That is true for most branchs of Protestantism, yes.

The Orthodox and the Catholics have the notion of Purgatory, where a soul goes through a transition of detachement of what prevents him/her to actually enjoy the close presence of God (ie. heaven). They also hold that people are not qualified to make a statement whether a person will go to hell (or heaven for that matter); hell defined as being away from God forever: those who repeadedly persist in not wanting to love God will not be forced to be with him.

What is perverse is the attempt at bringing this judgement of the will on earth. If someone is in prison, is deepely remorseful and asking for help to ammend their ways, it should be our duty as a society to assist that person. Attempting to "play God" is in opposition with Christian dogma.

> The Orthodox and the Catholics have the notion of Purgatory

What kind of orthodoxy are you talking about in this context?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Orthodox_Church#Eschat...

This one explicitly rejects Purgatory.

You're right, the doctrines are not the same. But it's more nuanced:

> Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Kallistos Ware acknowledges several schools of thought among the Orthodox on the topic of purification after death. This divergence indicates that certain Catholic interpretations of purgatory, specifically the satisfaction model, more than the concept itself, are what is universally rejected. Also, there are Orthodox sources that indicate some sins can be forgiven after death; but which also reject the teaching of purgatory because of the doctrine of indulgences and idea of literal purgatorial fire that are tied to it. Still other Orthodox hold to the notion of the Toll Houses and that those who pass through them after death have no assurance of final salvation.

> Rather than say that the doctrine of Purgatory is a heresy, it is more accurate to say that it is an ancient ecumenical tradition which, due to the mysterious nature of the subject matter, Christians throughout history have interpreted and explained in a very wide variety of ways, some of which were strongly rejected by Eastern Orthodox Christians.

from https://orthodoxwiki.org/Purgatory

I can't believe I am actually defending christianity here, but yes this is true. I am not religious and have just taken the humanistic parts of Jesus to heart not the religious parts.

However even in christianity it is god who will exact this punishment, not the people. He sais men is not to judge each other. I can't get this to fit with the revenge mentality either.

For the record, the hell part is, in my opinion, one of the most glaring inconsistencies in the religion. God loves all.. but you will still burn in hell for eternity if you do not accept him/her/it blindly. I find that very sadistic and cruel.

I always thought it was kind of fascinating to think about how much of Hell is actually early Catholic in origin. Most of the bible's descriptions of Hell come from the book of Revelation, which is basically just some guy's drug-trip 100 years after historical Jesus died. The apostles also talk about Hell a little bit, but not really with much description. And they were just people like anybody else.

Historical Jesus barely talks about Hell at all in the bible, and when he does it's somewhat ambiguous whether or not he's talking about an actual literal trash dump not too far outside of Jerusalem's city limit (translation notes on this are fascinating).

Most of the modern concept of Hell really comes from Revelation and from works of art/books written during long after the events of the Bible were supposed to take place.

I feel it's worth noting that the doctrine of annihiliationism asserts that non-believers will simply be consumed by hell and cease to exist, with proponents asserting that the doctrine of eternal conscious torment is a mis-reading of the original text influenced by Western/Platonic notions of the immortal soul.

This is actually what I think will happen when I die, I will cease to exist. It is much better than being told that I will be tortured in hell forever :)