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It’s been a little while since I made a post and I don’t have a lot of time right this minute to put into one, so instead, here’s an article I found a while back that I think is worth a read. It delves into the idea that maybe the hell Christians believe in isn’t even in the Bible. If it’s true, that would certainly change a lot of things. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the arguments herein because it gets into things like translations and frankly I just haven’t studied any of the languages involved. Having said that, I think this article presents some very interesting ideas and a new perspective on hell–that place people are always telling me I’m going to if I don’t become super religious. If hell isn’t Biblical, huge portions of Christian teaching become moot. So much for Pascal’s wager…
What are your thoughts on this article? Or on hell in general as an idea? Or both? Feel free to leave a comment. All opinions are welcome. Just be respectful of other people and think things through before posting.
Happy thinking!
Nancy
Outgrowing and Out-learning Religion 
I think the fiery version of hell is a metaphor for something probably infinitely worse.
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Thanks for your comment! That’s certainly one way of looking at it. Hell is described in so many different ways. I’ve heard it called just the absence of God (doesn’t sound bad at all to me personally), and sometimes eternal suffering, even torture. I personally find the fire image to be a bit over simplified too, since hell symbolizes this big gaping question and a ton of fear for the people who believe in it. I don’t think fire is so bad.
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As far as what I can gather from the biblical data I would say that that is the most likely case. That is to say hell is absence of the presence of God. If you read Luke 16, you notice there’s the great chasm between where Lazarus and Abraham are (heaven) and where the rich man is (Gehenna). Notice with the rich man says: ““The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’” Notice how the rich man isn’t pleading to get out of hell. Rather, he wants Abraham to send Lazarus to serve him. There is still this superiority or pride that Lazarus has. It’s similar to the concept of paradise lost: “I rather rule hell than serve in heaven.” We choose out of our rebellion to be in hell and God isn’t going to force us to be with him in heaven. He lets go our separate ways totally with which would be the absolute worse thing that could happen. Jesus experience hell on the cross and total separation from the Father. But the good news of the gospel is that he experienced that at the cross so we don’t have to.
There’s a great book by Joshua Ryan butler called “skeletons in God’s closet.” He does a really great job articulating the biblical view of hell.
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