Hell in Christian beliefs

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Perdition redirects here, for the play see Perdition (play).

Hell, in Christian beliefs, is an afterlife in which the soul suffers the consequences of sin. Jesus, the Savior, saves the faithful from hell.

The nature of hell and its punishment is a subject of debate between various denominations. Hell is however generally held to be irrevocable and eternal. Some Christians believe that hell is a physical place. Some believe that, while hell is real, it is a state, rather than a place, of separation from God. Others hold that hell is a metaphor for a self-imposed mental separation from God. Some view hell as a place of punishment by God while others see it more in terms of self-exclusion from God. Some hold that there are physical torments in hell, principally fire. Hell has historically played a large part in post-Constantinian Western culture, especially during the Middle Ages, and continues to significantly influence Western language, custom, usage, literature and iconography.

Contents 1 Origins 2 Hell in the New Testament 3 Common Christian beliefs 4 Terms for hell 4.1 Words in the Bible translated as "hell" 4.2 Other terms 5 Eastern Orthodoxy 6 Roman Catholic 7 Protestant 8 Other Christian views of Hell 8.1 Adventist 8.2 Annihilationism 8.3 Christian Science 8.4 Latter-day Saints/Mormons 8.5 Jehovah's Witnesses 8.6 Unity 8.7 Universalism 9 Heaven, purgatory, and limbo 10 Notes and References

[edit] Origins

Hell, as it is perceived in the Western population, has its origins in Hellenized Christianity, particularly taken from adaptation of the Hellenistic afterlife known as Tartarus. As the concept of Hell began to flourish in Medieval Europe, it took on recognizably Greek concepts, such as a satyr as Satan and Heaven from the concept of Elysium.^[1] Hell was also influenced by Zoroastrian eschatology, from which "Judgment Day" originated.^{[citation needed]}

Judaism, at least initially^[2], believed in Sheol, a shadowy existence to which all were sent indiscriminately. Sheol may have been little more than a poetic metaphor for death, not really an afterlife at all: see for example Sirach and Isaiah 14:3-11. However, by the third to second century B.C. the idea had grown to encompass a far more complex concept.

The New Hebrew Sheol was translated in the Septuagint as 'Hades', the name for the underworld in Greek mythology and is still considered to be distinct from "Hell" by Eastern Orthodox Christians. In Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries and Concordances it is transliterated "Sheh-ole". The Lake of Fire and realm of Eternal Punishment in Hellenistic mythology was in fact Tartarus. Hades was not Hell in Hellenistic mythology, but was rather a form of limbo where the dead went to be judged. The New Testament uses this word, but it also uses the word 'Gehenna', from the valley of Hinnom, a valley near Jerusalem originally used as a location in which human sacrifices were offered to an idol called "Molech" (or Moloch).

2 Kings 23.10 (on King Josiah's reform):

And he defiled the Tophet, which is in the valley of Ben-hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire lmlk.

Jeremiah 32.35:

And they built the high places of the Ba‘al, which are in the valley of Ben-hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire lmlk; which I did not command them, nor did it come into my mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

It was later used as a landfill in order to emphasize the disgusting nature of its original use. Ancient landfills were very unsanitary and unpleasant when compared to modern landfills; these places were filled with rotting garbage and the Hebrews would periodically burn them down. However, by that point they were generally so large that they would burn for weeks or even months. In other words they were fiery mountains of garbage. The early Christian teaching was that the damned would be burnt in the valley just as the garbage was. (It is ironic to note that the valley of Hinnom today is far from being a garbage dump, a public park.) It is argued by theologians opposed to the concept of hell, but desirous to defend the Bible as a source, that a reference to a place on Earth where rubbish was burnt cannot refer to any conscious after-death state.^{[citation needed]}

Punishment for the damned and reward for the saved is a constant theme of Christianity.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Hell in the New Testament

The Christian idea of Hell is different from the Sheol of Judaism.

Gospels frequently portray images of the fiery destruction and torment of the wicked. Sometimes this destruction is their annihilation or eternal punishment when God's Kingdom gets established on earth (Matthew 3:10-12, Matthew 25:41-46, Luke 3:9, John 5:28-29). Other times it is the fate of the individual sinner (Matthew 5:22, Matthew 5:29-30, Luke 12:5, John 15:1-6). Sometimes the fate of the wicked is depicted not as flames or destruction but as darkness or exclusion (Matthew 8:12, Matthew 22:13, Matthew 25:30, Luke 13:22-28, Luke 16:19-28). Jesus himself describes a place of "weeping and gnashing of teeth"; this quotation appears six times in Matthew and once in Luke.

