NationStates Jolt Archive

Ok, this thread isn't bashing religion, something I really, really love to do. It's just an idea about heaven and hell.

Maybe heaven and hell aren't rewards and punishments. Maybe they're places where you go to be with like minded individuals and have a good time. For instance, I wouldn't have too much fun with a bunch of mormons. What would we do for eternity? Sit around drinking diet caffene free soda and singing hymns? Screw that. I'd rather hang out with loose women and self destructive antisocial types. That's my kind of party. Meanwhile most good christians would be appalled by that sort of thing.

Please note, I really dont' beleive in an afterlife, just throwing this idea out there to see what you think about it.

i do not think heaven and hell are set in stone, i believe that when you die depending on whether you have led a good life or bad life you will go to your idea of heaven or your idea of hell.

Isn't this the premise of No Exit? Except that the punchline is that hanging around with "like minded individuals" ain't all it's cracked up to be.

Isn't this the premise of No Exit? Except that the punchline is that hanging around with "like minded individuals" ain't all it's cracked up to be.
What's no exit? I guess it's a book or movie. I haven't read/watched it.

If heaven and hell are being in the presence of God or being separated from God, one could say that each is simply the choice of the person. If a person chooses to be separated from God, they will be - the ultimate free will.

I believe in a Heaven.. just not a hell, it may seem odd but i think even those who are evil have the possibility of redemption in the after-life. If theres one or not i'm not so sure I'd like to think theres something waiting in the end.

i do not think heaven and hell are set in stone, i believe that when you die depending on whether you have led a good life or bad life you will go to your idea of heaven or your idea of hell.

Then heaven would simply be little more then a mirage?
an image of your own expectation.

It's a Sartre play. The characters are checked into a hotel populated by the hellbound. There's no fire, no devils, just a hotel full of jerks. Blah, blah, blah . . . hell is other people and there's no way to get away from them.

I would love to be part of a communist paradise after death, because the fact that nobody can die anymore (because everyone is already dead) would make sure that there would be no miss-use of power including all the opression, persecutions, executions and other nasty things we saw in the history of socialist states.

Has anyone else read the Sandman comics?

Then heaven would simply be little more then a mirage?
an image of your own expectation.

Is that a problem? If you were to go on vacation somewhere, and it met all your expectations, you would return and describe the holiday as heavenly (or at least brilliant). Is there a better description of heaven than the place that meets all of your expectations?

It's a Sartre play.
I think I have conclusive proof that I'm crazy.
I laugh while reading Sartre. It really isn't even meant to be funny, but for some odd reason it is.

As far as I understand it, the Christian heaven and hell isn't about reward or punishment. If you follow God, you spend eternity in his presence, hence heaven. If you don't, you spend eternity NOT in his presence - hell.

It's not a thing as most people think of it, where God's like "I don't like you I'm sending you to the dungeons!!" It's just you're either with him or you're against him. It would stand to reason that if you're against him, you don't spend eternity with him.

I would love to be part of a communist paradise after death, because the fact that nobody can die anymore (because everyone is already dead) would make sure that there would be no miss-use of power including all the opression, persecutions, executions and other nasty things we saw in the history of socialist states.

Well, I do wonder.. if Lenin was send to hell, would he try to take control?
It's not like the "proletariat" went to heaven or anything..

and Stalin, what about him?

i do not think heaven and hell are set in stone, i believe that when you die depending on whether you have led a good life or bad life you will go to your idea of heaven or your idea of hell.

So, hold on, in theory that could mean that you are on your own for all enternity. That scares me, even though I am an athiest

P.S sorry if someone already mentioned my point, but I didnt read the whole thread

To start it isn't that weird an idea. It's been used many many times in literature. I personally have no opinion on the matter. Its not how I imagine heaven or hell (in so far as I believe in hell)... but by the very method of allocating people to heaven and hell you would end up with like minded people. Although so saying I can't see how you divide everyone into two personality types (excluding the religiously good/bad concept)... It is an interesting idea, but not one that we can reolve until we get there.. by which time it's too late!

