Hell isn't literal, the worst punishment is that your conscience ceases to exist.

[Octavio Siepi]

I was reading Miguel de Unamuno who was a spanish Catholic thinker and he says something very interesting which is that given our longing as a species to preserve our individual conscience that the worst that could happen to one person would be to die and that your conscience ceased to exist. He even says he would prefer hell over it because at least he could have his individual conscience in hell.

This leads me to believe that probably the punishment for all the evil people is that their conscience will be erased forever from this world and they will cease to exist when they die. Good people on the contrary will have eternal life.
So hell isn't a literal place where you're tortured but the worst possible punishment isin fact ceasing to exist forever.

 

[The Reverend Bob]

You mean consciousness. And it is not the worst punishment for people like me. Living blissfully and mindlessly in happy-land for all eternity seems worse.

 

[Trailblazer]

I was reading Miguel de Unamuno who was a spanish Catholic thinker and he says something very interesting which is that given our longing as a species to preserve our individual conscience that the worst that could happen to one person would be to die and that your conscience ceased to exist. He even says he would prefer hell over it because at least he could have his individual conscience in hell.

This leads me to believe that probably the punishment for all the evil people is that their conscience will be erased forever from this world and they will cease to exist when they die. Good people on the contrary will have eternal life.
So hell isn't a literal place where you're tortured but the worst possible punishment isin fact ceasing to exist forever.

I believe that people make their own heaven or hell and thereby end up where they do by virtue of their own free will choices. If they choose to live for God and follow in His Way they will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but if they choose to live for self, the world, and things of the flesh, then that is where their mind will be at and in the end their soul will sink into the depths. You can call it hell if you want to, but it is a thought region, not a geographical location.

“Thou hast asked Me concerning the nature of the soul. Know, verily, that the soul is a sign of God, a heavenly gem whose reality the most learned of men hath failed to grasp, and whose mystery no mind, however acute, can ever hope to unravel. It is the first among all created things to declare the excellence of its Creator, the first to recognize His glory, to cleave to His truth, and to bow down in adoration before Him. If it be faithful to God, it will reflect His light, and will, eventually, return unto Him. If it fail, however, in its allegiance to its Creator, it will become a victim to self and passion, and will, in the end, sink in their depths.” Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 158-159

Here is a short video depiction of heaven and hell, according to my religion, the Baha’i Faith.

 

[dybmh]

hell isn't a literal place

I agree.

the punishment for all the evil people is that their conscience will be erased forever from this world and they will cease to exist when they die.

I disagree.

 

[Trailblazer]

I disagree.

What do you disagree with, that the punishment for all the evil people is that their conscience will be erased forever from this world or do you disagree that they will cease to exist when they die?

 

[David T]

You mean consciousness. And it is not the worst punishment for people like me. Living blissfully and mindlessly in happy-land for all eternity seems worse.

Oh like the american dream! Apparently you are in hell!

Ok its not hell its heaven everyone goes to heaven. But if you are bad you are forced to be with those who annoy you the most!!! Thus you were bad in a previous life!!! Be good or will end up right back here with the same complaint and yosemite will be a luxury condo golf course site for the elite and detroit will be considered luxury living for the masses. One giant detroit tower!!!!!

 

[The Reverend Bob]

Oh like the american dream! Apparently you are in hell!

Ok its not hell its heaven everyone goes to heaven. But if you are bad you are forced to be with those who annoy you the most!!! Thus you were bad in a previous life!!! Be good or will end up right back here with the same complaint and yosemite will be a luxury condo golf course site for the elite and detroit will be considered luxury living for the masses. One giant detroit tower!!!!!

 

[David T]

Well you know the mystics of old were always a bit forward thinking. They never said it cant be reimagined, now did they. Be good or you will go to heaven But in a lousy neighborhood.

Of course the sheep would then quickly theo logic their way to "you live in a baaaaaaaaad neighborhood therefore you were baaaaaad in a previous life!"

Such is life! Baaaaaaaah!!!

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

I'm starting to think the greatest hell is that which corrupt religious leaders try to create.

 

[dybmh]

What do you disagree with, that the punishment for all the evil people is that their conscience will be erased forever from this world or do you disagree that they will cease to exist when they die?

it seems too simple to me...

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

it seems too simple to me...

Well, consider an awful murderer who gets life in prison or the death penalty. They've paid their debt. Would it then be right for them to get a second helping of punishment in the afterlife?

 

[Trailblazer]

it seems too simple to me...

That's true, it is more complicated than that.

 

[Uncommon Sense]

I'm starting to think the greatest hell is that which corrupt religious leaders try to create.

The amount of the weak-minded I’ve met who cry so much throughout their lives because of fear and worry for their loved ones or themselves going to hell is way too many. Nothing against even being weak-minded, but all of the prey off of the vulnerable is disgusting. Most of them are elderly women. If there is any kind of hell ~ I hope they get doses of what they had created.

 

[Trailblazer]

Well, consider an awful murderer who gets life in prison or the death penalty. They've paid their debt. Would it then be right for them to get a second helping of punishment in the afterlife?

According to my beliefs, the murderer who got the death penalty will not get a second punishment, but the murderer who got life in prison might. That's all I know. Only God knows the rest.

 

[dybmh]

Well, consider an awful murderer who gets life in prison or the death penalty. They've paid their debt. Would it then be right for them to get a second helping of punishment in the afterlife?

That's a good example.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I was reading Miguel de Unamuno who was a spanish Catholic thinker and he says something very interesting which is that given our longing as a species to preserve our individual conscience that the worst that could happen to one person would be to die and that your conscience ceased to exist. He even says he would prefer hell over it because at least he could have his individual conscience in hell.

