Hell exists if you believe in God. I do not and therefore I personally don’t believe hell exists and in that same light that heaven doesn’t exist either.

i personaly strongly believe that hell, heaven god & satan are completely fictional characters who were born in a time where humans as a civilsation were very “ignorant” &”gullable” they would believe most thiongs they were told, i.e folk tale.
Dragons, witches, vampires e.c.t. I thing the concept of a good & evil power were used for somewhat simlar affects to what laws & goverments are used 4 today. It is way of controling society, by using human emotion with the use of fear & reward. Laws have replaced the comandments. There are many similarities between the 2 ideas & the notion they are trying to get across which is a controlled society where all who live in it agree in the same good & evil beliefs. there are leaders, followers & enforcers. Humans will always look 4 the answers & try to find the way to a perfect or peaceful society which unfortunelty will never & can never exsist. Hell is merley a word used to describe the worst place we could possibly imagine…
Also if we are to beieve in christianty surely it is completley ignorant not to beilieve in every other form of religion that exsists thoughtout our planet. What makes Jesus any more real than Buddah e.c.t???

Hell is possible if you believe it is possible. Everyone has different religious beliefs. Some parents tell their children that if they do anything wrong, they will go to hell. That will put the belief in Hell in a young child, but when you are old enough to decide on your own some people choose to not believe. Hell is a complex thought and whether you believe in it or not is your own choice of what you want to believe or not believe. Though, I don’t particularly believe that a red, hot firey hole of demons exists, I do believe that maybe there is a separate place for people who are put in the “bad person” category to go.

Hell in my opinion, is most definately possible. I am a Christian, and in the bible it states that there is a Heaven and a Hell. It not only states it but it tells of how Lucifer (The Devil) was one of God’s most favored angels. He was in charge of music and one point in time he figured he should be in charge of Heaven as well. Long story short he tried to lead a rebellion agaisnt God with a group of angels. God banished them to hell and that’s where they are today. I beleive there is a Hell because without it, there wouldn’t be an opposite which is Heaven.

Hell, according to the God of the bible, Is eternal seperation from God Himself. Yes God is loving but not only that, God states that He in fact is Love( 1st John 4:16.)

God is also just and perfect so it is also His perfect right to judge evil and the suffering we may inflict on others…
Our failure to love God as we should is the reason for evil and suffering in the world.

Those foolish enough to claim “there is no God”, would have to be all-knowing to know this for sure. Thus, they would be god…

If there is no God, then man becomes the authority of right and wrong. “Might makes right” or ” to each his own” Who is to say Hitler and Stalin were evil or George Bush as some would say… Why then have police officers, let the natural have its way…
No, most agree there are morals, there is right and wrong. We believe this especialy when we ourselves have been wronged in some way…

I believe in an objective moral law giver and the God of the bible is that. Yet the God of the bible does not force people to love Him…
Some day people’s opportunity to love God will be gone and those who dont want to love God will have it the way they want. They will be seperated from God. God’s view of this is eternal destruction, seperation from real love… That is their choice…

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life…” John 3:16 The bible

To answer the question simply: Yes, Hell IS possible, but is there any sort of large probability that it exists? No, not at all. Well at least not the hell that you are lead to believe exists. Hell is the allegedly the place you are sentenced to go after death if your heart weighs more than a feather, or if you fail the Holy Judgement. Hell is just a creation of the Catholic church, to make all people commit to their even stronger. I believe in a very universalist view, that we are all returned to the ecosystem after our deaths, that we as humans die, and biodegrade and return to this world in another form literally. I don’t believe hell exists because there is no proof of it, and I am never one to believe anything blindly.

I have a six year Catholic education, and I believe that Hell is a place made by Satan. It is not God punishing you, but more you choosing not to obey the commandments He gave us. Hell is where Lucifer the angle was sent to after he used his God-given freewill to be jealous of God, and try to be better than Him. So Lucifer and his followers were sent out of Heaven, and Hell was created. So now, the people like Lucifer go there, not to be punished, but more because they didn’t feel they need to be in Heaven, and did not have faith in God and did not follow Him. It’s all up to the person to decide what life they live, so if you have a good life, you should be fine.

In response to Melanie’s comment: Just because a person believes in God, a god, or many gods does not mean that this person must believe in hell. Though my personal belief does not line up with this statement, I know many people who believe in some sort of god who will say to anyone without a doubt in their minds that there is no such thing as hell.

In response to Joel’s statement,
“Also if we are to beieve in christianty surely it is completley ignorant not to beilieve in every other form of religion that exsists thoughtout our planet. What makes Jesus any more real than Buddah e.c.t???”
I would have to say that it is the right of every individual to decide what is believable and what is not. I personally reject the existence of some popular gods; however I believe to the fullest that Jesus walked the earth, died, and was resurrected. Though I may discuss the existence of Jesus with friends who believe in other gods, I would never tell them that they had to believe in Jesus as fervently as they believe in Buddah, for example. That seems truly ignorant to me.