Well, I do wonder.. if Lenin was send to hell, would he try to take control?
It's not like the "proletariat" went to heaven or anything..

and Stalin, what about him?
Since all socialists and communists were send to hell because of her unpardonable lack of belief and their impudence to doubt God's existence, maybe it is true and hell is no longer hell but the Union of the socialist soviet hells.

As for Stalin, he was a bit christian, so I guess that he was send to heaven.

I think I have conclusive proof that I'm crazy.
I laugh while reading Sartre. It really isn't even meant to be funny, but for some odd reason it is.
Sorry to post again so quickly, but wasn't it Satre who said that hell was being trapped in a room for all enternity with your friends? Has anyone ever factored in that all Satre's mates were French ;)

And then of course there's the problem there that pretty much everybody I've seen comment on the subject is still thinking that existence after death is similar to life as we know it. In my opinion, chances are we WON'T have bodies, we WON'T have minds, we would function totally different and on an entirely different level. Try not to limit your imagination to the four dimensions we as humans exist in.

Here's another Idea; you aren't paried with like-minded People - you are paired with oppositely-minded People. God uses this 'odd-couple' pairing as celestial kinda of Buddy-Up program whereby eventually the bad People are brought up to acceptable levels of goodness by the good People. Now the flaw in this scheme is that the disruptive 'Pupil' brings down the good People to become less-good People. The end result of this scheme is that everyone is about meduim on the good-bad scale, at this point God just fiddles the statitisics and washes his hands of the whole deal.

Ok, this thread isn't bashing religion, something I really, really love to do. It's just an idea about heaven and hell.

Maybe heaven and hell aren't rewards and punishments. Maybe they're places where you go to be with like minded individuals and have a good time. For instance, I wouldn't have too much fun with a bunch of mormons. What would we do for eternity? Sit around drinking diet caffene free soda and singing hymns? Screw that. I'd rather hang out with loose women and self destructive antisocial types. That's my kind of party. Meanwhile most good christians would be appalled by that sort of thing.

Please note, I really dont' beleive in an afterlife, just throwing this idea out there to see what you think about it.

You're going to hell, mate. ;)

Sorry to post again so quickly, but wasn't it Satre who said that hell was being trapped in a room for all enternity with your friends? Has anyone ever factored in that all Satre's mates were French ;)

Ah, save it for tomorrow's ritual daily French bash.

Sorry to post again so quickly, but wasn't it Satre who said that hell was being trapped in a room for all enternity with your friends? Has anyone ever factored in that all Satre's mates were French ;)

Yes, Sartre was a definite genius.

You're going to hell, mate. ;)
Yeah, and I'm planning on jumping right in the fiery hottub with a couple of sexy succubi.

Yeah, and I'm planning on jumping right in the fiery hottub with a couple of sexy succubi.
Reservation for 2 please

Before you dream about jumping in a hot tub with a succubus, you should probably know that Lillith, the first Succubus, was known to be the most beautiful woman to have ever lived with one excpetion: She had extremely thick leg hair. ;)

Before you dream about jumping in a hot tub with a succubus, you should probably know that Lillith, the first Succubus, was known to be the most beautiful woman to have ever lived with one excpetion: She had extremely thick leg hair. ;)
I'll bring a razor.

Before you dream about jumping in a hot tub with a succubus, you should probably know that Lillith, the first Succubus, was known to be the most beautiful woman to have ever lived with one excpetion: She had extremely thick leg hair. ;)

So, we shave it off :D

Before you dream about jumping in a hot tub with a succubus, you should probably know that Lillith, the first Succubus, was known to be the most beautiful woman to have ever lived with one excpetion: She had extremely thick leg hair.
According to the Chaos comics, she hadn't.^^
(But then again, according to these comics she was a lesbian.)

It's a Sartre play. The characters are checked into a hotel populated by the hellbound. There's no fire, no devils, just a hotel full of jerks. Blah, blah, blah . . . hell is other people and there's no way to get away from them.
Yes, but they're not like-minded people. Garcin's an idealistic journalist, Ines is an pragmatic lesbian, and Estelle is a materialistic woman who clings to men.