So, the Pope says there's no hell, what do you think?

Did Pope Francis say there is no hell? Not quite, the Vatican insists

 

the fact that the interviewer is an atheist and made sure not to make any record of the interview may be telling...

on the other hand, i think that hell never actually was mentioned in the bible. i believe there was mention of everlasting life, which would fit with the idea that the souls that don't earn such a thing would simply disappear.

ultimately i don't believe any of it, so i'm not that concerned with what he did or did not say. but it would be nice to see a pope actually basing his teachings on what the bible says rather than the political bullshit that seems to have such a large influence on the church normally.

 

Atrocious Farts

A lot of Christians today commonly say,
Hell is merely a measure of our distance from God.
In the beginning, God farted,
Now known as the big bang,
And all the angel's scattered!
Lucifer, happened be closest to God,
Caught off balance, and flat footed,
Hid underground refusing to come out.
Practicing his most devilish atrocious farts!
Whilst the angels insisted they would be back,
To clean up the mess, after the smell died down!
The last anyone saw of God he was dancing away,
Holding his nose and, quite loudly, protesting,
Sometimes! Ya just gotta let her rip!
While Joan Osborn dances in the isles,
Like a whirlwind, warning everyone,
To watch their ass and hold their nose,
Because, what if God is one of US!​

 

Good points. I think that the RCC has a problem though, because many of their made up prayers (prayers they instruct others to say) have ''hell'' included in them. One example ''Oh my Jesus, forgive us of our sins, and lead us from the fires of hell...'' (think this might be from the Rosary) Guess they might have to edit that prayer, now? lol

I'm an ex-Catholic. I find this new pope to be a PR manager or something, rather than leading people. He shouldn't be trying to usurp the Bible, but that is one of the problems I always had with the RCC - that a love for Jesus isn't enough, that the Church is necessary for ''salvation.'' I left Christianity a few years ago, and was agnostic, and now, I'd consider myself spiritual.

I'd have more respect if he just came out and said ''Guess what? I don't believe any of this crap.'' At least he'd be genuine, but he just seems to be pandering to everyone, wanting to fill pews on a Sunday. A packed church means money.

I'm not sure of my views of hell personally, but what he's saying simply isn't Biblical. Even though I don't follow this religion, I feel bad for my parents, and other Catholics, who are confused by this pope.

 

Did you make this up? =)

 

I was raised catholic, and this is just the usual waffling between the pope and the conservatives who elected him. He was not their first choice, but they don't have any good candidates anymore than the republican party does. You have to be smarter than a damned chicken, if you are to comprehend any large organization.

 

That's Rainbow Warrior poetry, extrapolated from the Tao Te Ching, or what I often describe as prehistoric mathematical potty humor, that extends sometimes even into pornographic potty humor. Kids are the masters of the genre, but some of us are really big kids! I have 300 pages of the stuff and can never get enough of this particular bullshit. I can write it all day long and just made this one up out of another one, but I can write anything. It would require 4,430 poems to complete the entire set and its sometimes called "The Book that can never Be Written" or "The Book that Should Never Be Written". Computers are now starting to spit out these poems.

 

The concept of hell is built around only a few verses in scripture mainly in the book of Revelation and it's highly figurative language. On the other hand scripture is filled with verses that talk about death or destruction.

 

Like metaphors?

According to the Bible, Jesus spoke of hell. And what significance would his death and resurrection have, if hell wasn't a reality? I don't have strong opinions on heaven and hell, but I'm just asking based off of what the Bible states.

 

Fundamentalists insist on literal interpretations, while others insist on metaphorical interpretations, and the Catholic church is so damned large that it embraces both and does a drunkard's walk around the issue. In technobabble, they argue whether semantics or syntax is more fundamental, while the evidence says syntax, or metaphors, are physically more fundamental even in the human brain. Chomsky was too smart for his own good, and semantics are constructed according to the proximity of syntax, even on a physical level. Its related to supersymmetry and the superscalar architecture of the brain.

Meaning, its related to analog logic and why people are so unpredictable. Descartes famously declared, "I think therefore I am!" , which is what he thought! Murphy was always the optimist in my family, after a few drinks. Its not a coincidence fundamentalists and academics both have stunted senses of humor. They focus on ideals to the exclusion of the rest of life. Platonic ideals are nothing more than a marketing ploy, and there's no avoiding having to make judgment calls and be more pragmatic in general.

Catholics are so famous as intellectuals, I can easily find a priest who would discuss the subject in depth with me, if I wanted, and we could have a great time. But I could also find a few who tell me to go away and come back when I'm serious about redemption. Of course, I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.

 

A Universe so constructed that you go to Hell if you do bad things would be so petty and stupid that I just couldn't countenance it. But it's such a strong idea implanted by Christian culture that it keeps me good anyway, for all my transgressions...

 

Regardless of my personal beliefs or anyone else's, in Christianity, there are certain teachings that come from the Bible, and the Pope should really be careful because all that this is doing is showing that Christians follow a man-made faith. If a pope can 'change the rules' when he sees fit, then what is the faith actually built on? I think his agenda though with these types of comments, is to make the Catholic Church seem more inclusive. But, the Catholic faith isn't inclusive whatsoever. So, imo, he just makes Catholicism look like it's a man-made faith, and any pope can change the script as he wishes. Not a good look for the Catholic faith.

 

I wouldn't surprise me if the pope did say that or implied.....the religious folks of today are basically less religious in their views than the atheists of the not so distant past in many ways.

 

Jesus spoke of Gehenna which was the landfill outside of Jerusalem at the time. When Jesus did speak of an alternate destination to eternal life it was what he called the wide road that leads to destruction. Also, in Genesis it says "to dust you shall return." There's so much of the Bible that's incongruent with the hell concept.

 

I read that he didn't ''say'' it. I'm so glad I'm out of that cult. I can't imagine being a faithful follower of a faith where the leader comes out and basically denounces what you've come to believe as the faith.

That's true, but Jesus only used ''Gehenna'' as a term to describe an ''eternal hell.'' So people would see it as similar. I think that the Bible has a lot of allegory which probably makes it harder to determine what could be literal, and not. But, regardless, Catholicism teaches that hell is an actual end destination for unrepentant sinners, so the Pope inferring that basically that's not true, is wrong. I wish he would step down and say he doesn't believe in Catholicism, instead of leading a Church that he doesn't really quite believe in.

 

Hell was invented in the Middle Ages by a corupt church seeking money and control. The concept does not exist in Judaism or original Christianity. Odd concept that a being that loves you would punish you FOREVER for a mistake you make. The punishment is that you are in not the light of "god" energy in the afterlife. The disappear comment is fairly similar to original Christian thought. If you are evil you are not in this light so you don't exist in a way. It can be thought of as bad but it's not being burned alive and tortured with things you find unpleasant.

 

I like your explanation.

I've read that much of what Christianity teaches today was constructed by Constantine.

 

It's all man's invention

 

He is my favorite Pope ever...I never liked any other Popes that I knew about.....and i don't really know what he said about there being a hell or not.....and I am not religious anyway.....as it is the same principle to make people obey......Santa will bring you something if you are good and nothing if you are bad way to control people .

There is hell right here on earth......People and animals have been burned alive and so many awful things go on......How can any other hell be worse that what can go on here?

I often wonder if people did not have their religion to believe in, would the world be even worse off than it already is?

 

He's definitely different, and refreshing in some ways. I just don't think he really likes the Catholic faith, himself. Which would be fine if he wasn't trying to lead it.