# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/21 "2006-10-03T12:54:19Z")
[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] Which is why Eastern Orthodox thought takes the opposite approach- The Lake of Fire is the Inescapable Presence of God as experienced by those who hate Him. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/22 "2006-10-03T13:48:42Z")
[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] That’s what I wanted to say! ---
**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 3, 2006, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/23 "2006-10-03T13:50:49Z")
[QUOTE=FordPrefect] That’s what I wanted to say! [/QUOTE] But it was counterproductive of you to say “damn you”, huh? 😃 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/24 "2006-10-03T13:56:07Z")
If there is a Hell, and you’re supposed to suffer, it would be easy enough to burn you until all your skin peeled off and then regrow your skin, repeat ad nauseum. But I don’t think a real Hell would only use fire. How about torture, over and over again - each time your “body” is regenerated and then they do it again? And if it’s actually a fitting Hell, then you pay for your sins. So if you have the (relatively) mild sin of littering, you spend the rest of your punishment cleaning up after other people, and the garbage never stops and the blisters on your hands never heal. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/25 "2006-10-03T14:10:12Z")
Isn’t it more likely that hell is freezing cold rather than scalding hot? I think more people find cold to unpleasant than hot. How many people move to the sun belt every year and how many people move to Alaska or Minnesota? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/26 "2006-10-03T14:22:41Z")
Yeah, I’ve always feklt that if I were in hell (as seems more and more likely with each passing year), after the first few hundred thousand years or so I’d kinda get used to the third degree burns and the flaying of the skin and all, and I’d start looking forward to parts of it. You know how it is with picking at scabs, or peeling away sunburned skin, or picking your nose, or squeezing zits. It’s not polite and you’re not supposed to do it, but you’re in _Hell_ after all, and things could hardly get worse, and there’s nothing else to do anyway. So , when your toes start to come off, you find yourself peeling off the reall good ones, knowing that they’ll grow back all the sooner, and you start lookingv forward to some of the more interesting pains. You look to the Cenobites in the Hellraiser series (appropriately enough) as role models. ---
**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, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/27 "2006-10-03T14:40:27Z")
[QUOTE=faithfool] [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. [/QUOTE] Here’s how I see it, and this is going according to my understanding of the Bible: - God created humans. - He created us with flaws – at least flaws in His sight: violent tempers, greed, incipient alcoholism, lust, homosexual tendencies, etc. - He set forth laws which in most if not all cases require us to act in opposition to these “evil” tendencies _which He put there in the first place_. - He created a place/state which we call hell, for the purpose of tormenting those of us who fail to overcome our God-given evil traits. Whether you believe it’s a literal place of fire and brimstone, or merely the state of separation from God’s presence, the idea is that it’s meant to be horrible. My only point was that humans are a very flawed creation. If we, with all our frailties, both physical and spiritual, are an example of God’s handiwork, then maybe hell won’t be all it’s cracked up to be either. ---
**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, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/28 "2006-10-03T15:31:58Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] It’s not polite and you’re not supposed to do it, but you’re in _Hell_ after all, and things could hardly get worse, and there’s nothing else to do anyway. [/QUOTE] Oh, I don’t know about having nothing else to do. You could always go to the \*Battlefield Earth \* and _Ishtar_ film festivals, as well as the Jerry Lewis filmathon. There’s the \*Atlas Shrugged \* philosophy discussion group, and the Dan Brown and Harold Robbins Literary Societies. And they have just oodles of museums filled with paintings of big-eyed children, smiley faces, “Keep On Truckin’” posters, and dogs playing poker. Then you’ve got concerts by Grand Funk Railroad, Milli Vanilli, Helen Reddy, Slim Whitman, Canned Heat and the Archies. All this, and the best of British cooking and dentistry as well! There’s just all kinds of stuff to do. Be sure to pick up a brochure at the entrance. ---
**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, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/29 "2006-10-03T15:41:51Z")
[QUOTE=LonesomePolecat] Oh, I don’t know about having nothing else to do. You could always go to the \*Battlefield Earth \* and _Ishtar_ film festivals, as well as the Jerry Lewis filmathon. [/quote] OK, that’s pretty hellish. > [@](#): > > There’s the \*Atlas Shrugged \* philosophy discussion group, and the Dan Brown and Harold Robbins Literary Societies. Hey, as long as there’s no _Tony_ Robbins, I’m golden. > [@](#): > > And they have just oodles of museums filled with paintings of big-eyed children, smiley faces, “Keep On Truckin’” posters, and dogs playing poker. Now you’re just pulling your punches. The _real_ hell would have an art gallery in the exact layout and size of the Louvre, completely filled with the works of **Thomas Kinkade, Painter of Shite** [sup]TM[/sup]. > [@](#): > > Then you’ve got concerts by Grand Funk Railroad, Milli Vanilli, Helen Reddy, Slim Whitman, Canned Heat and the Archies. All this, and the best of British cooking and dentistry as well! There’s just all kinds of stuff to do. Be sure to pick up a brochure at the entrance. Ok, that’s pretty bad. All in all, I give your personal hell an 8.5/10. