Hell, does it exist in the modern day sense?

bellylint

Ok not a religious person by any means, but am curious about a particular aspect of Christianity. Something some religious people said to me a couple of years ago, was that hell, of the arch-typical image with pits of lava , doesnt exist according to the dogma of Christianity. This came from artistic licence, the likes of dante's inferno etc. In actuality hell is the absence of salvation, and in the end your soul doesnt carry on 'existing'. Can anyone clear that up for me, as you hear it frequently from a variety of sources?

Cheers

antiskeptic

bellylint wrote: »

Ok not a religious person by any means, but am curious about a particular aspect of Christianity. Something some religious people said to me a couple of years ago, was that hell, of the arch-typical image with pits of lava , doesnt exist according to the dogma of Christianity. This came from artistic licence, the likes of dante's inferno etc. In actuality hell is the absence of salvation, and in the end your soul doesnt carry on 'existing'. Can anyone clear that up for me, as you hear it frequently from a variety of sources?

Cheers

As you might imagine, views vary somewhat with some believing that the person(hood) indeed ceases to exist - for want of being saved. Verses describing the fate of the damned in a way that implies everlasting torment (such as "the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever") are read to mean that the punishment is finite, but the debris raised by their punishment rises forever and ever...

Not surprisingly, the more orthodox view is that the person in Hell will experience existance eternally. And that that existance will be something you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. But it's probably not the case that Hell consists of elevated temperatures and the like. The Bible, in describing a fate worse than death is restricted to utilising words that mean something to us. And to be cast into fire without hope of eventual destruction and death is about the best way to convey that image.

It's hard to imagine anything worse.

I'm inclined towards the view that Hell-bound men, originally made in God's image - and retaining much of that image albeit it distorted by the Fall, will have that image removed from them on being cast into Hell. And that what's left - which is only ugly and vile and putrid - will stew in it's own juices for all eternity. Imagine your existance without hope, without creativity, without love, without relationship, without joy, without kindness, without pleasure (for such is God in whose image you still reflect). And imagine that same existance without the ability to suppress the truth about the ugly aspects of you, an existance where the full vileness of that part of you is in full view - to yourself. Then imagine spending eternity with similar creatures (for creature is about the best that can be said it you in that state) - worse that the vilest men who have ever lived.

And you can begin to imagine the horror of Hell.

hivizman

Antiskeptic has provided a very good summary of the "traditional" view of hell. There are a number of variations of this. One of these is "universalism", which argues that all will ultimately be saved, and that hell functions more like a sort of purgatory, where those whose sins and lack of faith have prevented them from immediate salvation pay the price for their shortcomings. However, because no finite human can be infinitely evil, even the worst of humanity will eventually be purged. Universalism is not an orthodox doctrine of Christianity.

Another variation is the "conditional" view of hell. This sees the "end" of hell not as salvation but rather as annihilation - those condemned to hell will experience punishment, but this will not go on for ever. Eventually sin itself will be destroyed through the annihilation of sinners. People conceptualise the punishment of hell in different ways, from the physical tortures of the medieval writers (this view of hell has a lot in common with the Muslim image of Jahannam, the hellfire to which unbelievers, and Muslims whose sins exceed their good deeds, are condemned by Allah at the Day of Judgement - sinful Muslims are eventually allowed into Jannah, the gardens of paradise, but unbelievers remain in Jahannnam for eternity), to the more abstract consciousness of eternal separation from God. The "conditional" view of hell promises that, even for the most evil human, the pains of hell will have an end, but that end is complete annihilation rather than ultimate salvation.

smurfhousing

Hell is the burning fire of God's love which burns eternally those who have rejected this Love, definitively, through their own free will, and who themselves are not Love. Anguish, remorse, and torment will be their lot for ever.

This gives you just an idea of the God they have spurned:

“Late have I loved You, O Beauty so ancient, and so new. You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I rushed headlong upon these lovely things which you have made. You were with me but I was not with you. Created things kept me far from You, those things which could not exist but in You. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed you fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burn for your peace” (St Augustine's Confessions 10,27).

Hell is the eternal loss and separation from an infinitely good and loving God, to be tormented for ever by the fallen angels who will remind us constantly of our loss. It will be intolerable, with absolutely no respite whatsoever: one eternal nightmare doesn't even begin to describe hell.

It is interesting to note that everybody alive today on the earth is enjoying the benefits of God, whether they believe in Him or not, such is the goodness of God. In hell, all these benefits are removed - there is no pleasure, no joy, no hope, nothing that is good.

JimiTime

The second death of which there is no resurrection is what the writer of Revelation called it, I would tend to go with that explaination. An eternal punishment, i.e. You are gone forever. The first death is temporal. It is a consaquence of the fall of man and Gods warning to Adam 'If you eat of the tree, you will surely die'. God however, had mercy on the children of Adam and through Jesus Christ, we are freed from the torments of death. However, if we reject this mercy, then we will get what we are due, i.e. Death without end.

bellylint

hi guys, thanks all for your comments.

krudler

Hell is the eternal loss and separation from an infinitely good and loving God, to be tormented for ever by the fallen angels who will remind us constantly of our loss. It will be intolerable, with absolutely no respite whatsoever: one eternal nightmare doesn't even begin to describe hell.

I had to listen to a Westlife album at work on repeat for hours once, hell sounds like a day at the beach compared to it.

Fanny Cradock

krudler wrote: »

I had to listen to a Westlife album at work on repeat for hours once, hell sounds like a day at the beach compared to it.

You poor thing.

Baggio1

krudler :pac:

hahah i nearly fell of me chair reading that, but yehahh i get the same feeeling whenever thinking of boybands....gosh i wonder do they play THAT to the dammed down there now i really MUST smarten up!

ciao'....Baggio....

faceman

smurfhousing wrote: »

Hell is the eternal loss and separation from an infinitely good and loving God, to be tormented for ever by the fallen angels who will remind us constantly of our loss. It will be intolerable, with absolutely no respite whatsoever: one eternal nightmare doesn't even begin to describe hell.

It is interesting to note that everybody alive today on the earth is enjoying the benefits of God, whether they believe in Him or not, such is the goodness of God. In hell, all these benefits are removed - there is no pleasure, no joy, no hope, nothing that is good.

Yeah thats pretty much the Vatican's view on it too. The absence of God and of love. Torment by forces which despise God and human beings. I also read somewhere that those condemned to hell are not expected to find salvation during the Final Judgement.