Do People Really Worry About Hell?

[_Gazelam]

Unless hell was the environment where they could find the most peace and joy. The last kindness God gives to people who will accept no other gift. Hell is hell from the vantage point of heaven (and Earth) but to those there it is not.

Also, nobody does 'the best they can'. I'm doing good to make it through a day without at least one, "That was stupid" moment.

Well said.

[_Roger Morrison]

Really, the literal question, re "hell" can/will never be answered accurately since it is a hypothetical question birthed in imagination. A kin to: is there a Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, Galactica, and are JP Rollins' characters real flesh & blood foks, or folk-lore type story book folks?

Interesting to see imaginations at work, oops play. Fun game enjoyed whatever yer opinion... Warm regards, Roger

[Guest]

The whole concept of hell is a disturbing one. I mean, what kind of bastard would create something like hell? We do the best we can here on earth given our situation, environment, capacities, intelligence, constraints, knowledge, etc., and if we don't do exactly what our "loving father" wants us to do, he condemns us to eternal suffering. What a swell guy!

We aren't servile enough for his tastes, if we don't guess correctly which of the many people claiming to speak for him is the right one (not to mention the billions who have had no chance to guess correctly or who were born into religious and cultural traditions that make it extremely unlikely that they would accept God's true word anyway) then he tosses us off like so much trash into the fire to suffer forever (or in the Mormon case, he banishes us from his and our loved one's presence).

The being who came up with this sytem is a psychopathic bastard.

Yep.

[_harmony]

The whole concept of hell is a disturbing one. I mean, what kind of bastard would create something like hell? We do the best we can here on earth given our situation, environment, capacities, intelligence, constraints, knowledge, etc., and if we don't do exactly what our "loving father" wants us to do, he condemns us to eternal suffering. What a swell guy!

We aren't servile enough for his tastes, if we don't guess correctly which of the many people claiming to speak for him is the right one (not to mention the billions who have had no chance to guess correctly or who were born into religious and cultural traditions that make it extremely unlikely that they would accept God's true word anyway) then he tosses us off like so much trash into the fire to suffer forever (or in the Mormon case, he banishes us from his and our loved one's presence).

The being who came up with this sytem is a psychopathic bastard.

Since the psychopathic bastards who came up with the idea being were men, perhaps that says a lot. After all, they were warring tribes, playing an ancient game of One Up. It took hundreds of generations, and an exceedingly wise man to come up with the New Testament concept of a loving God. Who is to the say the New Testament God isn't the more correct concept? The LDS prophet?

[_barrelomonkeys]

Harmony, I've often had that same thought. Why are people so easy to dismiss God of the old testament and embrace God of the new? It appears to me that you can't take one without the other and recognize they were both written by men.

Personally if I had to choose a God to believe in (just from examining the state of the world today) I'd latch onto the God of old as being more accurate.

[_harmony]

Harmony, I've often had that same thought. Why are people so easy to dismiss God of the old testament and embrace God of the new? It appears to me that you can't take one without the other and recognize they were both written by men.

Personally if I had to choose a God to believe in (just from examining the state of the world today) I'd latch onto the God of old as being more accurate.

Perhaps the God of the New Testament is closer, since it was supposedly his own son who was telling people what he was like. But that might be myth also. And if it is myth and only myth, then Joseph simply built on the biggest lie in history. Yes, he lied (if Jesus isn't God's son), but so did everyone who had anything to do with the New Testament.

[_Roger Morrison]

Harmony wrote:

Perhaps the God of the New Testament is closer, since it was supposedly his own son who was telling people what he was like. But that might be myth also. And if it is myth and only myth, then Joseph simply built on the biggest lie in history. Yes, he lied (if Jesus isn't God's son), but so did everyone who had anything to do with the New Testament. (UL added by RM)

I see your opening rational having merrit. However, i suggest the under-lined might be closer to the truth. OTOH, i shrink a bit when you change the wording from "myth" to "lie"... As our minds work they are as prone to believing a myth, or a lie, as they are to believing a "truth". Possibly the myth/lie is more convincingly 'told' than is the 'truth'??

With that thought in mind i say, "Joseph Smith simply built "lies" upon the biggest "myth" in history..." What sayeth thou Gals?

Whether the original teller(s) of THE Judeo>>>>>Christian tale was(were) motivated by fraudulent maliciousness or simply attempted imaginatively to explain-away the ignorance of their time, with well intended myths, is a question without an answer; or relevancy. The 'fact'(?) that they were believed, and continue to be, (by some/many ?) says as much about the psyche needs of today, as about the state of minds thousands of years ago.

"Lies" seem in my mind to be more mean-spirited than "Myths"... Ya know what i'm sayin'?

They had few options. We have science, history AND theology to study for informed conclusioning. If we dare :-)

"(if Jesus isn't God's son)" it's no big deal. What is attributed to him re DIYS living cooperatively by HIS "Two New Commandments" is worthy of adopting from who's ever mind and mouth they sprung, IMSCO... Warm regards, Roger