The Book of Revelation is also a rich source of hellish imagery(Revelation 12:9, Revelation 14:9-11, Revelation 19:20, Revelation 20:10, Revelation 20:14-15, Revelation 21:8). The "abyss" and "the Earth" are interpreted as references to Hell.

The most vivid New Testament account of the fate of the wicked in the afterlife is Luke 16:19-28 (Lazarus and Dives). In this account, nobody can pass from the bosom of Abraham to the place where the wicked burn or vice versa. Fire is not the only tormentor, thirst being another, and more that are not described; in this biblical passage it is also mentioned that the souls that are in Hell can see those that are in Heaven and vice versa. Many view this story as a parable, and as such, believe its meaning may not literally define the existence in the afterlife, but instead serve as a lesson about the dangers of wealth and the unwillingness to listen to God.

[edit] Common Christian beliefs

The population of Hell comprises the souls of those who died without accepting Christ as their saviour, God's grace, in sin and without repentance, although beliefs on these categories differ among Christian denominations. Some consider the fate of righteous people who lived before the time of Christ (thus being non-Christian through no fault of their own) a complication, especially for the many righteous Jews of the Old Testament. In some traditions, these people went straight to Heaven despite not being Christians because Christ had not yet come and gone. In other traditions, they had to wait in Limbo until the Harrowing of Hell during the three days between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.

According to Western Christian beliefs, the Devil and his angels (demons), who will receive punishment will reside in hell along with the souls of the damned. This doctrine is not part of Eastern Orthodox teachings. Yet, Matthew 25:41 mentions the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. Revelation 14:9-11 and Revelation 20:10 can be interpreted to mean that after the Day of the Lord those who were condemned to Hell will remain there physically, tormented by eternal fire that will never consume them nor be extinguished.

Concerning the fire, some scholars speculated that the idea came from the fire consecrated to some Pagan deities like Adramelech, Moloch, etc., to whom children were sacrificed by throwing them into the flames; but other scholars, more recently, speculated that, since Hell is considered an underground place, fire was associated with volcanic eruptions; the idea that volcanoes could be gateways to Hell was present in the mind of the ancient Romans, and later of Icelanders and other European peoples. Some claim that the conditions thought to prevail in Hell are influenced by the generally hot, dry climates found in the cradlelands of Judaism, Christianity and Islam alike; these observers point to the fact that the equivalent of Hell in Norse mythology, known as Niflheim, is pictured as a cold, foggy place (the name itself meaning "home of the fog").

Medieval imagination added cauldrons inside which people will be "cooked" forever by demons and Christian demonology acquired a "terrifying" aspect concerning imagery of Hell. Medieval theologians were keen to portray all manner of hideous tortures, designed to inflict horrific pain upon the eternally-damned inhabitants of Hell.

More recently and to some theologians, the idea of an underground Hell gave place to the conception of an abstract spiritual status in an also intangible plane of existence, which is sometimes associated to a site in an unknown point of the universe or also abstract, but tradition continues referring to Hell as "down", meanwhile religion refers to it as the place of eternal punishment and torment, far from God's presence (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

[edit] Terms for hell

[edit] Words in the Bible translated as "hell"

The words "sheol" (Hebrew), "hades" (Greek), "gehenna" (Greek, from Hebrew), and "Tartarus" (Greek) are sometimes translated as "hell."

The Greek words "Hades" and "Gehenna" are sometimes translated into the word "hell," though the concepts are dissimilar. Martin Luther, for example, translated the word "Hades" five times as the German word for "hell" (Hölle) (for example Matthew 16:18), and twice as "the dead," twice as the "world of the dead," and once as "his kingdom" (all in German). "Gehenna" was translated by Martin Luther eight times as "hell" (for example: Matthew 5:22,29,30; 18:9; Mark 9:43,45; and so on) and four times as "hellish." In Norse mythology the underworld was a cold, monotonous place, which was commanded by the goddess Hel. The place was called Hel, too.

Newer translations of the Bible translate "Hades" or "Sheol" into the words "world of dead," "underworld," "grave," "crypt" or similar, but still translate the word "Gehenna" into the word "hell."

The word "Hades" of the New Testament is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word "Sheol" of the Old Testament (Acts 2:27, Psalms 16:10). What happens in Hades, or rather Sheol, Ecclesiastes tells us: "for in the Sheol, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom." (Ecclesiastes 9,10) and "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten." (Ecclesiastes 9:5; see also Psalms 89:49; 139:8; Numbers 16:30). "The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the Sheol and raises up." (1 Samuel 2:6). The souls of all human beings are going to Hades, whether they believe or not (John 5:28-29; Job 3:11-19, 14:13; Ez 32:18-32; Ps. 31:17; Dan. 12:2).

