Concept of Hell

For the past year I have been having conflicting thoughts on the traditional view of Hell. First, if anyone does not know the definition of the traditional view, let me sum it up. Basically, it refers to the idea that all who do not receive Christ but reject Him instead, will "burn" for "all eternity" in the most extreme tortured state.

Throw in how I was raised, along with the "seemingly" supportive scriptures that back it up (more from the exteme conservative interpretation), and top it off with not truly comprehending the extremity of what eternal torture entails, and you got how I always accepted it as gospel truth.

But now things have changed.

This change has not been caused by any personal experience of my own, but it began to pop up in my mind while pondering intensely on the subject. Considering I do not wish this blog to be a few dozen pages long, I will skip the exhaustive study of scripture by each individual verse. Instead, I will simply mention certain well known universal truths about the character of God and see how it fits in with the traditional view of Hell.

God is characterized as being all-loving (note: this does not mean he tolerates sin and will excuse any wrong because "He is sooo loving". Even a mother will punish their children accordingly for what they do wrong. If they don't, their love is one that is not considerate of making their child into a mature person. Rather the child will end up being spoiled and selfish. Love is not a doormat. Sometimes, love must be tough and strict. A parent's love for their child is represented by disciplining them when they make mistakes so they hopefully won't do it again), God is also merciful, is a God of Justice and is also designated a God of wrath. Notice that I only mentioned four of what might be thousands of attributes of God. These particular four, I believe, are the main interactive features that are involved with the idea of hell. In fact, lets throw in God as Father.

What I want to know, is how can a merciful, loving God, in whom people call out to as Father, send people to hell to burn for ALL ETERNITY?! This does not make sense. In many ways, it seems a contradiction. I do believe that Jesus is the ONLY way to heaven. I firmly believe this full-heartedly. But how can the one true God send someone to eternal torture forever and ever over a finite decision? For the record, let me say that I believe all who are aware of Christ and reject Him will not make it into Heaven (one can look at this as being really harsh, or instead they can interpret this as showing the disgusting reality of sin and how the power of its evil nature has divided us from God severely). But should the flip side of that decision be eternal torture? I mean, lets just think about that for one second. ETERNAL: meaning an ever lasting state where there is no end, and TORTURE: excruciating pain that excels any concept of natural agony. Its like a father who takes his son and casts a spell over him so his body can still feel pain, but won't wither away. He then throws him in a pit of fire that burns as hot as the sun. This son screams in extreme torment as he feels his body peel away, his hair turn to ash, and skin melt due to the extreme heat. Every second it seems like his body is exploding in a thousand pieces. His eyes are ablaze and oozing out of his sockets, but yet he is still conscious and can see with them. Although, none of this is actually happening to his body (yet it will feel like its actually happening), because his body is eternal. Nevertheless, he feel this heinous agony for ever and ever and ever and will never perish. HOW SICK IS THIS?!! Can this be justice???

People say that God is seen as a God of Wrath and an example of this is when He destroyed hundreds of Israelites by flame. Okay, yes, this is true (note again that God doing that does not show that God is evil, but rather how BAD sin is), but take note that once He consumed them with fire...they died. Done. Over with. No more. No pain. Nothing. Zilch!! IT ENDED!!!

I realize that sin is horrible and that it has set us apart from God. But should the justice being dealt be eternal torment? Lets face it, who in the history of the world deserves this atrocity (the only entities that I could think deserve this would be Satan and his demons)? Would Hitler, perhaps the most evil man in history, deserve "ETERNAL" torture? Sure, I believe he deserves some extremely SEVERE punishment, but what about the punishment I have been discussing?

There is a view called the "Annihilationist view" that says the condemned only suffer for certain alotted time...then they perish. This view has some strong scripture to support it, but it still fails miserably. For even a few million years of this barbaric torture still seems to take away any concept of God's mercy, justice and love for his "precious children" as He calls us.

I do not have an alternative at this point. In fact, I don't know where I stand at all. Everything is all still formulating and these thoughts that I wrote down are still only a "few" of what I have been pondering.

In conclusion, I believe passionately that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord in the end. We will ALL give account of our wrongs to the one true eternal God, Yahweh, amen. We cannot hide from the truth, for regardless if we do not believe in God, He believes in us. But where does God's justice stop? Where does His mercy end when judgment must be passed? Does justice preclude barbaric acts of cruelty for eternity everlasting?

On a last note, I am not deconstructing this traditional view on the basis that it makes me "uncomfortable". So many people today hear only what they want to hear. They only accept what makes everything seem so nice and wonderful, so pretty where we all float around like a bunch of fairies and dance the night away. Jesus warned us against this by saying that people "hear what their itching ears wish to hear". Then we get things like "well EVERYBODY is right!" or "what matters is as long as they are happy". The prisoners in the "Allegory of the Cave" were happy at looking at shadows, but that doesn't change the fact that they were chained to a wall and were stuck in a damp dark cave. I do not pursue this new line of thought based on what "sounds nice". I just see something very VERY wrong with what Hell represents and how it conflicts with the God I have loved, worshipped, and experienced in my life. I do not wish to worship a God who allows others to be tortured for all eternity. This isn't the God of the Bible. I understand that truth can be painful, uncomfortable, and sometimes...it does divide. But truth does set us free (just like the one individual in the Allegory of the Cave. He saw the truth and found the freedom he thought never existed). I wish only to discover the truth about hell that, at this point, seems to contradict the Almighty God.

That is all for now.