Hell

illuminatus · Post by **illuminatus** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 9:11 pm

Isn't punishment supposed to be beneficial in some way? How is eternal damnation going to teach you anything? Or even if it does teach you something, how are you going to change when you no longer have control over anything and you are forced to burn in flame for eternity? The whole concept changes and the will to change is removed. Logically, eternal damnation makes no sense. The only thing it does is completely eliminate that entity much like capital punishment does in our current legal system.

Except with regard to Christianity you do not have to commit an atrocity. You simply have to not acknowledge the existance of a supreme being.

The Hungry Atheist · Post by **The Hungry Atheist** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 6:12 am

The most common Christian argument I've heard is that we're not sent there as a punishment, we send ourselves there by refusing to accept God's offer of salvation. This has problems, which are still being discussed elsewhere I think, but I'll let the Christian members of the board answer for themselves. I agree, however, that punishment becomes an utterly pointless concept when its only function is to cause more suffering, and the idea of 'deserving' it becomes redundant if there's nothing more to it.

Infinitehonor · Post by **Infinitehonor** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 8:50 pm

Hell was created for Satan and his followers. God doesn't want anyone to go to Hell but if you follow Satan you must go there. You are either for God or for the Devil, there is no in between.

illuminatus · Post by **illuminatus** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 9:24 pm

Except for you forget something. One can commit sins and yet mostly follow a righteous path. Yet if one does not recognize those sins and repents then he is following Lucifer? I don't follow. I hate to break it to you guys, but no world is black or white. Not this world. Not the higher planes of existance on which God and Lucifer exist. That is assuming they do. There are grey areas. No one is totally pure and no one is totally evil.

Bro Dave · Post by **Bro Dave** » Thu Dec 02, 2004 3:42 am

Infinitehonor wrote:Hell was created for Satan and his followers. God doesn't want anyone to go to Hell but if you follow Satan you must go there. You are either for God or for the Devil, there is no in between.

The problem with this argument, is that it leaves you in exactly the same predicament! Now you eternally punish Satan & Co., but to what end???
It might make sense to "make them as though they had never existed";
Annihilation makes a lot more sense to me.

Bro Dave

Infinitehonor · Post by **Infinitehonor** » Thu Dec 02, 2004 6:22 pm

Everyone has a chance at this very moment to escape that endless punishment!

BeHereNow · Post by **BeHereNow** » Thu Dec 02, 2004 8:21 pm

Isn't punishment supposed to be beneficial in some way? How is eternal damnation going to teach you anything?

I believe in this case it is the threat of punishment which is supposed to be beneficial. The threat of eternal damnation might scare us into doing the “right thing”.
“Just wait until your Daddy gets home young man!” may make the child behave even without the punishment. If we are convinced that we will be eternally punished for not doing the “right thing”, naturally we will do the “right thing”.
Haven’t we all heard someone say, “Why take a chance? What if I’m right? Is it worth spending eternity in hell?” The threat of hell is expected to lure us down the path.
The God-Man relationship in biblical times was very paternalistic. It doesn’t surprise me God’s people were often treated as little children.
One could make the case that the idea of hell is beneficial even if hell is not real. It might keep the faithful in line so to speak.

illuminatus · Post by **illuminatus** » Thu Dec 02, 2004 8:31 pm

A wise man once said: "Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons may not be doing the right thing at all."

So... being fearful and doing something good because of that fear is not doing the right thing.

tcay584 · Post by **tcay584** » Thu Dec 02, 2004 8:40 pm

Hell is not punishment. It is simply a stated consequence of willfully deciding to go against God. It is not designed to bring you into realization of your sins....it is the consequence of your sins. That's why no one gets out of Hell. There's no "Ok, you've done your time and been rehabiliatated...off to Heaven you go". Once you're there, that's it. We have all our lives to decide where we want to end up. You choose.

BeHereNow · Post by **BeHereNow** » Thu Dec 02, 2004 8:42 pm

I am fearful for my life as the savage beasts lunges towards me. Out of fear I grab my lance and lunge forward straight towards the beast, striking it in the heart and killing it.
So shall we say I did not do the right thing simply because I did it out of fear? Must it be an act of bravery to be the right thing?