Geenna (or Gehenna) is the name of an earthly place. It comes from Hebrew and means "Gorge of Hinnom (Ge-Hinnom)." This gorge can still be visited today near Jerusalem. In the time of the Old Testament it was a place where children were sacrificed to the Ammonite god Molech (2 Kings 23:10). That cultic practice was, according to the Old Testament, imitated by King Solomon in the 10th Century B.C.E. and under the leadership of king Manasseh in the 7th Century B.C.E. and in times of crisis until the time of exile of the Jews in Babylon (6th Century B.C.E.). The prophet Jeremiah, who condemned that cult strictly, called the valley the "gorge of killing" (Jeremiah 7:31-32; 19:5-9). Gehenna became later a central garbage dump, to stop the practice of child sacrifice. At the turn of the 1st Century C.E. the gorge was used also to burn the dead bodies of criminals after their execution. The image of burning dead bodies probably inspired Jewish, and later Christian theologians to translate that place into the word "hell."

The sea of fire after the last tribunal in Revelation 20:14 isn't translated into the word "hell," but sometimes gets the connotations of "hell." In that sea of fire are thrown the beast, the devil, the false prophet, and Hell (Hades) itself, along with evil-doers, according to Revelation 20:12-15.

In 2 Peter 2:4 ^[3] a deep, dark dungeon reserved for certain fallen angels is referred to as Tartarus and often translated as hell.

[edit] Other terms

"Perdition" (roughly "loss") can refer to the loss of the soul or to hell itself, where "lost souls" are punished. Those who aren't "saved" by Christ are said to be lost.

"Inferno" (from Latin "lower" or "underground") sometimes means hell but is now used more often to refer to fiery destruction in general than hell in particular.

[edit] Eastern Orthodoxy

The Eastern Orthodox Church teaches that both the elect and the lost enter into the presence of God after death, and that the elect experience this presence as light and rest, while the lost experience it as darkness and torment.^[4] The Orthodox see this doctrine as supported Scripture and by the patristic tradition.

The afterlife for the damned is dreadful anticipation of Judgment Day, while the elect happily await the resurrection of the dead. The Eastern Orthodox pray for the dead, and they believe that sometimes a lost soul can be saved after death through the prayers of the living.

[edit] Roman Catholic

Hell is defined by the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

'We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: "He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."610 Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren.611 To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self- exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called "hell." '

The Catholic Church likewise acknowledges the existence of hell. In the words of Pope John Paul II, "The images of hell that Sacred Scripture presents to us must be correctly interpreted. They show the complete frustration and emptiness of life without God. Rather than a place, Hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy". ^[5] An earlier catechism, however, describes the suffering of those in hell in more traditional terms, as fiery "punishment" rather than as "self-exclusion" from God.^[6]

The idea of hell as a place, in traditional Catholic circles, has been promoted in recent years by the publication of the purported visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima, Portugal in 1917. Mary is supposed to have revealed a vision of hell as a "great sea of fire."^[7] Many Catholics point out that the Magisterium of the Catholic Church does not require Catholics to give credence to any private revelation, though the vision has been declared worthy of belief. It is also suggested that these visions (if true) are using imagery that uneducated people might understand (the seers of Fatima were peasant children).

[edit] Protestant

In most Protestant traditions, Hell is a place originally designed by God for placement of the Devil (i.e. Lucifer, Beelzebub, or Satan) and fallen angels (demons). Hell will be the final dwelling place of every soul that did not obey and put their faith in God before the incarnation of Jesus, and those that did not accept the salvation of Jesus by putting their faith in God after His crucifixion. Those souls will suffer God's holy wrath with accomplices (demons) of Satan (Matt. 25:41, Acts 4:11-13). Hell is described by many different symbols in the Bible: "outer darkness," "abyss," "lake of fire," "eternal fire." Reality is understood to be more severe than the earthly symbols representing them. Jesus Christ spoke about Hell (usually Gehenna) more than any other person in the Bible. Those in Hell will receive God's holy judgment for an eternity based on their earthly deeds (Acts 17:30-31,Rom. 2:1-11, Rev. 20:11-15). It is a place of everlasting punishment and separation from God (2 Thes. 1:8-10, Jude 1:7, Luke 16:24, Matt. 25:30,46).

Their punishment, though eternal and irrevocable, is said to be proportional for all who are punished according to the deeds of each soul. On judgment day all the dead judged by their deeds(Revelation 20:12-13), and there will be better and worse fates for those who are punished(Matthew 10:15, Matthew 11:24).

