What is Hell? What is Heaven?

[Gracie]

In your opinion, that is. What is hell to you? Do sinners really burn in a lake of fire and suffer for eternity? Do people go to a city above the sky that has streets paved in gold?

Personally, my opinion is the following for each "place".

Hell: Absence from God. No torment. No lake of fire. Just...dead. Gone. No resurrection. No nothing. The God I believe in would not torture His children no matter how evil. He would just make them stay...dead.

Heaven: Is whatever made you happiest. For me...it would the guiding white light, stepping into a tropical paradise and every pet I ever owned there to meet me but they would not be pets, per se. They would be in pet form, but able to speak that I can understand. No stress, no pain, no lack of food or water, no illness, no death. Just those furry family that I loved so dearly.

For you..it could be reuniting with your spouse or parent or sibling or friend...at the beach, or in a Tuscan setting or in a forest. Wherever you found happiness and with whomever you had happiness with...is your specific individual heaven. Like minded individuals would be in that same world as well, but with their own loved ones.


Now....your opinions on the afterlife?

 

[Justin Richardson]

Hell is the last stop. It is a very dark place where eternal suffering begins. It is the vilest place you would ever want to go. It consumes you. It contains you. It straps you inside and eats everything inside you. Leaving you with no conscious. The ability to grasp ahold of what you may consider Reality.
It is a nerve-wrenching place that bleeds out not only your soul. But never forgives you. And it never forgets.

Heaven is a place only found in the mind. Between here and the afterlife.

 

[Confounding]

I think God is too enlightened to be driven by human emotions such as anger and jealousy and human concepts such as reward and revenge. People assume God would be and behave like us because they are arrogant.

 

[beautress]

I'm not sure. There's a curtain between the living and the dead, and few of us are sensitive enough to look through it. The pain, disability and sorrows of this life will not be known there. And God will comfort those who spent their lives doing for others, honoring his Kingdom, praying for others, bringing hope to the hopeless, and not giving up on the hope that we can mend fences, get people to reconnect with their parents and family, and do what we can to build bridges to carry those who have fallen away from God to bring them back to his presence. Heaven is the prize for doing your best while here to do God's will of justice, caring, and facing adversity with courage that all will be better for having faith in the Lord and his mercy when we fall short. God be our vision, his true word, and unconditional, boundless love and caring for us. If all that is too hard to know is true, say these words "Dear Lord, please perish our unbelief." And say it knowing that he will. The person who wrote the song, "I'm easy," was very close to God, because He makes it easy to close the gap between doubt and belief when we simply ask for it knowing he will accept us as we are when others seem to despise us. May God open wide his gates to all who want him to include themselves. Just ask believing he will carry you.

 

[Gracie]

Hell is the last stop. It is a very dark place where eternal suffering begins. It is the vilest place you would ever want to go. It consumes you. It contains you. It straps you inside and eats everything inside you. Leaving you with no conscious. The ability to grasp ahold of what you may consider Reality.
It is a nerve-wrenching place that bleeds out not only your soul. But never forgives you. And it never forgets.

Heaven is a place only found in the mind. Between here and the afterlife.

I think what scares us most...what makes us shudder, grieve, fear, find horrific...that is our dark place that we all are in NOW, in whatever thoughts of those kinds plant in our minds for us to live over and over again in our memories. That could be hell. But that could also mean God tortures His children. I don't believe that. Not one bit. We make our own hell just from experiences we try to escape from but our minds don't let us. God doesn't need to torment us. We torment ourselves.

 

[Penelope]

To be in hell or heaven is a simple fact of life, we have all been to both places and variants of the two. No I do not believe in an afterlife.

 

[SweetSue92]

In your opinion, that is. What is hell to you? Do sinners really burn in a lake of fire and suffer for eternity? Do people go to a city above the sky that has streets paved in gold?

Personally, my opinion is the following for each "place".

Hell: Absence from God. No torment. No lake of fire. Just...dead. Gone. No resurrection. No nothing. The God I believe in would not torture His children no matter how evil. He would just make them stay...dead.

Heaven: Is whatever made you happiest. For me...it would the guiding white light, stepping into a tropical paradise and every pet I ever owned there to meet me but they would not be pets, per se. They would be in pet form, but able to speak that I can understand. No stress, no pain, no lack of food or water, no illness, no death. Just those furry family that I loved so dearly.

