Why I'm Not Afraid of Hell

[Blackleaf]

For a while after my deconversion from Christianity, the possible threat of going to Hell when I died was a real fear in the back of my mind, even though I was pretty sure that I was right in giving up my faith. But as I became more comfortable in my unbelief, and the many logical problems with the Christian faith became more and more apparent thanks to certain overly enthusiastic apologists ironically making themselves loo ridiculous... You all know who. I became less and less threatened by the idea of Hell. Hell makes no sense at all, and here's the reasons why.

1. How do you get there? So when you die, you wake up in Hell. How does that work? Are you teleported there? If God's teleporting you there, then you can throw the "God doesn't send people to Hell" argument out the window, as if we needed any more reasons to know that that argument is complete BS. If it's not God, when what? Are there demons just sitting around waiting to drag you there? Are they ever caught by surprise and miss people? Death very often comes unexpectantly. And if they do drag you to Hell, how do they get there? Is there a physical place in the universe that they drag you to? The center of the earth? A distant planet? It makes no sense.

2. You can't feel pain without a body. Think about all of the descriptions of Hell's torture. Fire. Nashing of teeth. Thirst. Hunger. All of these things require a body to experience. And if we have a body in Hell, then how did it get there? Did God create an extra body for each person  and put it in Hell to wait for souls to get there, or does he create them on demand?

3. Our bodies would have to ignore the laws of nature to last an eternity in Hell. One swim in the lake of fire, and our flesh should melt away. And once it's gone, we wouldn't be able to be tortured any more. So either God is constantly making new bodies for the countless billions of people (or more) in Hell or somehow Hell just ignores all of the laws of nature so that the body is invincible.

4. Hell keeps getting updated. Have you ever noticed that Christians are not just satisfied with a simple lake of fire and brimstone? As technology changes, so does the Hell that Christians create. It used to be simple fire. Now it's prisons, chains, sharp objects, doctor demons giving you shots in the eyeballs and cutting you open (even though this should be impossible, given #3). It's always being updated to fit what people of the current generation fears most, and that's because it doesn't actually exist, and none of these people know what they're talking about.

5. Most importantly, we are supposed to believe that the God who loves everyone to an impossible degree that we cannot possibly fathom is the same God who tortures the vast majority of people he created for all of eternity in Hell. Just try and watch this video, all the while thinking that a loving God is watching silently as it all happens:

Hell is good for one thing in the real world: entertainment. It's a tool of fiction that can be used to create interesting and scary stories. Without it, we wouldn't have Doom games, for instance. But it can only exist in fiction, because the whole thing makes no goddamn sense.

[Hydra009]

#1 Because we have absolutely no reason to think that any sort of eternal punishment afterlife exists.

[stromboli]

http://www.truthaccordingtoscripture.com/documents/death/origin-of-hell-fire.php#.V1-hNrsrLcs

The concept of a soul within us that cannot die first became a ‘Christian’ doctrine at the end of the second century AD. Hell had been taught in Greek philosophy long before the time of Jesus, with Plato (427-347 BC) as the important leader in this thinking.

The teaching of an everlasting place of punishment for the wicked is the natural consequence of a belief in an immortal soul. By the year AD 187, it was understood that life, once we have it, is compulsory; there is no end to it, either now or in a world to come. We have no choice as to its continuance, even if we were to commit suicide to end it.

At the end of the 2nd century Christianity had begun to blend Greek philosophy â€"human speculative reasoning, with the teachings of God’s Word. Such words and phrases as ‘continuance of being’, ‘perpetual existence’, ‘incapable of dissolution’ and ‘incorruptible’ began to appear in so-called Christian writings. These had come straight from Plato, the Greek philosopher, all those years before Jesus. Other phrases used were ‘the soul to remain by itself immortal’, and ‘an immortal nature’. It was taught that this is how God made us. But this idea derives from philosophy, not divine inspiration. There are no such words in the Bible. It was Athenagorus, a Christian, but whose teachings, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, were strongly tinged with Platonism, who had introduced the teaching of an immortal soul into Christianity. In this way, he paved the way for the logical introduction of eternal torment for immortal, but sinful, souls. This was a hundred years and more after the time of the apostles, and came straight from popular philosophy. The apostles had consistently taught that death is a sleep, to be followed by resurrection. The early church leaders â€" Clement, Ignatius, Hermas, Polycarp, and others who also believed that death is a sleep, taught that the wicked are destroyed forever by fire â€" their punishment was to be annihilation. These leaders did not teach of an immortal soul to be tortured by fire in hell for eternity.

Hellfire and damnation is as much from Dante's "Inferno" as any other source. Dante's Inferno is the first part of "The Divine Comedy" an allegorical epic poem written in the 14th century. The focus of the poem is on man's nature, i.e. greedy, lusting, fabricators of lies, etc. Hell is more a representation of human failings than a place.

The Jewish word "Sheol" is sometimes used for Hell, but they really don't have a hell per se, it means "place of the dead".

