In the religious debate thread the topic of hell has come up a couple times. It's certainly relevant to the issue of belief in God since apparent inconsistencies in the character of the biblical God are often highlighted by atheists as a reason for disbelief, eternal torment in hell by a supposed God of love being a common one. However, as the moderator pointed out, a discussion of the religious doctrine and the biblical basis for it is outside the scope of that thread. Fair enough, but I would like to continue the discussion.
As I described in my last post on the subject, I believe that "hell" as used in the Bible refers to the common grave of mankind, to which both righteous and wicked people go. In other words, it's basically the state of being dead, as opposed to being alive. Since individuals in the Bible are described as being brought back to life (i.e., resurrected), it would follow that such a hell is not a permanent state. I also explained that I believe that the scriptures that refer to Gehenna and the "lake of fire" refer to eternal destruction, a judgment which does not have the hope of restoration to life. So an individual who is figuratively thrown into the "lake of fire" is dead for good. End of story. I provided a few scriptures to support those views in that post, but if you would like more, let me know. I'd be happy to oblige.
Obviously, I am well aware that this is not the mainstream Christian view of what "hell" means. However, when I asked people to explain why they believed as they did, nobody actually provided any reasons. One atheist stated that the Bible couldn't serve as a basis for belief, but it shouldn't take long to realize that doesn't make much sense. It's fine if he doesn't accept the Bible as inspired by God, but if a person does, then wrong or not, it's logical for him or her to form beliefs regarding the afterlife based on what the Bible says. What I'm really trying to point out, however, is that most religious people who claim to base their belief on the Bible can't actually use it to explain their beliefs. And further, I believe that this applies not only to individuals but to the great majority of Christian churches. There are so many church doctrines, hellfire included, which are based on church traditions and incorporation of the beliefs of other religions, rather than the Bible. Therefore, just as the thrust of the argument about the existence of God revolved around establishing a logical basis for one's opinions, I would like to see a logical discussion, based on the Bible or otherwise, for why you do or don't believe in Hell, and if so, what you believe it to mean.
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In the religious debate thread the topic of hell has come up a couple times. It's certainly relevant to the issue of belief in God since apparent inconsistencies in the character of the biblical God are often highlighted by atheists as a reason for disbelief, eternal torment in hell by a supposed God of love being a common one. However, as the moderator pointed out, a discussion of the religious doctrine and the biblical basis for it is outside the scope of that thread. Fair enough, but I would like to continue the discussion.
As I described in my last post on the subject, I believe that "hell" as used in the Bible refers to the common grave of mankind, to which both righteous and wicked people go. In other words, it's basically the state of being dead, as opposed to being alive. Since individuals in the Bible are described as being brought back to life (i.e., resurrected), it would follow that such a hell is not a permanent state. I also explained that I believe that the scriptures that refer to Gehenna and the "lake of fire" refer to eternal destruction, a judgment which does not have the hope of restoration to life. So an individual who is figuratively thrown into the "lake of fire" is dead for good. End of story. I provided a few scriptures to support those views in that post, but if you would like more, let me know. I'd be happy to oblige.
Obviously, I am well aware that this is not the mainstream Christian view of what "hell" means. However, when I asked people to explain why they believed as they did, nobody actually provided any reasons. One atheist stated that the Bible couldn't serve as a basis for belief, but it shouldn't take long to realize that doesn't make much sense. It's fine if he doesn't accept the Bible as inspired by God, but if a person does, then wrong or not, it's logical for him or her to form beliefs regarding the afterlife based on what the Bible says. What I'm really trying to point out, however, is that most religious people who claim to base their belief on the Bible can't actually use it to explain their beliefs. And further, I believe that this applies not only to individuals but to the great majority of Christian churches. There are so many church doctrines, hellfire included, which are based on church traditions and incorporation of the beliefs of other religions, rather than the Bible. Therefore, just as the thrust of the argument about the existence of God revolved around establishing a logical basis for one's opinions, I would like to see a logical discussion, based on the Bible or otherwise, for why you do or don't believe in Hell, and if so, what you believe it to mean.
Any takers?
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