THNX James i really didn't expect you to answer much differently.

I dunno the biblical hell... it is open to too many other opinions, and misconceptions...

Methinks it is just like the boogey man that hides under your bed, made to keep children and simple folk compliant.

why's he hiding under my bed? why isn't he hiding under yours?

So it sounds like Hell to you is the religion thread at Mingle 2.

The actual location of Hell, according to natives in Africa, is a deep underground mine ruled and run by devil looking draconian creatures who are mining some kind of mineral. It is lined with pure copper to keep out remote viewers, soul and astral travelers from finding or seeing it. Just like typical ideas of hell, it is heated by furnaces. Some natives have actually worked in this place and escaped to tell about it.

These are actual stories out of Africa, the cradle of civilization. Perhaps this is where the idea of Hell originated from.

JB

Why doesn't he have the balls just to ask himself?

actually thats close to the assyrian/babalonian/hebrew take on it accept for SHEOL has no fiery furnace but is supposedly located inside the earth and has many compartments or areas to it. jesus talks of one part as the resting place of those believers of fiath, like abrham went, till christ freed them at his resurrection [the parable of the rich man] and jesus saying to the theif on the cross "this day you shall be with me in "paradise" those who had faith that god would come and free them from this abode. what i don't understand is why it would take 3 days for jesus/god to accomplish what he had to do in sheol/hell/purgatory/etc..?

it's a matter of how the question was phrased to me K, it got me thinking about what hell scripturally means or is taken to mean it could have been asked me by deb or anyone who does not have testicles, not a matter of intestinal fortitude here - just looking at others takes on the matter.

Well you said HE so naturally I was posing the question as to why you needed to be used as some kind of "go-between" Are we all such scary vipers? Just kidding. The question was not even brought up by me but someone else had noticed and it was a "come to think of it" moment and seemed kind of odd.

You wont see me there.

Im too busy being a non-believer.

Im going to be fish food!

For some reason the entire concept of "hell" has never really seemed that scary to me. I know its supposed to be, yet it isn't. Most of the time the conceptualization of it looks a little bit silly. I'm sure it might frighten some people, just not everyone. I think I would find the Department of Motor Vehicles in southern California much more terrifying. Especially when you arrive sans appointment.

actually like i said it was not phrased to me as my post question - it just got me thinking about what i thought hell was? and what other non believers takes might be - thus the post.

No problem, as I stated it was not my question initially. Another member had asked. I dont care who or what were the guiding forces that generated the initial thread. Evidently someone else did but that is only because it was worded in such a way as to indicate that the question was being conceptualized from some other source. Im not going to lose any sleep over it Tribo and neither should you.

i surely won't -

Biblical meaning is subjective according to an infinite number of perceptions (no single perception being more "right" than another). My guess is that, if Biblical text could be viewed in that context, there'd be a lot less contention amoungst millions.

My take on Hell is that it is a place within each individual that is visited through interpretation of experience (deeming oneself bad or a situation bad or deeming oneself good to avoid fear of inevitable "badness"). Ultimately, it is unrecognised/unaccepted Self-condemnation... The more one tries to overcome or fight it, the longer time spent in this place... One can visit briefly or for an excrutiatingly lengthy amount of time. Is it an eternity? I don't think so. I believe that much more is learned through painful experience than with all things rosie at all times.

So... Hell has great purpose that extends far beyond any ideas of punishment (even though that's exactly what it feels like... punishment). The tricky part is remembering this WHILE going through it.

thnx SL, -

Whats the situation with hell exactly anyway? Those that don't go to heaven are tormented forever in hell. Alright.

Daniel 12:2

"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."

I guess thats hell?

Those that don't go to heaven, just die.

Deuteronomy 29:20

"The LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven."

Its all very vague. Does god endorse hell? Does it exist? He's not very clear about it one way or another. He's so wishy washy in fact that I don't even feel compelled to worry about it one way or another.