h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The Pope has closed Hell

No brimstone. No flames. No horned imps poking you with pitchforks. No maggots consuming your vital organs. No dunking in tubs of evil-smelling stuff.

The images of Hell as presented to us in the bible must be correctly interpreted. "More than a physical place, hell is the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God," the Pope was recently reported as saying.

Alas he said it in Polish and most of the world could not understand a word of his speech.

I must be in Hell then, and all along I thought I was having a good time...ah well, what a pity, I was looking forward to a
good pitchforking.

BadZen, welcome to the nightmare.

You could always take the baffles out of your motorbike's exhaust and make your neighbours life hell

Thanks for the welcome I was getting these interesting emails ages ago and came to this site but it just had
animated reports from researchers, then I heard nothing for ages - until I got the invite recently...glad to be a part of it!
I've already asked my neighbours (my one lot of neighbours) about the noise, but they reckon:
a) they can't hear my bike anyway (they're too far away, I'm in the country), and
b) One of 'em is an ex-bikie and says it's a pleasure to listen to!
So much for that idea

I find it amusing that the Pope is modifying radically the interpretation of the bible when it comes to hell, but won't let
catholics use condoms - maybe you're in hell if you do, and you're in heaven if you don't...hey I wonder if, according to the pope, heaven literally exists then? Can you have one without the other? Weird....

The Pope isn't modifying anything from the Bible, It's just that most people trust their own imagination more than the Bible (which might be a good thing). As most bibleists belive (I think), there exists no Hell.., it is, as the Pope said, absence from God. And while we are on the subject, I don't belive they really say there is a Heaven at the moment eighter.., Heaven will come at the end (or the new beginning, anyway..).., here on earth.. The New Kingdom! And Hell will be not beeing alowed inside.

By the way, I've heared that oure images of Hell (and maybe also the name) comes from the old garbage site in Jerusalem, which Jesus used to describe how it would be to be seperated from His Father. I don't know my Bible, but I find this stuff interesting, so feel free to tell me how rong I am