difference between kneeling down and bending over

[klokwerk]

So, when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, if you go for all these fairy tales, that "evil" woman convinced the man to eat the apple, but the apple came from the Tree of Knowledge. And the punishment that was then handed down, the woman gets to bleed and the guy's got to go to work, is the result of a man desiring, because his woman suggested that it would be a good idea, that he get all the knowledge that was supposedly the property and domain of God. So, that right away sets up Christianity as an anti-intellectual religion. You never want to be that smart. If you're a woman, it's going to be running down your leg, and if you're a guy, you're going to be in the salt mines for the rest of your life. So, just be a dumb fuck and you'll all go to heaven. That's the subtext of Christianity.
-- Frank Zappa

So damn true.

[KawaitaSakebi]

Hmm, interesting.

Originally Posted by Zairak

First off, there's a few things you can derive from the Bible's description of what awaits you in Hell. From what I have read, the idea seems to be that you are thrown in a lake of fire to burn for eternity with Satan and non-Christians in general. Here's what I get from this:

1) You cannot die. At least not in the permanent, non-existance kind of way. You're stuck there.

2) You cannot go insane. I mean, really, you are there as punishment, essentially. What would be the point in torturing what would essentially be an entirely different person than the one that went to Hell?

3) You would remember your life. Again, why punish an entirely different person than the one that was sent to Hell?

4) Eternity is, well, unending. Unless God periodically turns up the heat, and even then, eventually you will at least be able to think, if not move around. Be it a year, a decade, or a billion years, it seems likely to happen, barring increasing pains.

For that matter, even if you never do overcome the pain and indeed do spend the rest of eternity in misery, so what? It's just sensations. A far better fate than being wiped from existence, in my opinion.

I'd like to add another point of view to this...
Another view of Hell (the one that I, personally, believe) is that fire is a metaphor for what people there would feel, and that the real pain comes from being separated from God. God doesn't damn people, people damn themselves and then have to face the consequences. Actually, someone who had separated themself from God would find his presence even more unbearable than any fire, so in this view, hell is God's greatest mercy. Being separated from God is terrible, but not as terrible as it might be.

Eh, I don't think I said that very well...is anyone even still watching this thread?