Hell
There are three most common words used to indicate Hell in the Bible. I'm going to outline them below:
Did everyone preach Gehenna as "eternal torment"?
Gehenna was used only about a dozen times or so in the New Testament, and of those references? Jesus and James are the only two people to use the word! Mostly Jesus. That means it never appeared anywhere else, ever. Of everything ever attributed to Paul's writings, never once did it come up. John Baptist preached to some very evil people, and not once did he seem to think it was important to mention. John, who wrote both the gospel and the Book of Revelations, never mentions it even one single time.
To top it all off, salvation is never said to be from "Gehenna."
If Gehenna was really, really Hell... a place of eternal torment and suffering... at least one, if not all of these people would have thought to at least mention it. Do you not think it would have been wise to warn people about it, after all?
So.. Hell isn't real?
Not so.
Hell is real... but Hell is not a literal. The two things aren't akin to each other at all as many people believe.
So what is Hell?
Hell isn't a physical place of suffering and torment, but rather it is a spiritual, emotional, and mental state of fear and suffering, that no one else can place you in but yourself.
For example, Judaism had no concept of physical Hell. It was only with the advent of Christianity and, to be more accurate, Western Christianity, that Hell became a literal necessity pitting God's love, mercy, and grace, against the concept of "Divine justice through eternal punishment".
Hell is an internal state of suffering, that can be attributed most often to a separation from God. When human beings are separated from their Creator in ongoing relationship, they lose their way in life. As a result, we find ourselves making mistakes, "sinning," choosing options not best suited for us, and our minds, hearts, and spirits go through a suffering from being "out of tune" with God and His will.
Why is a literal, eternal hellfire a problem?
Because Jesus Christ's sacrifice for all people was God's example to all of us of eternal mercy, love, compassion, and truth. The idea of an eternal place of suffering for the immediate and very temporary lives of mortals and the actions they transgress against others, really does make a mockery out of an all-power, all-loving, merciful Creator.
As Christians, we believe that the sacrifice of Jesus took away the sins of the world -- for some this is a more literal event than others, but even for the most allegorical of Christians, most of us believe that the sacrifice was the ultimate example, if not the ultimate event, of reconcilliation between man and God. Through Christ we reconcile with God, those of the past, present, and future are all covered by this bloodshed.
Also as Christians, we believe that God is above all else loving and merciful, along with just. Some people use the concept of "Justice" to mention that God must punish those who have sinned with Hell, but this just isn't true. Sins undertaken in the mortal world of a temporary existence do not deserve eternal punishment, so even if there is to be some kind of place of "reconciliation" (I hesitate to use the word "punishment") after death? The concept of eternal is simply not supported by the entire religion and nature of God in and of itself!
So, it doesn't matter if I sin?
Unfortunately, this also isn't true. It does matter quite a bit: To you (or at least it should), to others (those whom you hurt through your actions), and to God (your loving Creator Who created you with the purpose to spread love and peace, not negativity).
Through sin, we separate ourselves from the loving nature of GOd, and this is precisely when we place ourselves in our own Hell. We bring fear and negativity into our lives, instead of love and peace, mercy and grace. We set ourselves up for failure instead of success.
And the only one who can remove us from that Hell, is ourself.
If we're in Hell... how do we get out?
Just as negativity, "sin," and separation from God get us in to our own personal Hells, the exact opposite of these agenda items will get you out. Love, good deeds, and reconnecting with God are our ultimate tools for success. All-accessible to all people in all places.
You may be thinking... How could that be? That sounds too easy! Well, it is easy! It's not a puzzle. It's not difficult. It was never designed to be hard! Why people are searching for the most complicated answer they can possibly come up with for the nature of suffering and "Hell" is beyond me. God did not create belief to be so difficult we would have to decipher such horrible riddles to figure out our way home.
What if we die in a state of separation from God?
This is an unfortunately touchy subject, one which I must precursor with a heavy disclaimer: I am not a theological scholar. I am simply a person, a child of God, who wants to share her own viewpoints, experiences, insights, and beliefs with others. I do not speak my words with intention to "save" you, nor do I have the correct path that you need for your life. I never have, and I never will. This rests only and solely with you.
So the question is.. what if you die, in a state of being separated from God, and what do I believe about that? To be honest, all I have are theories. Why? Because I have no experience with death. Do you? If so, please... enlighten me. But as we all know, only the dead know what comes after death, and the living can only speculate.
