What is hell?

[john_kun]

I know what my definition of hell is.

It's when you just know everything you do in your life fails or is simply wrong.

You go down the path of depression , self destruction and probably destruction of others. And you do indeed fear death.

What is your definition? Tell me if you are firm believer oh hell or if you have ever experienced true horrors of life in order to tell that to others.

And is hell somewhere you might bee going when you die? like it does not have to be christian hell. just some negative place that you know you will end up or somewhere you don't want to end up in.

Do you believe that hell can be born (or is) on earth or just some ferry tail someone thought out ages ago to scare people?

What is your view of hell/"hell"?

Let discussion begin

[Mystique]

Hmm... there is a religion thread where this may go into, cause Hell can be interpreted in different ways per religion (and even mythology, see Greek's one) and then there are some who believe in reincarnation and so on and so on.

Well, will leave to the bosses to decide on that.

[milan kyuubi]

Well i think there are nine level's of after life, lowelest being the hell and highest being heaven.
Betven goes less siners...

[Kafriel]

Hell is a place of punishment/penance for those who sin, that's the general idea^^

like it does not have to be christian hell.

Christian hell sounds much better than Diyu if you ask me...

It's when you just know everything you do in your life fails or is simply wrong.

You must be really close to dying for that to happen...everytime I have a headache, I'm glad I can breathe, got all 5 senses working, a home, clothes and freedom.

Do you believe that hell can be born (or is) on earth or just some ferry tail someone thought out ages ago to scare people?

In my personal opinion, hell was created from people, because when they do something bad they feel like they have to be punished in order to have a clean conscience later on, and it is on that belief that religions decided to include hell. Also, I doubt it can be found on earth, because every person has their own concept of it, so to each their own.

[john_kun]

Originally Posted by Mystique

Hmm... there is a religion thread where this may go into, cause Hell can be interpreted in different ways per religion (and even mythology, see Greek's one) and then there are some who believe in reincarnation and so on and so on.

Well, will leave to the bosses to decide on that.

well I did not want to be to be in religion thread since I do think atheist and all kinds of people could discuss this. I said you don't have to view this in christian kind of way. View it as you like.

You can view is as the place or situation you don't want to be currently in hence the saying "I'm in hell"... in same sense I did not make a thread called "Do you believe in hell" since it would apply more to christian kind of views. I wanted to get some general views on folks.

Milan: that sounds a lot like idea stolen from nine planes of hell Dante's idea. Still interesting that you think that way.

kafriel: well i am not dying but I do feel kinda bad for doing some really bad things often. is it wrong to have strong morals?

[Kafriel]

Morals are also personal, as is a sense of justice, right and wrong, etc., if you're deliberately doing things that are bad based on your beliefs, then you don't have strong morals...

[john_kun]

well I know people that have worse morals. But still there are bad things to do. it depends on my view of bad morals right?

[Tsuyoshi]

Hell is a concept more than anything. Everyone has their own interpretation as to what hell really is or what it could be. It's generally accepted that it is a place of punishment for the sins you committed in life. How you are punished is different for everyone. I like to think that if Hell does exist, the punishment you receive will be the very thing you would never want to have, or the last thing you want happening to you happens over and over again. Or perhaps you are repeatedly killed and brought back just to be killed again in a way you do not want to die. Or the sins you committed upon others will be repeated unto you. There are many things Hell could be, and many punishments it could bring. But like I said in the religion thread, I'd rather not think about it because whatever happens after I die, there's nothing I can do about it. For me, the worst thing that I think could happen to me is not being able to see anything that happens to the people I love when I'm gone.

[john_kun]

well that problem could be solved if you believe in reincarnation.

but yoko what about if you just don't need to worry about people you love in your life. I mean we all need to let it go when we die. Everything we lived for and carried for you have to let go. what do you think about that?

[Vampire]

Hell is a place or current state of suffering. Enough said.

