Posted on 11/20/2017 7:50:50 AM PST by Salvation
This is the eleventh in a series of articles on the Four Last Things: death, judgment, Heaven, and Hell.
Today we come to the final of the Four Last Things: Hell. I have written extensively on this topic over the years, largely in response to the widespread dismissal of the revealed doctrine of Hell. In contradiction to Scripture, many presume that Hell is an unlikely destination for most. Never mind that Jesus taught just the opposite (e.g., Matt 7:13-14). In my own small way, I have tried to keep people more rooted in the sobriety of the Gospel than in the wishful thinking of the modern age. No one warned of Hell more than did Jesus. Arguably, 21 of the 38 parables amount to warnings about Hell and the need to be ready for judgment day. (I have written more on that here: Jesus Who Loves You Warned Frequently of Hell.)
In this post, however, I would like to consider why Hell has to be. Frequently, those who doubt Jesus biblical teaching ask this: If God is love, then why is there Hell and why is it eternal?
In short, there is Hell because of Gods respect for our freedom. God has made us free and our freedom is absolutely necessary if we are to love. Suppose that a young man wanted a young lady to love him. Suppose again that he found a magic potion with which to lace her drink. After drinking it, Presto, she loves him! Is it real love? No its the effect of chemicals. Love must be freely given. The yes of love is only meaningful if we are free to say no. God invites us to love him. There must be a Hell because there has to be a real alternative to Heaven. God will not force us to love Him or to come to Heaven with Him.
But wait a minute; doesnt everyone want to go to Heaven? Yes, but it is often a heaven as they define it, not the real Heaven. Many people understand Heaven egocentrically: Its a place where they will be happy on their own terms, where what pleases them will be available in abundance. The real Heaven is the Kingdom of God in all its fullness. So while everyone wants to go to a heaven as they define it, not everyone wants to live in the Kingdom of God in all its fullness. Consider the following examples:
The point is this: If Heaven isnt just of our own design; if Heaventhe real Kingdom of Godis about these things, then doesnt it seem clear that there actually are many who dont want to go to Heaven? You see, everyone wants to go to a heaven of their own design, but not everyone wants to live in the real Kingdom of Heaven. God will not force any one to live in Heaven if he doesnt want to live there. He will not force anyone to love Him or what He loves or whom He loves. We are free to choose His Kingdom or not.
Perhaps a brief story will illustrate my point:
I once knew a woman in one of my parishes who in many ways was very devout. She went to daily Mass and prayed the rosary on most days. There was one thing about her, however, that was very troubling: she couldnt stand African-Americans.
She would often comment to me, I cant stand Black people! Theyre moving into this neighborhood and ruining everything! I wish theyd go away. I remember scolding her a number of times for this sort of talk, but it seemed to have seeming effect.
One day I decided to try to make it more clear: You know you dont really want to go to Heaven, I challenged.
Of course I do, Father, she replied. God and the Blessed Mother are there; I want to go.
No, you wont be happy there, I responded.
Why? she asked, What are you talking about, Father?
Well you see there are Black people in Heaven and youve said that you cant stand to be around them, so Im afraid you wouldnt be happy there. God wont force you to live in Heaven if you wont be happy there. Thats why I think that you dont really want to go to Heaven.
I think she got the message because I noticed that her attitude started to improve.
Thats just it, isnt it? God will not force us to live in the Kingdom if we really dont want it or like what that Kingdom is. We cant just invent our own heaven. Heaven is a real place. It has contours and realities of its own that we cant just brush aside. Either we accept Heaven as it is or we ipso facto choose to live apart from it and God. So, Hell has to be. It is not a pleasant place, but I suppose the saddest thing about the souls in Hell is that they wouldnt be happy in Heaven anyway. Its a tragic plight, not to be happy anywhere.
Understand this, too: God has not utterly rejected even the souls in Hell. Somehow, He still provides for their basic needs. They continue to exist and thus God continues to sustain them with whatever is required for that existence. He does not annihilate them or snuff them out.
God respects their wish to live apart from the Kingdom and its values. He loves them but respects their choice.
Why is Hell eternal? Here I think we encounter a mystery about ourselves. God seems to be teaching us that there comes a day when our decisions are fixed forever. In this world we always have the possibility of changing our mind so the idea of a permanent decision seems strange to us. Those of us who are older can testify that as we age we get more and more set in our ways; its harder and harder to change. Perhaps this is a little foretaste of a time when our decisions will be forever fixed and we will never change. The Fathers of the Church used an image of pottery to teach on this. Think of wet clay on a potters wheel. As long as the clay is moist and still on the wheel it can be shaped and reshaped, but once it is put in the kiln, in the fire, its shape is fixed forever. So it is with us that when we appear before God, who is a Holy Fire, our fundamental shape will be forever fixed, our decisions will be final. This is mysterious to us and we only sense it vaguely, but because Heaven and Hell are eternal, it seems that this forever-fixed state is in our future.
This is the best I can do on a difficult topic: Hell has to be. Its about Gods respect for us. Its about our freedom and summons to love. Its about the real Heaven. Its about what we really want in the end. We know what God wants: to save us. The real judgment in question is what we want.
Ah; true; but is it factual or fiction??
Luke has recorded that JESUS said ' There was a rich man...'
HE said 'was', as though it had actually happened in the past.
