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Are there atheists in hell?

MarkCorrigan said:
Evidence, please.

Also how does this square with the split brain thing again?

Thirdly, didn't you say that the angels of karma make sure you go into the life that you deserve or need? So, who deserves to be murdered as a child? Who deserved to be a victim of the holocaust? Why would Hitler be punished for killing 6-10 million people in the given that the Angels of Karma must have used him, and by extension the Holocaust, to punish the reincarnated souls of his victims?
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Since the brains separate halves fulfill different functions, right hand brain is more creative and artistic, left hand brain is more analytical
Maybe if you split the brain you get different aspects of the same person manifesting themselves, and appearing to the casual observer to be separate indentities.

As for Hitler, I am sure he is paying a heavy price for his actions, The rules of karma are that every action, and every reaction to it must be resolved before the soul can move on. Meaning that Hitlers future will be grim for many incarnations. As for the people he made to suffer and die people can be innocent victims of cruelty, and in that event are compensated for it in future lives.
 
Pixel42 said:
What always gets me is the attempt to explain something they find incomprehensible with something that's even less comprehensible. Scorpion balks at the idea of an eternal multiverse but is fine with the idea of an eternal God, despite the fact that (a) those two concepts are logically identical and (b) the latter raises the additional question of what his eternal God was doing for eternity before deciding to create a finite universe.
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I am of the view that universes are created and destroyed in an eternal cycle.
 
Scorpion said:
Since the brains separate halves fulfill different functions, right hand brain is more creative and artistic, left hand brain is more analytical
Maybe if you split the brain you get different aspects of the same person manifesting themselves, and appearing to the casual observer to be separate indentities.
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No, they act as distinct people. To take a trivial but concrete example, when deciding what to wear in the morning the right hand may reach for one shirt, but the left may throw it away and pick out a different one. The two halves can have arguments. This is two different people. Also isn't the left/right thing mostly bunk? They fulfil different functions in that only one side has the speach centre of the brain for example, but people aren't "Creative" or "analytical" in that sense. Maybe you should read up on this so you don't keep making these errors?

Or maybe you don't really care about reality and only invest your time into what makes you feel good.

Scorpion said:
As for Hitler, I am sure he is paying a heavy price for his actions, The rules of karma are that every action, and every reaction to it must be resolved before the soul can move on. Meaning that Hitlers future will be grim for many incarnations. As for the people he made to suffer and die people can be innocent victims of cruelty, and in that event are compensated for it in future lives.
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But isn't the whole point of the angels of karma to push someone into the incarnation they need to make up for their previous karma?

For example if I have a life where I am super lucky, and get loads of amazing things but I treat people like crap, don't I require a life that will suffer as my next incarnation? If that's the case, aren't the people who cause my suffering in my next incarnation just doing what they need to do for my karma to be balanced? Why would they be punished for doing the job the angels of karma tasked them with?

According to YOUR broken philosophy, the lives of the 6 million jews and several million others that were brutally cut short and filled with torture and suffering were chosen for them by the "angels of karma" so they could atone for their previous incarnations. If Hitler et al were just inflicting the karmic punishment chosen for their victims by the "angels of karma" why would they e punished at all? According to YOUR philosophy, people are forced into a life where they will inflict cruel actions on others to punish those others, and then will be punished in turn for the actions they inflicted. It's monstrous.
 
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Surpised no one's mentioned Niven/Pournelle's Inferno, which is about an atheist in hell. It's a Niven book, so don't go into it expecting a lot of nuance or character development, but one of the more compelling points made is that even after the atheist comes to the realization that the afterlife isn't what he expected, his skepticism sticks around and leads to the conclusion it isn't what the Christians expected either.
 
Hmmm, lets see, of the religions I know, where would I end up?

Norse: Hel for sure, the chances of dying with my sword in my hand are low
Greek/Roman: Hades, I'm not an outlyer that would end up in Elysium or Tartarus
Egyptian: I'd be boned, I won't be mummified and won't be buried with gifts.
Ancester worship: Forgotten, I have no children and won't have them either.
Hindu: No clue really, I don't know enough.
Reincarnation: Anything I do here is what I "needed to learn" anyway, so no need to worry.
Mesoamerican religions: No clue
Christianity: It depends on which version is right. Anything protestant and I'm in hell (pre-destined or not), Catholic is most likely purgatory, but not sure if you can change your mind there, Orthodox no clue.
Islam: Probably hell?
Judaism: Not jewish, and afaik their religion just doesn't mention what happens to non-jews at all
FSMism: Pasta party all the way baby!
Rastafarism: No idea, I'm not musical?
Pratchetism: I get to meet Death and chose my own destination
Realism: Nothing.
 
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Beelzebuddy said:
Surpised no one's mentioned Niven/Pournelle's Inferno, which is about an atheist in hell. It's a Niven book, so don't go into it expecting a lot of nuance or character development, but one of the more compelling points made is that even after the atheist comes to the realization that the afterlife isn't what he expected, his skepticism sticks around and leads to the conclusion it isn't what the Christians expected either.
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It's easy enough for a writer of fiction to write a story designed to make a compelling point about the fictional scenario in question.

It's not like you're saying Niven or Pournelle has some special insight into the nature of real afterlives, and is revealing some compelling truth to the rest of us. Like a prophet or oracle or whatever.
 
