Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- hell [2025/07/03 07:33] – [What is Hell?] kbieb
+++ hell [Unknown date] (current) – removed - external edit (Unknown date) 127.0.0.1
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-====== All About Hell ======
-===== What is Hell? =====
-The best explanation that I've heard for what Hell is, comes from a [[https://youtu.be/FaZCPKF3qVA?si=fNnVdxzKeU7D1c-n|sermon]] by [[https://www.focusonthefamily.com/contributors/john-burke/|John Burke]], the author of //[[https://a.co/d/0QpalUc|Imagine Heaven]]//.
-In this sermon, Pastor Burke teaches that God created spirit beings known as angels before he created before our universe. Angels were created to love him and serve him. For a being to truly love, it must be free to choose to love, it cannot be compelled to do so, therefore the angels were created with free will. Angels were also being asked to serve which also requires free will, as service without choice is slavery which a perfectly just God would not do. The most powerful and beautiful angel was Lucifer (light-bearer) who became prideful and thought he could rise above God. For the sin of pride and rebellion, God cast Lucifer from Heaven. One third of the angels left Heaven with him. Lucifer and his angels wanted to live (and rule) apart from God, but since God is everywhere, there was no place for them. So, God, in his love and mercy, created a place without God, for them to live and rule in. We call this place Hell.
-Burke claims that choices made in eternity by their nature are eternal choices since there is no time there. That is, one couldn't make a choice and then some //time// later make a different choice. This point is a little tangential and I'm not sure that I agree with it since I seem to be almost completely unable to imagine an existence separate from time and therefore cause and effect. I mention it here because it has some relevance in the following paragraphs when discussing why God created a universe of time and space for humans.
-Burke goes on to explain that God created humans and our universe in order to teach the remaining two-thirds of angels in heaven not to rebel. In our universe he created a place which contained some fraction of heaven and hell. That is, a place to experience a water-downed version of what existence was like with and without the presence of God. This allowed humans to sample both existences (knowledge of good and evil) and freely choose between them. Since we live within time, we could make a choice, live with it for a time and then change our mind if we wanted and live with that for a time. We are able to do that as many times as we want as long as we live within time.
-<WRAP center round important 60%>
-In order to allow us to experience sin but then still be able to live sinless in His presence, should that be our choice, He also gave us Jesus, so that we could repent and be washed clean of our sins.
-</WRAP>
-Burke cites three chapters as his source ("something close to the story that I just told you"):
-  * Ezekial 28
-  * Isaiah 14
-  * Revelation 12
-I must admit that I don't read all of what he says in those three scriptures, but I have always tended to be more of a literalist and have always had trouble reading "deeper meanings" or allegory in what I read. I do like his explanation though.
-===== How could a loving God create a place of eternal punishment like Hell? =====
-If you can get behind John Burke's interpretation above, Hell is simply a place where God is not present, so He is therefore not responsible for how it is run. So, who does run Hell? Likely, it is run by Satan and his demons, who encourage all sinful human behavior. Possibly it is run by the very worst of humanity, at a minimum that is who is inhabiting Hell. Either way, it would be a terrible place.
-C.S. Lewis said that Hell was a self-imposed isolation from God. This seems to agree at least in part with Burke's description above. In essence, Lewis's view of hell is not a place of fiery torment, but rather a state of being characterized by separation from God and self-imposed isolation. It is a consequence of free will and the choices individuals make in their lives.
-This view has basis in scripture (2 Thessalonians 9-10 NASB): ''These people will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified among His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—because our testimony to you was believed.''
-I like to believe in this version of Hell which seems more in line with a loving God, but God is also a just God, so a more concrete punishment isn't outside the realm of the possible. There is evidence for this version of Hell in scripture too. Jesus describes Hell as a "furnace of fire" (Matthew 13:41-42): ''The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'' And Revelation references a "lake of fire" (Revelation 13:20) ''And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone.''
-Whether Hell is terrible because God is not there, or if it is specifically a place God designed for eternal torment, the only people that go there are those who choose to. To avoid it, all one has to do is humble themselves, accept the free gift of Jesus's sacrifice and agree to obey and serve him. C.S. Lewis said in //The Great Divorce//: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.”