Is there such a thing as hell? Of course, if you have concluded that there is no creator or afterlife, then the question is moot. But how sure are you of your conclusion? Are you open to testing it against reason-based thinking? If so, you’ll find some thought-provoking thinking in the Meaning of Life Video Series. If you cannot refute this reasoning, does it make sense to maintain there is no hell? Would it surprise you to discover that this reasoning supports Christian teaching?
Christianity’s teaching that hell is real is based on Jesus’ descriptions. “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. {Mark 9: 43} “So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” {Matt 13: 49-50} “And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.” {Luke 16:26}.
Taken literally, Jesus seems to be describing a place of eternal punishment where sinful people are sent at their death. In the Middle Ages, it was dramatically portrayed in an attempt to scare people from a life of sin. Dante’s Inferno is one of the most dramatic portrayals.
In contrast, heaven was portrayed as a place above the clouds where people, having been forgiven for their sins, become angels and live in eternal intimacy with God.
Most people, including the Roman Catholic Church, now find both pictures flawed.
Roman Catholic teaching now portrays both heaven and hell as states of being which we choose. In 1999 Pope John Paul II announced that hell was “the ultimate consequence of sin itself - rather than a place, hell indicates the state of being of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy”. Pope Francis said in 2014, "Hell is telling God, 'You take care of yourself because I'll take care of myself.' They don't send you to hell, you go there because you choose to be there. Hell is wanting to be distant from God because I do not want God's love. This is hell."
The Church reinterprets Jesus’ descriptions. Fire is a metaphor for the horrible pain of eternal separation from God. Unquenchable means God cannot take our free choice, to distance ourselves from Him, away from us. The angels separate those who have chosen hell rather than throwing them into it. The teaching that the great chasm can never be breached is hard for us to accept as the intent of a loving God. However, Jesus insists on it, whether or not we understand it. Heaven is the state of being we achieve when we choose to put God and all His created before ourselves and do our absolute best to live our lives accordingly. Hell is the state of being where we put ourselves above others.
But wait! Jesus also tells us God loves us unconditionally and will forgive all our sins if we simply ask it of Him. Do Christians Get a Free Pass?. Apparently not. Jesus also says few will be chosen. Matthew 7: 13-14 It seems we will be forgiven our past choices and deficiencies but will still be judged as to whether we have put God and all His created before ourselves to the very best of our ability. You can explore what the best of our ability means in All the Alls in The Greatest Commandment and The Neighbour in The Greatest Commandment.
So what do you conclude? Is there such a thing as hell?
Del H. Smith conducts research into life’s meaning and is the award-winning author of the AMAZON Best Seller, Discovering Life’s Purpose.