Hell
Throughout the ages, religion has used a powerful weapon to maintain a chokehold on its believers and attack its skeptics: the fear of Hell. The invention of Hell has done very well. It has been used to manipulate people into maintaining ones faith even though it may do very little to mold behavior outside of pleasant conversation or philosophical discussion.
The fear of eternal damnation is very real to people despite the fact there is absolutely no concrete proof of its existence. Once again, the line between reality and fantasy has been purposefully blurred. Hell is less real than the television Town of Mayberry except Hell's imaginary ruler must be an extremely bizarre incarnation.
The faithful are led to believe an actual spiritual war is going on right now. Beautiful angels are at constant odds with cunning devils, demons and creatures too horrible to imagine. God and his white-feathered friends on one side are battling Satan and his leather-skinned devils on the other side. Agnostics are still waiting for a clip of these battles to be aired on CNN.
"People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive." Joseph Campbell
I dont really agree with this view of Hell, but I find it interesting none the less.
Stacy