The parable of the beaten servants (Luke 12:47-49) refers to different degrees of punishment, but the story doesn't specify whether those being punished are the elect, the damned, or both and whether the punishment takes place after death, on Judgment Day, or both.

While Orthodox and Catholic traditions include punishments in hell of differing degrees as deserved by the damned, Protestants sometimes depict hell as ultimate or infinite and therefore not subject to moderation. An extreme expression of this idea is found in the fire-and-brimstone sermons of Jonathan Edwards, especially Sinners in the hands of an angry God.

Protestants have sometimes rejected the doctrine of invincible ignorance, agreeing with Augustine that unbelievers with no chance to hear the gospel are damned to hell for original sin.

Protestants generally reject Luther's doctrine of soul sleep in favor of the majority view, particular judgment, according to which the damned go to hell immediately upon death.

[edit] Other Christian views of Hell

[edit] Adventist

Seventh-day Adventists do not believe the wicked suffer for all eternity in hell, but instead accept Luther's soul sleep doctrine in addition to a final punishment by fire for the wicked. By accepting Jesus Christ's death on one's behalf, individuals are reconnected to God and will have eternal life. Those who choose not to be reconnected to God, the Source of Life, have by default chosen death. Adventists believe that depitctions in the Bible describing punishment for the wicked by fire describe the final fate of sinners after the second coming of Christ.

At the second coming, Christ will resurrect the righteous who have died and take them to heaven with the living righeous. God will kill the unrighteous leaving only Satan and his fallen angels on earth. After a millenium, Christ will again return to earth together with the righteous and the "Holy City" (the New Jerusalem, Revelation 21:10). Christ will then ressurect the wicked, who will surround the New Jerusalem along with Satan. At this point God will permanently destroy Satan, his angels, and wicked humanity by fire. The Adventist view of hell is often referred to as annihilationism.

[edit] Annihilationism

Adherents of Annihilationism (sometimes referred to as Conditionalism), believe in the existence of hell, but deny the idea of hell continuing to exist for all eternity. Annihilationists/Conditionalists reject the idea of the immortality of the soul, and assert that after undergoing a certain amount of punishment, the souls of the wicked will be annihilated. Others believe there is no conscious Hell at all but the word refers to the decay of Earthly remains in the ground.

[edit] Christian Science

Christian Science defines "Hell" as follows: "Mortal belief; error; lust; remorse; hatred; revenge; sin; sickness; death; suffering and self-destruction; self-imposed agony; effects of sin; that which 'worketh abomination or maketh a lie.'" (Science and Health with Key to the Scripture by Mary Baker Eddy, 588: 1-4.)

[edit] Latter-day Saints/Mormons

Mormons believe in a concept of temporary hell, commonly called Spirit Prison, for the disembodied spirits of the wicked awaiting resurrection. They also believe in a concept of permanent hell for a very small number of mankind, including Cain, and for the "third of the hosts of heaven" who in the pre-existence followed Lucifer (Doctrine and Covenants 29:36-39). Unlike the common Christian belief of eternal torment, this hell is the state of being completely severed from the presence of God, cut off from all light, love and knowledge. This place or state of existence is commonly called Outer Darkness. Only Sons of Perdition, those who are irredeemably evil to their core and therefore continually fight against God, will suffer this fate. To become a Son of Perdition, one must have a perfect witness of Christ (must have a sure knowledge that he is the Son of God and the only way a man can achieve salvation) and then fight against that knowledge.

Joseph Smith taught of the final judgment that would come to mankind:

“

While one portion of the human race is judging and condemning the other without mercy, the Great Parent of the universe looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care and paternal regard; He views them as His offspring.... He holds the reins of judgment in His hands; He is a wise Lawgiver, and will judge all men, not according to the narrow, contracted notions of men, but, "according to the deeds done in the body whether they be good or evil," or whether these deeds were done in England, America, Spain, Turkey, or India. He will judge them, "not according to what they have not, but according to what they have," those who have lived without law will be judged without law, and those who have a law will be judged by that law. We need not doubt the wisdom and intelligence of the Great Jehovah; He will award judgment or mercy to all nations according to their several deserts, their means of obtaining intelligence, the laws by which they are governed, the facilities afforded them of obtaining correct information, and His inscrutable designs in relation to the human family; and when the designs of God shall be made manifest, and the curtain of futurity be withdrawn, we shall all of us eventually have to confess that the Judge of all the earth has done right. (History of the Church 4:595–96; April 1842.)

