Have you ever thought seriously about ending up in hell?

[styley]

Maybe you believe in heaven and hell, and maybe you don't, I don't mind either way. But have you ever tried imagining, seriously, the thought of going to hell when you've died. Think about it, eternal suffering or whatever. As in forever and ever and EVER, no ending whatsoever. It is a very scary thought.

[naomi24]

I used to imagine it very vividly - and get sick to my stomach at the thought of hurtling downwards into eternal hell - but that was when I believed what church leaders told me. To implant such an horrendous idea into the minds of the vulnerable really is pure evil.

[China Doll]

Seriously? Not exactly no but my understanding has always been that presuming the catholic church teachings are correct and that is the true religion then it will be where I'm headed. (Unless I remember Waldo's script of what to say of course).

However... if you think a little harder how bad do you think hell would be? There's a theory (an absurdist one I think) that goes as long as you are concentrating on what you're doing or your mind is occupied then you're not going to be feeling anything.

To illustrate - There's a story of a man who is punished by God/Gods (I forget the specifics and indeed his name as ever) and his punishment is that he has to push this very heavy boulder up a hill. When he gets it to the top of the hill it of course rolls down and he must then go down the hill and roll it back up again. This is an eternal pinishment. Thing is, when he's pushing that boulder up he is concentrating and putting so much effort in to doing that he's not actually thinking about how much he's suffering. Indeed the only time he has to think about that is on his way down the hill to retrieve it. You could argue that this is the only time he is unhappy.

So if hell is the continued appliance of suffering, how long until you're just numb to it? Until the suffering is just part of your everyday life and you don't even think about it anymore?

[jake-the-peg]

l'enfer c'est les autres

[naomi24]

China, my visions of hell were more like this

http://plaza.ufl.edu/bigjay/Vision%20of%20Hell .jpg

Fortunately, I now know it's all nonsense.

[paulos66]

I think hell if it existed would probably be floating about on fluffy clouds harpsichord elevator music blasted out everywhere and everyone being sickly nice to each other in a 'have a nice day' sort of way; heaven may be drunken drug fuelled sexual orgies with no conscience to get in the way of enjoyment and it'd be nice and hot too

[naomi24]

paulos, your idea of heaven sounds like my current idea of hell.

[paulos66]

Just as well we're both deluded then

[jake-the-peg]

Every noticed how visions of hell are so much more detailed and lurid than those of heaven?

The church really worked less on a carrot and stick system and more on a grape and sledge-hammer

Oh and Dennis Wheatley has a lot to answer for too!

[chakka35]

No, I have never thought about it.
I find it far more terrifying to contemplate being tortured by the Inquisition or burnt at the stake for heresy.
After all, hell is a fiction that exists only in the imagination of religionists. The others are real terrors that were actually practiced by Christians and they would have happened to an atheist like me! Far more gulp-making.

[figure]

If I could survive here on earth I'm sure I'll survive in hell. ;-)

[feeenix]

Surely AB is 'hell on earth'

KMA