Concerning Hell

[Minister Masket]

An interesting puzzler: How do we exactly know so much about hell?
We "know" there are a certain number of circles in Hell, what these areas are assigned to, what they look like and even who inhabits what area.
I believe I am right in thinking that this information is not given in the Bible (and rightly so), so where did it come from? It's not as if Satan gives family tours now is it?

And if we know so much about Hell, why do we know so little about Heaven?

[Anarkistsdream]

An interesting puzzler: How do we exactly know so much about hell?
We "know" there are a certain number of circles in Hell, what these areas are assigned to, what they look like and even who inhabits what area.
I believe I am right in thinking that this information is not given in the Bible (and rightly so), so where did it come from? It's not as if Satan gives family tours now is it?

And if we know so much about Hell, why do we know so little about Heaven?

Try reading the Kabbalah.

Also, a lot of what we learned came from ancient Gnostic texts... Try Googling Gnostic...

[Minister Masket]

Mmmmrgh. Not exactly what I meant.
Alright then, how did these "texts" learn about Hell?

[Arbustos]

Fax from God.

[Anarkistsdream]

Mmmmrgh. Not exactly what I meant.
Alright then, how did these "texts" learn about Hell?

Angels and demons have walked on earth...

There are also those who can commune with the dead....

[vtmarik]

The circles of Hell were first described in Dante's Divine Comedy, in the section called Inferno.

All that we know about hell is a cobbled together mix of long-standing interpretation, a bit of biblical scripture, and literary license.

[Dancing Mustard]

Dante was just being allegorical, while the Divine Comedy is an interesting portrayal of hell it wasn't supposed to be taken as a factual guide to it.

So the reason that we know so much about hell is because people who are now long dead were overexcitable and prone to interpreting metaphors in their media as statements of fact.

[Norse]

Probably "The Daily Mail's" fault..

[vtmarik]

Dante was just being allegorical, while the Divine Comedy is an interesting portrayal of hell it wasn't supposed to be taken as a factual guide to it.

So the reason that we know so much about hell is because people who are now long dead were overexcitable and prone to interpreting metaphors in their media as statements of fact.

Well, outside of the Bible, it's not like the first Popes ever wrote a Authoritative Guide to Hell, it's Occupants, and it's Ownership.

All we really "know" about Hell is whatever's written about in that Bibley thing, the rest is conjecture and artistic interpretations.

[Dancing Mustard]

Probably "The Daily Mail's" fault..

I blame the Sun myself...

[spurgistan]

I think we get a fair idea of its occupants in Paradise Lost, but I never actually finished that, so I don't really have an idea.

[sam_levi_11]

Probably "The Daily Mail's" fault..

I blame the Sun myself...

no it was the telegraph

[Minister Masket]

Those are fictional books.
So can we assume that the "circles of hell" and all that jazz is just made up? Rather like The Rapture actually.

[Anarkistsdream]

Those are fictional books.
So can we assume that the "circles of hell" and all that jazz is just made up? Rather like The Rapture actually.

Please read the Kabbalah and any Gnostic texts...

Make your decisision after that.

[Minister Masket]

Those are fictional books.
So can we assume that the "circles of hell" and all that jazz is just made up? Rather like The Rapture actually.

Please read the Kabbalah and any Gnostic texts...

Make your decisision after that.

To be frank, these arn't books/texts you can find in your local library.

[heavycola]

Those are fictional books.
So can we assume that the "circles of hell" and all that jazz is just made up? Rather like The Rapture actually.

yes. yes. yes. it's all fiction. Hell = the bogeyman. That's all. Rapture = complete fantasy and evidence of the absence of any rational thought processes in its adherents. It's easy.

[The1exile]

Those are fictional books.
So can we assume that the "circles of hell" and all that jazz is just made up? Rather like The Rapture actually.

Please read the Kabbalah and any Gnostic texts...

Make your decisision after that.

To be frank, these arn't books/texts you can find in your local library.

You mean you went to the library ion the 40 minutes in between narc mentioning them and posting that?

[Anarkistsdream]

Those are fictional books.
So can we assume that the "circles of hell" and all that jazz is just made up? Rather like The Rapture actually.

Please read the Kabbalah and any Gnostic texts...

Make your decisision after that.

To be frank, these arn't books/texts you can find in your local library.

They should be... And, if you can't, get them off of Amazon.