What I do know are a couple of hard and fast facts: God is a God of the living, not of the dead. God is all-powerful. God is love. God is merciful and forgiving... and God is just (which, as I already stated above, does not mean God must punish wrongdoing eternally for a temporary life -- in fact, that would be the direct opposite of justice).
Therefor, when people die in whatever state they were in... I believe God's eternal love, mercy, kindness, and forgiveness is equally present in death as it was in life. We are not threatened with Hellfire and brimstone in death, but met with the kindness and joy of a Creator who watched us throughout our entire lives, Who cheered us on in the bad times and celebrated with us in the good.
I believe that almost all hearts on Earth are open to the idea of God, if even by the smallest shred of a crack, and that this opening to Light allows us to experience the complete love and mercy of our Lord, and makes transition to God a much more easy experience than most modern Christians want to believe ... but, I also believe that for some people, a very very few people, there may be such a thing as a heart so hardened against kindness and love, and God, that the transition from life to death may not be so easy as it is for others.
What this means for those people, I'm just not sure. On the one hand, it may be something which God conquers instantly. But on the other hand... it may also mean that some people do require a level of "rehabilitation" in order to come to grips with God in death, though under no circumstances do I ever believe this would mean eternal torment as mandated by God. Though what we, as human beings, mandate for ourselves, even in death... may be a gap that not even God can overcome.
Not because God is incapable of overcoming it... but because even in death, God must honor the free will He gave us. And if it is our choice to reject God fully with our hearts, soulds, bodies, and minds, even in the very face of God Himself? I simply do not know what would happen to a person who would be capable of such a thing. This is one thing that only God will ever know.
... and, the good news?
Ultimately, the realm of human beings is life. A mortal life, but our life. We must not get so tied up in the concepts of after-death and allow it to consume our lives at all points. Only God knows what ultimately happens after death, and only can we speculate as human beings how it will all play out.
The good news? Is that God is eternally loving and merciful, and that He knows the concept of true justice (that temporary life choices do not equal eternal pain). And that the majority of the human race are none so wicked that they would be unable to look into the essence of God Himself and reject that eternal kindness. That it is our choice in all aspects of existence and at all times, to be with God... and that there is no time line "cutoff date" by which we must make this choice.
Even in death... God shall still be the God of the living, as we continue to live on in Him.
Hell and the Church: How'd it get so popular?
Christianity's message directly during and after the death of Christ was one of hope, of love and mercy, forgiveness and kindness; however, as time goes on, this message is flattened out with negativity, judgment, and the good old "fire and brimstone" routine. Why did this happen?
It's actually not all that baffling if you break it down into logical components: The early church (not really an organized "church" per-se but instead referring to the early believers) would struggle for many, many years to come after the death of Christ. They would struggle to be recognized as valid, against persecution, they would struggle for their rights and freedoms, they would struggle in a lot of ways to spread the good news of God to others.
In a persecuted faith, it would be a lot easier to maintain conversion along with obedience of current and new followers by placing a hefty weight on the concept of sin and Hell, both to keep people in line and also to persuade more and more people to follow suit and sign up.
As the Church would continue to grow and become not only recognized, but dominant, it would need money to stabilize itself with things such as land, buildings, and material items which, although not at all warranted by God or Jesus, seemed to be of importance to certain Churches, people, denominations, and so on. Money comes not only from state funding of religious organization, but of membership and donation. It would make more than enough sense to focus on the continued obedience of church membership by penalty of Hellfire, straight into the modern day. All driven by a need to sustain the "church lifestyle" to which many had become accustomed. In turn, beautful and well-laden churches after all, were much more attractive to believers than simplicity, and thus it would become cyclical.
Growth, money, obedience and power. Building blocks of so many things in our society which also make sense when applied here.
Funny thing is, the Church as a whole (generalized entity) could have maintained all of these things on a message of peace and love. It's just that the route "penalty by Hellfire" is easier if you think about it, than one built on that other message... ya know, the original message God sent for us. Love... mercy... forgiveness...
All that good stuff still exists. It's just been layered-over by a long, long cultural history.
Hell as a form of Spiritual Abuse (A personal article)
(a separate article, will post it soon)
There are three most common words used to indicate Hell in the Bible. I'm going to outline them below:
Sheol
Sheol is a Hebrew and Greek word which is often translated as "Hell", but we fail to capture the true meaning of the word through this English equivalent. Sheol is translated over 30 times in the KJV Old Testament as "Hell," over 30 times as "Grave," and few times as "Pit," yet none of these translations actually do the word any justice!
