Category: philosophy/religion topics
A holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, "Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like."
The Lord led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in.
In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water.
But the people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths. The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. The Lord said, 'You have seen Hell.'
They then went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.
The holy man said, "I don’t understand."
"It is simple" said the Lord, "In this place the people have learned to feed one another."
Very nice. I like this one.
Reminds me for some reason of the dichotomies here on earth, the homeless living a mile away from beautiful mansions. Maybe I've already seen heaven and hell here on earth. :(But thanks for posting this.
Lol
I like it, but it is not how I imagine heaven and hell to be like. Fine, it may be a nice comparison. Okay. But that's not all that is about.
I'm going to have to agree with that last post, sorry. It just makes more sense. God bless all. Macy
To the last two posters, just consider the story a parable. Christ could have told this story without batting an eye.
I am reminded of a quote from paradise lost, since I can't remember it completely, forgive me if I take poetic license with Mr. Milton.
"'tis in the mind to make a heaven of hell, and a hell of heaven."
Good post, thanks.
Bob
Good story, but hell is going to be alot worst
That is definitely true.
Exactly. Way way worse. I have read many reports of near-death experiences where people where in hell and it was lot worse than that. It might be a parable but Jesus would still have said that it is a lot worse. He'd never make it seem too harmless. And of course, not being able to eat is bad enough but, as I already said, hell will be ... probably ... 10 times worse or more.
Kind of makes you wonder about a God that would create such a hell doesn't it? That's the ultimate in tough love, eternal damnation.
Guess we'd better love him, right?
Bob
Bob, nobody understand why he does that. But his ways are higher than ours, so ...
Isn't it a bit of dirty pool though?
I mean, if that's the case, why give us free will, yet punish us if we use it.
That's kind of like punishing your puppy for peeing on the rug after you didn't take her out.
Bob
Bob, of course one may ask that. And I Honestly have no answer. I believe that God gave us the free will so that we wouldn'T serve him because we are forced to, but out of love. That's the one side. Now, he is doing everything he can to help us all to find him: He gives us his word, the bible. He builds his church who should (I'm saying should, most of the church doesn*t) help people find Christ, not by forcing them but by showing them God's love. Those who know about God's love and reject it, he punishes. This might sound terribly cruel but, as I already said, his ways are higher than hour ways.
I agree with that last post--if God didn't love us, he wouldn't have sent Christ into the world to take away our sins. And he did that out of pure compassion and love!!!!! And I honestly think that everyone has choices to make when it comes to religion--if they want to serve a God or Christ, fine. If not, then it's their decision.
And if they never heard of God or Christ?
Or if they were brought up where another religion was prevailent?
Sounds like a lousy throw of the dice to me.
Bob
That is why God will make sure people will be sent everyhwere so that everyone can hear about him. The bible says in Job that God calls everyone at least three times in their life. If they ignore it, I'm sorry, but then ... it's not God's fault. God gave us all a deep desire in our hearts, deep in our hearts, for him. I mean let's be honest: We all look for happiness and joy and things like this and only God can give joy and peace and happiness that is not just temporary and leaves a void. Only he can fill us.
About five years ago I remember a news item about the discovery of a tribe of pigmies, I believe it was in New Guinni. What about the people who died during the years prior to their discovery? Who told them?
Sounds like magic to me. Three times, eh?
Bob
It's not magic, everythiing's possible for and with God, but of course you non-christians always have an argument you can do it away with.
We are going in a circle now. Check post 11 above.
I don't mind arguing with you because I keep hoping the Christians can come up with an argument that explains such things as hunger, homelessness and cruelty.
Maybe Karl Marx was right when he said that "religion is the opiat of the masses."
Don't you people care what happens around you? You talk of love, and show indifference. You pray for miracles, and corrupt science with your talk of creationism.
Bob
Hello,
I care what happens and stuff, but I don't really know if God is punishing us with what's happening in the world. This question confuses me as well--I don't get it. How can God love us if he is making things happn in the world? I know he loves us and he cares about us, but it doesn't make any sense to me.
i read that story that is in post 1 when i was in high school
i actually agree with bob on alot of his posts
This is where being a Hellenic Polytheist helps everything. The Gods don't have to love us. They don't have to be compassionate or merciful. However, they can be kind, they can give to us and we can have very fulfilling relationships with them. But we do not look for them to save us. We have no saviour and no need of one in the Christian sense. We don't expect miracles, though we sometimes ask them for guidance and aid in times of need, and we give back to them once/if they've helped us. As for Hell, we have different beliefs on that. Strictly speaking, there is The Underworld, ruled over by Hades and Persephone, where everyone goes. However, there is also Tartaros, which is set aside for bad people and those whom The Gods choose to punish. I would never want to fall under their wrath, that's for sure! Personally, I believe that I don't know what the afterlife is really like. I believe that some people stay here as spirits, either cause they want to or because something terrible happened to them. As for the rest, I don't know, though the idea of the River Lethe and forgetting everything worries me. I like to borrow half a page from the Christian book and say that I'll be with my loved ones, but no one really knows I guess. As for what's going on here on Earth, I think alot of it is our fault. I mean, we can't go and blame The Gods for every little thing that goes wrong. Some of it is just nature and some of it we brought about ourselves.
very true tiff. as for me, i think that alot of christianity is very mythical.
i think that most of christianity is based from scientific evidence. not only that, but someone said,"oh, jesus died for u and if u dont accept him as your lord and savior, u will burn in hell..let us try to emmulate him". and then, 2000 years later, most christians are acting very very unchristian like and extremely hypocritical. .
