Moving forward, rather than spouting various theologians and their interpretations around Hell, it’s probably easier to look at what different Christian denominations believe.
Eastern Orthodox Christianity
The Eastern Orthodox Church is
the second biggest church in the world, after the Catholic church, and it’s
important because it professes to practice the faith of the early Christian
church, which has been passed down through holy tradition. This means that in
theory, their view of Hell is closest to the view held by the earliest
Christians.
The Orthodox church believes
that both Heaven and Hell are one plain of existence, or to put it differently,
they are both the same place. Hell is not in one location, whilst Heaven is in
another, they are both one. In the Orthodox faith, Heaven and Hell are
experiences of God’s presence. Those who love God, experience the Divine
presence as infinite joy, and eternal life. Those who hate God, experience that
same presence as infinite torture and eternal death.
Another aspect of Hell in
Orthodox Christianity is apocatastasis, which means ‘restoration’. This
is the belief that all things will be restored, and it comes from Acts 3, when
Peter heals a disabled beggar and then preaches to the onlooking crowd.
Acts 3:19-21
Repent therefore, and turn
again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of
refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Christ
Jesus, who was ordained for you before, whom Heaven must receive until the
times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of
his holy prophets.
At one end of this
interpretation, is the belief that everyone will be restored and reconciled to
God, including those who are in Hell, even the Devil. At the other end is the
belief that salvation is a gift from God and there is nothing that needs to be
done to earn it. However, this gift must be accepted and God will not force
salvation on people. The Church father, Origen, is thought to have taught a
form of apocatastasis, along with other church fathers. As in all churches,
there is some disagreement in the Orthodox faith about these interpretations,
but this is a general belief within the church.
The implication of this view of
Hell is that God does not punish people in Hell, but that people are punished
and suffer according to their hearts and experiences of God. Whether the state
of experienced Hell is eternal or whether it’s for a limited time, is a matter
of discussion. Gregory of Nyssa, expressed the view that evil cannot hold in
front of God forever, and that God will ultimately destroy Hell. Some people
see this as annihilationism, that the souls of the damned will be destroyed and
put out of their misery, but others take it to mean that Hell itself will be
destroyed, and those who are in it will be reconciled to God. This view is
backed up by St. Ephraim the Syrian, who famously prayed for the salvation of
the Devil.
Roman Catholic
The Roman Catholic church was
founded in 1054 CE, when it split from the Orthodox Church. The Catholic view
of Hell evolved out of the Orthodox church and developed over time. The
Catechisms of the Catholic Church, which inform doctrine to all Catholics, says
that Hell is a place where the damned are eternally deprived of the beatific
vision, the ultimate direct self-communication of God. People will not receive
any consolation in Hell, they will be unable to escape from the pain of
Hellfire, and they will not interact with anyone, except for the demons who
tempted them.
There are additions to this doctrine of Hell, which have been provided by
Popes, doctors of the church (saints who also provided important theological
input into the church), and by people who experienced private revelations from
God. These additions include visions of Hell being like a fiery furnace whose
only light was a shade of red, that there are four torments of Hell which
people experience depending how sinful they were, and visions of nuns being
tormented in Hell because they broke their vows of silence.
Catholics also famously believe in the doctrine of purgatory, which is a place
of suffering where the souls of sinners atone for their unforgiven sins, so
that they can be purified before going to Heaven.
The Protestant Church
Protestantism began in 1517, following the Reformation which was led by Martin
Luther. The Protestant church was established after it separated from the
Catholic church, due to disagreements in doctrine.
Broadly speaking, Protestantism
these days mostly signifies churches that are neither Orthodox or Catholic, and
whilst there are differences in some aspects of theology and doctrine, the
protestant view of Hell is generally speaking, the same.
The majority of Protestants hold
the belief that Hell is a place of separation from God, and a place of eternal
conscious torment, which is both physical and spiritual. Some theologians also
believe that punishment in Hell will be proportional to the deeds of each soul.
There is debate concerning the fate of those who have never had the opportunity
to hear the gospel, such as children who die in infancy, and people without the
mental capacity to receive the gospel. Most believe God will make an exception
for these people, but there are others who believe that these people will be
damned to Hell, because of original sin.
Aside from the infernalist
belief of Hell as eternal conscious torment, there are some who believe in
annihilationism, that sinners will be punished for a limited time, and then put
out of their misery and destroyed, and a further minority on the fringes of
Protestantism, who believe in Universal Reconciliation, or Christian
Universalism. Universalists believe that after serving a sentence in Hell, all
souls are reconciled to God and enter into Heaven. Universalism teaches that
the concept of Hell as eternal conscious torment does not exist, and that an
eternal Hell is against the nature of a loving God. This view has become more
prominent in recent years and has reignited the discussions about Hell.
Looking at these different
views, if we hold them all as divinely inspired and true, as those who believe
them would say they are, then we still aren’t any closer to a clear
understanding of Hell.
We might say that the Orthodox
view is the most authentic as it maintains the view which was understood by the
early church, and subsequent views adopted by churches who abandoned the
Orthodox tradition are inaccurate, and that their understanding has strayed.
Those who disagree with this view, see it as theologically infantile, or
believe that God progressively revealed the true concept of Hell, centuries
after the early Church.
