Hell is in the here and now
By grandpa_lash
@grandpa_lash (5225)
Australia
October 28, 2012 9:45pm CST
Humans have always believed in Gods in one form or another, and some of our organised belief systems have been around for a long time: Hinduism has at least 3,500 years, Judaism around the same, Buddhism about 2600, Christianity has 2000 years up, and Islam about 1400. Each new religion thinks it is the "real" religion, which has caused an awful lot of awful strife along the way, and continues to do so now.
I can't discount the possibility of the existence of a creator which, for want of a better word, might be called God, but I see that entity in quite a different way to the religious view. I really can't see it being in the least interested in judging the souls of the dead, so people only go to "Hell" if that's where they believe, in their deepest heart, is where they deserve to go. But if they don't "know" about Hell they won't go there, and this is the best reason I've seen for shooting Evangelists/proselytisers of any kind on sight.
It'd be akin to shooting door-to-door cladding salesmen on sight. A public service.
Lash
4 people like this
14 responses
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
29 Oct 12
I couldn't agree more! 
People need to find their own spiritual paths, not be forced along one through fear of going to hell. These idiots who push organised religion onto people through fear are scum. Nothing but scum! It certainly would be a public service if someone removed them from the lives of innocent people.
How many people grow up in "God Fearing" households brainwashed into living lives that they do not really want to be living? I have witnessed it plenty of times here in Australia and we are not even heavily religious as a whole. I could not stand living in a country where this sort of nonsense was pushed on us all the time. 
People need to find their own spiritual paths, not be forced along one through fear of going to hell. These idiots who push organised religion onto people through fear are scum. Nothing but scum! It certainly would be a public service if someone removed them from the lives of innocent people.
How many people grow up in "God Fearing" households brainwashed into living lives that they do not really want to be living? I have witnessed it plenty of times here in Australia and we are not even heavily religious as a whole. I could not stand living in a country where this sort of nonsense was pushed on us all the time. @grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
30 Oct 12
It's not just in the issues of Heaven and Hell. Are you aware that young Jewish men in some sects are taught the daily prayer which goes something like, "Thank God I was not born a woman"? Even though one can find a non-sexist interpretation of that with some thought, most people don't think that deeply, and the prayer simply has the overall effect of marginalising women.
Lash
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
31 Oct 12
Yes, generatons of men like the Mad Monk. We can't really throw stones, not that I'm suggesting you are, when our major politicians are so clearly sexist and misogynist.
Lash
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
30 Oct 12
I had no idea about the Jewish prayer, but it does not surprise me really as I am aware that women are mistreated in many organised religions. These beliefs flow through into general society unfortunately and have created generations of men in some cultures who think poorly of women. Sadly, many women in these societies also feel like they are less worthy than men because they have been brainwashed to feel that way. 
But anyway, I know that you know all this so why am I telling you? 
Lets just hope that some of those on this site with strong religious beliefs actually read this stuff and rethink everything that they have been brought up to believe. 
But anyway, I know that you know all this so why am I telling you?
Lets just hope that some of those on this site with strong religious beliefs actually read this stuff and rethink everything that they have been brought up to believe. 1 person likes this
@1hopefulman (45123)
• Canada
29 Oct 12
I hope you are just kidding about shooting anyone because I'm laughing?
1 person likes this
@1hopefulman (45123)
• Canada
30 Oct 12
I have a friend that does that all the time and when he is serious about something nobody believes him. Though he does make me laugh, even when I shouldn't.
All the best! 
All the best! 1 person likes this
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
30 Oct 12
The problem with using irony is that half the time half the people take you seriously.
Lash
1 person likes this
@Pose123 (21635)
• Canada
1 Nov 12
Hi Lash, There is no doubt in my mind but that we are spiritual beings and our life did not begin with this body, neither will it end with it. While all religions may have started with good intentions, most have changed so much as to be quite ridiculous. Talk of judgement, and a god who threatens everlasting damnation on innocent humans has made many religions a laughing stock in today's world. This little earth is but a speck in an ever expanding universe and we are mere specks on the earth - so what makes us so important except in our own eyes? If there is to be any judgement, it must come from ourselves and if there is to be a heaven or hell, it has to be of our own making, whether in this life or in another dimension. Life itself is all a great mystery and must remain that way for us, at least for the time being. Scaring people by dangling them in imagination over the fires of hell has done a great deal of harm and those who fight over who is right and who is wrong do so only because of indoctrination. Blessings.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
2 Nov 12
I was thinking about the concept that man is by nature a servile creature, because no other motive can possibly be found for the way in which we blindly follow leaders, Kings, priests, generals, etc. to our deaths or to the depths of degradation. Priests are simply those who have overcome their servile nature and use their consequent strength to rule the servile fools who are willing to follow them and believe whatever rubbish they wish to promulgate.
Lash
1 person likes this
@rog0322 (2829)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
29 Oct 12
Hi,
"Life is what we made it," it's a popular saying that make lots of sense. God, does not want anybody to suffer, it is man that made it so. If one, out of his intentions want to create hell, then there's nothing to stop him. The reverse is true, nobody can stop one from creating heaven, God being on the good side, could not be more than happy to help those who do so. Using that principle to scare the hell out of nonbelievers and to pursue their own interests is just not fair.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
29 Oct 12
Heaven and Hell are here and now, in this life, just like good and bad Karma. It seems to me that living a life based on a concept that everything comes down to an afterlife, which incidentally I don't believe in, means that what you do now hardly counts. The Catholics say you can repent and be forgiven, some of the evangelical sects say you are chosen from birth and nothing you do will make a difference, and everything in between. None of them give a good reason to live an ethical life, which I suppose is why so many believers cling so tightly to their Holy Books as guides, whcih simply makes them inflexible and narrow. For the self-centred among us it's an invitation to sociopathy.
