For centuries, hell was believed to be a burning place of endless torture, not so long ago, I believe the pope said it was a place of isolation, total darkness, you are damned to nothing and you live through that. How did he come to that conclusion?

A one-word answer -- "Ecumenism".

The Vatican has set out on the road to embrace as many belief systems as it can. This change of view is part of that path, as I see it.
Karlis

religions/beliefs change. all of them . some quicker than others , but it's inevitable. I wonder what they will look like in 10,000. years.

maybe the catholic church has realised fear cannot fuel love.

i think the 'place of isolation' doesnt mean place as in location it means a place where the mind is. hell is a state of mind its when you become a slave to the negative 'total darkness'.i dont know about the damned to nothing part. i beleive we are completley capable of changing our circumstances. hell can be experienced on earth or any plane since mind state is everything. our mind creates our reality and our mind lives our reality

its amazing how many people will now change their views because the pope has...... the wonders of dogma

Coincidentally, last night I watched a video that seems to be the best explanation on the idea of hell. It was by a retired Bishop, and it pretty much sums it up precisely.

Click here

Perhaps something to consider is that for centuries people have been basing thier view of hell not on the Bible but on the works of Dante's Divine Comedy. Perhaps it was all invented by those who heard that piece of fiction and decided that it was as good a way as any to get people follow their path. Perhaps it is only in recent times that centuries of tradition are being realised as just that - tradition. And more importantly, that the Bible does not in fact support a place of burning and torture, and all the places that do so are all misquotes, parables, or references to something other than the afterlife.

So rather than looking at this as Christians "changing" their beliefs, I tend to think of it as "reverting" back to its original form before the influence of the early church leaders.

Just a thought.

Maybe he realized that there are those strange people who see Hell as it has been taught to people now a days as a nice place. There are a number of reasons, but none of us can say why he changed it.

Which pope said that??


At the General Audience of Wednesday, 28 July 1999, the Holy Father reflected on hell as the definitive rejection of God. In his catechesis, the Pope said that care should be taken to interpret correctly the images of hell in Sacred Scripture, and explained that "hell is the ultimate consequence of sin itself... Rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy".


fullywired

It won't catch on.
Many of the crazies refuse to accept Catholics as Christians. I've been told that 'Catholics aren't Christians' many times.

And besides, what will happen to the Christian catch-phrase 'well, burn in hell!'?

how can one take to the role of deciding who will burn in hell? would that make them bigger than god and therefore, well, burn in hell?

Its called " WINE ".lol just kidding.

Well, I know all Christians aren't like this, but definitely some are, and every time I see of anyone using that phrase, "Well have fun burning in hell." or something like that, all I could think of, is if God is so loving of everyone, would he really want his own followers to be saying that to people? :\ Or for his own people to seemingly not mind seeing other people burning in hell? ...It just seems fascinating to me.

Well, have fun sitting by yourself in nothingness and not feeling anything or caring about anything in hell!"

Or "well have fun being dead". Yeah, I know, not the most catchy of comments, but apt from my point of view.

Personally, I've never used the phrase "have fun burning in hell", and I can honestly say I don't ever recall hearing a person in real life saying it. If it's a catchphrase, it might not have "caught on" out my way......

Nice. When I was going to church, the pastors there really condemned this guy spong (of course), and I just drank the cool aid at the time. But in retrospect, years later, I think he might be dead on.