christ as your saviour.

Zip

I should mention that variously throughout the Old and New Testaments, the second death is referred to by words describing destruction rather than eternal suffering. Throughout the Psalms and in Romans and Ezekiel, the second death is depicted by words such as "consume," "perish," "destroy," "devour," etc., reflecting nonexistence, while eternal rewards are associated with "life."

Zip

Originally posted by godservant
In a very simplified sense, I tend to think that life is like bootcamp.

I heard years ago that some secret ancient writing somewhere states that hell would be temporary. If I remember correctly, the good will plead with God to help those who are suffering for their sins and God will finally give in, giving them another world or another chance. Don't know how valid that is.

Hell is the state of punishment.



A period of imprisonment, simple or rigorous, short or long, depending upon the severity f the wrong-deeds.









chaudri

Originally posted by JackofBlades
Now, Hell must have a material purpose. In the middle ages it was used to prevent deviant behaviour (sin = hell) but why is it still part of our society as we have justice systems to do this, and less people than ever believe in hell and the devil. Why must it remain a part of our lives?

It remains a part of the lives of only those who believe in it.

The problem is that hell is an intricately woven part of the meme. Questioning hell puts the whole meme at stake, so it has evolved means of fighting these attacks, such as innerancy doctrines (in both Christianity, Islam, and elsewhere), to force you into an all or nothing corner. It takes quite a leap to abandon a meme altogether, and the memes have evolved to make the walls higher and higher to prevent people from getting out once they're trapped.


[edit on 25-11-2005 by spamandham]

I have to admit, I have never seen a good reason for hell either. A temporary "hell" or purgatory, maybe. But an eternal one? I just can't square that with the idea of a loving God. It's hard to believe that God would refuse ever to forgive someone's sins, however bad they were. I know all the "reasons" given for "why hell is necessary"--heard them all my life--but still fail to find them truly convincing. Then again, some of my ancestors were devout members of the "Universalist Church"--now part of the Unitarian Church--which believed that in the end, everyone would be saved. Hey, even some influential leaders of the early Church, such as Origen, believed that! So, maybe I owe this to my "Universalist" ancestors--perhaps I inherited their "heresy"?!

Originally posted by JackofBlades

If 'God' (or whatever deity is worshipped by other religions) is so benevolent and forgiving and caring, what is the point of hell other than to keep the fallen in?

To keep them from continueing to fall, perhaps. Perhaps Hell is just a word to describe a safety net of sorts, a safety net that God assigned Satan to. Just a thought.

So, back to my point, does hell have a reason?

Sure, those are the souls who have shown they have limited respect, reverence, and love for the truth. They are permitted to continue to exist, with free will, however a portion of their thought processes are assigned to finding the highest number and counting up, and part of their brain is assigned to finding phi. In effect they are God's calculator, they just may not be aware of why they don't have access to their own faculties, and their own mind, nor are they aware they are only using a fraction of their brain consciously.

Of course, i could be totally wrong about all that.