For you..it could be reuniting with your spouse or parent or sibling or friend...at the beach, or in a Tuscan setting or in a forest. Wherever you found happiness and with whomever you had happiness with...is your specific individual heaven. Like minded individuals would be in that same world as well, but with their own loved ones.


Now....your opinions on the afterlife?

Interesting...."The God you believe in". Isn't that just an idealized version of yourself, in the end? For all of us?

Hard question, huh?

If God is really God he's not what we could REALLY envision, right? Think of it this way. The three year old understands that Mom knows a lot more than she does...but does not know what her Mom knows. Cannot possibly begin to know what Mom knows, or even wrap her head around what Mom knows. All she can say is "Mom knows more than me" and trust that.

Now multiply that times one billion and you might get close to the divide between us and God.

So when you say "The God I believe in could not possible punish us with Hell"....you are thinking like a Spiritual child, to be honest. You are not accounting at all for God's Holiness, for one thing. You have left out entirely all the ranges of punishment there might be in Hell, for another. I'm not trying to put you down or accuse you--in many ways we are all Spiritual children, certainly in comparison to God.

At the very least you have to start with God's Holiness when you consider Heaven and Hell. It is not first about US--about OUR pleasure and OUR torture. It is about Him. First.

 

[Taz]

In your opinion, that is. What is hell to you? Do sinners really burn in a lake of fire and suffer for eternity? Do people go to a city above the sky that has streets paved in gold?

Personally, my opinion is the following for each "place".

Hell: Absence from God. No torment. No lake of fire. Just...dead. Gone. No resurrection. No nothing. The God I believe in would not torture His children no matter how evil. He would just make them stay...dead.

Heaven: Is whatever made you happiest. For me...it would the guiding white light, stepping into a tropical paradise and every pet I ever owned there to meet me but they would not be pets, per se. They would be in pet form, but able to speak that I can understand. No stress, no pain, no lack of food or water, no illness, no death. Just those furry family that I loved so dearly.

For you..it could be reuniting with your spouse or parent or sibling or friend...at the beach, or in a Tuscan setting or in a forest. Wherever you found happiness and with whomever you had happiness with...is your specific individual heaven. Like minded individuals would be in that same world as well, but with their own loved ones.


Now....your opinions on the afterlife?

Making people stay dead is a form of torture. No god would do that. The church is just trying to scare you into giving them money.

 

[ding]

Hell is being eternally separated from God.

Heaven is being eternally united with God.

 

[norwegen]

In your opinion, that is. What is hell to you? Do sinners really burn in a lake of fire and suffer for eternity? Do people go to a city above the sky that has streets paved in gold?

Personally, my opinion is the following for each "place".

Hell: Absence from God. No torment. No lake of fire. Just...dead. Gone. No resurrection. No nothing. The God I believe in would not torture His children no matter how evil. He would just make them stay...dead.

Heaven: Is whatever made you happiest. For me...it would the guiding white light, stepping into a tropical paradise and every pet I ever owned there to meet me but they would not be pets, per se. They would be in pet form, but able to speak that I can understand. No stress, no pain, no lack of food or water, no illness, no death. Just those furry family that I loved so dearly.

For you..it could be reuniting with your spouse or parent or sibling or friend...at the beach, or in a Tuscan setting or in a forest. Wherever you found happiness and with whomever you had happiness with...is your specific individual heaven. Like minded individuals would be in that same world as well, but with their own loved ones.


Now....your opinions on the afterlife?

I agree about hell. The Scriptures distinguish between spirit and flesh, or life and death, not life and punishment. Hell is death. No lake of fire. No torment. No gnashing of teeth. None of this literally, anyway; these kinds of things are natural phenomena, physical sensations. Why would God punish anyone for eternity? Really, what is the purpose for that?

The Scriptures don't describe heaven beyond knowing the Father, except for its type and shadow, or the temple. The Law passed away because heaven and earth passed away (Mt 5:18). When St. Paul says that the Christ has united heaven and earth, he means that Jesus has restored God’s sovereignty. God resides in the new heaven and earth, in the ruling places once again, in the Holy of Holies – the real Holy of Holies in His new living temple, not just a copy in a stone temple made with hands.

The first-century Jewish sentiments of Jesus and Peter are reminiscent of those of the prophet Isaiah after Israel's independence from Babylon:

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered

or come into mind.​

But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,

and her people to be a gladness.

(Is 65:17-18)
​

Heaven and earth are not the actual abode of God or the third planet from the sun; they're the temple system.

Perhaps there is no point in describing the actual heaven, so we'll just have to keep speculating.

