The whole reason pain exists--to warn or remind us that we're damaged--is because we're mortal. What's the point of a fire alarm once the building's gone
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Hell is the thing about religion that makes me the angriest. Most people can agree that torture is wrong, yet somehow torture FOR ETERNITY is good and just? If I thought there was *really* some kind of supreme being who would torture people ("His children!!!") for ETERNITY, I would consider that being the worst kind of evil, and oppose "him" in any way I could.
I could never be a part of any religion that accepts the concept of eternal torture as a just punishment for earthly deeds. It's sadistic and sick. The only conception of "hell" that seems remotely moral is the one where hell is simply being cut off from the presence of God.
I also think there's pretty good evidence that the lake-of-fire, devils-with-whips version of hell helps to create a culture that condones and encourages child abuse. See those terrifying fundamentalist "discipline" manuals. After all, God the Father tortures His children, so why shouldn't you?
In a similar vein, I'd like to register my irritation at the translation of the Hebrew Sheol as "hell." Jews don't do Hell. Sheol is just the grave, death as a place. Don't try to drag my people into your weird ideas of eternal torment!
It could be alternating types of pain (maybe between psychological and physical torture)? Then you'd have eternal pain but it would be varied enough to keep you suffering. Or, they just pick something you'll never get used to. Like Vogon poetry.
But, really, Hell exists to motivate people to toe the line and pay their church dues.
A question I've not asked before: Do undead creatures feel pain? Certainly, immortals do (like Zeus, from whose headache sprung one of his children - Athena).*
I love what you've written, and couldn't agree more with everything you said.
* Whereas mortal creatures are real and not fictional, though.
It probably depends on the paradigm, I guess? And the type of creature. The Greek gods were pretty much like mortals with superpowers, so it makes sense that they'd feel pain.
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I could never be a part of any religion that accepts the concept of eternal torture as a just punishment for earthly deeds. It's sadistic and sick. The only conception of "hell" that seems remotely moral is the one where hell is simply being cut off from the presence of God.
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(Very upsetting link, highly triggering: http://godsownparty.com/blog/2010/02/the-pearls-are-swine-religiously-motivated-child-abuse-part-i/)
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But, really, Hell exists to motivate people to toe the line and pay their church dues.
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www.free-ebooks.net/ebook/Quenched-What-Everyone-Especially-Christians-Should-Know-About-Hell/pdf/view
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I love what you've written, and couldn't agree more with everything you said.
* Whereas mortal creatures are real and not fictional, though.
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