Many Gnostic texts and most of the Kabbalah can be found online, also.

[MR. Nate]

Here's what I've got on good authority:

It's better to be maimed than to go there (Matt 5:29)

There is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 8:12)

It's like a fiery furnace (Mat 13:42)

It was originally preparred for the devil & demons (Matt. 25:41)

It involves eternal punishment & seperation from God (2Thess. 1:9)

The demons there now are chained (2 Peter 2:4)

A lot of these have multiple references, but I've only included one per point. Everything else . . . literary additions that most Christians won't seek to defend.

[Titanic]

Here's what I've got on good authority:

It's better to be maimed than to go there (Matt 5:29)

There is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 8:12)

It's like a fiery furnace (Mat 13:42)

It was originally preparred for the devil & demons (Matt. 25:41)

It involves eternal punishment & seperation from God (2Thess. 1:9)

The demons there now are chained (2 Peter 2:4)

A lot of these have multiple references, but I've only included one per point. Everything else . . . literary additions that most Christians won't seek to defend.

How does Matt know so much about it? Did he go there, or was he in regular contact with Satan?

Also, heaven and hell must really be big places if they can accommodate all of the people who have ever died.

[Coleman]

Here's what I've got on good authority:

It's better to be maimed than to go there (Matt 5:29)

There is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 8:12)

It's like a fiery furnace (Mat 13:42)

It was originally preparred for the devil & demons (Matt. 25:41)

It involves eternal punishment & seperation from God (2Thess. 1:9)

The demons there now are chained (2 Peter 2:4)

A lot of these have multiple references, but I've only included one per point. Everything else . . . literary additions that most Christians won't seek to defend.

How does Matt know so much about it? Did he go there, or was he in regular contact with Satan?

Also, heaven and hell must really be big places if they can accommodate all of the people who have ever died.

Actually there are more people living on earth right now then have ever died in earth's history.

To answer your question though, if we are to assume Jesus is the son of God he probably told the disciples about it and Matthew was the only one who thought these details were worth mentioning.

[heavycola]

Here's what I've got on good authority:

It's better to be maimed than to go there (Matt 5:29)

There is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 8:12)

It's like a fiery furnace (Mat 13:42)

It was originally preparred for the devil & demons (Matt. 25:41)

It involves eternal punishment & seperation from God (2Thess. 1:9)

The demons there now are chained (2 Peter 2:4)

A lot of these have multiple references, but I've only included one per point. Everything else . . . literary additions that most Christians won't seek to defend.[/quote]

Good authority? I know that was a wind up...
It's better to be maimed than a lot of things. How can there be weeping and gnashing of teeth if souls are non-corporeal? And if the demons are chained, wassa problem?

[Titanic]

Here's what I've got on good authority:

It's better to be maimed than to go there (Matt 5:29)

There is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 8:12)

It's like a fiery furnace (Mat 13:42)

It was originally preparred for the devil & demons (Matt. 25:41)

It involves eternal punishment & seperation from God (2Thess. 1:9)

The demons there now are chained (2 Peter 2:4)

A lot of these have multiple references, but I've only included one per point. Everything else . . . literary additions that most Christians won't seek to defend.

How does Matt know so much about it? Did he go there, or was he in regular contact with Satan?

Also, heaven and hell must really be big places if they can accommodate all of the people who have ever died.

Actually there are more people living on earth right now then have ever died in earth's history.

To answer your question though, if we are to assume Jesus is the son of God he probably told the disciples about it and Matthew was the only one who thought these details were worth mentioning.

I think the figure I once read was that there have been 10 billion people in history. 6 billion are currently alive, which means that 4 billion are in hell and heaven. Also remember, when the scientists or historians amde that figure they probably did not include an estimate for infant mortalities which up until the past 200 years was very high.

Anyway, in less then a century, the total amount of humans would have surpasses 10 if not about 12-15 billion, which is a staggering number no matter how big the places are. Also, are heaven and hell capable of holding whatever amount of humans there are until "judgement day" or whwnever the human race finally dies out.

[Coleman]

6 billion currently alive is a little old, but I don't know the exact numbers for either statistic, I just remember reading what I said.

It may warrant looking up.

[Anarkistsdream]

How the f*ck does that matter???

If you believe in God and Heaven/Hell, then you can't possibly think there would be a limit to their size...