What do you think about this article telling why Hell can't exist?

Question

WARNING: The following is very offensive. True, but offensive. Realize that I did not write this out of anger, yet only in an attempt to express rationality. It may appear angry or cruel only because it is missing the "sugar coating" of tolerance people expect from controversial essays. However, I hold honesty higher than your feelings, and would feel like a liar if I did not show my frustration and concern in full. So, here it is: uncensored, unadulterated, and unsympathetic truth. Enjoy.

The whole concept of Christian's Belief in Hell baffles me.

I only have a few things to say on this topic, most of which I hope intellectuals have already deduced. Of course, I would have hoped that Christian intellectuals would have deduced that religion and the Bible are huge, idiotic contradictions and turned Atheist, but that hasn’t happened yet, so here I go:

1. Is hell a satisfactory punishment at all? Hell no. Try to imagine this: An eternity of fire and unbearable pain. Far more pain than that felt mentally and physically by all of man kind through all of the ages combined. More pain than all of the victims of the holocaust, and from all of the wars and diseases and crimes. More than all of that combined, and multiplied by millions. Even more than that. An eternity is forever, for those of you that don’t know.
Does ANYONE, regardless of how much pain they caused, disserve that? No. I don’t care who you are, no, they do not. If you believe they do, you are a very, very sick individual. But of course, the Bible says that sinners who go to hell will remain there forever with no chance of redemption.

The idea of the Christian’s Hell is a huge contradictory, because for there to be that Hell, there must be a God. In Christian mythology, God is all knowing, and a very good God who created morals and what is right and wrong. If God is all knowing and all good, than he defiantly would not bestow this punishment on ANYONE. No half-way decent God would, because that would be simply pure evil. And if God is all knowing, he knows that it is pure evil, and he would only do this if he enjoyed it, making him pure evil. Therefore contradicting the Christians view of God, their entire religion, thus also their belief in Hell.

2. Are all sins forgiven in Christianity? Hell no. I am disgusted that most Christians do not know this. Twice in the New Testament, as said to be Jesus Christ’s own words, does the Bible clearly and literally state that there is one unforgivable sin that will damn you eternally without any chance of ever experiencing anything after death than eternal suffering. In the books of Mark and Matthew it is obvious:

"Truly I say unto you, All their sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter: but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin: because they say, 'He has an unclean spirit'."
(Book of Mark 3:28-29)

Jesus speaking:
"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."
(Book of Matthew 12:30-32)

This is horrendous. Every single sin, from theft to murder and rape, can, and WILL be forgiven by Jesus, except for denying the Holy Spirit. That’s right. Go out and kill that bastard you don’t like across the street. Rape his wife and daughter until they bleed, its okay. Afterward, just beg Jesus for forgiveness and everything’ll be alright. Oh, but didn’t I mention? Atheists will be in hell for their blasphemy. Jesus hates them. They have unclean spirits and are pure evil.

If you are Christian, then you have no choice but to believe this, or accept that you are an idiot. This is the New Testament, so you can’t wave it off with that old “It’s just the old Testament” argument. And you can’t say it’s out of context. Go read it. And you can’t say it’s a metaphor, because Jesus said it very literally, and it’s obvious it is to be taken literally, straight from Jesus’ mouth. So, you have two choices here: One, deny these quotes. That means excusing all credibility to these quotes and passing them off as fiction. That would, however, excuse all credibility to Matt and Mark, since you cannot logically believe anything they say without believing everything they say with the same merit, and therefore discrediting Jesus, and the New Testament, and the whole Bible, and therefore your entire religion, proving you to be a moron. Two, you could hate all Atheists and wish them to burn eternally, just like your Holy Father does. This would, however, make you a terrible person for believing such hateful terrible things about good people, and therefore proving you to be brainwashed and in denial, since these people do not disserve to be hated, and yet you still insist because of an unproven, ridiculous two-thousand year old book.

To put it simply, if you have just read this and are still Christian, you are either incredibly dim-witted or in complete denial of reality, therefore making you insane. This very essay, with the help of you own illogical faith, has irrefutably proven by means of reason that Christians are either crazy or stupid. Or both.