The concept of “good” and “bad” people has surfaced a couple of times (See posts by Kelly and Martin). I have asked different people what decides who goes to hell, if there is such thing as a hell, and many of them have said that people who have lived “good” lives will go to heaven and those who have lived “bad” lives will go to hell. Many people will agree that Mother Theresa went to heaven and some have said that Hitler went to hell.

However, my question is this: If heaven and hell are determined by how good or bad someone has lived his/her life, where is the line drawn between who goes to heaven and who goes to hell? What is the gap between the goodness of the “best” person in hell and the “worst” person in heaven? How would you measure good and bad? It seems that there are some large gaps in this common worldview, but I have to be honest that this seems like a logically unsound belief to me.

Salviati, I agree 100% that our bodies will remain on earth, biodegrade, and in a literal sense “return to this world in another form” (or remain, since our bodies never really leave the earth). But do you believe in the existence of a spirit or a soul? That is where I believe we differ, for I believe that the soul separates from our physical body at the moment of death.

I agree with Lucie, God would give the chance for redemption if there is a hell, and I also agree in part with Richard swinburne’s explanation of hell as being a place of exclusion from heaven, not a place of eternal punishment. However I do think that in this place we would have infinite time to think, realize and feel bad for our actions that caused us rejection from heaven. When we know this is our punishment, feel bad and truly repent we can go to heaven. So in conclusion I think hell is possible but as Swinburne said not as a place of eternal punishment.

If I were a theist I would agree with Lucie’s version of what god was like. Namely, “as a being that is a spirit… a person… who understands everything… can be harsh and strict… [or can be] the nicest person in the Universe.” However, I disagree that the concept of hell, as described in the introduction (where our lives would be miserably uncomfortable) is incompatible with this concept of god. So long as we do not add that god is “all loving” then I do not think we have a contradiction.

If we understand God to be omnipresent and necessarily good (both are widely accepted necessary conditions of God), then the existence of Hell (if understood as a concept of eternal suffering) is not possible. To be omnipresent is to be present in everything, which is explained by the trinity in Christian theology. Hell, as I have described it above, is a bad place. If God is present in everything, then he must also be present in Hell. However, if God is necessarily good, then Hell must be good. Seemingly, subjecting those who were bad for a finite amount of time to a place of eternal suffering is unjust and wholly bad. Hell is impossible if we agree to the attributes of God and Hell that I have shown above, but it is possible if we alter at least one of these attributes. For example, if hell were simply devoid of eternal bliss but good in that it separated the bad people from the good, then it would be possible. It would also be possible if we understood it as a place of temporary suffering, a place in which one could “work” or “earn” their way out of.

I do agree somewhat with Lucie about her idea that God is loving and would not send people to hell. But with being a christain I do believe there is a heaven and a hell. After you die you go to heaven as long as you believe in god and accept him as your lord. Hell is a place for people who choose to follow satan and his rules. For the people who are athesist now whats to say that when you die you now believe in god because finally you have your “proof”. This belief mostly comes from my understanding of Revalations from the Bible. In the end no one will know for sure if there is a heaven or a hell until they die and I for one do not need any definite proof at this moment

Quick Recap of interesting ideas:

“Hell is impossible, according to Lucie, if Hell involves the severe punishment of eternal suffering.” ~Kenneth

“What makes Jesus any more real than Buddah e.c.t???” ~Joel Murch

“However, my question is this: If heaven and hell are determined by how good or bad someone has lived his/her life, where is the line drawn between who goes to heaven and who goes to hell?” ~Lindsey Hakim-Ilahi

“It is not God punishing you, but more you choosing not to obey the commandments He gave us.” ~Martin Blalnk

We have these ideas being thrown around about heaven, hell, good, bad, and Jesus. It seems like there is an assumption of Christianity that runs relatively strong.
However, at no point in the Bible does it claim that the way to heaven is goodness. In fact it says our goodness is as good as filthy rags. As a way to short and quick summary:

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sin is imperfection. Sin is disobedience. Sin is our choice to reject God. The whole reason the Bible gives for the story of Jesus, is that we have all failed and there is no “good act” that we can do to fix ourselves. We have spit in the face of God. We deserve hell. But that’s where God’s son comes in. He came and paid the price. He died so we wouldn’t have to (in the eternal pit of fire kind of way). So that, in the words of Paul, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Now maybe I’ve just broken a major unspoken rule in Philosophy by bringing up the ideas in the bible instead of leaving it in the realm of good people go to heaven. However, it seems to me that we cannot talk about good/bad as the way into heaven/hell, and mix it with Christianity. If we do so we are just wasting our breath and our words mean nothing because we are arguing about an idea that is held in every major religion EXCEPT Christianity.

