For the philosopher Hobbes if he was an honest agnostic who had received a bad bag of goods from churchianity:
The coffee maybe cold, not the best like in prisons here.
Hell, Hades; can mean: unseen state, grave, prison; in the original Hebrew, Greek Bible manuscripts. Derived from, Hado; “all receiving.†There are three or more different meanings or places.
Our world, cultural view & orthodox traditional churchianity have taken away the key of gnosis; (knowledge). I’ve been digging through 1400 years of religious rubble. I have read & studied theology books for 25 years.
I’m interested in philosophy as well; reading now the philosophers at the Academy of Alexandria; e.g. Clement (who received the highest education at the time, that is Greek) had a mixed philosophy & taught what was fit & just from Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and the Epicureans. Clement & Origen (also of Alexandria) were the first Christian theologians. They were later contradicted by religious counsels whom (around 600 A.D.) by mis-translating a few key words; e.g. forever; created a picture of God that has grieved the human heart & puzzled the intellect for centuries. So many have been burned by churchianity that even the mention of a God at all raises antipathy in many. Jesus actually said to the religious experts of His day that: “they had taken away the key of knowledge (gnosis in Greek) & laid heavy burdens on humanity & hindered them that were (entering in)-seeking.â€
In the proposition of a God at all you would expect that The Creator would communicate with the earth. There should be a consistency in the Bible. Every statement should lend support to the rest, in the correct interpretation.
Scholars have spent a lifetime researching some of these words; (see link below) as well as newly recovered manuscripts & codexes; Eternal: in the original Bible manuscripts; means “age or ages.†The mis-translations can account for the apparent contradictions & disparities. So if God is a just & righteous, as it says in Ps. 96:13; then He would be a Father like we were told. What Father punishes a child forever? It’s for a limited time.
The right interpretation of the word punishment is, pruning, chastisement; correction. This is what Clement & Origen taught. Only one in six of the earliest theological schools taught eternal punishment.
Here is a link elaborating on the word “foreverâ€, proving it to mean “age†or “aion.â€
Jesus also said to his followers to follow the rules of the Pharasees but not to follow their example. You have to obey legitimate religious authority.
I think you are implying a connection to “gnostic christianity”, but isn’t that quote simply a reference to finding meaning in the Torah? (Or is that gnosticism? I have no idea.)
I had trouble following the post, save for the vague feeling of relief that someone is holed up intensely researching the nonsense of religion - you go girl.
The title question was very, very cool. I like to think forever is not eternal and vice versa, especially in regard to pain. But I will say that I can function wherever there is coffee available, even if it is in prison or in hell.
For me, hell would be a place with no coffee.
I would also assume Starbucks has plans to open up several shops in both hell and heaven. But the line is really long in hell, full of tourists and middle-aged ladies in groups ordering drinks with too many hyphens and calories. Kind of like the starbucks in my neighborhood. That’s one kind of prison, no doubt. The starbucks in heaven is you and me playing chess and talking philosophy over two lightly sweetened black coffees, a gentle snow out the window, two chicks eyeing us in the corner.
One of the hardest things about being a communist is the fact that I cannot condone privately owned coffee-shops, which I otherwise absolutely love.
Small businesses, in theory, are great ideas, but can grow like a cancer in no time. If we could keep all the little local coffee-shops in each town, and eliminate all the Starbucks, which doesn’t give you free internet anyway, I’d be happy with that.
I researched the word, “everlasting,†for a year in my part-time. I was talking with a Masters of Divinity, Pastor who left his church because of his belief that God would restore all things that He had made. He said in spite of all the evidence the vast majority of denominations will still hold their orthodox traditions high.
This eternal hell theology was formed a lot by Augustine in the 5th century, when the influence of the Greek waned & the Latin system was formed. The Roman emperor, Justian 11, issued an edict to a religious counsel demanding that the doctrine of eternal hell be ratified. & closed the schools at Athens & Alexandria which taught reconciliation.
There are Bibles that have corrected this error, but the majority of Bible publishers would not go against the churches as they would not be able to sell their bibles. This horrible error has created a lot of atheists.
Here is a man who puts it all into today’s perspective in a slightly humorous , ironic way exposing churchianities unmoved tradition.
Follow his links for lots of info.
