• CerebralHawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 day ago

    Not only is there no proof Hell exists (I know, edgy online atheists, actual Christians just mad at God they were sent to bed without dessert, etc), but what is written about Hell in “official” texts (say, holy books) and what was written later (e.g. movies, but also classic literature such as Dante’s Inferno and whatnot) differ a bit.

    One of the big misconceptions about Hell is that the Devil (Satan, Lucifer, whatever) is the warden of Hell, or the leader or something. No, he’s just prisoner #1.

    It’s more accurate to say that Hell is just a purgatory that is far from God’s light. An endless void.

    I’m no Biblical scholar, but most of what we commonly think of as Hell comes from movies, and has been used to scare Christians into giving more than they can afford at the collection plate so the priest or pastor can buy this year’s Cadillac.

    As far as where you go when you die? Nobody knows, but science’s best guess is it’s where you were before you were born. Nowhere. You can read about how life was like before you were born, but you can never experience it. Add 100 to the year you were born: anything after that is similarly conjecture and stories. It will never exist for you. Dream about it all you like, but at that time, or somewhat after (people have lived to around 120? but it’s rare) you won’t be here. It’s what you do here that matters.

    Instead of worrying about what happens after you die, worry instead about how you will live. Or spare a thought for the trillions who will never live. In your place, a great artist who united the world could have been born, or a great scientist who cures cancer. But instead, you live in their place. That’s not to say your worth is lower; in your place it could have been another serial killer as well. But no, you’re the one who lived… so live.

    That last paragraph wasn’t me. I was summarizing and paraphrasing Darwin.

    • Riskable@programming.dev
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      19 hours ago

      Speaking about assumptions about the afterlife, people who believe in reincarnation typically believe that after you die, you get reincarnated. The assumption there is that it happens right away. What if it happens like a thousand years after you die or maybe an entire universe goes by?

    • massive_bereavement@fedia.io
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      23 hours ago

      […] but science’s best guess is it’s where you were before you were born. Nowhere.

      May I have a slightly different interpretation: Everywhere.

      We are made from the same stuff the Sun is made, traveling together for eons. When we die, we just roll back to the matter is our planet.

      And once it dies, we will travel again together through the stars.

      • CerebralHawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 hour ago

        Sure, but I mean the mind. We can’t remember where we were before we were born because we did not exist. The mind cannot fathom true zero, not existing, so we made up a lot of cool and interesting theories for what comes next.

        Of course, the physical body returns to the soil and all that.

  • hperrin@lemmy.ca
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    18 hours ago

    I like to think Hell is just a big constant party. I mean, all the best people are there, and Satan seems like a pretty chill guy in the Bible. I bet his parties are just non-stop fun.

    If you believe in what the Bible says, Christians are in Heaven. This list includes Hitler, much to the dismay of many Christians I know who have rewritten the rules in their mind in order to exclude him. I don’t know if you’ve ever hung out with a huge group of exclusively Christians, but it’s not exactly what I would describe as “fun”.

    • massive_bereavement@fedia.io
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      23 hours ago

      I know nothing about philosophy, but the Absence of Myth is often a heavily discussed topic since last century, and iIrc there’s a school of thought that I adhere that says “if you take the gods from the hearts of men, they will make new ones*”.

      The idea is that our brains are constantly trying to make sense of an otherwise chaotic world, and in doing so, we create (or adhere) to myth to help us keep being rational (and focus on the stuff that matters(?)).

      So even those of us that don’t subscribe to organized religions still have some mythos going on. But I’m not educated enough to explain or understand well this point.

      *e.g. technological progress, artificial intelligence (well mostly LLM bs.), nuclear era will save us all, internet era will save us all, new-age stuff, cosmology, predestination, if we upload our conscience to a computer = heaven, etc. etc.

      A link: https://gettherapybirmingham.com/on-the-absence-of-idols-on-mythopoetic-meaning-making/

      EDIT: I forgot! One of the most common religious activities that we often don’t recognize is playing the lottery. It seems odd, but it is a communal activity solely based in faith that a better life is possible, and it is around the corner. But this is a faith-based activity, as anyone with some cursory statistics knowledge will tell you the odds are nought to nada.

      I have often been split apart between telling someone or keeping the “lie”, as it seems it helps them keeping hope there is a better tomorrow.

      If someone mentions their neighbor won the lottery, I would remind them the difference between empirical and anecdotal evidence.

  • CXORA@aussie.zone
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    24 hours ago

    I hope hell is just kind of crappy. Like if the streets of heaven are laved with gold, hell is just tarmac and has potholes. And its all overblown propaganda.

    • Riskable@programming.dev
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      19 hours ago

      If there’s so much gold you can pave the streets with it, it’s not very valuable.

      Having said that, if we’re all living in a simulation, then having our “streets” (cables) paved with gold sounds fantastic 👍

      Only thing better would be fiberoptic cable but that might not be possible since you can’t carry power over fiber 🤷

      Aside: You can generate power from light traveling through fiber optic cable but it’s not the same thing as carrying power efficiently over copper or (better) gold.

  • IWW4@lemmy.zip
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    20 hours ago

    I remember one comedian joking about who Hell is the place to be as that is where all the partying will be.

    I wanna get drunk, fuck a lot of people, be a gluntanous pig and then pass out and do it the next day.

    HELL IS THE PLACE FOR ME.

    Enjoy heaven with the harps and floating cloud chairs.

  • mech@feddit.org
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    1 day ago

    My religious teacher told us a metaphor for heaven and hell:

    In hell, everyone sits at a table loaded with the best food.
    But their hands are tied to utensils that are too long to reach their own mouth.
    So everyone is miserable and starving while madly trying to eat.

    In heaven, everyone also sits at a table loaded with the best food.
    And they also have utensils that are too long to reach their own mouth.
    But everyone is happy and cheerful, as they feed each other.

  • TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    I think hell is a non-stop party. Think of all the people who are there–everyone who loves rock music, used drugs, and had sex before marriage. Why would Beelzebub torture his own? We all buddies.

    Now think of all the people we’re told go to heaven. Do you really want to hang out with them for eternity?

  • Ioughttamow@fedia.io
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    24 hours ago

    Well I’m wrapping up hollow knight so I know the truth, that the light is evil… embrace the void

  • YappyMonotheist@lemmy.world
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    24 hours ago

    People aren’t intelligent enough to see through, idk, Western propaganda and Andrew Tate nonsense and they think they can trick God. Even if you don’t believe in the Creator, is anyone here arrogant enough to think they could fool him, hypothetically? 😅

    • Riskable@programming.dev
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      19 hours ago

      Me, at life’s exit interview…

      “Sooo… I’m regards to my, er, contributions to the good of the world… Does open source software count? What about all those times I made witty comments that made a few people smile? 😬”

    • massive_bereavement@fedia.io
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      23 hours ago

      Or maybe we don’t matter enough to be seen. I mean, beekeepers don’t know each bee individually. In the span of time and space, our existence would be so short that it would be like looking at an individual fleck of dust in the air.

      • YappyMonotheist@lemmy.world
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        23 hours ago

        But God is not a beekeeper because he’s not a man. His understanding of the universe and everything in it is unimaginable to us, our intelligence is contained in a meat machine. So, God knows this universe maybe He does care (well, I believe/“know” He does but I don’t wanna scare anyone 😅).

    • CXORA@aussie.zone
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      23 hours ago

      Dudes like super old. Probably has dementia, so probably easy to trick. Like most people who are really young or really old.

  • podian@piefed.social
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    24 hours ago

    Haven’t seen a half-decent shower thought in a long time. Time to unsubscribe.