What comes to your mind when you hear the word "hell"? Do you imagine a literal place of eternal torment, where fire and brimstone burn? Or is hell a symbolic description of a certain state?
For centuries, the clergy of Christendom have said that sinners will burn in hell, enduring terrible torments. This belief is still widespread among many denominations. According to the magazine "Yu. S. News and World Report”,“although the word “hell” came into use thanks to Christianity, Christianity did not retain its monopoly on the doctrine of hell. The threat of painful retribution after death is spoken of in all, both large and small, religions of the world. " Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, members of the Jain community and Taoists all believe in the existence of hell in one form or another.
In our time, however, the concept of "hell" has changed somewhat. “Although the traditional doctrine of hell still has its adherents,” notes the aforementioned magazine, “there is a new, modern understanding of eternal torment as a painful solitary confinement, while hell is not so hot.”
The Jesuit magazine Civilta Cattolica noted: "It is wrong … to think that God, through demons, brings terrible torments on the doomed, such as torment in fire." It also says: "Hell exists, but this is not a place, but the state of a person tormented by excommunication from God." Pope John Paul II said in 1999: "Hell is not a place, but the condition of those who deliberately and irrevocably separate themselves from God - the source of all life and joy." Regarding the images of hell as a place of torment in fire, he said: "They reflect the complete despair and emptiness of life without God." According to church historian Martin Marty, if, when talking about hell, the Pope mentioned "hell, the devil in a red coat and with a pitchfork, no one would take it seriously."
Similar changes are being observed in other religions. The report of the Church of England's Belief Commission said: "Hell is not a place of eternal torment, but the final and irrevocable choice of a path completely opposed to God, so that the only thing that this path will lead to is complete non-existence."
The Catechism of the United States Episcopal Church defines hell as "eternal death as a result of our denial of God." According to “Yu. S. News and World Report ", an increasing number of people adhere to the idea that" the fate of the wicked is not eternal suffering, but destruction. […] [They] argue that those who ultimately reject God will simply sink into the oblivion of the 'all-consuming flame' of hell.
Although modern theories try to move away from the idea of hell burning with fire and brimstone, many still believe that hell is a literal place of torment. “The Scriptures make it clear that hell is a real place of suffering,” says Albert Mohler of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Kentucky, USA) in Louisville. And in the report "The Essence of Hell", prepared
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the Commission of the Evangelical Union says: "Hell is a painful sensation of separation from God" ("The Nature of Hell"). It also says: "There are degrees of punishment and suffering in hell, depending on the severity of earthly sins."
Again the question arises: what is hell? A place where sinners are tormented in an eternal flame or a state of nothingness? Or is it just a state of separation from God? What is hell really?
A brief excursion into history
When was the doctrine of hell adopted in Christendom? Much later than the time when Jesus Christ and his apostles lived. One French encyclopedia stated that "The Apocalypse of Peter" (2nd century CE) is the first [apocryphal] Christian work describing the punishment and torment of sinners in hell "(" Encyclopaedia Universalis "). There was no consensus among the early church fathers in their understanding of hell. Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian and Cyprian considered hell to be a place where sinners are tormented in fire. Origen and the theologian Gregory of Nyssa envisioned hell as a place where sinners are excommunicated from God and spiritually suffer. Augustine the Blessed, on the contrary, argued that in hell they suffer both physically and spiritually. This view has become generally accepted. According to Professor J. N. D. Kelly, “By the 5th vein, a strict dogma was formed and became widespread thatthat after death, sinners will have no chance of salvation and they will be consumed by an unquenchable fire."
In the 16th century, Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin believed that suffering in hell was a symbol of eternal separation from God. However, over the next two centuries, the idea of hell as a place of torment gained strength again. Protestant preacher Jonathan Edward's vivid description of hell made the hearts of 18th century American colonists tremble with fear.
However, soon the hellfire began to flicker fainter and fainter. And according to “Yu. S. News and World Report ", in the XX century it, one might say, completely" faded ".
What is hell?
Whatever your idea of hell, the word “hell” is usually associated with the place of punishment for sin. About sin and its consequences, the Bible says: “Through one person, sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death passed on to all people, because all sinned.” - Romans 5:12. Scripture also says, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Since the punishment for sin is death, it is necessary to answer the main question that helps to understand the true essence of hell: what happens to a person when he dies?
Does life remain in a person after death in any form? What is hell and what kind of people get there? Is there hope for those in hell? The Bible provides truthful and convincing answers to these questions.
Life after death?
Is it possible that some substance within us, soul or spirit, lives after the death of the body? Let's consider how the first man, Adam, received life. The Bible says: “The Lord God created man out of the dust of the earth, and breathed the breath of life into his face, and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2: 7). Although the breath kept him alive, the "breath of life" given to Adam was much more than just the air in his lungs. This meant that God breathed a spark, or spirit of life, into the lifeless body of Adam, the life force that operates in all living organisms on earth (Genesis 6:17; 7:22). The Bible calls this life-giving power spirit (James 2:26). Spirit can be compared to an electric current that activates some kind of device or equipment, allowing you to use it. Just as the current never takes on the properties of the equipment it powers,life force does not acquire the characteristics of the beings to whom it gives life. This power is not a person and does not have intelligence.