Gehenna, (/ɡɪˈhɛnə/; גיא בן הינום Ancient Greek: γέεννα), from the Hebrew Gehinnom (Rabbinical: גהנום/גהנם), is a small valley in Jerusalem and the Jewish and Christian analogue of hell.
Christian views on Hades Lazarus and the Rich Man (illumination from the Codex Aureus of Echternach). Hades, according to various Christian denominations, is "the ...
23 2532 [e] 23 kai 23 καὶ 23 And 23 |
1722 [e] en ἐν in |
3588 [e] tō τῷ - |
86 [e] hadē ᾅδῃ* Hades |
1869 [e] eparas ἐπάρας having lifted up |
3588 [e] tous τοὺς the |
3788 [e] ophthalmous ὀφθαλμοὺς eyes |
846 [e] autou αὐτοῦ , of him |
I think the BIBLE is clear when it uses SLEEP.
Daniel 12:2
Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.
The Mystery of Life and Death
On the Fear of Death
And Death Is Gain: A Reflection on the Proper Christian Sense of Death
Pondering Judgment, One of the Four Last Things
Parables by Jesus on the Day of Judgment and on Our Need to be Ready
Preparing for Judgment
How to Influence the Way the Lord Will Judge Us
Do You Desire Heaven? Really?
What Is Eternal Life?
What Do We Mean by the Communion of Saints?
Does not the last line speak in future tense?
**31 He said to him, If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead. **
Of course.
Just like the first speaks of past tense.
I dont know. I really dont. Im still working through the reading assignments.
Trying to understand supernatural things and concepts using my limited natural world tools and understanding is hard for me. I admit that my limited writing skills dont help much, either.
That post was me thinking out loud about the spiritual world and metaphysical things Ive been reading about using what little I know about physical world math and science.
The principle of polarity suggests that for there to be a Heaven, there must also be a hell, which also suggests there could or would be an in between, a boundary/ border area thats neither.
The in-between could be what this life is, but Ive also read a little about Purgatory.
I also wonder what happens to those with good hearts, but were luke warm in life, perhaps having been misguided or whatever. Theyre neither good enough for Heaven, nor evil/bad enough for the depths of hell, or so I wonder.
Otoh, Ive read that there are some souls who after death refuse Jesus offer of Heaven, preferring Satan in death just as they did in life.
Ive also read that Jesus also rescues souls from hell in the afterlife, just as He rescues us from our personal hells in this life.
Anywho...hell is pretty scary to me and these, like all of my posts here regardless of the subject, are just me thinking/babbling out loud, but hopefully with a curious and more sensitive heart, with ears less dull, and eyes less dim.
Thanks for the help!
I think sin is way beyond a simple stain on the soul.
It has corrupted us and creation to our core. It is part of our very nature and it kills and while the blood/death of Jesus allows God to judicially pardon us and then relate to us, or treat us, as if we had never sinned, we are not free from the sin until we die.
Those forgiven have been given a new spiritual nature that is sin free and both natures now indwell the body we inhabit, When we die, the old nature is gone and the new sinless nature remains, fir to be in God’s presence immediately. However, for those not forgiven by God, they carry their sin forever.
And while we live here, they are at war within us. (Romans 7)
All creation groans longing to be released from its bondage to sin.
I am out of town for the weekend and do not have access to all my files or I would post the verses. It’s in Romans 8.
We graduations of sin and think that some is worse than others, but to God, disobedience is disobedience.
James deals with that in chapter 2. Scripture says that the soul that sins will die and in the case of Adam and Eve, all they did was eat a piece of fruit.
So in God’s eyes, that one sin was enough to condemn them to put them under the penalty of death. So if it’s one sin or many, a person is still condemend.
That’s the beauty of Christ’s atonement. It takes care of all our sin and forgives it completely. No matter what it is.
This is WAY too simple!
It HAS to been more complicated: with rules and regulations and rituals being involved!!
Ive read that, just as He wishes us to rest in His Sacred Heart, He wishes to rest in our hearts, and that at any time and in any situation or circumstance, He is softly knocking on our door, that we may let him in.
Ive read that since His death on the cross, for Him to hug, He now uses our arms to hug, and that in our opening the door to Him and in our dying to our selves, we can become the instruments of His Peace.
When we open the door to Him and let Him use us as an instrument of His Peace, it is as though we become the lens through which His Love and His Light shines.
In this, I tend to think that our sins, our attachments to this world and our egos are the impurities that filter or block His Light and limit or even prevent us from being the instruments of His Peace, from being the arms He uses to hug and love our neighbors that we were made to be.
To this end, whether in good times, bad times or quiet times of rest, He has many tools with which He will purify our hearts and help us to become clear lenses through which He may shine, IF we open all of the doors to all areas of our hearts to Him. He is the ultimate teacher who even uses the tricks of Satan to purify our hearts.
This is true for everyone, whether believer or not. Hes always there in spirit for everyone in this life to answer the door and do His Will, to be His Arms to hug or do whatever the moment requires.
So, with regard to hell, I do wonder what happens to both the good-hearted who followed the dictates of their hearts, yet died without an understanding of Jesus that Christians have, just as I also wonder what happens to Christian believers who know the Word, yet fail to follow it or live the beliefs they claim for themselves.
My heart and I are glad judging souls isnt my job and my heart breaks for the One who has to do it.
Its kinda funny how, even though I dont know what it is, to me hell is a scary place/concept/destiny, and just as real as real can be.
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