Conference lgp30::christian-perspective

>What do you suppose Hell is really like? 

	Hell is complete and eternal seperation from God. I picture it as
	the worst of being depressed and alone with not hope of it getting
	better.

	Or it could be being locked up with a bunch of irrational liberals
	for ever. :-) (I know that irrational liberal may be redundent but
	I did it that way for emphasis. :-) )

> Do you think Hell would be a similar experience for everyone?

	Yes. It's fun to joke about hell as a place of fire. Or of rolling
	a stone up a hill over and over again. Or living with ones in laws
	etc. But really I think seperation from God says it all. It's hard
	to think of worse than that.

			Alfred

    In the novel Inferno, Niven/Pournelle hypothesis that hell is an
    asylum for the theologically insane. It is a last chance for those
    who rejected God in their lives to finally accept him. It isn't
    very theological I admit, but it makes for an interesting story.
    
    Bonnie

    Hell is exactly like Dante's "Inferno." How do I know ? I don't ! It
    just makes the book much more interesting to believe it to be
    factual.;)

    Jim

On the serious side, I agree with Alfred, seperation from God is hell.
In her book _The Hope of Heaven_, Helen Oppemheimer explores the nature of 
heaven, and touches on hell as well.

As artist Laurie Anderson said, "Paradise is exactly like where you are right 
now, only much, MUCH better."  If you are in a relationship with God, try to 
imagine that infinitely closer, that's heaven.  If you are seperated from God, 
imagine that infinitely farther, that's hell.  Heaven, and hell, are both like 
where you are right now, only much, MUCH moreso, in that sense, there's not 
really much difference.

On the humorous side, I just got John Callahan's recent book _Digesting the 
Child Within_, where he proposes 


	Micro-Wave Hell, for those who don't want to wait an eternity...

Peace,

Jim

Re: .6

Ray,

	I've asked myself similar questions and I'm going to give you
an answer you may not be used to hearing:

			  I DON'T KNOW.

	I think I've become more appreciative of the questions since coming
to the realization that every human I encountered supplied me with only the
most unsatisfactory of answers.

Peace,
Richard

	We experienced record snowfall last month in Colorado Springs,
and it isn't even Winter yet.  As I told a coworker, "I'm looking forward
to going to Hell and being *warm* again!" ;-}

	I agree that, to some degree, Hell is a matter of attitude or a
sense of being abandoned by God.  But I would say that Hell in the present
is so much more.

	Hell is warfare.  Hell is having loved ones killed and maimed.

	Hell is being stigmatized, disowned and unwanted.

	Hell is hunger, physical torture, and the torments of oppression.
Hell is the concentration camps of Nazi Germany.  Hell is the Bataan Death
March.  Hell is the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

	Hell is fear.  Hell is guilt.  Hell is hate.  Hell is shame.

	Hell is the frustration that accompanies the inability to ease
someone's suffering.

Richard

    Well, if ya hate snow, move to Mass. As long as I keep buying season
    passes for skiing, the less snow we'll get and the warmer the winters
    will be. I wouldn't doubt if it rains hot water this year.;)


    Peace
    Jim

    Hell is knowing you are an unbearable burden to someone and caring
    that you are.
    
    Richard

    Re: .9
    
    Jim, 8-}
    
    	No way!

    "Hell is other people."
    		- Jean-Paul Sartre

Note 350.13

>     you wanna see hell, sit next to me on a bus, or better still look
>     inside my head

Ray,

	Would you tell us what it's like for you in there?

Richard

     Thomas Merton described hell as, "A place where no one has anything
    in common with anyone else and they can't get away from each other."

    (Actually this sounds like some meetings I've had to attend.)




                                                               Mike

    Hmmm, Merton's comment sounds like an old Night Gallery sketch to me. 
    :-) 

    (It went more or less like this:  a hedonistic and generally despicable
    young man died in an auto accident--he had been drinking at the time,
    as I recall.  His experience of hell seemed innocuous enough at first;
    he found himself in a quiet room with an old man.  No fire, no whips
    and chains, nothing resembling eternal torture.  But he found that he
    had nothing in common with the old man. The phonograph continually
    played ancient music that he detested; no other music was to be found. 
    It was impossible for him to hold a meaningful conversation with the
    man (asking him about the Beatles breaking up got a response about
    beetles, for example).  He began to get very bored very fast, but he
    was locked in the room.  It finally turned out that the same room was
    hell for one person, and heaven for the other.)
    
    -- Mike

    Reminds me of the story about Heaven and Hell
    
    A man was shown Hell. Everyone was sitting at a table loaded with food.
     They were chained in such a way that they could only reach the
    food, but not their mouth's.
    When the man was shown heaven it was exactly the same. However, everyone
    was feeding their neighbor(who they could reach).
    
    
    Also their is the story from Fox's Book of Martyrs about the English
    bishop who when threatened with the stake for his views, recanted.
    Later, he changed his mind, taking his original Bible based stand. On
    the night before he knew he would be arrested and burned at the stake, he
     was sitting with his friends. Suddenly, he thrust a finger into the candle
     flame and held  there until it was charred. Then he said to his
    friends," that hurt, but not as much as denying my Saviour".
                                                               
    johN

    I have no fear of hell.  I know what hell is.  Hell is living in New
    England in February.
    
    -- Mike

    Eternal torment because of eternal separation from God.  I this is will
    be very individualised.  The more you reject God, the more intense the
    pain of separation.
    
    >hell is an asylum for the theologically insane.
    
    Hmmm....I thought that was a description of CP for a sec.  ;^)
    
    >I have no fear of hell.
    
    Me neither, I ain't going.  I do still fear for others though.
    
    <FF> I heard this story once.
    
    A man was getting a tour of hell and he saw people at a long table. 
    The table was filled with a feast fit for a king.  But the people's
    hands were caught in barbed wire and they couldn't reach the food. 
    They were in agony as they were constantly longing for the food and
    drink but never able to reach it as the wire cut deep into their flesh.
    
    Then the man was taken on a tour of heaven.  He saw people at a long
    table. It too was filled with a feast fit for a king and it's people's
    hands were caught in barbed wired so that they couldn't reach the food. 
    But they looked happy and satisfied.  As he drew closer he saw the one
    thing that made all the difference.  While the people just like those
    in hell could not reach the food to their own mouths, the wire didn't
    restrict movement outward, so they were feeding one another and they
    were satisfied.
    
    Jill

	"Hell is other people."

					- Jean Paul Sartre


	"Hell is oneself."

					- T. S. Eliot