Fousser's Bible Dictionary / Encyclopedia translates Sheol to be "the common receptacle of the dead." Strong's Hebrew and Chaldee Ditionary say the word means "The world of the dead." Young's Analytical Concordance makes the translation "the unseen state," and Smith's Bible Dictionary states that "Sheol is always the abode of departed spirits."
There is not a thing to indicate Sheol meant Hell.
Hades
Hades... a Greek word, translated 10 times as "Hell," and a single time as "Grave". But just as the word Sheol fails to meet the terms of the English ideal of Hell, so too does the word Hades.
Strong's Greek Dictionary (New Testament) says that Hades is "the place (state) of departed souls." And Young's Concordance pits it as "the unseen word" (gee, that sounds familiar).
Gehenna
And now we touch on Gehenna, my personal favorite. Gehenna is a Greek word that actually means Hell, and it is used almost solely by Jesus Christ.
So this must mean Jesus was talking about an actual, literal Hell?
... eh, not quite.
You see, when we reference Gehenna as literally meaning Hell... well, we mean it. Gehenna was an actual place. It was actually a valley on the very outside edge of Jerusalem. This valley was somewhat akin to what we would know as a garbage dump today, filled with filth and decay. It was used to dump the dead bodies of both animals and executed criminals, and in the past it had been the location for human sacrifice.
During Jesus' time, it would have been something like an ancient incineration facility -- fires were almost continuously burning to consume the city's waste. Dogs or other wildlife would be lurking near the fire to consume any edible scraps that remained. These creatures would fight over the food, and surely would have made the sound of "gnashing of teeth."
It was a vile, filthy, dirty, burning place of despair, crime, violence, suffering... Yes, Gehenna was Hell. But Gehenna was real in the world.
In modern Christian interpretation, it could be said when God gave us a description of Hell, He gave us something that appealed to all of our five senses -- Touch (pain from fire), Taste (dry mouth, thirst, blood), Smell (rotting, brimstone), Sight (smoke / fire), and Sound (crying, weeping, screaming), so that we would understand the difference between joy with God, and suffering without. And Jesus used a cultural reference of show example and describe the most torture a person could go through.
In Judaism however, Gehenna is more like a metaphor for a "spiritual waiting area" or Purgatory where people are judged, and most scholars agree that no one is in Gehenna forever. Even then, however, Gehenna was literally known as an actual, physical place in the world, rather than in the afterlife itself.
Sheol is a Hebrew and Greek word which is often translated as "Hell", but we fail to capture the true meaning of the word through this English equivalent. Sheol is translated over 30 times in the KJV Old Testament as "Hell," over 30 times as "Grave," and few times as "Pit," yet none of these translations actually do the word any justice!
Fousser's Bible Dictionary / Encyclopedia translates Sheol to be "the common receptacle of the dead." Strong's Hebrew and Chaldee Ditionary say the word means "The world of the dead." Young's Analytical Concordance makes the translation "the unseen state," and Smith's Bible Dictionary states that "Sheol is always the abode of departed spirits."
There is not a thing to indicate Sheol meant Hell.
Hades
Hades... a Greek word, translated 10 times as "Hell," and a single time as "Grave". But just as the word Sheol fails to meet the terms of the English ideal of Hell, so too does the word Hades.
Strong's Greek Dictionary (New Testament) says that Hades is "the place (state) of departed souls." And Young's Concordance pits it as "the unseen word" (gee, that sounds familiar).
Gehenna
And now we touch on Gehenna, my personal favorite. Gehenna is a Greek word that actually means Hell, and it is used almost solely by Jesus Christ.
So this must mean Jesus was talking about an actual, literal Hell?
... eh, not quite.
You see, when we reference Gehenna as literally meaning Hell... well, we mean it. Gehenna was an actual place. It was actually a valley on the very outside edge of Jerusalem. This valley was somewhat akin to what we would know as a garbage dump today, filled with filth and decay. It was used to dump the dead bodies of both animals and executed criminals, and in the past it had been the location for human sacrifice.
During Jesus' time, it would have been something like an ancient incineration facility -- fires were almost continuously burning to consume the city's waste. Dogs or other wildlife would be lurking near the fire to consume any edible scraps that remained. These creatures would fight over the food, and surely would have made the sound of "gnashing of teeth."
It was a vile, filthy, dirty, burning place of despair, crime, violence, suffering... Yes, Gehenna was Hell. But Gehenna was real in the world.