Lash
1 person likes this
@1hopefulman (45123)
• Canada
30 Oct 12
Actually our holy books should make us better people but we see that it isn't so. No wonder many are turning away from God because of the conduct of those that believe in God. Would you believe that this in the Holy Book? If we believers would practice what we preach then at least they would see a difference. But since believers often act worse than unbelievers, any that are truly sincere have to bear the same shame. 
Romans 2:21-24 Today's New International Version (TNIV)
21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”[a] Footnotes: Romans 2:24 Isaiah 52:5 (see Septuagint); Ezek. 36:20,22
Romans 2:21-24 Today's New International Version (TNIV)
21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”[a] Footnotes: Romans 2:24 Isaiah 52:5 (see Septuagint); Ezek. 36:20,22 @francesca5 (1344)
•
29 Oct 12
i am more persuaded of the existence of a creator like figure than perhaps you are, but i do think we create hell ourselves.
but i know people, though i can't myself, who can see auras, and so i think that that electro magnetic field around us is our emotions real, so to me the nastier we are the more likely we are to create hell inside ourselves.
as i have known a few people who end up drinking too much because they don't like themselves, because there is something nasty inside them, and rather than explore their inner world, they turn to drink.
so i don't quite subscribe to the "if we don't know hell exists we can't create it" idea, though i do agree that religious fanatics can make people feel unnecessarily guilty.
but i do think that there's a sort of karma like process whereby the nastier we are to other people the blacker our aura, and in a way, and our emotions become, and in a way our "soule", and in that process we create our own hell.
or in a way our own nastiness kills our spirit, sort of thing.
so that's my theory, and it works for me.
1 person likes this
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
30 Oct 12
It makes perfect sense. As for Karma, try the idea that the good and bad we do in one phase of our lives comes back to us as karma in later phases, and that perhaps Nirvana is going to the grave able to forgive ourselves (and others) or the harm we've (they've) done. No need to postulate reincarnation except insofar as we may "atone" for the harm we've done up to a certain point, and start afresh within the one life.
Lash
1 person likes this
@francesca5 (1344)
•
29 Oct 12
sorry i did some bad editing on that comment, but i think it just about makes sense.
@iuliuxd (4453)
• Romania
2 Nov 12
If there is a creator then a punishment or a reward is his business, there may be a hell even if some people have troubles understanding how it works.If there is a creator he can do whatever he wants.
Still one of my favorite quotes is Diogenes :" I am looking for a human "
That means i believe in some kind of reward for a human...if there is any. And if there is a reward waiting for him it may well be a punishment for the rest of us too.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
2 Nov 12
You mean one of your favourite quotes is you misquoting Diogenes, I assume?
Lash
1 person likes this
@iuliuxd (4453)
• Romania
2 Nov 12
Well i`m not sure if he spoke english so we`ll never know how he said it.
I think you can understand the meaning because it has the same meaning in every language. Diogenes was looking for a true moral person.Which is not far from religious teachings or even humanist teachings whatever that means.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
3 Nov 12
You made no reference at all to anything to do with a true moral person in your statement the first time. Diogenes sought an honest man, and while an honest man is a human, a human is not necessarily an honest man. As to what connection his statement might have to a reward for being human is completely beyond me.
Lash
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
30 Oct 12
The problem with your question is that I don't see the Creator, if it exists, as having the faintest resemblance to what you see as the creator, and I would imagine its motive to be so different to the motives religious systems ascibe to it that there is no sensible answer to your question.
Lash
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
30 Oct 12
Interesting viewpoint - you don't believe in hell, so you can't go there, leaving you free to shoot people you don't like. Convenient.
Just a small point. This is the year 5773 on the Jewish calendar so your 3,500 years is off by more than 2000 years. As to real religions, Christians believe both Judaism and Christianity are "real" as Christianity is completely dependent upon Jews worshiping the real G-d.
As for hell, it is here on earth in the form of people who reject G-d. It's there in the hearts of men. "Hell and destruction are never full, so the eyes of man never satisfied".
People are not very good judges of their own hearts. Just a few days on myLot will show you that. So many people believe they operate out of some great good will and really it's just ego and pride. So, I can't see people being the ultimate judge of whether or not they ought to go to Hell.
But perhaps you are right, in one way. G-d wishes no one to go to hell, but people sometimes seem to insist on taking the direct route there.
@sjvenden27 (1840)
• United States
29 Oct 12
Yes I believe hell is on earth.. That is the only way to make sense of the horrific things that happen here.. Some things can be explained but then there are others that are unimagineable and there is nothing that can explain away the hurt.. I believe hell is the battle grounds between good and evil.. There is both goodness and evil all around us.. We can be swayed by one or the other at any given time.. It is a choice that is ours alone to make which path to take..
@natliegleb (5175)
• India
29 Oct 12
life is full of heaven and hell,so it all depends on how we transform it and how we change it and care for it only
@Sukeena1961 (343)
• United States
30 Oct 12
Heaven and Hell do exist and it's not here on this earth. Things are bad here on the earth, but they could be a whole lot worse than what they are now. There's a lot of misguided souls here on this earth and my heart aches for all of them. People will see the truth when Jesus comes back in the rapture, then they will realize just what hell is all about.
@franseman (516)
• Philippines
30 Oct 12
You can only believe in hell if you believe in heaven. For me it's clear. This life is NOT a dress rehearsal. This is it! No heaven or hell is waiting. Religions are invented to have power over people.
