You've been fooled all your life.  There can be no such thing as eternal bliss or eternal misery.   Why?

Because it's impossible to have one without the other.  It's like saying "Everything is big".   Well that's impossible, because without something small, big means nothing.   If you existed in bliss for a day, week month, 100 years....it would become unblissful, and rather, just the norm.  Think about when you get a scrape on your arm.  It hurts.  And then it hurts more, and continues to hurt.   But after an hour or so of having the scrape, you acknowledge the pain, without really feeling it anymore.

If you were in hell and "deprived of god", well eventually you would forget what being in the presence of god was like.   And if you have somethign to remind you, well...that would indeed be a moment of bliss and not misery.

 

Good points JeremyG.

In a parable Jesus taught, He says that the rich man will look up and see Lazarus, a poor man, in the arms of Abraham and beg Lazarus (whom he'd "tortured" all his life) to dip his finger in water and place one drop on his tounge to quench it. It seems to me Jesus is saying there is a window of some sort where at least those in hell can see into heaven. And I do beleive hell is a place of eternal memory. Always remembering.

I agree with Sherrye. That's what I've always been taught. Satan would love nothing more than for you to see him as a cartoon character with horns and a tail and pitchfork rather than the beautiful, seductive angel of light he is. Lucifer = angel of light. See the latin? Likewise, he'd love nothing more than for you to have a cartoon view of heaven and hell. You hit the nail on the head: it makes it easier to reject. I recommend CS Lewis's The Screwtape Letters.

Revelation does say the gates of heaven are carved each from a single pearl... but realize each type of jewel mentioned is symbolic. Pearls come from shellfish, a substance Jews aren't allowed to eat. The very gates are made from something they produce. To explain would get into some pretty deep theology and I won't if no ones interested.

Lucifer = angel of light.

So what you're saying is that Lucifer is a name created in Latin.....men invented Lucifer.    It's just an excuse of why we do bad things.

You know Jermeys pretty much on the right tract there.... to bring it down to the base belief its like this Man created religion so as he would not be terrified that he did not understand something, even today when you dont understand something... some ppl say only god knows... well thats an easy out.. basically. But hey this is just my opinion.

Adios.

That's what I've always been taught

Does that make it true and correct, though?

Revelation does say the gates of heaven are carved each from a single pearl... but realize each type of jewel mentioned is symbolic. Pearls come from shellfish, a substance Jews aren't allowed to eat. The very gates are made from something they produce. To explain would get into some pretty deep theology and I won't if no ones interested.

I'm interested. I love theology.

~Molly

So what you're saying is that Lucifer is a name created in Latin.....men invented Lucifer. It's just an excuse of why we do bad things

Men invented God as well... they are both on par.

My idea of Heaven is a warm day at the beach, floating on an inflated tyre, reading a book, and smoking a spliffo.

My idea of Hell is just being alone, total isolation.

That is all.

BAM!!!

Because it's impossible to have one without the other. It's like saying "Everything is big". Well that's impossible, because without something small, big means nothing.

This reasoning can only apply to our current state of consciousness.

OK, going to try this again...(still don't see and edit button anywhere although I was told in another post there is one)

Because it's impossible to have one without the other. It's like saying "Everything is big". Well that's impossible, because without something small, big means nothing.


This reasoning can only apply to our current state of consciousness.

OK, no more using the quote feature for me.

JeremyG said, "Because it's impossible to have one without the other. It's like saying "Everything is big". Well that's impossible, because without something small, big means nothing."

This reasoning can only apply to our current state of consciousness.

Maybe Heaven is being able to float around the cosmos learning and experiencing things beyond what we can fathom in our current state of being. I don't think I believe in Hell.

Jill... I think you are on to something

BAM!!!

It would be great to believe in only heaven, but on earth many people live in hell. If there is an eternity why would it be any different. As far as getting used to being deprived, that could happen and probably does. Hell isn't punishment, hell is a reality. If you live your life without God, then you will die in the same state. If you live your life with God then you will die in the same state. As far as I can see, the normal state of the world is like hell. Only occasionally do we arise to heaven on earth.

Most of the world goes to bed hungry and lives from hand to mouth. We in the rich world, don't see that sort of poverty, but the two thirds world does. In addition to poverty is war, disease, and every other kind of suffering.

To understand heaven and hell one would need to study the writings of the Bible. I have been actively studying for twenty-eight years. The Hebrew sha·ma´yim (always in the plural), which is rendered "heaven(s)," seems to have the basic sense of that which is high or lofty. As you know there are places beyond our atmosphere that we have no full knowledge of. However the Bible does speak of physical and spiritual heavens. It is in the siritual heavens ( a lofty position, being that He is superior to all else) God resides as well as His sprit sons or angels. The word heaven is also used in connection with govermental authority,the sky we see, and the space beyond what we can see without the aid of telescopes and the such.

As for the word hell, Webster's Dictionary says that the English word "hell" is equal to the Hebrew word Sheol and the Greek word Hades. The Hebrew she'ohl´ and its Greek equivalent hai´des, which refer, not to an individual burial place, but to the common grave of dead mankind. Along with this Ecclesiastes 9: 5,10 says "The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all . . . All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol, the place to which you are going."

Interestingly enough the word, torment, used by the early English ment to restrain as in jailing.

So What is the purpose for life? Just take a look at your body. According to all researchers your body should not grow old, it keeps reproducing new cells every so many years. However they can not tell us why we grow old and die. The Bible says though that one of God's angelic sons forsook his position and thought himself deserving the praise from humans that belongs to God. First by decieving Eve and then by challenging that Job and all other humans would serve God not out of love but for material things, this one has put himself in a fatal position and will take anyone who will go with him. Psalms 37: 29 says "The righteous themselves will possess the earth,
And they will reside forever upon it." There will be no time for boredom as there is much to dicover on this earth and in the universe. Also God created dinosaurs and other extinct creatures, what else might He create for our enjoyment.