I am appalled that so many of you have been brutalized by the fire and brimstone approach.
If you need another 'magic feather' to drive the demons away, remember that heaven and hell are pagan concepts that got combined into Christianity.
The fires of Gehenna refer to the burning garbage dump outside the walls of Jerusalem. It was created by the Jewish kings on the site of the altars where children were sacrificed to false gods. They wanted to make SURE the sacrifices would stop. The bodies of criminals were tossed there. The ancient world held no worse punishment than denial of burial.
The traditional belief in Judaism was for a PHYSICAL resurrection at the end of time. Read the story of Jesus, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. They talk of a physical Resurrection. That was the belief of the Sadducees. They were the traditionalists.
The Pharisees were the Greek speaking collaborators with the Roman government. They adopted the Greek belief in an after life into Judaism. That is why they hated each other.
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With all due respect Mrs. Paul Owczarek, even if you prove your proposition, that does not prove a god or anything spiritual. And for myself, it does not change my position in any way.
Demons are driven away with skeptical and rational thought.
I am trying to respond to the atheists here still getting nightmares of hell because of horrible religious training.
@ Mrs. Paul Owczarek
My apologies for going sideways on the OP. I know you are a VERY nice person with a huge heart.
As a theist I only knew of hell as the ultimate punishment, pure suffering. I was exceptionally fortunate that my United Church of Canada is one of the kindest and most progressive protestant faiths ever, and the threat of hell was not pushed as hard as other faiths. The thing is, those of us who became atheists carry decades of intense programming, and it cannot be casually be discarded.
Some theists are dicks, some are indifferent, but you Mrs. Paul Owczarek, you are one of the very good ones.
Hades was not hell and neither was Sheol. It took Christianity to elevate not only hell but "The Satan" to magical places of eternal torture and damnation. Calling the Christian version of Hell a Pagan concept is like calling milk from the cow, 'ice cream." Your effort, ONCE AGAIN, has failed horribly.
Considering my wife is Pagan, and that we have many Pagan friends, I have learned a great deal about Paganism and many of the different gods and practices therein. I have even attended (and participated in) a wide variety of Pagan ceremonies and rituals over the last few years since she and I have been together. Matter of fact, a vast majority of our home decorations are centered around Pagan symbols, statues, and paintings, complete with a couple of altars. And you know what..... I have yet to speak with a single Pagan who is even remotely concerned with any concept of hell or Satan. Sure, there are those Pagan gods that embody the traits of mischief and the darker sides of human nature, but I have never heard of any Pagan express any worries about going to some eternal place of torture if they do not properly "worship" any particular god. For the most part, many Pagans actually pretty much ignore most of the gods and focus their attentions on only a select few that appeal to them. And they do not criticize others for not following the same god(s) they may follow. Oh, and every single one of our Pagan friends know I am an atheist. Yet, none of them have ever shunned me or treated me as an outsider in any way. And I have CERTAINLY never been told by any of them that I am going to any type of hell for being a non-believer. That is a HELLUVA lot better than I would ever be treated by some of the Christians I know if they ever found out I am an atheist.
Yes, I agree Christianity did indeed invent the concept of hell. And, along with other sources, they may have even "borrowed" a couple of the "darker" Pagan gods/myths in order to enhance their deplorable pit of despair concept. Because it is obvious from the bible's sometimes blatant plagiarism of older religions/myths that those who developed Christianity had very little creative abilities of their own. However, so far as I know right now, you would be extremely hard-pressed to convince me that hell was originally a Pagan concept. Besides, regardless of where Christians got their hell idea, it is STILL the Christians who use the idea to induce fear into its followers as a means of controlling the masses to keep them in line. Catholics especially. I go into a group of Pagans who know I am an atheist and I am treated like part of the family. I go into a group of Christians who know I am atheist and I might be lucky to get out alive, depending on the particular sect/denomination of the group. At the very least, I would be treated as if I had some sort of highly contagious disease and nobody would want to be seen associating with me. So, with all due respect, please do not try to compare Christianity with Paganism. There is no comparison other than with some of the holidays Christianity stole from the Pagans. As for Catholicism.... well... they pray to and worship just as many (or more) saints as Pagans have gods. We frequent many "mystic shops" in different places. They fascinate me now. But I cannot help but laugh sometimes when I see whole sections of some of those places dedicated strictly to Catholic practices. And let me tell ya, some of the Catholic-related statues/symbols and such make even some of the "darker" Pagan stuff look like kittens and rainbows. Just sayin'... *chuckle*...
Either way, it's all utter bollocks.
Just another example of the Frankenstein's monster of religion that we know as Christianity.
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Heaven and hell are PAGAN concepts could be cleverly summarized as friday night funkin for the soul. This phrase playfully blends the idea of contrasting spiritual realms with the popular game, suggesting a modern take on ancient beliefs.
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