What happens to the spirit when a person dies? Psalm 145: 4 says: "His spirit goes out, and he returns to his land: on that day all his thoughts disappear." When a person dies, his impersonal life force, or spirit, does not continue to exist in the other world as a spiritual being. “The Spirit will return to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12: 7). This means that any hope for a future life for this person depends entirely on God.
The ancient Greek philosophers Socrates and Plato believed that the human soul does not die with the death of the body and lives forever. What does the Bible say about the soul? Genesis 2: 7 says that Adam "became … a living soul." He did not receive a soul, but was a soul, that is, a man. The Bible says that a soul can do something, want to eat, be full, become exhausted, and so on (Leviticus 23:30; Deuteronomy 12:20; Proverbs 27: 7; Jonah 2: 8). Therefore, the soul is the person himself. When he dies, the soul dies (Ezekiel 18: 4).
What, then, are the deceased in? In sentencing Adam, Jehovah said: “Dust you are, and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19) Where was Adam before God formed him from the dust of the earth and gave him life? Nowhere, it simply did not exist! When Adam died, he returned to this state of complete non-existence. The state of the dead is clearly stated in Ecclesiastes 9: 5, 10: "The dead know nothing … … In the grave where you go, there is no work, no reflection, no knowledge, no wisdom." According to Scripture, death is a state of nothingness. The dead have no consciousness, they have neither feelings nor thoughts.
Eternal torment or general grave?
Since the dead are unconscious, hell cannot be a place where sinners suffer after death. Then what is hell? It will be easier for us to answer this question if we remember what happened to Jesus after death. The Evangelist Luke says: “He [Jesus] was not left in Hades [Hell], and his flesh saw no corruption” * (Acts 2:31). Where is the hell that even Jesus was in? The Apostle Paul wrote: “I told you … that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that on the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15: 3, 4). Thus, Jesus was in hell, or in the grave, but was not left there because he was resurrected.
Remember the story of the righteous man Job, who suffered a lot. Desiring to get rid of torment, he prayed to God: “If you would hide me in hell and hide me until your anger passes away” (Job 14:13). It would be illogical to think that Job wanted to get into "hell" in order to be saved from suffering! By "hell," Job simply meant the grave where all his torment would end. Thus, the hell mentioned in the Bible is the universal grave of humanity, where both good and bad people fall.
All-consuming fire?
Could it be that hellish fire is only a symbol of all-consuming, complete destruction? Separating the concepts of "fire" and "hades", that is, "hell", the Bible says: "Death and hell were thrown into the lake of fire." The lake mentioned here is a symbol, since death and hell (hades), which are thrown there, cannot literally burn. Therefore, “the lake of fire signifies the second death” - death, from which there is no hope (Revelation 20:14).
The lake of fire means roughly the same as the "hell of fire" that Jesus spoke of (Matthew 5:22; Mark 9:47, 48). The word "Gehenna" occurs 12 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures and refers to the Valley of Hinnom, located outside the walls of Jerusalem. As noted in one encyclopedia, when Jesus lived on earth, in this valley there was a garbage dump, where they threw out "city sewage, human bones, the corpses of executed criminals and dead animals" ("Bible Encyclopedia", 1891). In order to burn the garbage, a fire was constantly maintained with the help of sulfur. Jesus cited this valley as a symbol of eternal destruction.
Like Gehenna, the lake of fire symbolizes eternal destruction. Death and hell will be “thrown” into it, that is, they will be done away with, and humanity will be freed from sin and the curse of death. Those who deliberately sin and do not repent will also be thrown into this lake (Revelation 21: 8). They, too, will be destroyed forever. Those who are remembered by God and who are in hell - or in the universal grave of mankind - have a wonderful future.
Hell will be devastated
Revelation 20:13 says, "The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead." The hell spoken of in the Bible will be devastated. Jesus promised: “The hour is coming when all those in the memorial tombs will hear his [Jesus] voice and go out.” - John 5:28, 29. Although millions of those who have died do not now exist in any form, they are in the memory of Jehovah God and will be resurrected in paradise on earth. --Luke 23:43; Acts 24:15.
In God's new world, those resurrected who obey righteous laws will never have to die again. --Isaiah 25: 8. Jehovah will wipe “every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning, nor outcry, nor pain be any more. The former things have passed away.”- Revelation 21: 4. What blessings await those who are in “hell” or “in memorial tombs”! These blessings should encourage us to learn more about Jehovah God and his Son, Jesus Christ. --John 17: 3.
Anatoly Kruty