Well, that may be enough to prove that, but I just can’t stop today.

3. If you believe in any type of fate, or “God’s great plan”, then that is also a contradiction. As stated before, Christians believe in an all knowing and all loving God. If you also believe in some type of fate, then you must believe that our futures are already planned out (that’s what fate is after all) and therefore whatever happens to us ultimately is what god intended, and our meaning to our lives. If that is true, people who go to Hell were planned and destined to go there by God. That must mean that God created some people specifically to go to hell and burn for all of eternity without chance of redemption. What good god would do this? No good god would. Just as stated in the second paragraph of this essay, God would not do this if he didn’t enjoy it, and if he did enjoy it, he wouldn’t be good, therefore contradicting your belief system, and your entire religion, rendering it useless and completely illogical.

To believe that something as ridiculous as God and Hell is true, you must be very irrational, and basing your life off of something as illogical as that is only the actions of a moron, or a nut job. After reading this essay, you have just eliminated the “ignorant” category of Christian faith. You are not ignorant any more. You have just been presented with the truth, very easily explained and laid out before you. To remain a Christian after this proves, beyond a doubt, that you are either idiotic past comprehension, or out of your little mind with denial and delusion. Those of you who can read, I’d bet you are the later. Thank you.

"Infinite punishment is infinite cruelty, endless injustice, immortal meanness. To worship an eternal gaoler hardens, debases, and pollutes even the vilest soul. While there is one sad and breaking heart in the universe, no good being can be perfectly happy.
The God of Hell should be held in loathing, contempt and scorn. A God who threatens eternal pain should be hated, not loved. Cursed, not worshiped. A heaven presided over by such a God must be below the lowest hell. I want no part in any heaven in which the saved, the ransomed and redeemed will drown with shouts of joy the cries and sobs of hell in which happiness will forget misery, where the tears of the lost only increase laughter and double bliss."

- Robert G. Ingersoll

Answer 1

Allow me to lay to rest Mr. Robert G. Ingersoll's Satanically inspired lie.........The idea that hell is an ever-flaming place of torment results partially from a misunderstanding of Revelation 14:9-10: "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark ... he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb."

Notice that verse 8 gives the time setting of this verse. It concerns the impending fall of a modern "Babylon" which will be destroyed at Christ's return.

Matthew 25:31 tells us that Christ, at His return, will be accompanied by all the holy angels. At that time He will destroy the idolatrous system called Babylon, and those who have become a part of the system will come under the wrath of God.

This scripture does not say that these people are being tormented in hell. It states that the smoke of their torment ascends forever (verse 11). As smoke rises it blends with the surrounding air, becoming further and further diluted. David wrote in Psalm 37:20 that "the wicked shall perish [not be tortured forever in hell] ... Into smoke they shall vanish away."

This verse says nothing about punishing people eternally in hell. The Bible's clear teaching about the punishment for the wicked is much different.
Those who insist that the Bible teaches eternal punishment by fire should ask whether such a belief is consistent with what the Bible teaches us about God. For example, how could God justly deal with those who have lived and died without having ever received an opportunity to be saved? This would include the millions who died as babies as well as the billions of unbelievers or idolaters who lived and died never knowing God or His Son. Regrettably, the vast majority of all those who have ever lived fall into this category.

Some theologians reason around this difficulty by assuming that those who never had the opportunity to know God or hear the name of Jesus Christ will be given a sort of free pass. They reason that, because their state of ignorance is because of circumstances beyond their control, God will allow them into heaven regardless of their lack of repentance. If true, this raises the troubling possibility that missionary efforts to such areas could be the cause of people who do not accept their teachings being lost!

Quandaries such as this have painted many theologians and other Christians into a corner. Accordingly, some have challenged the traditional concept of a hell of eternal torment through the centuries. "... In every generation people keep questioning the orthodox belief in everlasting conscious torment" (Four Views on Hell, edited by William Crockett, 1996, p. 140).

Nevertheless, as we have seen, church councils through the ages have upheld the doctrine. Firmly rooted in traditional Christian belief, it is an idea that will not go away. "A new U.S. News poll shows that more Americans believe in hell today than did in the 1950s or even 10 years ago" (U.S. News & World Report, Jan. 31, 2000, p. 46).

