M
Meat Tenderizer
Guest
You could always have both.
You're Own Idea of Hell
- Thread starter JonathonWally
- Start date
You could always have both.
Eternal pain.
Keanu Reeves was asked this very question in an interview once. I found his response profound -- regardless of one's religious bent, but especially profound in my view as a Christian:
"[Hell is] living without love, without experiencing it or being able to give it."
"[Hell is] living without love, without experiencing it or being able to give it."
That's a pretty accurate description of what my own Hell would be like. Reliving every embarrassing moment, every time I said something I wished I could take back, every time I made a mistake...
One of the things I love about the first TNG novel - Ghost Ship by Diane Carey - is her description of Picard's experience of sensory deprivation. You have Crusher whittering on about how a bit of peace and quiet would be nice, but when Picard actually experiences it, he starts to relive his mistakes, and having no sense of time passing after a few mintues he already thinks he's been in there for eternity and that Crusher's forgotten about him. He tries to concentrate on positive things but he can't, his mistakes keep coming back. It horrifies him.
Sensory deprivation would be hell for me.
Indeed - read "Four Views of Hell." It's scholarly, and a discussion between 4 different theologians.
The idea isn't that God is "absent" - for omnipresence doesn't mean God is literally "present" in a pantheistic sense. Rather, one is exposed to a particular aspect of His personality - His complete and utter permission - but with a full and complete knowledge of who He is and why you're there.
In other words, it's the complete absence of restriction. Evil is punished by God allowing the residents to do whatever they wish with and to each other for all eternity - and He doesn't ever lift a finger to help. It's complete independence from God with respect to everything except your own existence.
Think of it this way. If this "space" we occupy now is "neutral," then the new earth would be + 1, and hell would be the same space, but - 1.
In Scripture, the final destiny of the regenerate isn't heaven. That's the inbetween place. Rather, their destiny is the New Earth. The destiny of all others is "hell." The "lake of fire" is just apoclyptic lingo for "the place outside the city," the rubbish tip of the universe - the furthest place one can be from God and His people - but yet within sight of them, so you know what you're missing. The greatest irony is that the one place that the people there don't want to be is the Great City - in God's presence - so, for all it's worth, while hating being there, they still want to be there - because the only other choice is with God - the very One they hate.
Realizing your mistakes and knowing that nothing you can do can fix them.
My personal hell would be the knowledge that I have incurred my maker's displeasure, even though he has blessed me with free will and intelligence... I would not like to fail myself and be less than I could be.
Mr Reeves put it beautifully, I would say hell would be living without god's love.
Mr Reeves put it beautifully, I would say hell would be living without god's love.
Plecostomus
Commodore
I've been to Hell. Worked there for 18 months. It smells like Styrofoam.
Drowning in a lake of lava while a demon sticks something up my butt.
