Nagging fear of hell

[Koko]

Does anybody get this? I've been reading about Islam lately, and trust me, no one does hell like the Muslims. Is anybody out there dealing with this? or has dealt with this? I'm assuming most people here were raised as religious children only to abandon their religious beliefs in time.

It makes a nice retort though to Christians who ask "what if your wrong?" The second level of Islamic hell is reserved for Christians and Jews, immersed in fire 70 times hotter than earthly fire, boiling water and oil poured over your head, forced to wear clothes of molten brass. An angel keeps you chained up and keeps telling you to taste the fire that you denied etc etc, I'm sure you can imagine the rest.

 

[kenandkids]

I have no fear of hell. I'm also not afraid of being jettisoned into space, stranded in the Mariana trench, or being stuffed into a unicorn's ass. None of these can or will happen, thus no fear.

 

[Prolescum]

I'm assuming most people here were raised as religious children only to abandon their religious beliefs in time.

Not in my case

It makes a nice retort though to Christians who ask "what if your wrong?"

Eh? It's a feeble attempt at manipulation and I don't tolerate that in my house.

The second level of Islamic hell is reserved for Christians and Jews, immersed in fire 70 times hotter than earthly fire, boiling water and oil poured over your head, forced to wear clothes of molten brass. An angel keeps you chained up and keeps telling you to taste the fire that you denied etc etc, I'm sure you can imagine the rest.

How risible does that sound to you? I mean, really... Clothes of molten brass? That torture is as generic as a tabloid horoscope.

 

[Unwardil]

I have never had the slightest fear that the religious might be right about there being a hell. What scares me more is that people continue to buy it and be manipulated by the fear of it. Fear of oblivion, fine, I guess that's reasonable, except that it isn't if you actually think about it. About the only thing I fear about dying is that it will come in some incredibly tortuous method, where I'll be kept alive unnaturally and unnecessarily for weeks on end existing as some kind of a half brain dead zombie, yet retaining enough of my consciousness that the last agonizing days of my life FEEL like an eternity of suffering. But once that's done not being alive is exactly like not having been born yet.

Besides, even if there were some kind of conscious energy field that were to persist beyond death (and there very very VERY probably isn't) the ability to feel pain is or, indeed, any tactile sensation at all is linked directly to your nervous system, without which, it would be a matter of complete indifference how hot a fire burned around you. You'd be unable to feel it.

Actually, something that hot would probably not register a nervous reaction either, given as how your entire body would be disintegrated immediately by such heat. There's actually only a very narrow band of heat your nerves can actually feel. Ever touched something really really cold or really really hot? You don't even feel it at first because your nerves don't even know what to make of it. They're not calibrated to those extreme temperatures.

So quite apart from the fact that there is no hell and that even if there were, without a body you'd be unable to be tortured in it, the methods of torture are so extreme as to actually be totally ineffectual as torture.

 

[Andiferous]

I stopped believing in hell a long time ago. Cuz I'd rather be in hell than send other people to hell.

 

[)O( Hytegia )O(]

Pfft.

The River Styx is worse. Condemned for eternity with a penalty based upon your earthly vices?

At least it's not a generic blanket punishment bullshit. And you go there, regardless of your dedication to the Gods or the good you've done in your life.
:roll:

With THAT as an inevitability, why waste your time pussy-footing around with worrying about death?

 

[Sparky]

Pfft.

The River Styx is worse. Condemned for eternity with a penalty based upon your earthly vices?

At least it's not a generic blanket punishment bullshit. And you go there, regardless of your dedication to the Gods or the good you've done in your life.
:roll:

With THAT as an inevitability, why waste your time pussy-footing around with worrying about death?

Not quite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterlife#Ancient_Greek_and_Roman

 

[Abletony]

Does anybody get this? I've been reading about Islam lately, and trust me, no one does hell like the Muslims. Is anybody out there dealing with this? or has dealt with this? I'm assuming most people here were raised as religious children only to abandon their religious beliefs in time.

It makes a nice retort though to Christians who ask "what if your wrong?" The second level of Islamic hell is reserved for Christians and Jews, immersed in fire 70 times hotter than earthly fire, boiling water and oil poured over your head, forced to wear clothes of molten brass. An angel keeps you chained up and keeps telling you to taste the fire that you denied etc etc, I'm sure you can imagine the rest.