This leads me to believe that probably the punishment for all the evil people is that their conscience will be erased forever from this world and they will cease to exist when they die. Good people on the contrary will have eternal life.
So hell isn't a literal place where you're tortured but the worst possible punishment isin fact ceasing to exist forever.

Forever is a relative term.

 

[osgart]

I believe that people make their own heaven or hell and thereby end up where they do by virtue of their own free will choices. If they choose to live for God and follow in His Way they will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but if they choose to live for self, the world, and things of the flesh, then that is where their mind will be at and in the end their soul will sink into the depths. You can call it hell if you want to, but it is a thought region, not a geographical location.

“Thou hast asked Me concerning the nature of the soul. Know, verily, that the soul is a sign of God, a heavenly gem whose reality the most learned of men hath failed to grasp, and whose mystery no mind, however acute, can ever hope to unravel. It is the first among all created things to declare the excellence of its Creator, the first to recognize His glory, to cleave to His truth, and to bow down in adoration before Him. If it be faithful to God, it will reflect His light, and will, eventually, return unto Him. If it fail, however, in its allegiance to its Creator, it will become a victim to self and passion, and will, in the end, sink in their depths.” Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 158-159

Here is a short video depiction of heaven and hell, according to my religion, the Baha’i Faith.

Earth seems like a type of purgatory. The Crossroads between life and death. I do not think people realize how truly heavenly life can be if. Nor do they realize how horrific a hell can be.

If there is a God, the only place you can discover God is in the subjective heart of the individual soul. Nature itself is awe inspiring, and brutally savage.

Reminds me of the poem by Frost, 'The Road Less Traveled'.

As i see it some thirst for life, some for death. And people will get exactly what they thirst for. And maybe there is a lot of paths that to destructive people are very convincing, and very tempting. And only one road to life.

It seems that life only wants to give but wont be taken. And all other paths want to take and have no give.

 

[susanblange]

I was reading Miguel de Unamuno who was a spanish Catholic thinker and he says something very interesting which is that given our longing as a species to preserve our individual conscience that the worst that could happen to one person would be to die and that your conscience ceased to exist. He even says he would prefer hell over it because at least he could have his individual conscience in hell.

This leads me to believe that probably the punishment for all the evil people is that their conscience will be erased forever from this world and they will cease to exist when they die. Good people on the contrary will have eternal life.
So hell isn't a literal place where you're tortured but the worst possible punishment isin fact ceasing to exist forever.

Nobody rots forever in Hell except Satan. It is also not physical torture, it is mental terror. All sin is conceived of in the mind before being acted upon. If you don't go to Heaven, the death of the spirit can be immediate or you can spend time in Hell. Eventually, your spirit will be extinguished and you will cease to exist. You also cannot be reincarnated.

 

[Trailblazer]

Forever is a relative term.

How is that?
It seems pretty absolute to me.
It means without end.

 

[Trailblazer]

Earth seems like a type of purgatory. The Crossroads between life and death.

In a sense you are right, because Earth is like a waiting room, and if we believe there is an afterlife far better than this life, we are waiting to get there.

“Such is this mortal abode: a storehouse of afflictions and suffering. It is ignorance that binds man to it, for no comfort can be secured by any soul in this world, from monarch down to the most humble commoner. If once this life should offer a man a sweet cup, a hundred bitter ones will follow; such is the condition of this world. The wise man, therefore, doth not attach himself to this mortal life and doth not depend upon it; at some moments, even, he eagerly wisheth for death that he may thereby be freed from these sorrows and afflictions.” Selections From the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 200

“Verily I am pleased with both you and [your husband], and I ask God that you may find pleasure and ease in another world—for this earthly world is narrow, dark and frightful, rest cannot be imagined and happiness really is non-existent, everyone is captured in the net of sorrow, and is day and night enslaved by the chain of calamity; there is no one who is at all free or at rest from grief and affliction. Still, as the believers of God are turning to the limitless world, they do not become very depressed and sad by disastrous calamities—there is something to console them; but the others in no way have anything to comfort them at the time of calamity. Whenever a calamity and a hardship occurs, they become sad and disappointed, and hopeless of the bounty and the mercy of the Glorious Lord.” Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha Abbas, pp. 263-264

I am waiting and in a sense I am looking forward to it while at the same time I am very nervous, like someone about to take a trip to somewhere they have never been, but in this case there is no return ticket back to earth.

I do not think people realize how truly heavenly life can be if. Nor do they realize how horrific a hell can be.

That reminds me of what my mother-in-law once said to my husband: "I do not know if there is a heaven but I know there is a hell, because I have been in it all my life."
Ditto on that, except that I know there is a heaven.

If there is a God, the only place you can discover God is in the subjective heart of the individual soul. Nature itself is awe inspiring, and brutally savage

That is true, God can only be discovered in the heart. That is not something I have been very successful with because I am still angry at God for having created this brutal world and making us endure it.

Reminds me of the poem by Frost, 'The Road Less Traveled'.

As i see it some thirst for life, some for death. And people will get exactly what they thirst for. And maybe there is a lot of paths that to destructive people are very convincing, and very tempting. And only one road to life.

It seems that life only wants to give but wont be taken. And all other paths want to take and have no give.

Hmmmm.... As I see it and experience it, life only takes, it does not give much. then again, my life has been a storehouse of suffering with no end in sight. I only have the following to cling to, if I can hang on that long.

“O My servants! Sorrow not if, in these days and on this earthly plane, things contrary to your wishes have been ordained and manifested by God, for days of blissful joy, of heavenly delight, are assuredly in store for you. Worlds, holy and spiritually glorious, will be unveiled to your eyes. You are destined by Him, in this world and hereafter, to partake of their benefits, to share in their joys, and to obtain a portion of their sustaining grace. To each and every one of them you will, no doubt, attain.”
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 329