In modern Christian interpretation, it could be said when God gave us a description of Hell, He gave us something that appealed to all of our five senses -- Touch (pain from fire), Taste (dry mouth, thirst, blood), Smell (rotting, brimstone), Sight (smoke / fire), and Sound (crying, weeping, screaming), so that we would understand the difference between joy with God, and suffering without. And Jesus used a cultural reference of show example and describe the most torture a person could go through.
In Judaism however, Gehenna is more like a metaphor for a "spiritual waiting area" or Purgatory where people are judged, and most scholars agree that no one is in Gehenna forever. Even then, however, Gehenna was literally known as an actual, physical place in the world, rather than in the afterlife itself.
Did everyone preach Gehenna as "eternal torment"?
Gehenna was used only about a dozen times or so in the New Testament, and of those references? Jesus and James are the only two people to use the word! Mostly Jesus. That means it never appeared anywhere else, ever. Of everything ever attributed to Paul's writings, never once did it come up. John Baptist preached to some very evil people, and not once did he seem to think it was important to mention. John, who wrote both the gospel and the Book of Revelations, never mentions it even one single time.
To top it all off, salvation is never said to be from "Gehenna."
If Gehenna was really, really Hell... a place of eternal torment and suffering... at least one, if not all of these people would have thought to at least mention it. Do you not think it would have been wise to warn people about it, after all?
So.. Hell isn't real?
Not so.
Hell is real... but Hell is not a literal. The two things aren't akin to each other at all as many people believe.
So what is Hell?
Hell isn't a physical place of suffering and torment, but rather it is a spiritual, emotional, and mental state of fear and suffering, that no one else can place you in but yourself.
For example, Judaism had no concept of physical Hell. It was only with the advent of Christianity and, to be more accurate, Western Christianity, that Hell became a literal necessity pitting God's love, mercy, and grace, against the concept of "Divine justice through eternal punishment".
Hell is an internal state of suffering, that can be attributed most often to a separation from God. When human beings are separated from their Creator in ongoing relationship, they lose their way in life. As a result, we find ourselves making mistakes, "sinning," choosing options not best suited for us, and our minds, hearts, and spirits go through a suffering from being "out of tune" with God and His will.
Why is a literal, eternal hellfire a problem?
Because Jesus Christ's sacrifice for all people was God's example to all of us of eternal mercy, love, compassion, and truth. The idea of an eternal place of suffering for the immediate and very temporary lives of mortals and the actions they transgress against others, really does make a mockery out of an all-power, all-loving, merciful Creator.
As Christians, we believe that the sacrifice of Jesus took away the sins of the world -- for some this is a more literal event than others, but even for the most allegorical of Christians, most of us believe that the sacrifice was the ultimate example, if not the ultimate event, of reconcilliation between man and God. Through Christ we reconcile with God, those of the past, present, and future are all covered by this bloodshed.
Also as Christians, we believe that God is above all else loving and merciful, along with just. Some people use the concept of "Justice" to mention that God must punish those who have sinned with Hell, but this just isn't true. Sins undertaken in the mortal world of a temporary existence do not deserve eternal punishment, so even if there is to be some kind of place of "reconciliation" (I hesitate to use the word "punishment") after death? The concept of eternal is simply not supported by the entire religion and nature of God in and of itself!
So, it doesn't matter if I sin?
Unfortunately, this also isn't true. It does matter quite a bit: To you (or at least it should), to others (those whom you hurt through your actions), and to God (your loving Creator Who created you with the purpose to spread love and peace, not negativity).
Through sin, we separate ourselves from the loving nature of GOd, and this is precisely when we place ourselves in our own Hell. We bring fear and negativity into our lives, instead of love and peace, mercy and grace. We set ourselves up for failure instead of success.
And the only one who can remove us from that Hell, is ourself.
If we're in Hell... how do we get out?
Just as negativity, "sin," and separation from God get us in to our own personal Hells, the exact opposite of these agenda items will get you out. Love, good deeds, and reconnecting with God are our ultimate tools for success. All-accessible to all people in all places.
You may be thinking... How could that be? That sounds too easy! Well, it is easy! It's not a puzzle. It's not difficult. It was never designed to be hard! Why people are searching for the most complicated answer they can possibly come up with for the nature of suffering and "Hell" is beyond me. God did not create belief to be so difficult we would have to decipher such horrible riddles to figure out our way home.
What if we die in a state of separation from God?
This is an unfortunately touchy subject, one which I must precursor with a heavy disclaimer: I am not a theological scholar. I am simply a person, a child of God, who wants to share her own viewpoints, experiences, insights, and beliefs with others. I do not speak my words with intention to "save" you, nor do I have the correct path that you need for your life. I never have, and I never will. This rests only and solely with you.
