Board index ‹ Heaven and Hell

[Newbie]

No one has ever seen it, or come back from it verify it for us. It's a ridiculous belief that Christians have to scare people into faith. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Since it can't be proven, I don't believe it exists.

[jimwalton]

Just because we have no evidence of something doesn't prove that it doesn't exist. People believe there is life on other planets. As of now there is no evidence that there is such a thing, but that doesn't prove that it doesn't exist. The absence of evidence goes nowhere to give you confidence for the antithesis. There may be no evidence right now that Jimmy Hoffa was murdered by the mob, but you can't say, in conclusion, "Therefore we can be confident that the mob didn't do it."

For another example, there is presently no evidence that a tachyon exists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachyon). Is that proof that it doesn't? All I'm saying is that a LACK of evidence is not a CONFIRMATION of non-existence, which seems to be your logic. To me, it's flawed reasoning.

As you well know, there isn't any evidence for hell, but Christians believe in its existence on the basis of the credibility of other evidences. For instance, the Hubble telescope takes amazing pictures of the far reaches of the universe. Logically, we know it's quite easy for people to computer generate such images, and the whole thing could be a huge hoax. But I don't believe that. I think that NASA and the astronomic community have great credibility, and so I believe the images are real. I've never seen such things myself, and probably never will, but I believe in such things because I believe in the messengers who tell me about them. Christians would say the same thing about hell. Though none of has ever seen it or been there, and there is no scientific evidence of it, Christians find credibility in the messengers who tell us about it (Jesus and the writers of the Bible) so they say that gives them the evidence they need. A relative of mine was stationed in Nagasaki after WWII, and he tells stories of the devastation caused by the nuclear bomb. Though I haven't seen it myself, and such things are unseeable now, 70 years later, because of rebuilding, I believe the credibility of the messenger (this relative and the news media), therefore Nagasaki is "proven" to me. The place of the soul (a spiritual self) in the afterlife (a metaphysical existence) is not something anyone would expect to be verifiable by the scientific method or empirical observation, but that doesn't prove it doesn't exist. Christians believe that the credibility of the messengers gives credence to make the existence of hell believable.

It's based on several suppositions. One is that life seems to be more significant than "we are an agglomeration of chemicals that cease to exist after 80 years or so." One is that many people are quite convinced, by numerous evidences, of the reality of spiritual forces, spiritual beings, and spiritual life. One is that people who have examined the Bible and studied it deeply find it to have evidences and integrity. And one is that they believe in principles of justice, and that the things we do in this life echo in eternity (I stole that line from the movie "Gladiator", but I agree with it). I hope that helps you see why Christians believe in hell despite the lack of empirical evidence