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Does Hell Make Scientific or Spiritual Sense?
- Thread starter Sunstone
- Start date
Isabella Lecour
Active Member
What is Hell for the purpose of this discussion?
lunamoth
Will to love
"HELL EXPLAINED BY CHEMISTRY STUDENT
The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.
Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?
Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and warms when it is compressed), or some variant.
One student, however, wrote the following:
First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time.
So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.
As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.
Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell.
With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.
Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.
This gives two possibilities:
1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.
So which is it?
If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you, and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct...leaving only Heaven thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God."
THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A""
The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.
Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?
Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and warms when it is compressed), or some variant.
One student, however, wrote the following:
First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time.
So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.
As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.
Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell.
With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.
Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.
This gives two possibilities:
1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.
So which is it?
If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you, and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct...leaving only Heaven thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God."
THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A""
Kilgore Trout
Misanthropic Humanist
Not really. It makes psychological sense though.
Any kind of hell, but the default is the Christian hell.
God I wish I could frubal this guy (so I frubaled you instead).
lunamoth
Will to love
Mmmmm ... plagiarism frubals - the best kind!
I think this has been making its rounds on the internet for a long time.
lunamoth
Will to love
You know what is really hell? It's pancake month, and I'm out of syrup!
I don't think that a literal afterlife makes scientific sense, so that would preclude punishment in a literal afterlife. IMO, all evidence we have points to the fact that personality (and by this I mean what makes a person who he is) is inexorably linked to the physical brain.
As for whether it makes spiritual sense... I suppose it's possible to create a theology that's includes hell and is internally consistent, but I don't think that hell could every be said to fulfil a valid purpose.
The threat of hell as an inducement to certain behaviour... maybe. Actual hell... no.
According to DWBHism hell works like this:
When you die, you wind up in a place a lot like this world except that it's completely populated with people who are exactly as considerate or inconsiderate as you are.
So if you're a jerk, you wind up having to live a lifetime in a world full of jerks.
If, having gone through that life in that world you become an even bigger jerk---which would be a fairly typical reaction to having to go through a lifetime in a world full of jerks---you wind up in a world populated with even bigger jerks.
ect.,etc, and so on, and so on.
Since ignorance (jerkism) is limitless, and unless at some point you decide to make an effort to be less of a jerk inspite of all the jerks around you, eternal damnation is a real possibility.
When you die, you wind up in a place a lot like this world except that it's completely populated with people who are exactly as considerate or inconsiderate as you are.
So if you're a jerk, you wind up having to live a lifetime in a world full of jerks.
If, having gone through that life in that world you become an even bigger jerk---which would be a fairly typical reaction to having to go through a lifetime in a world full of jerks---you wind up in a world populated with even bigger jerks.
ect.,etc, and so on, and so on.
Since ignorance (jerkism) is limitless, and unless at some point you decide to make an effort to be less of a jerk inspite of all the jerks around you, eternal damnation is a real possibility.
lunamoth
Will to love
NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Not to worry! I will go to the store this afternoon, buy syrup, and be in heaven with my pancakes by sundown. :drool:
dust1n
Zindīq
That is hilarious on so many levels. I would frubal you if I had any frubal-ing power left.
Kilgore Trout
Misanthropic Humanist
Pancakes have their own month now?
Now, I'm just waiting for waffles to start complaining about discrimination.
lunamoth
Will to love
Now, don't go bringing waffles into this. It has already been established that pancakes are the one true religion, IHOP is its temple.
Thou shalt not speak the name of the House of W.....
When it comes to syrup-drenched, bread-based breakfasts, I'm a universalist.
Humanistheart
Well-Known Member
Well, there's no sceintific bases for anything in religion, much less anything related to the insane abrahanic faiths, so that's out.
As for in a spiritual sence, it doesn't make sence in the religions that have hell, as they claim that god is loving and just, but there's nothing good, loving, just, or even remotely intellegent about the idea of hell.
Aquitaine
Well-Known Member
The general Abrahamic idea of Hell makes about as much sense (atleast ot me) as this photo:
I honestly don't understand what a finite "sin" would be met with an eternal punishment. Hell to be perfectly honest with you, even the aspect of eternity and infinite confuse me. What would something eternal be like after an infinite amount of years with no end?!
Gawd it makes no sense.
I honestly don't understand what a finite "sin" would be met with an eternal punishment. Hell to be perfectly honest with you, even the aspect of eternity and infinite confuse me. What would something eternal be like after an infinite amount of years with no end?!
Gawd it makes no sense.
CarlinKnew
Well-Known Member
It makes perfect sense, until you think critically about it. Punishment is ONLY useful as a tool for behavioral conditioning, otherwise it's purely an act of sadism.
Humanistheart
Well-Known Member
Those are good points, but it's worse than that. In christianity one's sent to hell for not believing in jesus. It has nothing to do with sin really. I can sin as much as I like but if accpet jesus before I die I'm going to heaven, while a good person who's more popular, nicer, and made more of a difference in the world will go to hell.