regarding hell

[Jack of Spades]

This thread is not meant to hit-off a religious debate or make a religious point.
If it does then I'm glad I started some discussion

This semester I enrolled in a class entitled "Roots of Hell" which is about seeing how hell is represented throughout time and in different cultures. Our final project for the class is a self styled 5-7 page essay about hell.

We need 3 references about hell and I want to do something original so I thought I'd use the NP forums.When I make the paper I'd like to use quotes from people on this forum. So if you want to help simply post your answer to this question.

What is hell?

[adamark]

Quite a while ago I heard a radio broadcast discussing just this. Apparently it was one theologian's belief that "your mind creates its own idea of hell." basically if you subscribe to the very belief that a hell exists, and indeed, if it does exist, no two hells will be totally alike. your worst case scenario will be totally tailored to who you are, what your phobias are, what you abhor, etc.

i myself don't believe in heaven/hell so i'm not really a suitable source to quote.

[Gilgamesh in a Hat]

I beleive in the generic flaming hot hell, with the lakes, and the skelotons and the stabbing. But if hell were to be my mind's view of it, hell would be really, really, Really, REALLY, HELLA-COLD. i live in Michigan, cold is my enemy. :o

[Gorefiend]

Originally Posted by Jack of Spades

This thread is not meant to hit-off a religious debate or make a religious point.
If it does then I'm glad I started some discussion

No, you won't be. There is a rule about no religious discussions on these boards. I'd say that this will be borederline. Don't be surprised if it is closed.....

However, for some good ideas of hell.....

The Inferno, by Dante (not OUR Dante, of course.....)
Part 3 of 1984, especially the part with the rats and Winston.

Or, try thinking to yourself whats the worst possible place/situation you could be in. Then, imagine having to experience that constantly, for ever and ever and ever. Ouch, huh?

Or, if you ask me, a very uncomfortable and crowded place where, knowing my luck, I'll end up becasue of some mix-up....

Or, think of the place where bad souls are punished. Or, perhaps it would be like a huge prison, where inmates are the souls of the damned, and demons are the wardens. This one comes from a movie released in spanish, titled Bendito Infierno, or, in English, Blessed Hell, or Holy Hell.

I hope I helped. And, mods, if I accidentally spammed the discission boards (since I'll admit that my post isn't too serious, though I'll argue in my defense that it's on topic....) please forgive me and let me off with a warning. PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! I meant no harm I swear!!!!!! (and, yes, I worry a lot.....)

And, Gilgamesh, I hate cold too. I hate it oh, so much! My hell would be freezing, fly-infested, and very high (as in, witht he thin oxygen of high mountains. It would also have tons of computers with internet access. But, the internet would be slow, laggy, and stupid, and the service would go down frequently.

[Jack of Spades]

No, you won't be. There is a rule about no religious discussions on these boards. I'd say that this will be borederline. Don't be surprised if it is closed.....

ish...that'd definately(sp?) suck. Mods if this violates the "No Religious Discussion Rule" I'm sorry

Or, try thinking to yourself whats the worst possible place/situation you could be in. Then, imagine having to experience that constantly, for ever and ever and ever. Ouch, huh?

hmmm...my personal hell is to be locked in a room with no sensory input. No light, no smells, no feeling, no taste, and no sound. Just me in darkness as my mind falls into insanity and reality ceases to exist in my mind.

[Robot Jesus]

That’s easy, complete loss of personal identity would be my idea of hell, to lose ones self and merely be part of something greater to me is the most horrid form of death. For while your heart still beats you are nothing and are therefore dead. The individual is all important the horde meaningless. This is also why I hate clubs.

[phil_]

Since religion is frowned upon, I'll use the magic of (crummy) similes. Hell is like if, after waiting all your life, you finally got to meet the greatest person you'd ever heard of and found out that he was even greater than you thought he'd be. Then you're pulled away in less than a second never to see him again. You'd know that there are others who get to chill with him all the time, and some of those guys used to be jerks, but you'd have to spend forever away from him. Your anger and indignation of being stuck away from him would grow forever and eventually comsume you entirely. Kinda like Gollum, only worse.

It is a simile if I don't capitalize the 'H", right?

[WanderingActor]

Hell is a broad term. If you were to associate it with say, hell on earth, that would be a tangent idea, where everything that could possibly go wrong does and all things bad seem to happen to you.

However, hell is, unnavoidably, spiritual.

The real defenition of hell is where a soul finds eternal punishment for sins and crimes commited while living.

Laymans: You get what's coming to you.

However, to believe in hell you must believe in an afterlife, which requires you to be at least a little spiritually open-minded. If you don't believe there is life after death, then hell is just a way to scare people into doing what society deems correct.

[Thanatos]

Ok the idea of the firery pits of hell comes from misinterpretation. The original Hebrew word Sheol (sp?) was actually an eternally burning trash pit just outside of Jerusalem. The term sheol also means the grave, so the two were combined as one idea in the greek tradition which has carried on to this day.
My idea of hell...I'll try not to get to religious on this, but it's difficult not to. Hell is to be outside the glory of God. Heaven is to be with God placing us completely in his glory. On Earth his Glory can reach us, but it is not nearly as strong. But God's glory does not extend to Hell.

[Packman]

Life (j/k)

Hell is a place devoid of God.
I equate God with Love.
That should be enough for your imagination to work. Imagine if you existed, but you couldnt love anything. If you couldnt love your computer, food, mother, freedom, or anything else that has a meaning in your life.

This is what it is to die without God. That is traditionally the true meaning of hell. Yet many people are confused they think that if they live a 'good life' or 'good enough life' that they will be exempt. Rather all people who die without God will not find him in the next life. Fundamental stuff! Not really a religious view considering its public knowledge.