The concept of hell as mentioned is originally Greek and not Christian. Another idea borrowed from other sources. Once I figured out it was an invention, the idea of hell no longer had meaning for me. As I've said elsewhere, you have to have conflict in order to have absolution- there has to be a bad to oppose the good. The idea of a reward (heaven) is not nearly as potent unless you have the opposite, a punishment. Because the belief is in an immortal soul, the punishment would by default be eternal.

Y'all can now sin in your filthy minds guilt free.

[SGOS]

As my Christian faith ebbed, I went through the same thing.  At first, I wanted to believe in spite of the cognitive dissonance.  Then I gradually watched my desire to believe fade, and then I finally realized I didn't believe at all.  During that transition period, I feared Hell, even for a while after I had accepted my lack of belief.  I knew this was illogical, but such is the nature of emotion.  Eventually, I stopped fearing Hell too.  In counseling, we called this "congruence:  when emotions reflect one's intellectual experience."  In psychological lay terms, I just call it "getting your shit together."  This doesn't mean there is no Hell of course.  We can never know that.  But fearing the unknown is a child's thing.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"Heaven won't have us and Hell's afraid we'll take over."

[widdershins]

I went through a similar phase.  I didn't believe anymore, but I was still afraid to do some things.  I was deathly afraid that I would "commit the unforgivable sin".  I didn't believe anymore, but I still needed to know that I could go back.  I KNEW it was all bullshit.  I was sure of it.  But I still feared it.

For anyone who says Christianity doesn't brainwash you, what else would you call it when you give someone a fear of monsters that they know aren't real?

[SGOS]

For anyone who says Christianity doesn't brainwash you, what else would you call it when you give someone a fear of monsters that they know aren't real?

Amen to that!  LOL

[stromboli]

With me, once I can see that there is a progressive development of something from an original idea, its all I need. I stopped sweating it when I could see that the idea was an invention.

[Baruch]

I wasn't raised in religion, and my religion experience didn't put any emphasis on Hell.  In fact Revelations was pretty much ignored as well.

Hell of course is the Norse bad place, and it is cold.  Hades was the universal classical realm of the dead, not hot, just dark and depressing, like Plato's cave.  OT Sheol meant the grave ... basically you are a corpse in the ground.  Judaism picked up other ideas from Babylon, Persia and India.  Hellenized Jews picked up ideas from the Greeks mostly.  I happen to agree with Sheol ... there is no afterlife, just the grave or ashes to ashes and dust to dust.  But I don't even want to be an unconscious corpse in the ground, so cremation for me please, then scatter me.

And yes, much of our theology comes from Dante (three books), and Paradise Lost (by Milton).  Dante basically created modern Italian by writing those three books ... and Il Inferno is pretty much a litany of human vice.

Paul said we get a spiritual body, but Medieval Christians (a morbid lot) thought we would become horrific zombies.  One model has us as angels, which are beautiful hermaphrodites with no gonads.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

For anyone who says Christianity doesn't brainwash you, what else would you call it when you give someone a fear of monsters that they know aren't real?

Industrial Light and Magic?

[Munch]

Heaven is always depicted as having a load of old white robed dressed farts kissing gods toes all day.

Hell is depicted as naked demons going around poking you in every orifice.

Now, given how most Christians in how they see the world is usually insane and backwards, I'm willing to beat if hell was real it would not be the pit of suffering they make out, and would just be a raunchy club with a lot of sex, booze and drugs.

[widdershins]

Industrial Light and Magic?

Point and match, I guess.  Good game.  I'll get you next time.

[Flanker1Six]

It's difficult to be afraid of a place there's no evidence exists  (besides "some guy" saying it does).  The flip side of being stoked about going to heaven. 

Man!  This would be a great adventure tour thing if it did exist! 

Flanker's Fearsome Tours:   

See the seven levels of hell in all their unnatural splendor; from the comfort of air conditioned tour buses; many stops to let you walk about and  marvel! 
Laugh at the frantic and funny antics of doomed souls as they suffer endless agonizing torment! 
Meet satan  and his evil minions (no xtra charge for selfies and autographs!  Be sure to use a heat tolerant smart phone insulted to 2000 C)
Dine in any one of our 8 five star restaurants (all included!)
Participate in fun exercise classes mimicking the seven levels of eternal suffering (minus the unpleasant side effects!)
7 scorching days and six screaming nights (it'll seem like a lot more!) for $1395.00/person; children under 12 are free!

*Flankers Fearsome Tours LLC is not responsible for:  Lost or stolen personal effects, missing children, spouses, siblings, etc, demonic personality shifts, or potentially dangerous new abilities (flammable urine--that sort of thing), room toilets that won't flush----it is hell after all!

[widdershins]

It's difficult to be afraid of a place there's no evidence exists  (besides "some guy" saying it does).

Actually, it's not if the right people got into your head and shit in the right places.  It's like a conditioned phobea.  There's no rational reason to be afraid, but since when have religious beliefs ever relied heavily on rationality?

[Atheon]

Reason #0: Because there's no such thing as hell.