Eric asks:
So there is no Hell? Hell is ceasing to exist?
Personal opinion or supported by scripture?
Scripture's witness is varied as far as hell is concerned. The Old Testament has a conception of hell called Sheol, which is a kind of shadowy non-existent existence. When people die, they continue to exist as memories, but aren't able to praise God, or take action. I've heard it described as being similar to the ancient Greek concept of Hades.
When I am speaking about death as being the end of life, this is mostly the image I draw on.
I recognize that there are stories from the New Testament about "the outer darkness" and other forms of punishment, but I tend to take them with a grain of salt, because I don't think they fit in well with Jesus' message about the Kingdom of God. If you don't have eternal life from God, what will live on to be punished?
If anything, though, I think Jesus' stories about hell suggest that rich people are the ones with the bleak future. For example, in the story of Lazarus and the rich man, it's Lazarus who goes to heaven and the rich man who goes to hell. Who's rich? you might well ask. I'd say: most Americans, as in, anyone who's not living on a dollar a day and can afford to buy bottled water and extra shoes. Just a theory--something to think about.
6 comments:
So this is your opinion and you don't have any scripture to support it?
I caution you here. Certainly, truth sould be pursued at all times and new ideas explored.
And not all things are explained in scripture.
However, making authoritative statements to people regarding Christianity (and certainly people take your position to be authoritative given your education) without scriptural support is *very* dangerous.
That said, I think I'll try to find some scriptural support for a hell.
Eric, thanks for your caution. Didn't I say in the post that I was drawing from the Old Testament? I think that's still considered Christian Scripture, even now.
By the way, on a different note, as someone raised Methodist I take four different sources for my authority:
Scripture
Tradition
Reason
Experience
Just because it's in scripture doesn't mean it's true. I don't think people who believed in a three-storied universe are necessarily going to have any better idea about the afterlife than we will, because, as you might notice, very few people come back from death to issue a report.
I'd be interested to see what Eric can come up with on "hell" from scripture, as the modern notion of hell (the flaming BBQ pit) is mostly taken from John Milton's "Paradise Lost" and Dante's "The Inferno."
And I don't think that Amy is making an authoritative statement - she is putting her world view out there and people are free to disagree. She's certainly better educated on divinity than most, but I don't think she's made any claim to being a prophet. Yet. :)
Hi Amy - I'm enjoying reading the dialogue on here.
Question, you state "Just because it's in scripture doesn't mean it's true," can you elaborate on this a bit more? How do you have faith in Christ if you don't believe that all scripture is true?
angela
Re: Amy. Reason is good. But keep in mind, if you are trying to explain God and his ways using reason, you are confining him to only being able of what we can comprehend.
Melissa, I believe in hell. I don't think I know what it's like. Many people's impression of it involves burning but whether or not that impression was created by man, doesn't mean Hell was.
PS. I'm working on the scripture for hell.
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