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.
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?
I’m not sure how many people who believe in reincarnation believe that it happens instantly. Some do. I think for a lot of them (I couldn’t put a number or percentage weight on it), it’s a variable time.
It’s nice to think that the baby who was born down the hall at the moment of your loved one’s death got the soul of your loved one, especially if, as they grow, they exhibit similar traits. Comforting, I mean. Like they will never remember you, but their soul lives on.
I always had this wild idea when I was a kid that there was a sort of “lobby” that souls waited in for a set amount of time. This idea came about in the early 1980s, long before gaming lobbies, but… same idea. The idea being that in this lobby, there are other things you can do, but the main thing you do is pick a life and live it. Like when you’re a new soul, either one of two things happens. Either you get to pick, and you pick an easy one. Or you don’t get to pick, and you get given a shitty one. As those lives end and you come back, you retain the memories and lessons learned, but they don’t carry through to the next life. But in the lobby, they accumulate. And after a few lives, you start picking more creative ones. Like maybe you want someone who has an epic death. Or someone who is one of the 0.01%. Just for the experience. I dunno. It was a theory I thought of when I was a little kid. Probably nothing to it at all. I don’t actually believe it. I just remember making it up. Might have even pieced it together from movies and TV.
Yeah it’s a common thought: An afterlife where people gather before going on to the next.
Usually, people think that the quality of your choices for the next life will be based on whatever criteria they think was most important in life. Someone who went out of their way to be nice will believe that it will be based on how nice you were. Whereas someone who spent their life accumulating money/power will assume it’s based on that.
For all we know, though, your “afterlife score” could be based on how many different sorts of food you tried, how many buttons you pressed, how far you traveled from where you were born, etc.
I actually have a novel idea about this concept: Dude dies and gets the red carpet treatment in the afterlife. He’s very happy about it but he doesn’t understand… He never got married and spent most of his life doing data entry and courtroom steganography.
Turns out, he got the high score in “button pressing.” He’s at the top of the leaderboard and this qualifies him for all sorts of “premium” reincarnation options. Not only that, but the gods intend to put his talents to use right away on “pressing issues.”
Edit: It’s actually so weird that I live a life as an immigrant in “this incarnation”, it’s like being in between two worlds, never really belonging in either…
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.
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.
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?
I’m not sure how many people who believe in reincarnation believe that it happens instantly. Some do. I think for a lot of them (I couldn’t put a number or percentage weight on it), it’s a variable time.
It’s nice to think that the baby who was born down the hall at the moment of your loved one’s death got the soul of your loved one, especially if, as they grow, they exhibit similar traits. Comforting, I mean. Like they will never remember you, but their soul lives on.
I always had this wild idea when I was a kid that there was a sort of “lobby” that souls waited in for a set amount of time. This idea came about in the early 1980s, long before gaming lobbies, but… same idea. The idea being that in this lobby, there are other things you can do, but the main thing you do is pick a life and live it. Like when you’re a new soul, either one of two things happens. Either you get to pick, and you pick an easy one. Or you don’t get to pick, and you get given a shitty one. As those lives end and you come back, you retain the memories and lessons learned, but they don’t carry through to the next life. But in the lobby, they accumulate. And after a few lives, you start picking more creative ones. Like maybe you want someone who has an epic death. Or someone who is one of the 0.01%. Just for the experience. I dunno. It was a theory I thought of when I was a little kid. Probably nothing to it at all. I don’t actually believe it. I just remember making it up. Might have even pieced it together from movies and TV.
Yeah it’s a common thought: An afterlife where people gather before going on to the next.
Usually, people think that the quality of your choices for the next life will be based on whatever criteria they think was most important in life. Someone who went out of their way to be nice will believe that it will be based on how nice you were. Whereas someone who spent their life accumulating money/power will assume it’s based on that.
For all we know, though, your “afterlife score” could be based on how many different sorts of food you tried, how many buttons you pressed, how far you traveled from where you were born, etc.
I actually have a novel idea about this concept: Dude dies and gets the red carpet treatment in the afterlife. He’s very happy about it but he doesn’t understand… He never got married and spent most of his life doing data entry and courtroom steganography.
Turns out, he got the high score in “button pressing.” He’s at the top of the leaderboard and this qualifies him for all sorts of “premium” reincarnation options. Not only that, but the gods intend to put his talents to use right away on “pressing issues.”
Or it could be non-linear…
The Egg by Andy Weir
Edit: It’s actually so weird that I live a life as an immigrant in “this incarnation”, it’s like being in between two worlds, never really belonging in either…
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.
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.
Yeah, that part ducks.