Interesting statement.

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I couldn't imagine any worse place than earth, but I sure don't want to see one.
 
I'm not sure that Earth is so much hell as a testing ground. As a Christian, I live with the hope that, despite my struggles, I'll be united with God in the hereafter--and if I didn't struggle here, why would I have to hope for anything after death?

Hmmmmm. I'm not sure this is making sense. I guess what I'm saying is that, for this Christian in particular, any suffering or struggling I have to face, I have to face here. Because I have placed my hope for a hereafter in God, I won't have to struggle or suffer anymore after I die.

LOL. I hope that reads all right.

Incidentally, I do love Earth, in spite of everything...not so much that I won't be happy to get to heaven, of course, but enough so that I thank God for my life and my health.
 
No hell is not on Earth, because no matter how bad things are here there are moments and places where God definately exists here, hell will be completely Godless.
 
U2democrat said:
A friend of mine's dad made the statement that "Hell is on earth."

I've been thinking alot about that. What do my intelligent FYMers have to say about this?

Doesn't seem to make sense based on Scripture. And as BVS says, no matter how bad it is here on earth, hell is worse.
 
paxetaurora, and BonoVoxSupastar,

Both awesome and uplifting posts. For all that we might disagree on, I'm totally with you on this.

Cool.
 
Buddhists believe all life is suffering. Is this what your father's friend was referring to, or was he literally talking about hell in the Christian context?
 
Irvine you hit it on the button. I sometimes wonder if we waste time wondering about the after-life. Make heaven your daily reality...i think we can do it. Many choose (of course, some do not choose but are unfortunate in their situations) to live a life of hell. I was reading in the Spin mag about elliot smith...sure, it's debatable whether he chose the sort of life he lived but what isn't debatable is the quality of life. He lived hell.
 
Depends on what your individual interpretation of "hell" is. For example, people who are religious will interpret it based on the tenets of their faith. Secular people will interpret it differently.

Are you asking in the context of what your friend's dad said? Or our own interpretation of it?
 
I've actually thought about this idea a lot over the years, and what I often come up with as a conclusion is that both hell and heaven are right here all the time, that we (both as a group and as individuals) make our own heaven and our own hell.
 
oh U2dem, speaking of hell on earth...wasn't your church's big shot committee supposed to vote about your dad's salary, etc., right about now? If so, did that go OK?
 
"Without Jesus Christ the world would not exist, for it should needs be either that it would be destroyed or be a hell."

--Blaise Paschal

Just one person's opinion from a few centuries ago, but I find a deep wisdom in it, despite the fact that its overt religiosity might turn some off. I hear in it both an honest take on the reality of suffering in this world and also a strong measure of hope.

I don't think it's up to us to make earth heaven or hell (unless by 'making' we just mean which colored glass we're looking through at a given time), but rather we are to reach out and lift the eyes of those around us to hope...hope for human dignity...hope for a future...if such a hope is, in fact, to be found. But, like the words in "Walk On," hope comes from a "place that has to be believed to be seen."
 
There are more than a few hellish places on earth.

Can heaven exist while hell exists, or do they require eachother.
 
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