Death, suffering, and religion - Fallacy

[Iacchus]

What Hell Fire is and What the Gnashing of Teeth is.

571. As the lust of doing the evils that are from the love of self and of the world is meant by "infernal fire," and as such is the lust of all in the hells (as shown in the foregoing chapter) so when the hells are opened there is an appearance of fire with smoke, such as is seen in conflagrations, a dense fire from the hells where the love of self prevails, and a flaming fire from the hells where love of the world prevails. But when the hells are closed this fiery appearance is not seen, but in its place there is a kind of obscurity like a condensation of smoke; although the fire still rages within, as can be seen by the heat exhaling therefrom, which is like the heat from the burning ruins after a fire, and in some places like the heat from a heated furnace, in others like the heat from a hot bath. When this heat flows into man it excites lusts in him, and in evil men hatred and revenge, and in the sick insanities. Such is the fire or such the heat that affects those who are in the above-mentioned loves, because in respect to their spirit they are attached to those hells, even while living in the body. But it must he understood that those who are in the hells are not in fire; the fire is an appearance; those there are conscious of no burning, but only of a warmth like that which they had felt when in the world. This appearance of fire is from correspondence, since love corresponds to fire, and all things seen in the spiritual world are seen in accordance with correspondences.

 

[Genesius]

 

[bruto]

What Hell Fire is and What the Gnashing of Teeth is.

571. As the lust of doing the evils that are from the love of self and of the world is meant by "infernal fire," and as such is the lust of all in the hells (as shown in the foregoing chapter) so when the hells are opened there is an appearance of fire with smoke, such as is seen in conflagrations, a dense fire from the hells where the love of self prevails, and a flaming fire from the hells where love of the world prevails. But when the hells are closed this fiery appearance is not seen, but in its place there is a kind of obscurity like a condensation of smoke; although the fire still rages within, as can be seen by the heat exhaling therefrom, which is like the heat from the burning ruins after a fire, and in some places like the heat from a heated furnace, in others like the heat from a hot bath. When this heat flows into man it excites lusts in him, and in evil men hatred and revenge, and in the sick insanities. Such is the fire or such the heat that affects those who are in the above-mentioned loves, because in respect to their spirit they are attached to those hells, even while living in the body. But it must he understood that those who are in the hells are not in fire; the fire is an appearance; those there are conscious of no burning, but only of a warmth like that which they had felt when in the world. This appearance of fire is from correspondence, since love corresponds to fire, and all things seen in the spiritual world are seen in accordance with correspondences.

Either Swedenborg or his uncredited translator or both has an absolutely execrable writing style. I mean, I know Swedenborg was barking mad and I wouldn't expect his stuff to make actual sense, but even madmen can sometimes affect an intelligible style. So anyway, if I read this correctly, lust makes you burn in hell but it isn't really hell and it isn't really burning. sounds OK to me, but it doesn't add up to a very great disincentive to lust.

ETA.... I now see the translation from Swedenborg's 18th century Latin is credited to someone named A.C. Ager. I will consider some sympathy for Mr. Ager considering what he probably had to work with, but it's still badly done.

 

[Iacchus]

Either Swedenborg or his unaccredited translator or both has an absolutely execrable writing style.

Yes, Swedenborg was a scientist, and his works were originally translated from Latin.

I mean, I know Swedenborg was barking mad and I wouldn't expect his stuff to make actual sense, but even madmen can sometimes affect an intelligible style.

Do you wish to register a complaint?

So anyway, if I read this correctly, lust makes you burn in hell but it isn't really hell and it isn't really burning. sounds OK to me, but it doesn't add up to a very great disincentive to lust.

Not if you're a sado-masochist anyway.

 

[bruto]

Yes, Swedenborg was a scientist, and his works were originally translated from Latin.

Well, "scientist" is a bit of a stretch I think, but he was a scholar of a sort, and you'd expect him to have written in Latin.

Do you wish to register a complaint?

Only an observation. If you're a Swedenborg fan, I sure hope you can find a better translation. This one reads like a high school translation exercise. I don't know whether it is actually possible to make sense of this drivel, but the quality of the translation can hardly be helping here.

Not if you're a sado-masochist anyway.

Why would you have to be a sado-masochist? From the description you quoted, the hell is hardly real, the flames aren't real at all, the effects vary with how crazy you are to start with, and all you get is warm. Lust: for those stormy nights when your furnace can't keep up! Gives a whole new meaning to the old country adage that "wood warms you twice."