"Hell" is problematic

The problem of Hell has long appeared in philosophy classrooms and deserves a spotlight in social discourse should we ever wish to grow spiritually and psychologically as a society. The fundamental issue is that the concept of “hell” as a literal place is sorely horrific, completely absurd, and when taught to children (that they may someday burn for eternity) is nothing short of child abuse.

Children are thrusted into the world and from then onward ask questions, inquire, and look to adults for guidance — they watch every move we make — they are learning, absorbing, and experiencing life through us. If we observe children, or just reflect upon our own childhoods, we find that we are naturally equipped with wonder. We were born to ask questions and many of us spend our lives in inquiry. Raise your hand if you’re a lifelong learner… *raises hand*.

When you tell a child, “Don’t touch the stove, it’s hot” and then they touch the stove and realize you were right, a sense of trust is established between the child and you. It follows that when we say to a child, “This doctrine is the way, the truth, and the life and if you question it, then your soul will burn in anguish and torment in a fiery dungeon called Hell for the remainder of Eternity”.

This is obviously problematic for many reasons, one: it is completely terrifying. It is the seed of horror and fear. Two: it instills such a deeply-seeded fear of thinking which only grows with time, and more fear and will likely manifest as psychoses of the mind as a result of this teaching. Three: we don’t have any legitimate, hard evidence of a literal place called Hell to prove such a place exists or that a benevolent God would even allow it. It is not like the hot stove, which we call all clearly see, touch, and feel. ‘Hell’ being a literal place is thus far, nonexistent. Please, urge priests, parents, and pastors to stop teaching to children that Hell exists and we will burn for eternity for simply using our brains. It simply is not true.

When we deny a child of their natural born tendency to examine and inquire with the mind, we suppresses their very inquisitive nature. Why would God not want us to use our naturally equipped faculties? Didn’t God give us a brain for reflective purposes? So why would we be punished for using it?

If one truly and deeply believes in an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent God, is it sensible to think that this all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving God would put the main source of truth in something such as a book that can easily be burned, re-written, misinterpreted, mistranslated, or otherwise used, abused, or destroyed?

Or that such a God would genuinely allow such a tormenting place (i.e. Hell) to exist and let kindred, beautiful souls burn there for eternity?

Truth extracted from the Bible (or Quran, or any other book said to be “holy”) is someone else’s version of what is real and true and, therefore, not one’s own direct experience of knowing. Truth, should we ever find it, ought to be understood from a primary vantage point or else it is susceptible to fall into doubt. We live amongst a sea of secondary truth, that which is inherited, borrowed, or manufactured. We see this everywhere. People are most often simply regurgitations of what their grandparents taught their parents, and so on.

Moreover, the Bible was canonized by a board of politicians under Constantine’s rule. Constantine himself, however, was said to not even be a believer in Christ — this was widely known and brought about tensions during the canonization of the Bible. Why would a man who didn’t even believe in Christianity lead a team of men to create what we now hold and know as the Bible?

This handful of men under Constantine’s rule sat at a table and decided which books would be included and in which order. It was decided that the Bible ought to read like a story, having a beginning and an end, because people respond better to stories. Only one woman author, Ruth, was included and this was intentional. The voice of authority must be masculine.

This is how men would maintain power for millennia.

Also noteworthy is that God/the Divine wasn’t referenced in masculine terms (He, Him, Father) until after the Roman Era of Christianity. Prior to that era, God/the Divine was spoken about using feminine language, and it was women who were responsible for guiding people inwardly to connect with the Holy Spirit.

If our intuition tells us to seek something deeper and bigger, don’t just stop with one holy book or blindly believe what your priest or pastor tells you, go directly to the original source — it lives within you and can never be burned, destroyed, or rewritten.