The prospect of hell will continue to haunt people. As U.S. News reported: "Hell's powerful images will no doubt continue to loom over humanity, as they have for more than 2,000 years, as a grim and ominous reminder of the reality of evil and its consequences" (ibid.).
........But what is this "hell" where souls can be destroyed? In Matthew 10:28, the Greek word translated as "hell" is gehenna, derived from the Hebrew expression ge hinnom—a reference to the valley of Hinnom to the south of Jerusalem. Anciently, the valley of Hinnom was used as a place to dump Jerusalem’s trash. Fires burned continuously and fed on the city’s garbage, which included the dead bodies of condemned criminals. As a result, "Gehenna" became a symbol of judgment associated with fire. This same word was also used in Matthew 5:22, when Jesus said: "But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire"—Gehenna fire.
Yes, unrepentant sinners will be cast into a lake of fire. Gehenna fire is a reference to this final fate of the wicked.
Does this mean, then, that hell is a valley to the south of Jerusalem? Yes, in one sense the valley of Hinnom is "hell" as described in the Bible. But in another sense the word "hell" can be misleading, because there are actually three Greek words, and one Hebrew word, which your English-language Bible translates as "hell." Gehenna is just one of the four. Many Bible students become confused by the different references to "hell" and their different meanings. There are four words for "hell" in your Bible, with three different meanings. To properly understand the Bible’s teaching about hell, you must first ask, "Which hell are we talking about?"
The Hebrew word that your King James Version often translates as "hell" is sheol—which simply means "grave" or "pit." It does not denote a place of ever-burning fire. This word occurs 65 times in the Old Testament, and is translated 31 times as "grave," another 31 times as "hell" and three times as "pit." The New International Version of the Bible always translates sheol as "grave"—never as "hell." The word sheol simply means a "pit" or a "grave."
So, if we ask, "Who is burning in sheol (the pit, or the grave)?" the answer is: No one!
In addition to gehenna, which we discussed above, two other Greek words are translated as "hell" in your Bible. The Greek word hades, like the Hebrew sheol, simply means "grave" or "pit." It does not mean a place of ever-burning fire. If you have a copy of the New King James Version, or the New International Version, you will see that the translators often leave the word hades untranslated.
The fourth word translated as "hell" in the Bible is based on the Greek word tartarus. This word denotes a condition of restraint, and it applies not to human beings, but rather to fallen angels. Notice: "God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment" (2 Peter 2:4).
As one scholarly source explains: "The verb tartaroo, translated ‘cast down to hell’ in 2 Pet. 2:4, signifies to consign to Tartarus, which is neither Sheol nor hades nor hell, but the place where those angels whose special sin is referred to in that passage are confined ‘to be reserved unto judgment’; the region is described as ‘pits of darkness.’" (An Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, W.E. Vine, p. 300).
So, as we have seen, "hell" can describe three very different places or conditions. It can describe a pit or grave (sheol or hades). It can refer to a place of fiery judgment (gehenna). It can indicate the confinement of fallen angels (tartaroo). As you can see, using the one word "hell" to convey all three of these meanings can cause confusion, and does not accurately communicate the truth of the Bible.
Do you think God is unfair? Has He predestined some human beings—made in His image—to burn in hell, with no genuine opportunity for salvation? Shockingly, this idea of a cruel and capricious God is commonly taught in the name of "Christianity." But it is wrong! God’s plan will give every human being a genuine opportunity to be saved.
Many who call themselves Christian have been unable to reconcile God’s love, mercy and justice with the idea of eternal hellfire for those who have never heard the message of Jesus Christ. Yet the Bible plainly teaches, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
How can we reconcile this apparent contradiction between God’s mercy and His justice? Your Bible reveals that billions of people will have their very first opportunity for salvation in the White Throne Judgment, described in Revelation 20:11–12. God’s plan of salvation may be difficult for some to believe. But it is very encouraging when you understand the hope it brings to all of humanity. Those who have suffered from their own sins in ignorance, and those who have been innocent victims of war, oppression and genocide will be resurrected to understand the Bible—the Book of Life. They will have their first true opportunity to understand God’s love for all humanity. In the White Throne Judgment, billions of human beings who were previously spiritually blinded will finally learn from the pain of the past, and they will be given the opportunity to truly repent, believe the gospel and eventually inherit the Kingdom of God. As Peter wrote, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
But what about those who have seared their consciences, and knowingly rejected God’s truth, love, knowledge and forgiveness in favor of rebellion, hatred and sin? These willful sinners will be burned up in a lake of fire! Notice: "Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:14–15).
Here is the second death—the eternal death penalty from which there is no resurrection! Those who have sealed their minds never to repent or surrender to Jesus Christ will be totally burned up—destroyed!
In Luke 16, the parable of Lazarus and the rich man illustrates the torment unrepentant sinners will experience before they are totally burned up. Notice that the rich man is about to be thrown into the lake of fire. Notice also that he is in hades—he is in the grave, not in Gehenna fire. He is resurrected for final judgment, as described in Revelation 20. So what does he ask for? A drop of water to cool his tongue. He did not ask for buckets of water to be poured over him. The rich man was in deep mental torment and anguish just before his destruction. The incorrigibly wicked will suffer the torment of knowing their fate before their final execution. But a loving and merciful God will put them out of their misery for all eternity. They will be totally burned up and destroyed forever, annihilated in the lake of fire—a fire that will spread over the whole earth!
Yes, the whole earth will be purified by fire. "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness" (2 Peter 3:10–11).
Those who have sealed their own fate—who have determined never to repent of their evil attitude and nature—will be totally burned up and will become ashes! They will not be tormented forever. They will receive their eternal punishment, not eternal punishing. Their death, their eternal punishment, will last for eternity!
This is what the Bible teaches. The incorrigibly wicked will be totally destroyed—annihilated. But they will not be destroyed capriciously, or unfairly, or because God predestined them never to hear Christ’s message. As we have seen, no one can be saved without accepting the message of Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). Through the White Throne Judgment, those human beings who have not previously had their minds opened by God’s truth will have their first genuine opportunity for salvation.
So, who is burning in hell? By now you know the answer. The answer is: "No one!" There is a future lake of fire that will burn up, consume, and annihilate the wicked forever. That fire will purify the earth for the new heavens and earth promised in Revelation 21. We can all be thankful for God’s justice, fairness, and plan of salvation through Christ. There is judgment coming, but there is also hope for many of your friends and relatives you thought may have been lost!........This includes Mr. Robert G. Ingersoll