 

[diver52]

Heaven and Hell are carrot and stick used by shamans to make sure the money keeps coming in.

 

[Baron]

In your opinion, that is. What is hell to you? Do sinners really burn in a lake of fire and suffer for eternity? Do people go to a city above the sky that has streets paved in gold?

Personally, my opinion is the following for each "place".

Hell: Absence from God. No torment. No lake of fire. Just...dead. Gone. No resurrection. No nothing. The God I believe in would not torture His children no matter how evil. He would just make them stay...dead.

Heaven: Is whatever made you happiest. For me...it would the guiding white light, stepping into a tropical paradise and every pet I ever owned there to meet me but they would not be pets, per se. They would be in pet form, but able to speak that I can understand. No stress, no pain, no lack of food or water, no illness, no death. Just those furry family that I loved so dearly.

For you..it could be reuniting with your spouse or parent or sibling or friend...at the beach, or in a Tuscan setting or in a forest. Wherever you found happiness and with whomever you had happiness with...is your specific individual heaven. Like minded individuals would be in that same world as well, but with their own loved ones.


Now....your opinions on the afterlife?

Hell:

The Truth About Hell

Heaven...
Try first to avoid Hell and read the Holy Bible

 

[Gracie]

In your opinion, that is. What is hell to you? Do sinners really burn in a lake of fire and suffer for eternity? Do people go to a city above the sky that has streets paved in gold?

Personally, my opinion is the following for each "place".

Hell: Absence from God. No torment. No lake of fire. Just...dead. Gone. No resurrection. No nothing. The God I believe in would not torture His children no matter how evil. He would just make them stay...dead.

Heaven: Is whatever made you happiest. For me...it would the guiding white light, stepping into a tropical paradise and every pet I ever owned there to meet me but they would not be pets, per se. They would be in pet form, but able to speak that I can understand. No stress, no pain, no lack of food or water, no illness, no death. Just those furry family that I loved so dearly.

For you..it could be reuniting with your spouse or parent or sibling or friend...at the beach, or in a Tuscan setting or in a forest. Wherever you found happiness and with whomever you had happiness with...is your specific individual heaven. Like minded individuals would be in that same world as well, but with their own loved ones.


Now....your opinions on the afterlife?

Hell:

The Truth About Hell

Heaven...
Try first to avoid Hell and read the Holy Bible

The question was not to sway anyone one way or another. I was just curious as to what others thought. And that's it.

 

[LittleNipper]

Hell is the END of ALL HOPE forever!

Heaven is the beginning of ABSOLUTE LOVE and eternal satisfaction...

 

[Bruce_T_Laney]

In your opinion, that is. What is hell to you? Do sinners really burn in a lake of fire and suffer for eternity? Do people go to a city above the sky that has streets paved in gold?

Personally, my opinion is the following for each "place".

Hell: Absence from God. No torment. No lake of fire. Just...dead. Gone. No resurrection. No nothing. The God I believe in would not torture His children no matter how evil. He would just make them stay...dead.

Heaven: Is whatever made you happiest. For me...it would the guiding white light, stepping into a tropical paradise and every pet I ever owned there to meet me but they would not be pets, per se. They would be in pet form, but able to speak that I can understand. No stress, no pain, no lack of food or water, no illness, no death. Just those furry family that I loved so dearly.

For you..it could be reuniting with your spouse or parent or sibling or friend...at the beach, or in a Tuscan setting or in a forest. Wherever you found happiness and with whomever you had happiness with...is your specific individual heaven. Like minded individuals would be in that same world as well, but with their own loved ones.


Now....your opinions on the afterlife?

Heaven and Hell are what we live daily in my opinion...

Heaven is when you hear the screams of your newborn child and able to hold it in your arms after giving birth...

Hell is when they die moments later...

 

[Gracie]

In your opinion, that is. What is hell to you? Do sinners really burn in a lake of fire and suffer for eternity? Do people go to a city above the sky that has streets paved in gold?

Personally, my opinion is the following for each "place".

Hell: Absence from God. No torment. No lake of fire. Just...dead. Gone. No resurrection. No nothing. The God I believe in would not torture His children no matter how evil. He would just make them stay...dead.

Heaven: Is whatever made you happiest. For me...it would the guiding white light, stepping into a tropical paradise and every pet I ever owned there to meet me but they would not be pets, per se. They would be in pet form, but able to speak that I can understand. No stress, no pain, no lack of food or water, no illness, no death. Just those furry family that I loved so dearly.

