Meh. If hell really is the absence of god, that’s fine with me. I’m not interested in worshipping god, were he to exist, because if he does exist, he an asshole. Ergo, if I found out god did exist, I’d be pretty happy about being away from him.
–Cliffy
The Bible only speaks of anihilation, not eternal suffering. I have no problem with anihilation and I think I would acually prefer that to eternal life. The “alienation” argument is really no more ethically excusable on God’s part than the old lake of fire, especially if he isn’t willing to prove his own existence to humans before they die.
Annihilation. Two 'n’s.
However, assuming that annihilation will be the ultimate end of the condemned, the Bible (NT) does speak of aionian punishment (or pruning or correction) in Matthew 25, and the “touchstone-ordeal” (KJV- torment) for aions of aions, before the final cessation of existence.
I believe in some sort of Final Opportunity in the Afterlife/Resurrection- whether it be as envisioned by Joseph Smith, Charles Taze Russell, Herbert W. Armstrong or C.S. Lewis (there’s a mixed bag!)- in which Yahweh & JC fully reveal themselves to each person; I have little problem believing that some persons will sooner spit in His face than admit they were wrong. Oh well.
Both Testaments are clear- all souls will eventually realize & acknowledge that Yahweh is Lord - to their eternal joy as they go on to Live or their eternal despair as they go on to Die.
Fallacy of the excluded middle, my friend. If it happens, I will both admit I was wrong (about his existence) and spit in his face.
–Cliffy
The word sometimes translated as “punishment” or “torment” is kolasin, which literally means (as you noted) “pruning, cutting off.” Figuratively, it means “check,” “correction,” “chastizement,” or “penalty” but (despite the KJV) it does not carry a connotation of active torment or suffering. Being “pruned” or “cut off” fits just fine with 1st century Jewish eschatological beliefs about annihilation in Gehenna. The only reason to translate kolasin as “torment” in this instance is to support a preconceived idea that conscious torment is the “penalty.”
I wouldn’t be wrong. I still would not have been given any reason to believe before my death. I would have nothing to apologize for.
And after all, what’s eternal bliss and communion with the Infinite, compared to the satisfaction of being right? 
No, that would be both rude and inelegant. I would merely beg Him to stop deceiving me and tell the truth about his technological mastery.
I find it humorous that you think you’ve gotten one over on him, when of course being right is more important than eternal bliss (you can get that chemically today, so why haven’t you?) or communion with some thing that deserves your contempt. (Or mine, anyway.)
–Cliffy
You would prefer annihilation to any possible eternal life? Is the only thing that makes the life you’re now living bearable the thought that it will end? Poor fellow!
I think eternal anything would have to become unbearable after a while. How many trillions of years can you hang around on a cloud, playing a harp and singinging gospel songs before you get bored out of your skull? For me it would take about ten seconds.
Unless…
a.) you’ve been given evidence but refuse to admit it to yourself;
or
b.) you are given evidence before you die, but do not accept it.
Really? Then why do Christians attempt to convert Jews? I’ve always thought that any god worthy of worship would send all good people, believers or not, to heaven, and send those who believe that he killed billions in a flood or sentenced virtuous pagans to hell to the other place. (“What - do you think I would do that? You must really think I’m a shmuck!”) Alas, I have never found any Biblical justification for this belief, and I am not one for non-sched theologies.
Do you have a Biblical cite for this second chance? Couldn’t this be argued against on the faith basis? After all, no faith is required once you are talking to the big guy directly.
If existence didn’t exist, we wouldn’t be having this convesation, would we?
The lottery winner fallacy. Anyone who comes out as a survivor or winner can consider himself to be blessed by god. And you call this winning? 
Ditto. But most attempts to destroy Christianity, for the past 1500 years or so, have been internecine. I’m not saying the growth of Christianity was just luck, though. It adapted very well to its environment (founding prophet turning into a godling to challenge the emperor gods, etc.) it made conversion easy (no circumcision, seafood okay) it drove the hearse up to the back door like any good soul insurance salesman does ( if you don’t convert you might go to hell. Want to take the chance?) and it was faced by opposition that was stuck in the ways of the past, and was open to religious diversity. I’m not sure Jesus was a good salesman, but Paul sure was.
The best marketers won. Nothing to do with god.
If Dopers defined a theology, even religious ones, I bet most atheists would snipe from the sidelines for the cheer intellectual fun of it, but not get too bent out of shape. In the real world we have people saying that to greet customers with “Happy Holidays” is evil, who try to teach religion in science class, and who try to pass laws in line with their faith. Believers play this shell game, converting faith to solid evidence when we’re not looking. No problem so long as believers live their lives according to faith, big problem when they try to limit my freedom because god said so.
Note that any evidence can be interpreted as having a non-supernatural explanation, no matter how irrefutable True Believers might consider it.
I don’t know the official belief, but when I went to Yom Kippur services, and atoned for a long list of sins and a catchall for any not listed, the reward was being written in the book of life for the next year, not either escape from torment or entry to heaven. Being alive was plenty of reward.
I’d say, God, you got some ‘splainin’ to do. Actually, it reminds me of the Russians not telling about the Doomsday Machine in Dr. Strangelove.
I’m still waiting.
If you think of eternity as a really really really long time, yeah. But I think eternity is being outside time altogether. And I can’t really imagine what that’s like.
To me, it’s most important to know that you’ve made a mistake when you have the opportunity to do things correctly in the future. If you can only know you were wrong once it’s too late to ever do things right, I could see how someone would rather not know.