I didn't know where else to ask this. So don't throw a hissy fit.

But seriously, when I go to Hell and suffer in eternal agony, is that because my soul has nerves? In order to feel pain, I'd need nerve endings and a brain. The brain would need a oxygen-rich blood supply to survive, so my soul would have to have a heart, blood vessels and a set of lungs. But if I'm engulfed in flames, how could I breathe? Fire needs oxygen to burn, and if I'm covered in fire, it'll basically steal all my oxygen. Plus, if I have thrid-degree burns, my nerves would be burned away and I still probably wouldn't be in pain. So if I'm in Hell, and being burned alive I'll either a. not feel anything, or b. pass out from a lack of air. Therefore, Hell wouldn't be that bad.

Does this make sense, or am I just crazy?

exactly

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Really it doesn't matter as we are merely physical beings trying to make sense of that which is beyond us the reason we can't imagine conciusness with out a body or live brain is that we have only expericenced consciousness in that way.

This is my point. The people out there talking about how "you can't feel anything once your nerve endings burn away, etc." remind me of Chrisitans who go off on rants about how "God just made it happen". In both cases the person is terribly over-simplifying the situation, and taking a needlessly (and naively) dogmatic view.

Really it doesn't matter as we are merely physical beings trying to make sense of that which is beyond us the reason we can't imagine conciusness with out a body or live brain is that we have only expericenced consciousness in that way. Sides I've always tough that only the truly evil ho to hell the rest of us go to purgatory and spend who knows how long there repenting our sins to be pure for heaven but like I said we have no idead what happens after death and those who do know aren't talking.

Souls are but tissue paper in the face of eternal scorching fire.

Anyways, I think that when your brain finally ceases to function, that's it. Finito. Or maybe that's just my longing for an end. Who wants to live forever?

I still can't grasp the concept of a consciousness outside a living brain. In my opinion, when you're dead, you're dead. Your brain rots out of your nose and the chances of any thoughts occuring are zero. How someone's consciousness can fly out of their brain after they die and go to some imaginary place is beyond me.

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Originally posted by toxicfox:

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Clearly your body doesn't go to hell, it's your soul.

What are souls made of? Are they flammable like lighter fluid? Or do they take a little more work, something like plastic?

Well again that's an ambiguous question, however I think a sould would be described as your conciousness. Now define the nature of a conciousness for me and then you might be able to start to critcise what happens to a sould. At least along the lines of the criticisms your throwing out right now.

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Clearly your body doesn't go to hell, it's your soul.

What are souls made of? Are they flammable like lighter fluid? Or do they take a little more work, something like plastic?

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I have another question-- how do the fires stay burning?

One word: Biomass.

Seriously though, if you're talking about hell, which would be a supernatural place anyway, the laws of physics get chucked out the window. Clearly your body doesn't go to hell, it's your soul.

I agree completely, EarthGoddess. It would be awfully hard to feel pain without nerve endings or oxygen.

Plus, do they give you burning breaks to grow back some skin? After a while you'd be burned to ashes and cremated. Your torture might have to end there unless you spontaneously regenerate.

I have another question-- how do the fires stay burning? I mean, is Hell where all the bad trees and lumps of coal go? Even so, you'd run out of those pretty quickly with the volume of sinners down there. Natural gas is an option but even that runs low after a while. Hell must be expensive upkeep considering the energy used to heat the place.

"Weeping and nashing of teath", actually...

We're too cynical to discuss heaven. Besides, the Bible did a nice job of that, right down to how long the walls are going to be. Hell is just, some vague pit of sulfur and suffering. Really descriptive.

The Bible calls it the second death, so it will be like dying, but never... dying

What a GRAND subject! We've no chance for making it to heaven, so lets all talk about how terrible hell is going to be! Hurrah for hell!

Why doesn't sombody make a thread on how heaven is going to be. This is a little grim.

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Originally posted by EarthGoddess:
I have no clue how to respond to that. If I think too hard, I might hurt myself.

Well then just trust me haha.

Looking back on my post I realise how bad of a speller me is.

I have no clue how to respond to that. If I think too hard, I might hurt myself.

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Originally posted by EarthGoddess:
That could be possible, but wouldn't you need eyes or a working subconscious in a working brain? That's what I find silly about the idea of having a soul and Hell. Unless the soul is a physical, solid body (which would mean you're not dead) you wouldn't feel or see anything.

Well, We have no idea what creates conciousness or whether or not it could exist outside the brain. That's a HUGE philosophical question. However, assuming it can, you're entire reality would still be a reaction to stimuli. Give the right stimuli to a disembodied soul, and you'll experiance pain, love, joy, etc.

This is all hypothetical of course. But the soul would NOT have to be solid. Think about it, people halicinate pain, smells, sounds, and entire environments that don't exist at all. If the conciousness is there and you can influence it, you could create ANY reality

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If there is a hell, I bet it's more psychological torture

Well, you can't really go through psychological torture if you don't have a living brain.

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Now I'd assume hell and the devil would be able to influence your disembodied consciousness to feel a simulated pain of sorts.

That could be possible, but wouldn't you need eyes or a working subconscious in a working brain? That's what I find silly about the idea of having a soul and Hell. Unless the soul is a physical, solid body (which would mean you're not dead) you wouldn't feel or see anything.

Well assuming there something like soul and a place like hell, that implies it is seperate from your body. Now I'd assume hell and the devil would be able to influence your disembodied consciousness to feel a simulated pain of sorts. Sort of like a hellish virtual reality.

You must have thought long and hard about that one. If there is a hell, I bet it's more psychological torture, such as making you watch old fat people go at it in strange ways or having to talk with a blithering idiot for eternity.

"I locked my car keys in the car, so I had to call a tow truck. I would have broken the window, but I didn't want to since the windshield was already gone..."

And so on.