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What is Hell?
- Thread starter NathanShepard8888
- Start date
Only 99.99999... percent of all life. Leaving a good buddy and close family along with more than 56 million animals.
OK. I have met many other people who do not think so you are not alone that way.
"All life" includes many, many, many, many........other forms of it than "human".
So, that sentence doesn't make much sense as written. Why not YOU try it?
I'll try it again. All life includes many forms of life other than human.
How can anyone translate "all life" into "human life" only?
I am thinking, and I'll bet it is not surprising that I am, of all the underground life
and small flying things and creeping things. Have you never heard that there are more of them together than all of us together?
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Who sad all human life??? Oh you did, i said and i quote
"Leaving a good buddy and close family along with more than 56 million animals"
Note the phrases 'good buddy' 'close family' 'more than 56 million animals'
I do not know what that means. Oh yes, I see. My bad.
OK. Thank you. I am back on track now. I'm sorry.
I think I have said that humans are able to destroy ALL life on Earth.
Except maybe the cockroaches.
I think I have said that humans are able to destroy ALL life on Earth.
Except maybe the cockroaches.
You had said, "I agree there is nothing one person can do to cause an infinite amount of harm, but a human society can by allowing the destruction of life on the Earth" and I answered, "And if a deity does that - say with a global flood or fiery apocalypse?"
OK, drop the flood, since you are correct that that was not an end to life. If it's infinite harm for human society to obliterate all life, what do we call the apocalypse?
I think different about what the apocalypse means. You infer it means God will destroy the earth by fire. I don't believe such is the truth. It seems to me that the sun will finally do its thing and that would be the end of the Earth, but that wouldn't be God doing it.
OK, thanks for that. Yeah, that's pretty much what is taught to most Christians, although I don't know if you consider yourself a Christian. Your information says "religion: none."
So apocalyptic theology (eschatology) is apparently evolving as well. We've been seeing hell theology evolving for some time as this thread suggests with its diverse opinions regarding what hell means or is.
I'm also seeing more and more Christians distance themselves from the idea of a divine and infallible holy book. A few have pointed out that the church survived without a Bible for a few centuries, and that the Bible is therefore not the foundation of the religion.
It's pretty hard to find any two believers with the same beliefs. This may in part be due to the number that are unaffiliated with any denomination or congregation, which could be what you mean by having no religion. Actually, even the concept and definition of "religion" seems to be evolving.
I saw one recently distancing herself from omniscience, but not the way I would have. She said that God only knows what he wants to know. That still leaves Him responsible for evil. The chief benefit of making god the most knowing and powerful creature but not infinitely knowing and powerful is that He can't be blamed for what He know or do.
This is probably a good trend. People don't want to be affiliated with a god that tortures and kills. They reject this God:
"The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies." - Nahum 1:2
And it's a good trend to see more believers becoming independent of organized religion.
arthra
Baha'i
For Baha'is Hell is more of a spiritual condition of remoteness from God... It's not a place as such.. of course there have been various dscriptions of Hell but in our view these should be understood in symbolic and spiritual terms rather than be taken literally.
The following are some references from Baha'i sources:
"They say: 'Where is Paradise, and where is Hell?' Say: 'The one is reunion with Me; the other thine own self, O thou who dost associate a partner with God and doubtest.'
~ Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 132
"Be ye a rich treasure to every indigent one; consider love and union as a delectable paradise, and count annoyance and hostility as the torment of hell-fire."
~ Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith, p. 356
Baha'u'llah revealed in the following that the soul can progress and come into the presence of God:
"Know thou of a truth that the soul, after its separation from the body, will continue to progress until it attaineth the presence of God, in a state and condition which neither the revolution of ages and centuries, nor the changes and chances of this world, can alter. It will endure as long as the Kingdom of God, His sovereignty, His dominion and power will endure. It will manifest the signs of God and His attributes, and will reveal His loving kindness and bounty."
~ Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, LXXX
Also the mercy of God quenches the flames of hell:
"A drop out of the ocean of Thy mercy sufficeth to quench the flames of hell, and a spark of the fire of Thy love is enough to set ablaze a whole world."
~ Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 245
Justice......but the war of Armageddon is not the obliteration of all life either. It is the eviction of bad tenants. Just like Noah's day...there will be a relatively small number of survivors. (Matthew 7:13-14)
If, in having his message personally delivered to as many people as possible during this period of time the Bible calls "the last days", God has somehow failed in his duty of care, I don't know how the 'apocalypse' is unjustified. Just as in the garden of Eden, there was criteria for continued occupation of their garden paradise, so there is criteria for citizenship in a "new earth". (2 Peter 3:13) The first humans broke the rule and were evicted. The majority living in the world today are breaking God's laws and will face eviction too....permanently.
This planet is the property of its Creator. He had the right to set the terms of our tenancy here. Human society generally speaking, have abandoned belief in God, rejected his laws and made an almost complete wreck of the beautiful home that was given to them. If you were a Landlord and your tenants, (even if they were your own children,) broke every rule you gave them on a tenancy agreement and trashed your property, would you not be justified in evicting them?
Life was not given unconditionally.....