Does hell exist?

[Moon Knight]

Hell exists, but I have no particular certainty about what the nature of its existence is. It may be a literal place in space in a dimension of spirit, or it may just be a state of mind.

My personal leaning is that we are in hell right now, either again, as a place or state of mind.

I suppose I am supposed to answer why I feel this way though. The short answer would be that I feel there is wisdom in the Bible. Perhaps we won't all agree on religion or even the existence of God, but I think it can be said that there is wisdom to be found there. Given that, the experiences and teachings of many mystics in history, and a certain degree of confirmation in other cultures with their own ideas of an underworld, I feel there is something that was being communicated by the concept of Hell.

[Chris OConnor]

Most people in the world do not believe the Bible is the inspired word of a deity. They don't believe in the God, heaven or hell of the Bible.

So hell exists in your opinion. And you base it on the Bible. What do you say to the 2/3 of the world that thinks you're wrong?

[Moon Knight]

Most people in the world do not believe the Bible is the inspired word of a deity. They don't believe in the God, heaven or hell of the Bible.

So hell exists in your opinion. And you base it on the Bible. What do you say to the 2/3 of the world that thinks you're wrong?

I think you misunderstood my explanation a bit.

Whether the Bible is the inspired word of a deity or not it would seem to me to be a source of wise words. That and the belief in an underworld amongst other religions seems to suggest that there is something that hell/underworld is meant to represent.

Hell is part of an otherwise enriching message of philosophical truth and spiritual enlightenment. I am willing to take the word of ancient sages unless I find that it fails to fit into the understanding of the broader reality that I have.

You mention people not believing in the "hell of the bible", but I noted that hell could represent either a fairly literal place, or a more abstract idea. The Bible is open to interpretation and I am not willing to dismiss any possible interpretation without first considering someone's reasoning.

I only posit that "something" exists that the word "hell" or "underworld" is meant to represent.

[My books]

In an episode of the tv show Angel, the main character decends an elevator to "hell" and when it reaches the bottom and opens, he steps out into a street in LA. I'm most prone to agree with that interpretation of hell, it seems like there is not much worse that can be done to us that we don't do to each other. I don't believe in hell besides what we inflict on ourselves and others.

Wierdly enough, I do believe in heaven. It's an endless library with really comfy sofas.

[Seshet]

It's a scare tactic in combination of several legends throughout time and history to scare people into behaving themselves. Seriously-who needs that kind of stress?

[Robert Tulip]

Hell no, what the hell...

As I said in the Harrison 50 reasons discussion

The agenda should be to retain what is useful from religion within a scientific framework. Hence it is a matter of re-interpreting Christian concepts rather than opposing them - looking at how they are useful within a materialist framework rather than simply critiquing them on an objective basis. If heaven is redefined as our goal for the earth, (as per the Lord's Prayer) we can find a lot more meaning in the Gospels than if we define heaven and hell as imaginary abodes of human immortality (as per the church). On this basis, hell can be redefined as anything that weakens our connection to our real cosmic identity, while heaven is about restoring that connection to enable human fulfillment.

[Frank 013]

No, there is no heaven or hell... both are ideas stolen from older pagan religions, which is why they seem so predominant among many modern religions.

There is not one iota of credible evidence to support either a heaven or a hell.

Considering how flawed the stories of their existence are I do not see how anyone could believe such tall tails.

Later

[Sheila]

I read over the remarks on this with great interest.

Firstly I'll say that I believe hell exists. My reasoning is based on the Bible. I think thats self explanitory so I wont go into detail.

I find it interesting how many people, (I'm not reffering to any of the posts) chose to believe in heaven and yet not hell. But it seems to me that there are always opposites in the world. We all, (I assume) recognize the difference between good and bad people. There is black and white, tall and short, cold and hot ect. ect. You get the picture. So if you believe in heaven, (which I do) regardless of if you believe in the Bible (which I do again) there will be an opposite, hell, as well. I mean it only makes sense, at least to me.

Anyways thats a little of my take on it.

[lemme think]

There is no heaven, there is no hell.

yes, there is good and evil,
yes, there is hot and cold, and
yes, there is alive and dead


Religions are mythology, and while some of the stories are quite charming and may be useful for teaching a moral lesson, many fall into quite the "opposite" category.

Obviously a thorough study of the "creation" of heaven and hell could take a lifetime to research thoroughly, but this thread has already pointed out common reasons for their creation -- heaven is a fantasy that many use to feel better about the death of their loved ones and the inevitability of their own death, and hell is a fantasy that has been used to control others.

[Interbane]

Of course it doesn't. Heaven + Hell = Carrot on a Stick. It's part of a belief trap meme.