Originally Posted by Mobiius

There really isn't any clear information about what to expect in either heaven or hell. I'm going to list different speculations about each for this discussion. Feel free to add your thoughts.

Here is the basic premise that we will base our discussion on:

Traditional Heaven.
1) From what we hear, you will spend eternity in heaven basking in the glory of god, and enjoying peace and love and unending happiness.

Traditional Hell.
1) In hell, you get to spend eternity in everlasting torment while you writhe in flames and get your skin peeled off by rabid vinegar dripping beavers.

Now, let's say that these descriptions are true.

In heaven, presumeably, you spend your time worshipping and praising god. What else would you do in heaven? If this is the case, then that means that any negative aspect of your self has been stripped away so that you are left with only the good or positive aspects of who you were. What this means is that you are no longer the same person you were. You are a completely new person with only good qualities now, destined to do nothing but praise god day in and day out. That being said, heaven will not seem to be glorious, or filled with love, or peaceful. It will just feel average or ordinary. Why would that be? It's because you no longer have any negative frame of reference to gauge this magnitude of peace to. Without a negative frame of reference in which to compare the heavenly joy and peace, then if feels just like every other day. Nothing special.

The exact same would have to be said about hell. If you go to hell, then again presumably you would be stripped of all positive aspects of your self and be left with only the negative. Think about that. If you weren't stripped of all positive aspects, then that means that god has left a person to suffer in torment who in spite of the evil deeds they may have done, are still capable of loving and caring for others. You would think this would weigh heavily on gods conscience.
If you were left with only negative aspects of your self then again you would have no positive frame of reference to gauge your torment by and it would feel like your average orindinary place to be. You would know no other way, only torment, thusly you would not be greatly affected by it.

Now, if you are not stripped of either aspect (negative or positive) upon entering heaven or hell, then that means that some souls in heaven still have an element of evil in them, and some souls in hell still have some good in them. If they have an element of evil in them while they are in heaven, then I would wager that heaven cannot be total peace, total love, and total joy. On the other hand, if those in hell have an element of good in them then hell cannot be total torment and the skin peeling, vinegar-dripping beaver must take a break every now and then.

So from this, we can draw two conclusions for each destination:

Heaven:
1) If you are stripped of all evil, then heaven won't feel that special.
2) If you are not stripped of all evil, then heaven isn't total peace and therefore won't be as great as some may think it will be.

Hell:
1) If you are stripped of all good, then hell won't feel that bad.
2) If you are not stripped of all good, then hell isn't constant torment and therefore won't be as bad as some may think it will be.

Your thoughts?