# Tolerance of hell **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 2, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035 "2006-10-02T21:39:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mustafa\_Al-Habib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mustafa\_Al-Habib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mustafa_Al-Habib)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/1 "2006-10-02T21:39:29Z")
Assuming that Hell is tortuously hot, and you were doomed to spend an eternity there, wouldn’t you just get used to it after a while like being in a tub of really hot water? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/2 "2006-10-02T21:43:45Z")
First, you must explain why a merciful, or even **sane** God would send creations of His own, which He knows to be imperfect, to Eternal Dammnation in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/3 "2006-10-02T21:44:22Z")
One assumes that, if hell exists as a place of perpetual torment, its designer didn’t slip up and do a half-assed job. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/4 "2006-10-02T21:45:51Z")
The description in _A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man_ certainly doesn’t suggest that one acclimates. Fortunately, as a Jew I’m spared having to worry about this. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/5 "2006-10-02T21:47:20Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] First, you must explain why a merciful, or even **sane** God would send creations of His own, which He knows to be imperfect, to Eternal Dammnation in the first place. [/QUOTE] No he doesn’t. The question stands as is although it really is more appropriate for IMHO. He stated an assumption and asked the question based on that assumption. I would imagine that a place of eternal damnation and torture would adjust itself to account for any tolerance that you would have for the place. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/6 "2006-10-02T21:51:30Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] One assumes that, if hell exists as a place of perpetual torment, its designer didn’t slip up and do a half-assed job. [/QUOTE] Considering the designer in question created said hell for the purpose of torturing his _flawed_, _imperfect_ human children, I’d say that isn’t too safe an assumption. In fact, if there is a God, I hope he did as shitty a job making Hell as he did making me. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/7 "2006-10-02T22:00:34Z")
What’s wrong with you people? Is a little blind faith too much to ask?! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/8 "2006-10-02T22:13:03Z")
[QUOTE=Mustafa Al-Habib] Assuming that Hell is tortuously hot, and you were doomed to spend an eternity there, wouldn’t you just get used to it after a while like being in a tub of really hot water? [/QUOTE] What would such acclimation be based on? Acclimation depends on adjustments made by receptors and neurons over time. If one doesn’t have a physical body, there would be nothing to adjust. If one does have a physical body, it would have to be different from our present bodies or else you would die from exposure to continuous severe heat. [QUOTE=Captain Amazing] One assumes that, if hell exists as a place of perpetual torment, its designer didn’t slip up and do a half-assed job. [/QUOTE] There’s a joke told around here about the benefits of going to Panamanian instead of German Hell that has to do with the employees rather than the designer. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/9 "2006-10-02T22:14:32Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] Considering the designer in question created said hell for the purpose of torturing his _flawed_, _imperfect_ human children, I’d say that isn’t too safe an assumption. In fact, if there is a God, I hope he did as shitty a job making Hell as he did making me. 😉 [/QUOTE] Perhaps you are right. Maybe it’s only Heck. By the way, James Thurber wrote that proofreaders once changed “Hell” to “hell” in one of his pieces. He protested, saying that Hell is a proper noun, because it is the name of a real place. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/10 "2006-10-02T22:17:11Z")
Well, then, of course, there’s Terry Pratchett’s hell, where the demons and the damned just sit around wasting time (because you can’t physically torture a soul) until management is observing them, whereupon the demons pretend to torture and the damned pretend to be tortured. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/11 "2006-10-02T23:06:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Assuming that Hell is tortuously hot, and you were doomed to spend an eternity there, wouldn’t you just get used to it after a while like being in a tub of really hot water? No, you’re just thinking of “forever”, which is a very different thing from “eternity”. In eternity, there is no such thing as “after a while”. An eternal being experiences every moment of existance simultaneously. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/12 "2006-10-02T23:11:06Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] First, you must explain why a merciful, or even **sane** God would send creations of His own, which He knows to be imperfect, to Eternal Dammnation in the first place. [/QUOTE] Merciful, no, but God could just be evil. Demiurge & all that. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/13 "2006-10-02T23:17:07Z")
Since no factual answer is possible, let’s try this one in Great Debates. Moved. **samclem** ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/14 "2006-10-03T00:25:17Z")
[QUOTE=Mustafa Al-Habib] Assuming that Hell is tortuously hot, and you were doomed to spend an eternity there, wouldn’t you just get used to it after a while like being in a tub of really hot water? [/QUOTE] As it was explained to me in my mandatory religous education classes in high school (catholic), hell is no longer considered a place of actual physical torment. I was told that hell is the eternal state of being removed from the grace of God. Basically, hell is knowing that there is a god and that you will never be allowed to see or be with it. As such, I don’t think you ever would get used to it.. if anything I would think time would only deepen the misery. Not that I believe any of this. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/15 "2006-10-03T00:53:06Z")
[QUOTE=lokij] I was told that hell is the eternal state of being removed from the grace of God. Basically, hell is knowing that there is a god and that you will never be allowed to see or be with it. As such, I don’t think you ever would get used to it.. if anything I would think time would only deepen the misery. Not that I believe any of this. [/QUOTE] The problem is, to someone who doesn’t _like_ God, that’s not very hellish. Sort of like telling a man that for all of eternity, he’s “condemned to \*never be kicked in the testicles again ! ! Mwhahahahahaha ! \*” ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/16 "2006-10-03T01:09:18Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] The problem is, to someone who doesn’t _like_ God, that’s not very hellish. Sort of like telling a man that for all of eternity, he’s “condemned to \*never be kicked in the testicles again ! ! Mwhahahahahaha ! \*” [/QUOTE] Sure… I thought that way too at first… but the mind is subtle and peculiar. Think about forever. Think about really being confronted with the actual existence of god, think then about the potential ramifications.. add in some self doubt… add in to never ending sameness… and the natural human impulse to want what you cannot have. I think it would be an effective hell. Furthermore, supposedly you also know what you’re missing and it’s supposed to be really wonderful. Even if you doubt that it IS, you also have to wonder. Yep… not pleasant. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/17 "2006-10-03T02:49:31Z")
_sidles up to God_ "Hey God, you hellin’?? “There’s no tellin’ how much I’m hellin’.” “Stop yellin’!” ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/18 "2006-10-03T03:42:26Z")
“Hellin’” indeed. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/19 "2006-10-03T03:46:36Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] Considering the designer in question created said hell for the purpose of torturing his _flawed_, _imperfect_ human children, I’d say that isn’t too safe an assumption. In fact, if there is a God, I hope he did as shitty a job making Hell as he did making me. 😉 [/QUOTE] [Disclaimer: I am NOT being a smartass here, I swear. Trust me, I have more than enough religious issues to keep me busy until I meet my own eternity that I’m honestly seeking a as-good-as-you-can-surmise idea ont this. Please, help a former reformed fundamentalist who might think you’re own to something…] Or simply asked, could you extrapolate on this/these idea(s)? Thank you regardless. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/20 "2006-10-03T12:22:01Z")
A renowned philosopher once noted that Hell is other people. However, he failed to note that, to other people, you are the other person … [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035.md?page=2)