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/30 "2006-10-03T18:22:39Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] If we, with all our frailties, both physical and spiritual, are an example of God’s handiwork, then maybe hell won’t be all it’s cracked up to be either. [/QUOTE] I am reminded of the joke about the condemned having his choice between the “Capitalist Hell” and the “Socialist Hell”. (In both cases, the condemned are boiled in oil and stretched on the rack… but in the Socialist Hell they are always out of fuel and/or oil, and the racks keep breaking down…) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/31 "2006-10-03T18:34:13Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] Here’s how I see it, and this is going according to my understanding of the Bible: - God created humans. - He created us with flaws – at least flaws in His sight: violent tempers, greed, incipient alcoholism, lust, homosexual tendencies, etc. - He set forth laws which in most if not all cases require us to act in opposition to these “evil” tendencies _which He put there in the first place_. - He created a place/state which we call hell, for the purpose of tormenting those of us who fail to overcome our God-given evil traits. Whether you believe it’s a literal place of fire and brimstone, or merely the state of separation from God’s presence, the idea is that it’s meant to be horrible. My only point was that humans are a very flawed creation. If we, with all our frailties, both physical and spiritual, are an example of God’s handiwork, then maybe hell won’t be all it’s cracked up to be either. [/QUOTE] But He doesn’t leave us alone to deal with our evil tendencies on our own, which would pretty much automatically doom us. (Leaving out the argument of who is responsible for man’s evil tendencies.) He’s right there all the time and with His help we will be fine. Rejecting that help is the issue. And the knowledge of having rejected that help is awful. And it’s not like He would revel in torturing his beloved creation. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/32 "2006-10-03T19:18:40Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] What’s wrong with you people? Is a little blind faith too much to ask?! [/QUOTE] Come down off your throne, and leave your body alone – Somebody must change. Not at all ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/33 "2006-10-03T20:51:38Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] What’s wrong with you people? Is a little blind faith too much to ask?! [/QUOTE] Alright, that makes two of us who recognized the OP as a near-Simpsons quote. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/34 "2006-10-03T22:29:06Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] But He doesn’t leave us alone to deal with our evil tendencies on our own, which would pretty much automatically doom us. (Leaving out the argument of who is responsible for man’s evil tendencies.) He’s right there all the time and with His help we will be fine. Rejecting that help is the issue. And the knowledge of having rejected that help is awful. And it’s not like He would revel in torturing his beloved creation. [/QUOTE] None of which would change the fact that if God was aiming to make perfect beings, he pretty well botched the job. The fact that he hasn’t simply chucked us in the incinerator disposal (yet) merely means he’s trying to salvage his already-botched project. Unless, of course, he never wanted us to be perfect beings in the first place, but then a whole lot of religions are pretty much wrong. (And bringing back in the argument of who’s responsible for man’s evil tendencies, a perfect maker would have been able to design us to be corrupt-proof, avoiding the problem entirely.) ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/35 "2006-10-03T23:01:15Z")
Something tells me the OP has actually tried to carry out this experiment using ants and a magnifying glass. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/36 "2006-10-04T17:54:24Z")
[QUOTE=begbert2] None of which would change the fact that if God was aiming to make perfect beings, he pretty well botched the job. The fact that he hasn’t simply chucked us in the incinerator disposal (yet) merely means he’s trying to salvage his already-botched project. Unless, of course, he never wanted us to be perfect beings in the first place, but then a whole lot of religions are pretty much wrong. (And bringing back in the argument of who’s responsible for man’s evil tendencies, a perfect maker would have been able to design us to be corrupt-proof, avoiding the problem entirely.) [/QUOTE] But then where would free will be? ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/37 "2006-10-04T18:13:39Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] What’s wrong with you people? Is a little blind faith too much to ask?! [/QUOTE] Well they only had the [one album and a single](http://www.connollyco.com/discography/blind_faith/index.html), so a little Blind Faith is all you got. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/38 "2006-10-04T19:16:08Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] But then where would free will be? [/QUOTE] If you presume God to have free will and be a perfect being, then such beings are possible. If you presume him to also be all-powerful, presumably he could have made us similarly perfect, with free will intact. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/39 "2006-10-05T02:32:23Z")
[QUOTE=adam yax] Isn’t it more likely that hell is freezing cold rather than scalding hot? I think more people find cold to unpleasant than hot. How many people move to the sun belt every year and how many people move to Alaska or Minnesota? [/QUOTE] [Elton John]Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids/In fact, it’s cold as hell[Elton John]. Hey, I think you’re onto something. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035/40 "2006-10-05T14:22:56Z")
[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] Half-assed job? You mean as with the Bible and Greek Testament? 🙂 * * * True Blue Jack [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolerance-of-hell/375035.md?page=3)