Hell

*Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. (2797) (Matthew 25: 41b)

Talking about hell is politically incorrect these days, and it’s mostly glossed over in church, but the Bible talks about it a lot, so here’s my tirade on it…

The Bible says that everyone who is capable of knowing right from wrong will make a conscious choice to either worship God, and except His offer of forgiveness of sin, or not to. Those who choose to worship themselves, or a god suitable to their lifestyles, will condemn themselves to hell. They think that heaven and its eternal worshipping of the God of the Bible would be repugnant. They reason that at least in hell they would be free from God’s will and God’s rule.

One of the worst things about hell will be the company the inhabitants must keep. Who would want to be in the same room with the devil and all his fallen angels, and all the mass murders, torturers, rapists, racists, thieves, liars, gluttons and bigots of history? Another of the worst things about hell will be the eternal separation from God’s love, the good angels, the good people, and the joys, wonders, and rewards reserved for the godly.

When the inhabitants of hell realize that God was actually a nice guy and only wanted what was best for them, some of them will might be extremely regretful that they chose to rebel against Him during their life on earth. I think this regretfulness will be part of the torment these people will suffer.

In Christianity there are different opinions of what hell will be like.

Some Christian’s opinion of hell is, “God’s gonna burn ‘em all real good, for ever and ever!” We’ve all heard that one. I think it’s rather narrow-minded.

Some Christian’s opinion of hell is, “It’s a place where evil people and evil angels will be completely extinguished.” This is the beliefs of the millions of adherents to the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Church of England. Their reasoning is this:

It is illogical that the God of the Holy Bible, who is described as just and loving, will physically torture tens of billions of people for uncounted trillions of years. It is humans that enjoy torturing other humans. God is a little more sophisticated than that. They believe that the ones who are judged to be evil, will be extinguished from existence forever. The punishment for the evil ones is going to be psychological.

Before they are extinguished, these people are going to know that they were duped by the forces of evil and their own self-interests. They are going to know these things, and they are going to know that their existence is about to be extinguished forever. They are going to know that their only reward is the self-indulgent life they lived.

The Christians of this opinion believe the Bible says the punish ment will last forever, not the punish ing. Their take on the verses they use to support this belief are these:

John 3:16 says “…that whosoever believes in him [Jesus] will not perish but have eternal life.” “Perish” means “to die” and not to hang around forever. Even an eternal life in hell is an eternal life.

Romans 6:23 says “…the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life…” Here it says the sinful will be punished by death and not receive eternal life. Even an eternal life in hell is an eternal life.

Obadiah 1:16 says the punishment for evil is “…they shall be as though they had not been.” If you do not exist then you cannot be living an eternal life – even in hell.

Matthew 25:46 says the wicked “…shall go away into eternal punishment, and the righteous into everlasting life.” The opposite of everlasting life is everlasting non-existence.

Ezekiel 28:18&19 says about Satan’s fate “…I [God] brought forth fire…and let it burn you to ashes…in sight of all those watching you. All who know you are appalled at your fate, you are an example of horror, you are destroyed forever.”

So much for the glories and rewards of pride and selfishness.

Some Christian’s opinion of hell is, “God will deal out punishments to match the degree of wickedness of the person’s life.

The other torment in this penitentiary of souls (other than the regretfulness, loneliness and hopelessness, and the complete darkness they will stumble around in) is that torment will be meted out proportionally by how wicked a person was. It will be used to restrain very wicked people from tormenting those around them. When you’re laid flat out with the flu, for example, how much physical violence are you capable of doing to someone? The Hitlers and Stalins of history are going to need a lot more torment to distract or immobilize them from perpetrating hateful deeds on those around them.

Which one do I believe in? My base human instincts go for the “burn the evil ones real good, etc.” My spiritual side says, “The condemned ones will be consumed with despair, self-loathing, and hatred. Isn’t that punishment enough? Let them be extinguished from memory forever.”