Originally Posted by Aced
....and there's another reason I hope there's no heaven. Hell I can handle. But heaven's looking pretty hellish, frankly.
Incidentally, are there any tests for proficiency in grammar and punctuation when you apply to homeschool your children?
Last edited by MarkBastable; 08-04-2010 at 06:11 PM.
Well, Aced, if you're trying to put people off any god, you're doing a remarkably good job. Surely, the whole point of a belief structure is to show people how much better life can be with it, in specifics, rather than telling them things that, frankly, cannot be backed up with scripture. How many wars have been caused by those who dogmatically state that their beliefs are correct, and will not listen to the point of view of others, and then respect them, even if they are diametrically opposed to ones own. If you look, in great depth, not just skating the surface, at the Hebrew word Sheol and the Greek equivalent Haides, and analyse what has been translated so many different ways in different translations of the scriptures, what is on offer is a lot better than the threats that are currently being bandied about. hell has been used as a frightener for far too long, and brings disrepute not only upon the god that humans say created it, (a falsehood that is easy to disprove), but upon those who employ it too.
Dafydd Manton, A Legend In His Own Lunchtime!!www.dafydd-manton.co.uk
My Work Has Been Spread Over Many Fields!
There is no such thing as a Hell. The only permanent, eternal reality there is, is simply that - Reality; the Infinite; Om; God, etc. There's no eternal reality called hell.
You're dead right.
Dafydd Manton, A Legend In His Own Lunchtime!!
My Work Has Been Spread Over Many Fields!
I agree. I can think of nothing worse than spending an eternity doing anything.
Imagine the torment after the first billion years, knowing that there's still eternity to go.
Sounds far worse than hell every could.
Besides, all my mates will be there!
People like that are the best sales pitch for atheism in existence!
Go to work, get married, have some kids, pay your taxes, pay your bills, watch your tv, follow fashion, act normal, obey the law and repeat after me: "I am free."
Anon
<<<<<<<<<Is God a projection of our thoughts only? >>>>>>>>
No! Good and Evil are!!
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When asked how World War III would be fought, Einstein replied that he didn't know. But he knew how World War IV would be fought: With sticks and stones.
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~
"It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
~
The question of heaven and hell has been looked at in another thread recently, and the position I put recently was if there can be hellish conditions on earth, then if you believe in an afterlife, then the possibility of hell exists thereafter. Heavens a bit more problematic - heavenly conditions on earth?
Heaven and Hell on this Earth are 'circumstantial', both depending on YOUR own Will to act as you will. The 'consequential' Heaven and Hell is in the hereafter......depending on God's Will who is All Merciful and Magnificient.
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When asked how World War III would be fought, Einstein replied that he didn't know. But he knew how World War IV would be fought: With sticks and stones.
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This is incorret. Whose will created hellish conditions for Cambodians under Pol Pot - not their own. Same for the Nazis etc. There are slao enviromental hells such as forest fires, eruptions, weather conditions etc. Wghose will are those?
Another example is where people are suffering from mental illness and experience their own hellish mental conditions. That's not a circumstance of will, but may be physiological.
Haribol , if you ask about God as an essence, the whatness of a thing , as opposed to the thatness of a thing , i.e ,its existence , then God could be a projection of our thoughts only because we could think of the essence of sth without knowing whether it exists or not .Is God a projection of our thoughts only?
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Most of you do not agree. I often wonder how man can carve out a figure that he has never seen.
The Bible or the rest of theologies are man's projections and how can man project things he has never seen.
But there is one Being alone whose essence is His very existence and that is God .
Last edited by caddy_caddy; 08-05-2010 at 09:46 AM.
Anecdote of a Contemplative
''A madman, a fool of God, went naked when other men went clothed. He
said: "O God, give me a beautiful garment than I shall be content as
other men." A voice from the unseen world answered him: "I have
given you a warm sun, sit down and revel in it." The madman
said: "Why punish me? Haven't you a better garment than the sun?"
The voice said: "Wait patiently for ten days, and without more ado I
will give you another garment." The sun scorched him for eight days;
then a poor man came along and gave him a garment which had a
thousand patches. The fool said to God: "O you who have knowledge of
hidden things, why have you given me this patched-up garment? Have
you burnt all your garments and had to patch up this old one? You
have sewn together a thousand garments. From whom have you learned
this art?"
It is not easy to have dealings at the Court of God. A man must
become as the dust of the road which leads there. After a long
struggle he thinks he has reached the goal only to discover that it
is still to be attained.''
--Fariduddin Attar
from The Conference of the Birds
C. S. Nott version
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When asked how World War III would be fought, Einstein replied that he didn't know. But he knew how World War IV would be fought: With sticks and stones.
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Is that an answer to whether hell is circumstantial? If it is, I don't think it answers the question about hell on earth. If not - what is the significance of it?
Heaven and Hell are analogous to REWARD and PUNISHMENT and needless to say both greatly depend on your ACTIONS!
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When asked how World War III would be fought, Einstein replied that he didn't know. But he knew how World War IV would be fought: With sticks and stones.
-(:===============
I see - thanks. So are you saying that natural disasters are punishments - as they create hellish conditions for those that suffer them? Or is your definition of hell narrower than this?
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