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the various hells
hades is the grave -- period -- equates with sheol of the OT -- that is the generally accepted.
Greeks believed in a netherworld, like many other ancient peoples -- maybe they saw the sun set and return and the moon and stars and thought they were going to a netherworld --- don't know. we've got Charys and Charibdys (???) the guardians of the netherworld and of course the boatman (name?) who ferries the dead across the chasm.
i really believe that medieval concepts of hell that came from a conglomeration of beliefs influenced scripture translators.
they took Gehenna (valley of Hinnom, a big gully that was basically the city dump of Jerusalem) and transformed it into hell. It probably looked hellish. But how can you bring up images of an eternally burning hell-fire where souls are tortured forever from that?
Then there's the Lake of Fire in Revelation -- but Revelation is metaphorical -- if you make someing literal in Revelation among all the metaphors, there is a problem there.
Paul writes of a fire that cleanses, purges, tests whether a persons works are fit to be building materials for that "temple" which is the person, the whole person.
in that case, we live in hell, but it's not such a bad thing.
forget the afterlife. it will take care of itself.
we forge our own heaven or hell right here. and if there is an afterlife it will mirror our life.
posted by
Xeno-x
on August 4, 2004 at 6:23 AM
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Curly
Couldn't have said it better!
posted by
sannhet
on August 2, 2004 at 7:57 PM
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Ariala -
You're right. It is great to have all of these differing opinions to consider.
posted by
sannhet
on August 2, 2004 at 7:55 PM
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David1
Thanks for the comments! And I'm glad to have a kindred spirit to "fight the good fight" with.
posted by
sannhet
on August 2, 2004 at 7:54 PM
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Sannhet,
I looked up the word 'hell' in Webster's and here is the definition:
1 a (1) : a nether world in which the dead continue to exist : HADES (2) : the nether realm of the devil and the demons in which the damned suffer everlasting punishment
Now, we are told that the blessing for obedience is eternal life. If I'm not mistaken, eternal life means living forever. If people in 'hell' live forever, then they have eternal life - just in torment.
My understanding is that if we do not choose life, then we return to the dust. Destruction. Complete destruction. Not everlasting torment. The only place that everlasting torment can be found is in the New Testament which is a compilation of letters from the Apostles that were in the Roman Catholic vaults for 400+ years. Anyone who doesn't believe that the RCC altered, added to and rearranged to suite their own paganistic rituals is somewhat naive.
posted by
Curly-Jo
on August 2, 2004 at 7:16 PM
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sannhet, thanks for your answer...this helps me to understand where you're
coming from. We believe very differently, but that's the beauty of the Blogit.
posted by
Ariala
on August 2, 2004 at 7:07 PM
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sannhet
I couldn't have said that any better than you did in your last comment. So I won't even try! And all this time I have been looking for a "like mind" here on Blogit! 
posted by
David1Spirit
on August 2, 2004 at 7:03 PM
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Ariala -
My beliefs are based on what I see as the "goal" of each soul on this earth: to learn to love purely with every ounce of our being. I believe this is part of what is meant when we read of "loving our neighbors as ourselves". And I don't see how there can be a Hell and a God who condemns. One who condemns and judges in not acting in love, but in fear or hate (pretty much the same thing). Since I don't think we are judged for our sins, but are forgiven, there is no need for a Hell. And since I can't see there being a Hell, then there can't be a Heaven.
I also don't believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. I believe most of what Jesus taught was corrupted (either by accident or on purpose). And the Bible tries to capture as best it can the ideas and the history of the times - but it was written by men with faults and desires and egos - so I just have a hard time accepting every piece of it as absolute truth.
posted by
sannhet
on August 2, 2004 at 6:53 PM
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I'm confused by your posts. You believe in Jesus, but have you not read
where Revelations 22? It describes Heaven, a real place, and in Matt. 24 or 25 Jesus says He is going to prepare a place for us. It's literal and real. You're entitled to your beliefs and opinions, as we all are, but I just wondered what you're basing your beliefs on?
posted by
Ariala
on August 2, 2004 at 6:37 PM
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