Don't feel like you have to anything other than Baha'i. Of those posting, I'm fairly certain I'm the only Christian, and I'm a pretty pagan one.
There is a lot of unfortunate double-speak about bodies and heaven/hell in Christianity. I'm still not sure what orthodox Christianity has to say about hell. Many priest and pastors have talked to me about hell being where God is not (and is that even possible, which may mean that hell has more to do with us than with God). Short of fundamentalism I've rarely heard fire and brimstone preached.
I think it's also important to look at those ideas (heaven=pleasure, hell=physical pain) in their historic contexts. For most of human existence life has been hard, dirty work. For most in the world it still is. So the hope of rest and peace was something that got people through the day. A lot of the hell language in the scripture comes from a very apocalyptic time in general. The Jewish community of the last few centuries BCE and the early CE were times of great social, political and religious upheaval. Many wanted revolution, if not in the present than in the life to come, and they wanted justice, which for many means punishment.
Seeing these contexts helps me to see where the ideas came from, who and how they might or may have served, and what's the core that ought to be retained (if at all).
no subject
There is a lot of unfortunate double-speak about bodies and heaven/hell in Christianity. I'm still not sure what orthodox Christianity has to say about hell. Many priest and pastors have talked to me about hell being where God is not (and is that even possible, which may mean that hell has more to do with us than with God). Short of fundamentalism I've rarely heard fire and brimstone preached.
I think it's also important to look at those ideas (heaven=pleasure, hell=physical pain) in their historic contexts. For most of human existence life has been hard, dirty work. For most in the world it still is. So the hope of rest and peace was something that got people through the day. A lot of the hell language in the scripture comes from a very apocalyptic time in general. The Jewish community of the last few centuries BCE and the early CE were times of great social, political and religious upheaval. Many wanted revolution, if not in the present than in the life to come, and they wanted justice, which for many means punishment.
Seeing these contexts helps me to see where the ideas came from, who and how they might or may have served, and what's the core that ought to be retained (if at all).