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Re: The Problem of Evil
Old 08-20-2007, 11:03 AM   #15
Angrist
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Default Re: The Problem of Evil

I understand you want to ignore my post, because it wasn't a direct response to other posts, but I really have to defend the Bible here.

Satan exists. The hell doesn't. At least not as a burning place for punishment.

Satan was an angel who turned evil. He wanted to be worshipped like his Creator. Why can't he be symbolic for something that sinful humans have? Because Jezus, the firstborn son of God, was tempted by Satan, and Jezus was perfect, without sin. Satan was even in the heavens, talking with Jehovah God (read the beginning of the book of Job).

The words (Hebrew and Greek) usually translated with hell do not mean a burning place of suffering. The Jews never believed in such a place, they knew that when they died, they just stopped existing (but they also knew that God could and would bring them back to earth one day). Sheol and Hades refer to the common grave of humankind.
In the meanwhile, heithen religions did support the thought of a place of punishment, and a few centuries after Jezus died and the Bible was completed, teachings like a burning hell and eternal soul crept into christianity.

And it's not like nobody knows this. People will even acknowledge that their religion doesn't practise what Jezus taught. I refer to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheol
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