For you..it could be reuniting with your spouse or parent or sibling or friend...at the beach, or in a Tuscan setting or in a forest. Wherever you found happiness and with whomever you had happiness with...is your specific individual heaven. Like minded individuals would be in that same world as well, but with their own loved ones.


Now....your opinions on the afterlife?

Heaven and Hell are what we live daily in my opinion...

Heaven is when you hear the screams of your newborn child and able to hold it in your arms after giving birth...

Hell is when they die moments later...

omg. Did that happen to you Bruce???

 

[Bruce_T_Laney]

In your opinion, that is. What is hell to you? Do sinners really burn in a lake of fire and suffer for eternity? Do people go to a city above the sky that has streets paved in gold?

Personally, my opinion is the following for each "place".

Hell: Absence from God. No torment. No lake of fire. Just...dead. Gone. No resurrection. No nothing. The God I believe in would not torture His children no matter how evil. He would just make them stay...dead.

Heaven: Is whatever made you happiest. For me...it would the guiding white light, stepping into a tropical paradise and every pet I ever owned there to meet me but they would not be pets, per se. They would be in pet form, but able to speak that I can understand. No stress, no pain, no lack of food or water, no illness, no death. Just those furry family that I loved so dearly.

For you..it could be reuniting with your spouse or parent or sibling or friend...at the beach, or in a Tuscan setting or in a forest. Wherever you found happiness and with whomever you had happiness with...is your specific individual heaven. Like minded individuals would be in that same world as well, but with their own loved ones.


Now....your opinions on the afterlife?

Heaven and Hell are what we live daily in my opinion...

Heaven is when you hear the screams of your newborn child and able to hold it in your arms after giving birth...

Hell is when they die moments later...

omg. Did that happen to you Bruce???

No, it happened too my twin...

 

[foggedinn]

If the thing described in Rev. 21 is what you perceive as Heaven, It is some sort of crystalline cubic structure 1500 miles on each side. I believe it to be an Ark. It has many rooms.
I believe the second death would be preferable to endless suffering.

 

[Gracie]

In your opinion, that is. What is hell to you? Do sinners really burn in a lake of fire and suffer for eternity? Do people go to a city above the sky that has streets paved in gold?

Personally, my opinion is the following for each "place".

Hell: Absence from God. No torment. No lake of fire. Just...dead. Gone. No resurrection. No nothing. The God I believe in would not torture His children no matter how evil. He would just make them stay...dead.

Heaven: Is whatever made you happiest. For me...it would the guiding white light, stepping into a tropical paradise and every pet I ever owned there to meet me but they would not be pets, per se. They would be in pet form, but able to speak that I can understand. No stress, no pain, no lack of food or water, no illness, no death. Just those furry family that I loved so dearly.

For you..it could be reuniting with your spouse or parent or sibling or friend...at the beach, or in a Tuscan setting or in a forest. Wherever you found happiness and with whomever you had happiness with...is your specific individual heaven. Like minded individuals would be in that same world as well, but with their own loved ones.


Now....your opinions on the afterlife?

Heaven and Hell are what we live daily in my opinion...

Heaven is when you hear the screams of your newborn child and able to hold it in your arms after giving birth...

Hell is when they die moments later...

omg. Did that happen to you Bruce???

No, it happened too my twin...

I'm so sorry.

 

[gtopa1]

In your opinion, that is. What is hell to you? Do sinners really burn in a lake of fire and suffer for eternity? Do people go to a city above the sky that has streets paved in gold?

Personally, my opinion is the following for each "place".

Hell: Absence from God. No torment. No lake of fire. Just...dead. Gone. No resurrection. No nothing. The God I believe in would not torture His children no matter how evil. He would just make them stay...dead.

Heaven: Is whatever made you happiest. For me...it would the guiding white light, stepping into a tropical paradise and every pet I ever owned there to meet me but they would not be pets, per se. They would be in pet form, but able to speak that I can understand. No stress, no pain, no lack of food or water, no illness, no death. Just those furry family that I loved so dearly.

For you..it could be reuniting with your spouse or parent or sibling or friend...at the beach, or in a Tuscan setting or in a forest. Wherever you found happiness and with whomever you had happiness with...is your specific individual heaven. Like minded individuals would be in that same world as well, but with their own loved ones.


Now....your opinions on the afterlife?

Forever with God; forever without God; the rest is pure speculation.

Greg