There's no evidence to suggest that muslims like hell. What makes you think they do?

 

[Noth]

I'd have to confess, getting rid of the fear of hell took me longer than not believing in it any longer. Up until a few years ago I was fully aware I was experiencing an irrational fear of this 'hell' despite already being an atheist at the time. It's something that was ingrained into my being from early childhood on. And while the number of fire and brimstone sermons were not too vast over the years of my upbringing I did have a very vivid idea of what this 'hell' would be like. It continued to haunt me as I was losing faith.
Funnily enough, conversely it helped me leave Christianity behind, which led to a path towards simple atheism that took another two years or so. It was (among a few other titbits) the very concept of hell and an all-loving god being OK with sending people to such a place that triggered my disgust as I thought about it longer and longer.
Today, if confronted by religious folk about hell I have no problem explaining to them that their god is an immoral bastard if the concept of hell holds any grain of truth. That fear I've managed to put behind me for a while now - something for which I thank a prolonged exposure to scepticism
As for turning it back on the people who talk to you about hell: of course . Helping Christians understand that their fear is irrational by exposing them to another religion that has them going to hell instead might or might not work, at least it'll get the Christians off your back

 

[Welshidiot]

Heaven and Hell are both silly concepts.

 

[australopithecus]

What Welshy said.

 

[Andiferous]

This is getting a bit off topic, but:

The Elysium Fields were for the ones that were good and sinned minimally. It was green (plants), happy and the sun always shined.

The Elysium Fields was the afterlife promised to heroes and warriors. Since women didn't technically have souls in Greek and Roman philosophy, they were not likely to find a place in the afterlife at all.

 

[Anachronous Rex]

This is getting a bit off topic, but:

The Elysium Fields were for the ones that were good and sinned minimally. It was green (plants), happy and the sun always shined.

The Elysium Fields was the afterlife promised to heroes and warriors. Since women didn't technically have souls in Greek and Roman philosophy, they were not likely to find a place in the afterlife at all.

I suppose I should point out that this view was not held consistently. But I'm nit-picking... this is basically true.

 

[Andiferous]

i <3 you.

Plato as a disciple of Aristole taught this forthwith (if otherwise, I really want to know.).

 

[Anachronous Rex]

i <3 you.

Plato as a disciple of Aristole taught this forthwith (if otherwise, I really want to know.).

Well, actually Aristotle as a disciple of Plato taught this... but it should be noted that Aristotle was not a religious authority, it was merely the enormous respect the ancient world held for him that kept his views on gender and religion popular - as well as other ideas, like the notion that flies have 4 legs... apparently he was so respected that nobody bothered to count clear up through the middle ages.

 

[RedYellow]

I would fear heaven as much as hell if I believed in either. I mean it seems like going to hell would be the only truly independent choice humanity had, given that the alternative would be mindless and unending supplication at the feet of a being who created me for this sole purpose, yet would be ultimately be indifferent to my absence there. Seriously, is it possible to have differing opinions in heaven? Independent thought?

Given this, I think I would already be in hell no matter where I went. Hell would be a reality where everything fundamentalists have been saying is true.

 

[Leçi]

I actually just fear dying itself, having no state of conciousness anymore frightens me. Believing in a heaven or hell seems illogical to me so I have no fear of that.

 

[Dustnite]

I fear no enemy!
For the Khala is my strength!
I fear not death.
For our strength is eternal.

I've come pretty close to death a couple times and I have to say it doesn't bug me as much as it used to. Now, I'm just so damn tired...

 

[nefariousvirtuoso]

Hell = :lol:
I worry more about shark attacks than hell even though I dont live near the sea and the sea near me doesn't have sharks in.
I get threatened with hell quite often.
I find inquiring if Father Christmas ( Santa Claus ) delivers presents to hell often embarrasses them into silence.

 

[nemesiss]

It makes a nice retort though to Christians who ask "what if your wrong?" The second level of Islamic hell is reserved for Christians and Jews, immersed in fire 70 times hotter than earthly fire, boiling water and oil poured over your head, forced to wear clothes of molten brass. An angel keeps you chained up and keeps telling you to taste the fire that you denied etc etc, I'm sure you can imagine the rest.

this form of hell would be very "humane" because your nerves would be burned away instantly, so you could never feel the pain.