The biggest problem I see with discussions about hell is the assumption that there is a hell.  In the same manner, sin seems to take on a character quite different from simple errors of judgement, although there is no specific reason for this.

If we view learning experiences in our world in the same way as we view schoolwork, then the issue vanishes. That doesn't mean that errors don't occur, but simply that they are errors and have no especially terrible nature. Then the place in which we learn to avoid making mistakes becomes heavenly, while the state of errors is itself hellish.

Merely because generations of fire-and-brimstone theologians have pulled their teeth and hair (while passing the collections plate) while imagining hell is not reason to believe that such a place exists.

dave

Alan,

You said, "The uncomfortable fact is that hell is a reality and one of the afterlife realms, like it or not."  But your only proof is your own belief that such a place exists and a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, discussion of church doctrine supporting that religion's beliefs.  And that long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, discussion has no basis in facts gained through direct exploration of hell or hells.  It's just another example of man's trying to define reality based on creating an internally consistant, logical-rational argument to support their set of beliefs, in place of direct exploration.

Personally, I prefer to take a different, more direct approach.  If a hell, or many hells, exist why not just go directly into one of them and take a look around.  Why not explore one of them to gather as many "facts" as my own imperfect, belief-skewed, half-awake perception will allow, and then begin to draw my own conclusions?  Why not send in a group of explorers in Partnered Exploring sessions to do the same.  Why not then combine the information from all those partners, with their individual perspectives, biases, etc, to try to gain a bigger picture understanding of such places?

Alan, one of the saddest things we discovered when we did these explorations of hells is how they are created.  The religion-based hells appear to be created by the fact that a very large group of people share the same set of beliefs about that hell.  In other words when a religion gets its followers to believe in the existence of the hell that that religion defines, that hell is created by the resulting group-held belief.  Each religion appears to have its own hell, since each religion has its own beliefs about their hell.  And, the only people you find in these hells are those from that specific religion.  Only Lutherans in Lutheran hell, only Catholics in Catholic hell, etc., etc.  It is sad to think that all those people are suffering in those hells for no other reason than that they were told to believe their hell existed and they took on that belief.

Bruce