How we see heaven and hell

[Jazzy]

The members of Temple Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tenn., may sing about heaven . . . but over the years, their pastor, Charles Lawson, has often warned them about hell.

"Deeper and deeper and deeper you go into the bottomless pit," he preached. "The horrors rise up beside you, the sound and the screams and the smell and the fire, all encompasses you. Because you're dropping down into the land of the condemned."

When Lawson preaches about hell -- you know what it looks like: "It's a place of torment, outer darkness, weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. The worm dieth not; fire is not quenched. That's a place you don't want to go to."

Now picture heaven: It doesn't matter whether you're a Christian or Jew, Muslim or Buddhist, or an atheist. A bright, cloud-filled sky is what will pop into your mind. Why is that? It's because no matter what we grew up believing, for centuries in Western culture, we've seen the same pictures.

Where did those images come from? Well, for starters, not really from the Old Testament.

Dale T. Irvin, president of the New York Theological Seminary and a professor of World Christianity, says that in the Old Testament, "Hell is a shadowy place. It's a place of sleep."

It was not the place of eternal damnation we think of today. Instead, it's a vision shaped by Hades, the underworld of Greek mythology.

Irvin says initially, in the Old Testament, hell was not about punishment -- that came later, with interpretations of the New Testament.

"What about the Biblical references to heaven?" asked Teichner.

"Heaven, for the Bible, is the place that's over our heads," Irvin said. "It's the sky, and it's a place where God lives."

From the earliest times, heaven has been up -- and that other place, down.

Dante's "Divine Comedy," with its bizarre, layered visions of heaven and hell -- like the New Testament Book of Revelation on steroids -- had a huge impact. Soon, in Europe, all you had to do was go to church and look up.

On the frescoed ceiling of a dome in the cathedral in Parma, the artist Corregio introduced the idea of a sort of "great stadium of heaven," said Townsend, "this idea that the saints, God and the virgin, and your loved ones are all in the clouds."

And in Florence's Great Baptistry, a vision of hell.

"I walk into a church and I see this monster eating people, and serpents -- it's pretty gruesome," said Teichner.

"It would put the fear of God into you," Townsend said.

And that was the point.

Source

Thoughts?

 

[Enter Username Here]

I'm a very devoted Christian , but I also open my eyes to other aspects that relate to Heaven and Hell.

I don't have to time to post an essay length post of my beliefs in how Heaven and Hell play out. But I do believe in a positive after life and a negative.

Do I believe in God , yes. Do I believe in Lucifer, yes.

Do I believe when you die , you have to face judgement for your life. Yes. But I also believe we can all rest our spirits and souls, all you have to do is live life righteously.

I'm not saying live like Jesus Christ, because we know that is all impossible. But live to Love others and the most important thing, forgive others.

I think Hell is not how we picture it, but more like people stuck in restless spirit and they become restless and angry. But I also believe that when you enter Heaven your soul is set at rest.

 

[seasidemike]

I think that heaven and hell are just the battle between good and evil which unfolds every day we live on this earth. Look around and you see both heaven and hell fighting it out around us.

I don't think it is a judgement as much as it is a choice, we choose a side every day.

Historically, I think that the concept of heaven and hell came from the early church when most people were illiterate and biblical stories were told in paintings, many of the painting around the Sistine Chapel are depictions of the battle of heaven and hell with visual images of what we now see hell as being.

What you never hear about any more though is purgatory, that place must have been emptied out and closed down because that use to be the place you would go awaiting judgement.