Discussion on Hell: my biggest stumbling block

[Dorothea]

I don't understand the concept of an eternal hell.

I get that rejecting God's love lands you eternal punishment (which seems a bit ironic to me) but what exactly is that rejection? A rejection of the Christian religion? A rejection of Orthodox, Catholicism or Protestantism? (dependent on sect viewpoint) An immoral life or a struggle with one particular sin?

Additionally the concept of hell from a Christian [Protestant, as I was mostly raised] perspective to me implies that God rather does intentionally send one to a place of literal suffering for not adhering to belief set strictly or living a strictly enough tuned life. I'm not sure how the Orthodox view varies but I don't understand the idea of a loving God torturing what is basically most of humanity that has ever existed, assuming you take a fairly hardline stance on it.

I believe it's eternal because God is eternal and we are ever in His presence when we leave the earth.

 

[truthseeker32]

well, they are free in that they could fill that void with God at anytime. God always offers us the way out, He always offers Himself, but He never forces Himself. if they are enslaved, they are enlaved to sin because they would rather be enslaved to the devil than enslaved to God, which is true freedom.

Fr Tryphon offers some thoughts on the matter:

Eternity - The Morning Offering - Ancient Faith Radio

As long as it always remains possible for the individual to choose God, then I am okay with that. What I struggle with is the idea that once you die and get put in Hell that is it. Even if you feel sorry and wish to repent it is too late.

Thank you for the link.

 

[Zoness]

We don't see it as punishment at all, Zoness. You're dragging in Western understandings which are N/A in Eastern Orthodoxy.

We reject the Protestant ideas, I myself was raised Baptist and left the Baptists in part for this very reason, the conclusion of an unloving God. We reject the idea of sin as "crime and punishment". It is much more "illness and healing".

We see us as having passions, sins we are sometimes unwilling to let go of. We believe in free will, that we are responsible for our actions, our decisions matter, and that God has made us, literally "free agents".

The trouble is, if we are free to choose what is good, we must also be free to choose what is bad, or it is not freedom. We believe that a great many people of all stripes will be saved. Being Orthodox is no free ticket. It just gives you the right ship and right guidance. But you are always free to jump off the ship, if you insist on it.

So God is a Physician as much as a Judge, and desires our healing. Again, the dwarves in "The Last Battle" are a great illustration of exactly how one can refuse heaven right on the doorstep.

An interesting (and I am guessing unpopular in the most militant alternatives of Christian belief) interpretation of what hell means. Though isn't it clearly seen as a place of torment? I can't imagine there being much healing going on there. I see what you are implying with free will, but what if someone's will changed? I don't see them being magically whisked away to even...that defeats the idea of an eternal hell.

Thanks

 

[ArmyMatt]

As long as it always remains possible for the individual to choose God, then I am okay with that. What I struggle with is the idea that once you die and get put in Hell that is it. Even if you feel sorry and wish to repent it is too late.

Thank you for the link.

well sure, you never lose your free will, so you can always choose God, because choice is one of the things we have because we are human. so it's best to leave it up to Him. will Hell be empty? God willing! and it's not so much that God puts us there as much as we put ourselves there. God repeatedly asks us if we are sure, and always offers us the alternative.

 

[ArmyMatt]

An interesting (and I am guessing unpopular in the most militant alternatives of Christian belief) interpretation of what hell means. Though isn't it clearly seen as a place of torment? I can't imagine there being much healing going on there. I see what you are implying with free will, but what if someone's will changed? I don't see them being magically whisked away to even...that defeats the idea of an eternal hell.

Thanks

it is a place of torment, but the torment is self inflicted. it is confronting the presence of Christ, when you want to avoid that at all costs, but cannot because Christ is everywhere present in His Divinity. if someone's will is changed, the very torment becomes blessing and Paradise. so hell is eternal for those who choose to stay there (think of an alcoholic who is destroying himself with alcohol, knows he is, and still drinks).

think of hell is more of a condition than a place (although it is one). for the repentant, God's presence is light and illumination, and for the unrepented His presence is fire and torment. much like how the same sun will both harden clay and melt butter.