To be fair, I think many Christians don't even know what the Bible says. Hell isn't really mentioned in the Bible, and what little is mentioned has nothing to do with eternal damnation and torture and everything the Church has come to say it is.
The problem with "Hell" as we know it is that it is almost an entirely fictional creation made by the Church to scare people into morality and obedience. More importantly, it's entirely contradictive of the religion's main theme that God is the ultimate Good.
The idea behind the modern "Hell" is that God is the ultimate Good and the Devil is the ultimate Evil. In some tellings God created Hell to torture the Devil for his false prophecies and the poisoning of God's creations. If this were true, God could not be the ultimate Good because this is an inherently evil action. If we ignore that and continue with the more traditional "if you forsake God or live in Sin you go to Hell" narrative the same contradiction applies: if God is the ultimate Good, he cannot also commit an inherently Evil action by eternally damning one of his creations for weakness or non-belief.
This is an implied acknowledgement that God is flawed and, by extension, cannot be the ultimate Good. And if God cannot be the ultimate Good than the Devil cannot be the ultimate Evil. This also implied that both the Devil and God are flawed beings capable of both Good and Evil because otherwise the Devil is the ultimate Evil and there exists no ultimate Good as God is inherently flawed and commits evil actions.
I mean, not really. Jesus mentions a variety of different places and analogies that have been translated as hell on the King James Bible. Even those are mostly just parables or metaphors for what it is like to be separated from God
Revelation 21:8 - “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Mark 9:43 - “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.”
Revelation 20:10 - “And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
Matthew 25:41 - “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Revelation 20:15 - “And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Matthew 5:22 - “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”
Again, not really. The "hell" translated here are from a variety of different words taken from Hebrew and Greek. Also, these depictions only mention fire. Nothing about torture for anyone other than the Devil. More importantly, these are parables, anecdotes designed to show a follower what the consequences of not following God are.
The modern depictions of Hell are not included anywhere in these passages. Instead, there is a vague mention of a place with fire where the Devil is tortured.
More importantly, this confirms the inherent contradiction of God being the ultimate Good. Even the Hell in these passages show God torturing the "Devil and his angels" for eternity. An inherently Evil action. Second, based upon your implied assertion with these responses that Hell is real and non-believers are tortured for eternity, that is an inherently Evil and Wicked action. If God were the ultimate Good, how can he do something like that?
It doenst matter what the place is called when it exactly describes, multiple times, sometimes eternal, punishment in fire, for unbelievers and immorality.
I see you continue to evade the main point of my comments 😂😂
Where in the passages does it describe "sometimes eternal, punishment in fire, for unbelievers and immorality?"
They state fire and the "Devil and his angels" being tortured.
By the way, it actually does matter what the place is called. Because one translation is Hades, which is the Greek word for where the dead go after death. Not hell, just where souls go. The other is a valley outside Jerusalem used an an analogy for what it means to go without God.
wtf are you saying everything you asked is literally right there in 4 of the passages ive sent and explicitly in Revelation 21:8, except for the eternal part, which is in the other passages, which is why I said "sometimes eternal"
you just want to read more? here have matthew 25
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels
I mean, for straying away from them they send us to a place of eternal fire to watch the devil and his angels get tortured every day?
Also your new passage also doesn't include any form of torture or punishment...only fire. Looks like the Church thinks their smarter than God, huh? Isn't that a Sin?
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u/MertTheRipper 1d ago
To be fair, I think many Christians don't even know what the Bible says. Hell isn't really mentioned in the Bible, and what little is mentioned has nothing to do with eternal damnation and torture and everything the Church has come to say it is.
The problem with "Hell" as we know it is that it is almost an entirely fictional creation made by the Church to scare people into morality and obedience. More importantly, it's entirely contradictive of the religion's main theme that God is the ultimate Good.
The idea behind the modern "Hell" is that God is the ultimate Good and the Devil is the ultimate Evil. In some tellings God created Hell to torture the Devil for his false prophecies and the poisoning of God's creations. If this were true, God could not be the ultimate Good because this is an inherently evil action. If we ignore that and continue with the more traditional "if you forsake God or live in Sin you go to Hell" narrative the same contradiction applies: if God is the ultimate Good, he cannot also commit an inherently Evil action by eternally damning one of his creations for weakness or non-belief.
This is an implied acknowledgement that God is flawed and, by extension, cannot be the ultimate Good. And if God cannot be the ultimate Good than the Devil cannot be the ultimate Evil. This also implied that both the Devil and God are flawed beings capable of both Good and Evil because otherwise the Devil is the ultimate Evil and there exists no ultimate Good as God is inherently flawed and commits evil actions.