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Suppose you are a very evil man (in the normal sense of the word), intent on slaving a population, but first you need to get close to the head boss. His kid is sick and you manage to go an find the medicine for him and save him. He honors you by making you his second hand man (Ha ha! the fool!!). The village is attacked and you in your joy kill and destroy all your enemies (The joy of blood!!). You are made the second hand man (ah.. so close). You plot to kill the boss and start wooing his wife by being nice to her. The night before you are going to poison him he croaks of a heart attack. During the mourning process you leave your lovers alone and concentrate on relieving the pain of the widow. And she agrees to marry you (little does she know you intend to dump her). The day after your wedding you are preparing a feast to call all your lovers for an orgy and your trusted sidekicks to divide the kingdom into sections and decide who will pay you what tribute. Before the 'godfather council meeting' The village is attacked again and you kill, kill, until you are brought down dead. Your soldiers prop your corpse up in the horse and continue fighting. The enemy even though overwhelming in numbers is so afraid and in awe of you that never again attack the village thinking your spirit protects it. Years later you are the greatest hero of the village and the nation and have been sanctified.
I believe in this senerio, assuming heaven and hell are real realms of existance, the evil man would probably go to hell. Even though he managed to save the villiage it was more of an act to save himself as a despot (power and greed are his motivations), not to save the villagers. Granted thats something he was willing to die for, its hardly an excuse. The people who glorify this person to do not negate the fact that before his maker, he knows what he did and be judged by his actions, not the people's glorification.
Although I don't believe hell is eternal. One would only remain their until their soul has been thoroughly cleansed.
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A Monk based on years of careful study realizes that the kingdom and every one in it will die of starvation due to drought. The only way to save it is to make a dam in the river. To do that first you must dirvert the river, make the dam, and restore the river. You contact your warlord and convince him of it. Thousands are pressed into sevice to carry rocks from the quarry to start the work. There is another village on the way that is hostile and refuses to relocate. You lead a party of soldier to negotiate, things go wrong, some one takes a shot and fighting ensues. Afterwards there are a buch of dead people. Tiphoid starts on the quarry workers and 1/3 die. You get depressed but believe in the ultimate goal of saving lives. Work continues and you depression and the workers deaths contininue. One night depressed you drink go for a walk, fall from the quarry and die. The warlord no longer with your impetus abandons the work. All the workers are dismissed but have no place to go so they rebel. War ensues. The displaced farmers no longer work the fields and starvation ensues. As you had predicted drought comes and the demise of the kindomg happens but much earlier and much much worse.
You are forever remembered as a devil worshiper that entranced the warlord to open a secred demonic gate in the quarry and brought hell on earth. Your memory is cursed for generations on end
If good people do nothing that is truely evil. But if the monk was unable to forgive himself he probably would remain in purgatory as a wondering ghost until his essense was burned out or his being releazed he did what he thought was right. At which point he'd emerge into heaven.
But if the saying as above, so below is true then heaven is not eternal either. Though it may be percieved as such. To outsiders, heaven and hell may seem like mere seconds. But to those who truely experience either, it may seem like they were there for a really long time.
This post has been edited by Acid09: Oct 5 2006, 12:04 PM