Richard Swinburne, a professor of philosophy at Oxford, presents an argument that it is possible for hell to exist if it is simply thought of as exclusion from heaven. However, I think there are at least a couple problems with this argument. My first problem is that this is not how most religions view hell, so the premise is not, in my mind, applicable. Also, is it really fair to be excluded from heaven for eternity for a simple life time of poor behavior? Why wouldn’t a compassionate God give us another chance? I don’t believe that hell is possible if God is a compassionate God, and Swinburne’s argument doesn’t fix the problem because hell is not, biblically speaking, simple exclusion from heaven. For more information about Swinburne, see the following link. http://users.ox.ac.uk/~orie0087/.

Lucie’s concept of an acceptable hell (one in which people can work their way out) leaves us with a simple solution to the problem of justice in reference to the presented concept of hell (one in which eternal suffering is the basis). She proposes the idea that hell ‘works’ in accordance with God’s goodness IFF people who are sent to hell have the chance work their way out. This idea is nearly synonymous with the Roman Catholic notion of Purgatory, where sinners can be prayed out of hell and perhaps earn a place in heaven.

In Lucie’s final conclusion that hell cannot possibly exist, she raises the common problem of God’s goodness. How could a good God send anyone to hell? That God is not Lucie’s God.

I’d like to present Lucie with Swinburne’s concept of hell as presented in his argument for the existence of heaven and hell. Hell could be a mere exclusion from heaven and not be defined by eternal suffering and ‘damnation.’ I believe Lucie would be more inclined to validate the existence of this type of hell.

Just as the traditional hell is balance with an unimaginably rewarding heaven, Lucie’s acceptable hell begs to be balanced with a not so dramatic heaven. If hell is exclusion, and one can work his or way out of hell, heaven must be only a home for good people and not an eternal party. And perhaps those who are in heaven run the risk of falling into exclusion.

“Lucie believes everyone is capable of being good. Lucie’s God would understand that possibility for redemption, and would punish us in ways that are harsh, but in ways that taught us lessons and led to our moral improvement.”

English philosopher Richard Swinburne states the same probability that hell is not an eternal place of torment. Lucie is in good company.

(You can read his article at http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=23164205)

I agree with Lucie when she says that her God understands the possibility of redemption. But I believe he provides that hope on Earth, and not in an afterlife rehabilitation system.

The issue is if God can maintain his love attribute with the existence of hell. Biblical Christianity certainly holds that it does. It teaches the standard of ‘making it to heaven’ is perfection (because of God’s infinite holiness not being able to tolerate any unrighteousness) and that all fall short of this standard (Rom. 3:23). This means we are all destined for hell because we have offended the eternal judge (Rom 6:23). But He himself provides the provision so that we can obtain that perfection. He sends his most valued treasure, His Son, to die for the sins of those who believe even while they were in rebellion against Him (Romans 5:8). The Jesus who lived a perfect life accepted the wrath and penalty due mankind (2 John 2:2) and that this justification (right standing with God) is available to all those who have faith in Jesus. Thus the Bible claims that the greatest offense, injustice, and suffering was against God’s Son. It is God who takes the bullet of hell for people. That, in my opinion, is a great act of love.

Granting the assumption that an omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent God exists, we must then decide if what is awaiting us after death is compatible with God’s goodness in regards to Heaven and Hell. It seems that infinite punishment in Hell or infinite happiness in Heaven for a person’s actions committed in a finite lifetime involves serious injustice. In this way, I agree with Lucie’s idea that God is strict with his ethics of what a person is entitled to after death. This argument is compatible with Richard Swinburne’s Theodicy of Heaven and Hell. According to Swinburne, God does not exclude those who by no fault of their own do not have belief in God or the “right” ideas of such matters concerning God. Heaven, according to Swinburne is simply a home for good people to enjoy supreme happiness. Hell is not to be thought of as eternal punishment, but more so as the exclusion from Heaven. Swinburne accounts for many other factors that could determine who should be granted such a ticket to Heaven and even opens the door for possible repentance after death to gain access to Heaven. If anyone would like to hear more of this argument, please visit http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heaven-hell/

Woo hoo I can’t believe I was really the first to post this from my class! :)

By the standards that Lucie is holding Hell, fire and brimstone at the Earth’s core, then she is correct, a person would simply die (if it is possible for a soul to die). However, according to Richard Swinburne, Hell is not a place of damnation but simply an exclusion from Heaven. Now many Theologians would say this was punishment enough, but Swinburne argues that those who belong in Hell wouldn’t even want to go to Heaven because it is not a place that they would enjoy. For Swinburne Heaven and Hell are simply places people go after death based upon their actions in life and he believes that only the most truly un-redeemable people go to Hell. If you would like to see more of his work go to:
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~orie0087/

Hell, it seems to me, is a mental state. Some people are happy, some aren’t, and some are somewhere in between. Its when people focus too much that they lose focus.