I don't believe God is cruil. However, to be God is to be inhuman. Thus, God has no emotions.
God can, however help us out. Why? Because we are cogs in his machine.
If God has no emotions then God can't love us.
Bob
oooooooh. true true
Okay, I am gonna clear a couple of things up here. Using some of these Christian morals I have been raised with and some I have learned.
Well, first. No one is to be blamed but extremests. Making a generalization as in Christians are bad isn't the best. Rather it's more of the extremests, because every single religion has flaws, Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, many gods, and many more. Yet, not all in these religions are bad. It's the extremests that make it look so bad.
Well... okay, so for us that doesn't know, the fact is Hell is not controled by God. It's a place with out God and is therefore ruled by a cruel guy called the Devil. Yes, sin comes from him, and so many other things.
For saying things about the issue pertaining to what is happening today, it's not God's fault. It's people's own fault. God doesn't want this to happen, but he'll not stop us, because forcing himself on people is the last thing he wants. They decided to disobey God, and now is therefore suffering. It's like not listening to your parents. Why do you hurt yourself? You didn't listen to parental instructions. As is saying this guy didn't listen to his parents when they told him not to skateboard in the street. He doesn't listen, and gets run over. He lies in the hospital hours later, because he disobeyed, so that's basically us now.
I totally agree.
Just curious, if there is a hell, where is it located?
And a heaven?
Doesn't modern christianity sound like a Catch 22?
From what I gather, the best way to explain christianity to anyone, is with the following: god loves you, He's not in love with you.
So the question is, do you love god, or are you in love with god?
Nobody likes people who are clingy, just remember that.
If god helps those who help themselves, who helps everyone else?
If you have already helped yourself, is it polite to turn godly help away?
As for the first post, that's the type of heaven I look forward to, but why wait until death, we can make that heaven here, on earth; after all, we will be all dead by the time we die.
I agree. And I have no idea where Heaven and hell are located, Hahaha.
I agree with that too. Also, I liked the story.
If there weren't so many extremists, though, people would actually want to trust God in the things he does. For example, these extremists go around spreading hate, saying one group or another is to blame for all the horrible things taht go on. Is taht a Christian thing to do? What about their hatred for homosexuals? Why is that right? If God loves everyone, then he shouldn't care how you fall in love if it makes you happy, because as someone said in one of these posts, true happiness is found with God. So it's OK to be in love, as long as it follows a specific set of guidelines...Hmmm, doesn't sound like peace, love or open-mindedness to me. And let's not forget the college, can't remember the name of it off the top of my head, that until this year banned people in inter-racial relationships. Their excuse is that inter-racial relationships are a sin. Well, I don't know if it's because Catholics are more open-minded, but 2 of my friends are Catholics, and they assured me that it says nothing in the Bible about inter-racial relationships, even though a lot of other people said I would. I think a lot of Christians like to make up their own rules just so they have someone to blame for the things that go on in the world. But it's not God's fault that society is going downhill, it's our own, we polluted the world, allowed crime to escalate, and lost all our morals. If you're a good person, you'll do what's right in your heart anyway, you don't need to live in fear because you didn't follow a strict set of rigid, unchangeable rules. No one should have to regret their choices every day unless they're really worth regretting. But what about little things, like I was saying about gay people, for instance? Should they have to worry about burning in hell? Scientific evidence points to the fact taht sexuality is genetic. So why should they be condemned for something they can't help? It just seems a little backwards to me that a God who's all about love and eternal forgiveness can cast down whoever He wants just because He said, "I lay down the law, now you all follow it or burn forever." That is just backwards.
Here is a good website. It is new. Take a look.
www.freewebs.com/holyghostparty
Will I burn in hell because I do not believe in the tooth fairy?Now tell me she loves me and will give me 3 chances and then burn me. What about the Muslims? Will they get burned by your god? And burned again by the tooth fairy? Unfair really as your god and Allah both came from Yahweh and here I am assuming your god is a Christian one already. Which one do I believe in to save my skin? Or would false belief like that get me burned? Call me confused but belief for me is not an something I have control over. Going to Church I can control, but I cannot convince myself of the existence of the tooth fairy. I just hope she sees my point of view.