So the question is.. what if you die, in a state of being separated from God, and what do I believe about that? To be honest, all I have are theories. Why? Because I have no experience with death. Do you? If so, please... enlighten me. But as we all know, only the dead know what comes after death, and the living can only speculate.
What I do know are a couple of hard and fast facts: God is a God of the living, not of the dead. God is all-powerful. God is love. God is merciful and forgiving... and God is just (which, as I already stated above, does not mean God must punish wrongdoing eternally for a temporary life -- in fact, that would be the direct opposite of justice).
Therefor, when people die in whatever state they were in... I believe God's eternal love, mercy, kindness, and forgiveness is equally present in death as it was in life. We are not threatened with Hellfire and brimstone in death, but met with the kindness and joy of a Creator who watched us throughout our entire lives, Who cheered us on in the bad times and celebrated with us in the good.
I believe that almost all hearts on Earth are open to the idea of God, if even by the smallest shred of a crack, and that this opening to Light allows us to experience the complete love and mercy of our Lord, and makes transition to God a much more easy experience than most modern Christians want to believe ... but, I also believe that for some people, a very very few people, there may be such a thing as a heart so hardened against kindness and love, and God, that the transition from life to death may not be so easy as it is for others.
What this means for those people, I'm just not sure. On the one hand, it may be something which God conquers instantly. But on the other hand... it may also mean that some people do require a level of "rehabilitation" in order to come to grips with God in death, though under no circumstances do I ever believe this would mean eternal torment as mandated by God. Though what we, as human beings, mandate for ourselves, even in death... may be a gap that not even God can overcome.
Not because God is incapable of overcoming it... but because even in death, God must honor the free will He gave us. And if it is our choice to reject God fully with our hearts, soulds, bodies, and minds, even in the very face of God Himself? I simply do not know what would happen to a person who would be capable of such a thing. This is one thing that only God will ever know.
... and, the good news?
Ultimately, the realm of human beings is life. A mortal life, but our life. We must not get so tied up in the concepts of after-death and allow it to consume our lives at all points. Only God knows what ultimately happens after death, and only can we speculate as human beings how it will all play out.
The good news? Is that God is eternally loving and merciful, and that He knows the concept of true justice (that temporary life choices do not equal eternal pain). And that the majority of the human race are none so wicked that they would be unable to look into the essence of God Himself and reject that eternal kindness. That it is our choice in all aspects of existence and at all times, to be with God... and that there is no time line "cutoff date" by which we must make this choice.
Even in death... God shall still be the God of the living, as we continue to live on in Him.
Hell and the Church: How'd it get so popular?
Christianity's message directly during and after the death of Christ was one of hope, of love and mercy, forgiveness and kindness; however, as time goes on, this message is flattened out with negativity, judgment, and the good old "fire and brimstone" routine. Why did this happen?
It's actually not all that baffling if you break it down into logical components: The early church (not really an organized "church" per-se but instead referring to the early believers) would struggle for many, many years to come after the death of Christ. They would struggle to be recognized as valid, against persecution, they would struggle for their rights and freedoms, they would struggle in a lot of ways to spread the good news of God to others.
In a persecuted faith, it would be a lot easier to maintain conversion along with obedience of current and new followers by placing a hefty weight on the concept of sin and Hell, both to keep people in line and also to persuade more and more people to follow suit and sign up.
As the Church would continue to grow and become not only recognized, but dominant, it would need money to stabilize itself with things such as land, buildings, and material items which, although not at all warranted by God or Jesus, seemed to be of importance to certain Churches, people, denominations, and so on. Money comes not only from state funding of religious organization, but of membership and donation. It would make more than enough sense to focus on the continued obedience of church membership by penalty of Hellfire, straight into the modern day. All driven by a need to sustain the "church lifestyle" to which many had become accustomed. In turn, beautful and well-laden churches after all, were much more attractive to believers than simplicity, and thus it would become cyclical.
Growth, money, obedience and power. Building blocks of so many things in our society which also make sense when applied here.
Funny thing is, the Church as a whole (generalized entity) could have maintained all of these things on a message of peace and love. It's just that the route "penalty by Hellfire" is easier if you think about it, than one built on that other message... ya know, the original message God sent for us. Love... mercy... forgiveness...
All that good stuff still exists. It's just been layered-over by a long, long cultural history.
Hell as a form of Spiritual Abuse (A personal article)
(a separate article, will post it soon)