”

[edit] Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses believe the Bible presents "hell", as translated from "Sheol" and "Hades", to be mankind's common grave for both the good and the bad, whereas "Gehenna" signifies eternal destruction or annihilation, and that the idea of a place of eternal torment is something detestible to God. Scriptures cited to support this include:

• "O that thou wouldest hide me in the Sheol, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time , and remember me!" (Job 14:3) - Job, a good man, desiring liberation from his suffering, prays to be sent to Sheol, to die. This harmonizes with the classical Jewish perspective on hell.
• "...and death and hell were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death." (Revelation 20:14) - The Greek word translated to English as "hell", Hades, is used here to signify its utter destruction since death and Hades itself cannot be tortured for sins.
• "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten...for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom." (Ecclesiastes 9:5-9) - Immortality of the soul is scripturally unsound and is a requisite for the hellfire doctrine.

Jehovah's Witnesses reject the traditional concept of "hellfire" awaiting sinners immediately after death. They consider particular judgment, the doctrine that one is judged and either punished or rewarded immediately after death, to be an innovation of the early Church. They do not believe the traditional concept of Hell to be supported by the Bible. They find the Hellfire view of hell to be inconsistent with the loving and just God.

Jehovah's Witnesses believe Hell to be the common grave of mankind where they unconsciously await resurrection to eternal life, or a resurrection to judgement. (John 5:28, 29)

Witnesses do not believe in the immortality of the soul.[1] and thus do not believe a soul can suffer eternally.

[edit] Unity

The Unity Church considers the concept of everlasting physical hell to be false doctrine and contradictory to the God of love reported by John.

“

The word hell is not translated with clearness sufficient to represent the various meanings of the word in the original language. There are three words from which "hell" is derived: Sheol, "the unseen state"; Hades, "the unseen world"; and Gehenna, "Valley of Hinnom." These are used in various relations, nearly all of them allegorical. In a sermon Archdeacon Farrar said: "There would be the proper teaching about hell if we calmly and deliberately erased from our English Bibles the three words, 'damnation,' 'hell,' and 'everlasting.' I say--unhesitatingly I say, claiming the fullest right to speak with the authority of knowledge--that not one of those words ought to stand any longer in our English Bible, for, in our present acceptation of them, they are simply mistranslations." This corroborates the metaphysical interpretation of Scripture, and sustains the truth that hell is a figure of speech that represents a corrective state of mind. When error has reached its limit, the retroactive law asserts itself, and judgment, being part of that law, brings the penalty upon the transgressor. This penalty is not punishment, but discipline, and if the transgressor is truly repentant and obedient, he is forgiven in Truth.--Charles Fillmore, Christian Healing, Lesson 11, item eleven.

”

[edit] Universalism

Others believe that after serving their time in Hell all souls are reconciled to God and admitted to heaven, or ways are found at the time of death of drawing all souls to repentance so that Hell is never experienced. See universal salvation and the problem of Hell.

[edit] Heaven, purgatory, and limbo

The opposite of hell is heaven. Just as hell is traditionally (if not doctrinally) seen as under the ground, heaven is frequently pictured as above the sky ("the heavens"). Demons are popularly depicted as living in hell, while angels live in heaven, the demons' original home.

A number of Christian communities, notably the Catholic Church and Anglo-Catholic communities believe in the existence of purgatory, a place or state of existence where the saved are purified after death before entering into the presence of God. This concept is very different from the idea of hell.

In Roman Catholic tradition (but not doctrine), Limbo is the afterlife for those who deserve neither heaven nor hell, such as unbaptized babies and the righteous who died before Jesus Christ's crucifixion.

[edit] Notes and References

1. ^ Walter Balfour (1832). An Inquiry Into the Scriptural Import of the Words Sheol, Hades, Tartarus, and Gehenna. B.B. Mussey, pp.15. 
2. ^ What the Bible says about Death, Afterlife, and the Future, James Tabor
3. ^ BibleGateway.com footnotes this here. Retrieved on August 26, 2006.
4. ^ Heaven, Hell, and the Afterlife According to the Bible, an Orthodox account
5. ^ July 28, 1999 statement of Pope John Paul II concerning the topic of Hell
6. ^ "Those are punished in hell who die in mortal sin; they are deprived of the vision of God and suffer dreadful torments, especially that of fire, for all eternity...The souls in hell are beyond all help...The souls in hell do not have supernatural faith. They believe, however, the truths revealed by Almighty God, not with divine faith, but because they cannot escape the evidence of God's authority...The punishment of hell is eternal." A Catechism of Christian Doctrine, Revised Edition of the Baltimore Catechism, St. Anthony Guild Press, New Jersey (1949), pp144, 145
7. ^ "Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent." Lucia Santos: Fatima, In Lucia's Own Words, The Ravengate Press, Still River Massachusetts (1995), p104