Answer 2

I'm horrified by the anger and intolerance in both Ingersoll's words and some of the people who have posted here against him.

I think Ingersoll's language is offensive and his understanding of Christianity simple minded, but I also feel disgusted by the people who feel he should go to Hell.

I for one abhor the emphasis put on Hell in so much of Christianity. There is very little mention of Hell in the Gospels and next to no mention of it at all in the Old Testament. The spiritual football match between God and the Devil in which the human soul is used as the ball created by the established Churches turns the message of Christ from one of love, humanity, hope and transcendence into one of fear and hate.

Having said that, Ingersoll's intepretation of the idea of sinning against the Holy Ghost is so simple minded its unbelievable. Forgiveness is earnt but the Christian idea of forgiveness is based on the notion that people can change. Its ironic that Ingersoll, in one breath, condemns a God which sends people to Hell and in another condemns a God which is willing to forgive sin, thus freeing them from Hell! At the same time, he misunderstands what sinning against the Holy Spirit is. If the Holy Spirit is the means by which God manifests himself in Man then to sin against the Holy Spirit is to commit a crime against Humanity that is so great its incomprehensible.

In the end, if people are going to argue over a simple minded view of Christianity they are welcome to it. When I think of the incredible sophistication and complexity of early Christian thought right up to the 15thC I am flabbergasted at how simplistic peoples' understanding of the Christian Mysteries have become... And we think we are the summit of mental achievement? Hah!