The Catholic Church developed an
understanding of Hell through its own theological interpretations, and
revelations made to saints. It’s hard to argue with divine revelation, other
than to say that some of the beliefs they arrived at were influenced by
cultural understandings, and their own subconscious thoughts which manifested
into dreams and visions, or that their beliefs are just wrong and they weren’t
divinely inspired at all. This argument seems insubstantial, because the
Catholic church is the biggest Christian denomination, and these beliefs have
been held by billions of people over hundreds of years, and so they must have
some standing.
The Protestant view is a further
progression of the Catholic belief, and is therefore argued as being even
further divine revelation. Again, there are huge numbers of Christians who have
believed in this view of Hell, and proponents of this view of Hell would say
that it is the ultimate revelation of the truth, which supersedes all previous
doctrines. Again, it’s hard to argue with this, but when does divine revelation
actually end. Did God draw a line under our theological understanding in the
1500s, proclaiming that there was nothing further to be revealed, or does God
continue to speak to us and progressively reveal truth to us? If we believe
that God is still active and speaking to us today, then we have to consider
that there is more to be said on theological matters such as Hell, which we
might not be willing to accept just yet. Christian Universalism is generally
scoffed at by Protestant Christians, and has been branded as heretical by
evangelicals, even though it’s resurgence could be further divine revelation.
It is a doctrine which is rooted in the beliefs of the early Church and the
Orthodox faith, and it’s a view that has been consistent throughout church
history. It may be that it's currently a minority view and that the term
‘Christian Universalism’ is relatively modern itself, but that doesn’t mean
it’s wrong. That said, it absolutely could be wrong, but so could any of the
beliefs about Hell.
Looking at the different views
of Hell in this way, is perhaps a more helpful way of grouping together some of
the ideas we explored earlier. These views have been discussed, debated and
refined by groups of Christians who have wrestled with the Bible. These
denominational doctrines can provide us with more concise understandings on
Hell, but that still doesn’t help us when it comes to knowing which one is
right. All these denominations would argue that their view is the true,
biblical view of Hell, but they can’t all be right. One of them has to be truer
than the others, even if they are all wrong and incomplete in some way.
So, it basically comes down to this.
We can’t be completely certain about Hell, neither can we
be absolutely certain about other beliefs we hold, question and struggle with.
We can accept that all these things are mysteries, admit our humanity and our
inability to know the answers to these questions, and this can be a helpful
place to stand, but it isn’t something we are good at doing. We crave
certainty, and we ultimately choose the truth we need to believe.
I can’t hold the opposing ideas of Hell in tension. I don’t
know if I can fully love a God who has enabled a system of justice, which means
sinners and unbelievers will be punished and tormented for eternity. I can fear
that God, and I have feared that God, to the point where I have not known that
God. However, I can love a God whose forgiveness is bigger than I can
understand, whose love is better than I can imagine, and who can reconcile
everyone in that love. I need to believe that is who God is, because the
alternative for me means worshiping and following God in fear, and trying to
love God without hope for my non-believing friends and family being saved. With
all that said though, the view of God that I have needs to be rooted in the
Bible, and it can’t just be something I want to be true, because it’s more
palatable and less problematic. There are valid arguments for all the different
views of Hell we have looked at, all of them have a biblical standing but at
the same time, they can all be argued against. No one view can claim to have a
water tight argument for truth, and so it ultimately does come down to what we
understand to be true about God and what we feel in ourselves.
This is a tricky subject to conclude, it’s contentious and
complicated, but I think there are some fundamental truths that we can take
away. The first is that Jesus doesn’t really talk about Hell that much, and
where he does talk about it, punishment isn’t the point of what he is saying.
Jesus’s message is that people should love God, and that they should love each
other. If we fail to do those things there are consequences, but I don’t think
Jesus talks about Sheol/Hades and Gehenna, because they are the reasons why we
should love others and love God. If Hell was important to Jesus, then I think
he would have provided an exact theology when he taught, and he didn’t. When we
read the Bible, Sheol, Hades and Gehenna, are all presented as truth, but none
of them are exact, but they are references for people, ideas that make them sit
up and pay attention to the main message, which is the coming Kingdom of God,
which Jesus does present a precise theology about. The Kingdom of God is about
healing, restoration, forgiveness and love, and that is what Jesus is all
about. Jesus only really mentions punishment a handful of times, but when we
look at his ministry, we see him consistently bringing these kingdom realities
to people.
In my opinion, the church has blown Hell way out of
proportion, it has built ministries on Hell, and tried to save people by
threatening it, but in doing so, it has distracted itself from the kingdom
message of Jesus, which is to bring healing to those who are in need, to bring
restoration to those who are broken, to bring forgiveness to those who believe
they are not good enough, and to bring love to the world.
We don’t get to know what Hell really is if we read the
Bible, but I think that is probably as it should be. However, we are told what
the Kingdom of God is, and I think that should be our focus.
Text taken from “Unanswerable:
Exploring the Complexities of the Christian Faith and Biblical Truth”, which is
available from Amazon, and from all good book shops. An audiobook is also
available at https://mindmole.bandcamp.com/music
Comments
Post a Comment