Is there another Fireball on RS or is this Fireball anon version?

To answer the question you posed: hell is indeed a "choice" we can make because people can and do choose things, like drugs and other risky behaviors, that are clearly not good for them. Some folks worship Satan and long for hell, I imagine, seeing it as a place where Satan will elevate them for their service. In terms of the scenario you pose, the only choice the person looking at the barrell of a gun has is whether to sacrifice themselves or their child, which really is practically a no-win situation.

I don't see how your analogy fits God's decision on heaven & hell because even if God were to make that determination, it could well be based on how the individual carried him/her -self in life and therefore be fair. Who are we to say really? Therefore, God represents the consequence of our actions.

Is it just the "forever and ever and ever" ness of it? Probably not but then again it still does not correlate to the analogy you pose because theoretically we have a choice about whether we want to go to a good or a bad place based on the actions we take in life, and we do not have that choice in human analogy. I, for one, do not believe in the idea of hell other than it being a state of mind we possess here on earth.

A hellish mentality is one of self-loathing, mental imprisonment and being in a dark emotional place. Some people who believe in the ultimate reality of hell, also hold the view that hell is not a place God sends us to but we send ourselves to because we cannot forgive ourselves. Some of them additionally believe that angels work with lost souls in pain to help them heal and bring them to heaven/peace.

I suppose then hell becomes purgatory but in a way that doesn't quite fit either because purgatory as a concept represents a jail sentence for sin rather than active and accute personal suffering. I find that idea interesting actually because it mirrors the psychological reality many of us face: that we create our own pain & suffering, not that I'm saying we always do. Edit: Gus based on the editorial comments you raise, did you ask this question because you wanted to know what people thought about the issue you raise, or like most people who post here, did you just go looking for agreement?

I, for one, am not "in love" with hell or the idea of it. I am interested in hell as an expression of human consciousness.

You can choose whether or not God has provided sufficient proofs for you. Judgement Day is not when God judges you, but when you judge God and His message. If your faith (or lack thereof) is justified, you may not see the Kingdom on Earth but anything is possible in the afterlife.

But if you reject all that God has given for you, much harm will come to you for your sins. But as long as your name has not been written into the Book of Life, there will still be hope for you in the next life.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.