Answer 3

I suppose Ingersoll has already had this question of hell answered. I wonder if his rant caused God to have mercy? He was probably hoping that God would be wowed by his intellect. But in the end, God does what he says he'll do. If God doesn't, he is a liar. If he is a liar in one area of his word, then he is a liar in all of it. I've never seen liars who could be called honest because they told the truth some of the time. I'd never align my beliefs with a man who disrespects the creator. And that creator is righteous and just in addition to loving. That is demonstrated throughout scripture regardless of whether we believe it or accept it.

Answer 4

Bravo! Bravo! That was excellent!

Christianity is probably one of the most twisted religions that has formed into something scary if you ask me. Granted, yes, not all Christians are bad, the religion itself is just bad personally. I was watching "Americas Most Wanted" and these two brothers would torcher Prostitutes and demand them to repent their sins and their way of life by raping them and torturing them and then letting them go. Christianity is just ****** up all together. I don't believe God would have sinners burn in hell...left behind on earth to live their lives without God sounds like a more plausible and "good" way of thinking on God's part.

Answer 5

The fallacy of such articles is that the author is trying to decide for God what is more right or wrong, and trying to understand God with his finite human mind, as if God is subject to the whims and desires of His own creation. That he believes being bad towards God is only a small sin compared to being bad to another person shows that he actually puts humans before God.

Answer 6

OK, I didn't read all that, but...

Not all Christians believe in hell. I used to be kind of a half-a ssed Christian (I was in a cult when I was growing up, soooo...yeah) and I never believed in Heaven OR Hell.

Gnostic Christianity believed in reincarnation like any other Pagan group.

And they were dismissed as heretics, if they weren't outright persecuted.

If you take the Bible as metaphors and aphorisms to be used in your current life (not as prophecy), then Hell, according to Gnostic thought, is not recognizing your higher self (kinda like Freud's superego.) You will suffer your entire life if you don't get over your id and ego and reach a higher truth.

Which is true. I mean, you can't just do whatever you want and expect to be happy. You have to do what's RIGHT.

Gnostic Christians worked out their own salvation as HUMANS, not in the afterlife. They went through initiations and study and stuff so they would get in touch with the higher part of themselves rather than being mired in the scummy part of themselves.

It's very disrespectful to take the Bible literally, when its true meaning is only found through study and interpretation and eventually taking that meaning into yourself and integrating it. It's even more disrespectful to take an interpretation based on hundreds and hundreds of years of power struggles, money grabs, and fear-mongering. Christianity has been used to keep people in line for quite some time now.

It used to be about making yourself better. Now it's about conforming to some institution's entrenched garbage about how you should live.

What a travesty.

I don't believe in hell. But you could be Christian and not believe in hell.

In fact, it would make you a lot more like Christ.

Answer 7

Congratulations you have a long post filled with your own false arrogance. Trust me Satan wants you to think this, but ha I can do one better. Howard Storm, a rather educated man who claims to have gone to hell after an NDE, he knows all about how NDE's are a natural brain process, yet he still turned from a rather hardcore atheist to a Christian. Why? Because apparently the experience was so powerful he does not believe it was simply the brain "comforting" the body. How experiencing horrible pain and suffering is comforting I would still like to know.

You may have a very nice speech, however it is based on no tangible proof, all theoretical, whereas no matter how sketchy you consider the testimonies of those who have clinically died and claim to have went to hell, the fact that they are there is worth more than a bunch of mere words.

Answer 8

Ingersoll has 3 misconceptions:

1) that people go to Hell simply for punishment. you go to Hell because you die in sin and God cannot have sin in His presence. if you can't be in Heaven, where He is, then where else would you go?

2) that it's wrong for someone to say "here's the way out, come" and you ignore it, and then when it comes, the person who tried to save you is evil.

3) that anyone actually has the time or attention span to read all that.

Answer 9

Out of all the theological reasons why I am not Christian, this is number one. On the other hand, if this is true, then all it shows is that God is in fact very cruel. But, the fact remains that if it is true, it is true. This in no way disproves God, rather the incredible notion that he is merciful. I really hope it isn't though.

And the responses for this will show you just how far Christians will go to rationalize their "merciful" God.

Answer 10

Clone

Answer 11

Robert G. Ingersoll has alot to learn about what true christianity is about. He is clueless & very angry.