I think the willingness to do 'whatever' to obtain pleasure sort of rules out the possibility of obtaining it within this though experiment.
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If It Was Proven Definitively That There Is A Heaven And Hell, Would You Change The Way You Live?
- Thread starter Grunty
- Start date
I guess it depends on whether the requirements for going to Heaven are achievable? I try to be a decent person already, but if my search history figures into it I'd be willing to take up more wholesome hobbies than porn.
I was responding to the prompt as given, not to some hypothetical science fictional analogue.
Would it change anything though? Wouldn't doing something for the sole reason of avoiding hell (i.e.: to benefit yourself instead of helping others) kinda automatically send you there?
Haven't touched a bible in a while, but I'm pretty much sure something similar is written in there. I'd just go on as normal.
Haven't touched a bible in a while, but I'm pretty much sure something similar is written in there. I'd just go on as normal.
We all want to think we're already living lives that would lead to heaven rather than hell but if both were proven to exist beyond a doubt (as general afterlife concepts rather than tied to an existing religion), I'd want to make extra sure I was on track to the pearly gates for obvious reasons, so I'd probably start living some quasi-monastic life or something else where I can maximize well-being for myself and others. Literally nothing would and could be more important after that discovery than making sure my loved ones and I don't go to hell.
Depends on a lot on the rules for getting in, which presumably we would also discover. Ideally almost all of the stuff in our existing holy books would just be tossed out as cruel nonsense, and even more ideally, following some of those practices should veer you closer towards the path to hell.
If we found out heaven and hell existed but had no concrete guidelines for how to get to either one, it would be disastrous because a great deal of terrified people would start following the major holy books to the letter, including some of the things we've largely discarded as archaic and relics of a bygone age.
Depends on a lot on the rules for getting in, which presumably we would also discover. Ideally almost all of the stuff in our existing holy books would just be tossed out as cruel nonsense, and even more ideally, following some of those practices should veer you closer towards the path to hell.
If we found out heaven and hell existed but had no concrete guidelines for how to get to either one, it would be disastrous because a great deal of terrified people would start following the major holy books to the letter, including some of the things we've largely discarded as archaic and relics of a bygone age.
There is something intriguing about eternal suffering in hell. If my life is not eternal, why is the punishment? I don't think I would change the way I live. There is a lot of absolute proof that the way I live will cause me suffering right now and yet I still am who I am.
Why would a hellish afterlife be different? It's just the same as real life but in a larger, exaggerated scale in comparison to my actual actions.
Why would a hellish afterlife be different? It's just the same as real life but in a larger, exaggerated scale in comparison to my actual actions.
This isn't necessarily true though, that's only the version of hell as told by an extremely biased one side. It's just as likely that if heaven/hell were real, that the followers of the God of Heaven would be embellishing the realities of Heaven vs. Hell. And since almost every cool person in the history of the world would be in hell, I imagine it's the preferable place to be.
mormons baptize dead people so maybe you dont even have to repent
If we were assuming the hypothetical, that being whichever Religion is correct there is a heaven or hell, why would we then assume they are entirely wrong about what the afterlife is like?
I don't understand the logic of assuming hell would hospitable at all. Like if it is a place that a god created for the people it doesn't like, why would we assume it would be a chill place? Even the most generous interpretations of a literal hell doesn't sound like a good place to be. I don't think if we were assuming a hell existed why it would be assumed you get to hang out with cool dead people rather than being kept in isolation and being tortured endlessly.
Joy and suffering are a biological process. I really can't reconcile that concept post-mortem even as a thought experiment.
Why would we assume hell isn't hospitable? All we have to go on are the writings in the bible which we know conflict with our lived realities and are most likely metaphor and/or completely made up. So if Hell happens to be real, it's not because of what's written in the bible.
And like I said before, basically all the best people ever would be in hell. It's probably fabulous.
OP
OP
Don't think The Bible's version of Hell was at all metaphorical. Seemed pretty darn explicit that those who don't repent would be "tossed into the lake of fire to burn for all eternity". That doesn't sound very hospitable to me and it wouldn't make any difference who is or isn't there. You'd be more concerned with your never ending pain and agony to care.
This is a really good analogy. People love to apply their sense of morality to God, but it doesn't make sense if God is the creator of all things in the universe, including your brain. Religion only exists to make it easier for people to understand their relationship with God by introducing the concepts of rewards (heaven) and punishment (hell), life and death, good and bad but God Himself should be beyond our comprehension.
If it just requires not being a murderous tool, surprise, most atheists are already like that. Some humans don't need fear of damnation to be decent people. But if I need to cover every inch of skin, cannot speak to a male that is not related to me, and must submit to rape to whomever my family sells me to or be burned at the stake, I guess I'm burning here and there.
Obviously, the idea of Hell is scary, that was the point. How do you extort and control without fear?
Obviously, the idea of Hell is scary, that was the point. How do you extort and control without fear?
I think the basis for the question is flawed to the point where the answer cannot reflect much other than pain avoidance.
We know that the creation myth isn't real and much of the bible talks about events that just aren't real. So why would we believe hell specifically would be accurate when other parts of the bible arent, they are just metaphors?
In my opinion if heaven and hell are real, Heaven is the bad place. God is an authoritarian D-bag in the bible. Heaven would basically be a Maga rally. Hell would be the normal place for normal people. God's whole, "omg but you'll burn down there" is part of his authoritarian propaganda dude.
Hell is a hedonistic paradise filled with LGBT people. And like, maybe it's Sunny there? Sounds awesome to me.