[Eclipze]

For religious people, where such a concept exists in their religion:
-a place of eternal suffering in the afterlife
-world of the afterlife

For non-religious people:
-a concept created by religious leaders to scare people into obeying its own doctrine/laws.

[Vexx]

One version of "hell" I've always liked is the one that the name actually derived from - the Norse spiritual belief system. The goddess Hel who reigns over her frosty afterlife of eternal night in the ethereal region named after her.

That said -- the concept of "hell" in the Christian sense is actually an idea substantially stapled onto the religion - borrowed heavily from Hellenistic/Greek ideology and cemented when the Roman Empire co-opted Christianity.

The Buddhist hell is roughly similar in that "pure" or "upper tier" Buddhism has no hell... but daily Buddhism (which absorbed much from the countries it flowed to) acquired the motifs of the mythical Chinese hell to "keep the peasants in line".

Almost every version of hell in any religion seems mostly designed to "keep the peasants in line" -- especially since the warlords and leaders didn't seem to worry about their own destinations in the afterlife considering their actions in history.

The version of "hell" in the Robin William's movie "What Things May Come" was very interesting to me --- in that movie, the afterlife was basically a self-judgement destination.

As for my personal convictions.... the afterlife as defined by most religions is wishful thinking. We have no idea if anything survives death and it scares humanity enough to rationalize stories about it. It also rationalizes wonderful and conversely, evil/sadistic behavior.

The rationale behind the treatment of those scapegoated as "witches" for example, illuminates the nastiest of these rationalizations.

[Tsuyoshi]

Originally Posted by john_kun

well that problem could be solved if you believe in reincarnation.

but yoko what about if you jsut don't need to worry about people you love din your life. I mean we all need to let it go when we die. Everything we lived for and carried for you have to let go. what do you think about that?

We have no choice but to do that when we die. Like I said, I don't care about an afterlife because we don't know and it's impossible for us, as living people, to know. By afterlife, I don't just mean heaven and hell, but what will happen to the living after I die. I'll be dead to worry about anything, so I don't even bother thinking about it right now.

[Syntron]

I heard its a good place to dine in.

/runs

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by Syntron

I heard its a good place to dine in.

/runs

I also heard the head chef runs a very tight ship.

/runs

[john_kun]

Originally Posted by Yoko Takeo

We have no choice but to do that when we die. Like I said, I don't care about an afterlife because we don't know and it's impossible for us, as living people, to know. By afterlife, I don't just mean heaven and hell, but what will happen to the living after I die. I'll be dead to worry about anything, so I don't even bother thinking about it right now.

But I for myself can sense that I will have an afterlife. It will be the way I feel I can just smell it. But that is for me. I cannot say that to anyone else.

still we do have a choice on earth to be moral that is for sure. but we can also ignore morality and if we do we begin to fear death. That is what I discovered. Even if you are not christian or anything people fear death more if they do something really bad.

I'm pretty sure earth and it's people will continue living the way they do. I mean We seen that many people die daily and nothing changes. So will happen when you die. Still your perspective of everything should change as well. That is what I believe. And I don't believe caring or not caring for someone will be an issue of any kind when we die because as you said we will be dead on that opinion .

Vexx: I enjoyed reading your post. Yeah I heard about Hel as well. Interesting character that one.

[milan kyuubi]

I would recomend for anyone to look for publish work from B. D. Benedikt. He wrote several books conserning the apocalypse and hell. He dicrebed it very good.

[john_kun]

Originally Posted by milan kyuubi

I would recommend for anyone to look for publish work from B. D. Benedikt. He wrote several books concerning the apocalypse and hell. He described it very good.

how did he describe it? gimme some Intel on that one please.

[synaesthetic]

Hell is also called Florida by some people.

[Truly, Queen Jane]

Sport's Day in secondary school, when the 800m dash is over and done with, the high jump has been conquered, when the one-legged race has been overcome, the sack race has been flawless, the long jump has been mastered. And when you finally come to the end of the day, after rejoicing has been had, you pull down your underwear, put it up to your face and look deep into the syncline between the two leg holes.

That's hell.