Hell Is Just A Separation From God

For most of Christian history the church had preached a fire and brimstone theology: If you come to church every week and pay your tithes then you can go to heaven and hang out with Jesus, but if you don't kow-tow to the preacher then you will burn in hell for eternity.

This is how bad it got. This is a book (The Sight Of Hell) written by Father John Furniss in 1855:

The whole book can be downloaded here:

https://ia800503.us.archive.org/5/items/sightofhell661furn/sightofhell661furn.pdf

The book was written especially for children and includes this recommendation from the Vicar General in Dublin:

I have carefully read over this Little Volume for Children and have found nothing whatsoever in it contrary to the doctrine of Holy Faith; but, on the contrary, a great deal to charm, instruct and edify our youthful classes, for whose benefit it has been written.
William Meagher, Vicar General, Dublin

So let's see how Father Furniss attempted to charm the youthful classes in his little volume for children - but hang on to your hat because it's going to be a wild ride. 

XX. A Bed of Fire 
The sinner lies chained down on a bed of red-hot blazing fire! ... Now look at that body lying on the bed of fire. All the body is salted with fire. The fire burns through every bone and every muscle. Every nerve is trembling and quivering with the sharp fire. The fire rages inside and the skull, it shoots out through the eyes, it drops out through the ears, it roars in the throat as it roars up a chimney.

XXVI. The Third Dungeon - The Red Hot Floor

Look into this room. What a dreadful place it is! The roof is red hot; the floor is like a thick sheet of red hot iron. See, on the middle of that red hot floor stands a girl. She looks about sixteen years old. Her feet are bare, she has neither shoes nor stockings on her feet; her bare feet stand on the red hot burning floor. The door of this room has never been opened before since she first set her foot on the red hot floor ... Oh, that you could hear the horrible, the fearful scream of that girl when she saw the door shutting, never to be opened any more.

XXVIII. The Fifth Dungeon - The Red Hot Oven

It is a pitiful sight. The little child is in this red hot oven. Hear how it screams to come out. See how it turns and twists itself about in the fire. It beats its head against the roof of the oven. It stamps its little feet on the floor of the oven. You can see on the face of this little child what you see on the faces of all in hell -- despair, desperate and horrible! 

Do you think our Father Furniss might have been some sort of sadistic pervert with a special interest in the horrific torture of children? Yeah, me too. And back in those days he was popularly known as "The Children's Missioner" so he had access to plenty of potential victims. He certainly fucked their minds. I wonder if he also fucked them physically. I'll bet he did; that's what Catholic priests do. They're famous for it.

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So that was the situation in the 19th century. "The Sight Of Hell" remained in print for the next fifty years and the preachers continued to deliver fire and brimstone sermons right into the early 20th century - but then something happened. I don't know what it was, but, for some reason, many of the mainstream (non-Catholic) churches did a complete back-flip and declared that hell does not exist!

According to this new theology, the submissive Christians could still go to heaven when they died, but the 'sinners' would not be able to join them; the 'sinners' would just be dead. Not in hell; not burning for eternity - just dead - separated from God.

That message, though, doesn't come from the bible. Here is what Jesus had to say on the subject:

Anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Matthew 5:22)

If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell (Matthew 5:29)

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matthew 7:19)

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)

The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:41-42)

This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous  and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:49-50)

And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. (Matthew 18:9)

In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matthew 18:34-35)

Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. (Matthew 25:41)

They will go away to eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46)

So the fire and brimstone preachers were right: The bible says that hell really does exists and the sinners will be tortured for eternity - which means that the mainstream Christians who deny the existence of hell are the heretics. They are the sinners and they will burn in hell !  It's a funny old religion isn't it?