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Does hell give life meaning?

DangerousBeliefs said:
There isn't an agreed upon duration of stay in Hell.
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That's interesting. I was under the impression that, among Christians, one of the points of general agreement on the subject was that Hell was a perpetual state. Do you know of particular Christian denominations that take a different view?
 
ceo_esq said:
That's interesting. I was under the impression that, among Christians, one of the points of general agreement on the subject was that Hell was a perpetual state. Do you know of particular Christian denominations that take a different view?
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In Lost Christianities (Ehrman), there was an early church father who thought all people in hell would eventually be reunited with people in heaven. He was, of course, excommincated for such a charitable outlook. (It might have been Origen)
 
ceo_esq said:
That's interesting. I was under the impression that, among Christians, one of the points of general agreement on the subject was that Hell was a perpetual state. Do you know of particular Christian denominations that take a different view?
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Latter-day scriptures describe at least three senses of hell: (1) that condition of misery which may attend a person in mortality due to disobedience to divine law; (2) the miserable, but temporary, state of disobedient spirits in the spirit world awaiting the resurrection; (3) the permanent habitation of the sons of perdition, who suffer the second spiritual death and remain in hell even after the resurrection.

Persons experiencing the first type of hell can be rescued from suffering through repentance and obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
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http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/basic/afterlife/hell_eom.htm
 
Lots of Christian sects reject the idea of "hell." There isn't even one word in the Bible that is translated as "hell." It is an interesting theological exercise to compare Bible translations and see which words get rendered as "hell," as opposed to "Gehenna" (an actual place near Jerusalem) or "shadow" or "the pit" or "Hades."
 
The concept of hell is not universally accepted among serious biblical scholars. To many there is Heaven and there is nothing else. You either continue with eternal life in Heaven or you are simply no more.
 
ceo_esq said:
That's interesting. I was under the impression that, among Christians, one of the points of general agreement on the subject was that Hell was a perpetual state. Do you know of particular Christian denominations that take a different view?
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I see that's somewhat been answered already. There is also:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hell_eva1.htm (and I'm sure other links)

The reason it gains ground is because logically, a finite duration in Hell wraps up all these pesky problems about Hell. "Well, babies go there but just for like a day before ascending to Heaven. But murderers? They're there for thousands of years."

I actually thought Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice suggested an interesting view of Hell as a place where the damned go to get redeemed. It also presents an interesting view of God as vain, naive, and fallable, who gets into a bet with Memnoch (Satan) about human behavior and refuses to concede the bet.
 
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