Lukraak_Sisser said:
Hindu: No clue really, I don't know enough.
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You'll get another chance.

theprestige said:
It's easy enough for a writer of fiction to write a story designed to make a compelling point about the fictional scenario in question.

It's not like you're saying Niven or Pournelle has some special insight into the nature of real afterlives, and is revealing some compelling truth to the rest of us. Like a prophet or oracle or whatever.
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The atheist in hell is supposed to lament and gnash their teeth about how wrong they'd been, like the ending of a Chick tract. They aren't supposed to continue to think.
 
Thor 2 said:
Well that nice guy Jesus had something to say about Hell:

Jesus Christ says in Matthew 25:41, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into EVERLASTING FIRE, prepared for the devil and his angels." In Matthew 13:42, Jesus says: "And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." HELL IS FOREVER! All who enter hell — abandon all hope!
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Just to clarify - Hell itself is everlasting, but that doesn't mean the suffering of the damned is forever.

Annihilationism
In Christianity, annihilationism (also known as extinctionism or destructionism) is the belief that those who are wicked will perish or cease to exist. It states that after the final judgment, all unsaved human beings, all fallen angels (all of the damned) and Satan himself will be totally destroyed so as to not exist, or that their consciousness will be extinguished rather than suffer everlasting torment in hell (often synonymized with the lake of fire)...

Proponents of Annihilationism agree that the Bible teaches that the wicked are punished eternally, but they believe that punishment is complete destruction for eternity as opposed to eternal life in torment. They see Old Testament passages referring to the finality of judgment, and not its duration (see Isaiah 66:24; cf. 2 Kings 22:17; Isaiah 17:2–7; 51:8; Jeremiah 4:4; 7:20; 21:12; Ezekiel 20:47–48; Malachi 4:1-3). Similarly, the New Testament teaches that the wicked will justly suffer for their sins, but the end result will be their destruction (cf. Luke 16:19–31; Romans 2:8; 2 Thessalonians 1:6).

Other New Testament texts, including Matthew 10:28, where Christ speaks of the wicked being destroyed "both body and soul" in fiery hell
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IIRC, the Catholic writer C. S. Lewis suggested that the Catholic Purgatory and Hell are actually the same place, in that people sent to Hell will forever have the option of working their way out and reaching heaven, though it will NOT be easy. Only if they never take that option will they be condemned for eternity.
 
Beelzebuddy said:
You'll get another chance.
The atheist in hell is supposed to lament and gnash their teeth about how wrong they'd been, like the ending of a Chick tract. They aren't supposed to continue to think.
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Ah thanks.
Well, given that a large amount of the religions say I'd end up in a not so bad place, or get another chance, or am doomed regardless of what I do, I guess it's not worth worrying about.
 
TragicMonkey said:
Again, not necessarily. The Christian god could have existed, created a heaven and a hell, then died. Another god or non-god entity could be masquerading as the Christian god. The afterlife could be malleable to the expectations of those present and the Christians have temporary control of the bit you've arrived in. There are a lot of possibilities even if you don't bring in wacky magical stuff that might exist in a post-life reality. The only thing that would prove the existence of a particular god would be proof of the existence of that particular god, not proof of the existence of something claimed to have been made by him. That toy beneath the tree on Dec 25 didn't prove the existence of Santa Claus. For that you'd need to locate, capture, and vivisect Santa himself.
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If a god died, it wasn't the Christian god, who is defined as eternal. But this isn't the hill I will die on. :)
 
arthwollipot said:
If a god died, it wasn't the Christian god, who is defined as eternal. But this isn't the hill I will die on. :)
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Again, this is the same problem as above with the afterlife: just because one thing is true wouldn't make everything ever claimed about that thing true. If I claim that there's a lady named Mrs Nancette Le Sexxy-Explodique who lives as 221c Baker Street and she possesses the magical powers of flight, invisibility and looking great in orange and then you go to 221c Baker Street, knock on the door, and it's answered by a woman who says her name is Mrs Nancette Le Sexxy-Explodique do you immediately believe in her magical powers? Why not? I was right about the name and address, therefore you must accept all my other claims about this, don't you?

There's no reason to suppose the Christian god, if it exists, is accurately represented in all the claims ever made about it. Chuck Norris exists but I can assure you that many of the things claimed about him are exaggerations.
 
Humots said:
IIRC, the Catholic writer C. S. Lewis suggested that the Catholic Purgatory and Hell are actually the same place, in that people sent to Hell will forever have the option of working their way out and reaching heaven, though it will NOT be easy. Only if they never take that option will they be condemned for eternity.
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Which I'm fairly sure is heresy according to The One True Catholic and Apostolic Church.
 
Humots said:
IIRC, the Catholic writer C. S. Lewis suggested that the Catholic Purgatory and Hell are actually the same place, in that people sent to Hell will forever have the option of working their way out and reaching heaven, though it will NOT be easy. Only if they never take that option will they be condemned for eternity.
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Did he?

If so he is totally at odds with pretty much all mainstream christian churches, they all have the final judgement.
 
Pixel42 said:
Science suggests the multiverse has always existed. Though that may be incomprehensible to your limited mind.
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As I understand the theory - there is no evidence for 'multiverse', it's a proposed solution to solve specific problems - but at the moment, 'multiverse' does not, and can not fall within the domain of science.
 
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