by R.A. Scott

Created on: June 11, 2008

Dante gave us his version in the Divine Comedy. It's an image that has stuck with us throughout the centuries. Dantes' version of hell is as much a fiction as the Biblical hell.

In a fictional world this is all fine and well but hell has no bearing on the real world, which is where most of us live. Hell is a fiction or metaphor, if it makes you feel better. Christians have turned hell into a wonderful tool even better then the hammer used to build the ark.

This tool amounts to fear. Christians love trying to scare people into accepting and becoming part of the Jesus Cult. When they are out spreading the message of love their biggest theme is hell. You will avoid hellfire and brimstone and worse, dirty underwear, if you don't accept Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.

Parents threaten their kids with hell and often bring on nightmares. When a child has a parent who is a bible-thumping Christian they are abusing their children. Yes, many of these are abusing their children. It's called emotional abuse and it's just as painful as physical abuse.

We all know however that hell is not a real place. Come on, you Christians, yes you, you know deep down that hell isn't real. Oh, go on, you can admit it here just between us friends. You also know that it's important for you to scare your kids into keeping that Olde Tyme Religion alive and well. Gimme that olde tyme religion

The religious metaphor is a great one. The Pope invokes hell also but his hell is less scary than the Christian hell. Oh, and there is a difference between Catholicism and Christianity and their respective versions of hell.

The hell metaphor is used as much for scaring and emotionally scarring children as it is to keep other Christians in line, you must worship or you'll go to hell and suffer for eternity! Talk of hell is also used to try and intimidate the non-believer into believing, you better believe or else!

So while hell is not, nor has it ever been a real place it can be made to sound as horrid as to scare the socks off someone. That is what the whole thing is: fear and intimidation and the more Christians can do that the happier Christians are. Fear leads to control and Christians love that beyond all else.

They use hell to instill fear and it's also a control mechanism. Fear is a great way to control others into doing what you want. What it is that they want is compliance. Be a believer; be a quiet believer by not questioning anything and this can help instill fear into others. We all know hell is a metaphor; it's just time to admit it to yourself.

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