On 1/3/2013 5:47 AM, Craig Weinberg wrote:
Personally, I believe
that the "eternal torture" of Hell is not to be able to feel God's
love and forgiveness. That would be Hell to a Jesus. He
refers to being tossed out and undergoing a "weeping and
gnashing of teeth".
Heaven and Hell were invented so that injustice, so obviously missing on Earth, could be
redressed in an afterlife. I think it has a lake of fire because people didn't think 'not
feeling God's love' was enough punishment for say Hitler. Of course then they got carried
away by superlatives, "Believe in my god or he'll punish you worse than your god."
Hindus and Buddhists believe in reincarnation, which from
what we observe, is not always a pleasant life.
Personally I believe that Hell and Heaven are metaphors which extrapolate the ordinary
high and low moods of human consciousness to a super-significance. God is a metaphor in
the exact same way - an algebraic concept of X = Infinite proprietary superlatives. If
you are in a world of competing polytheistic deities, each the representation of a
personal superlative or sphere of influence (God of war, Goddess of beauty, etc), then
the invention of a supreme ultimate deity who trumps all others in all categories is an
excellent political strategy. It's a convenient way to consolidate allegiance and direct
everyone's personal insecurities to a mass psychology solution.
Right. See Craig A. James book, "The Religion Virus" for a nice explication of
this.
Brent
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