What the Heck Do You Think About Hell?

when you think of hell, what do you imagine?

do you imagine this?

or this?

what about this?

there are a lot of ideas about hell, but the one most of us is familiar with is flames and burning exists and people being tortured forever. recently, people have been talking about hell a lot. this is because of a book called "love wins" by rob bell. i haven't read the book yet, but it caused a stir before its release because of the thought that bell was saying hell didn't exist and that god would save everybody. people started using the "u-word" against bell. you know...universalist. (the italics are a whisper because i don't want to type it too loud. people might think that about me!)


rob bell talks about this true beliefs here, but some still say that he hasn't really defined his thoughts. i haven't read the book, so i won't make comments. that's a lesson that EVERYONE should learn.

mind you, i still have a lot of reading to do on the subject. but from what i've read so far from prominent, conservative, christian scholars, our traditional ideas and images of hell may not be all flames and burning. a lot of the scriptures that we think are referring to something literal are actually imagery, you know, the weeping and gnashing of teeth stuff. the idea is to convey terror, not to actually describe the literal state. specifically imagery from the old testament, keep in mind that an ancient israelite didn't think of heaven and hell in the same way that you and i do. their faith was a "this life" kind of faith. if god was on your side, you blessed you with crops, cattle, and land IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING. if you were evil, you would be split in half. judgment took place on the stage of life. it wasn't until much later that our current ideas of the afterlife began to come into view for jews.

i do say that i believe hell exists. why? first of all, i say, "why not?" if heaven is there, why not hell? and perhaps hell isn't like a dungeon that god made up with grinning with an evil smile. perhaps hell is what will be left over when everything else is made right. i also believe in hell because i don't think god forces himself on anyone. if your whole entire life you say, "i don't want god" then in my view, god is violating you by forcing you into heaven. i think we have the right to choose. we choose by having a faith that prompts a particular lifestyle (which, in my opinion, is following Christ). i always go back to genesis and the idea that god placed two trees in the garden. that was all HIS decision. did god do that, knowing that adam and eve would sin and mess it all up? or did he do it to allow them to pick for themselves? i choose to think the latter.

my concern is how people argue about hell. like, as much as i do believe in hell...there isn't many more things in the world that i would like to be WRONG about! what's cool about eternal suffering? or ANY type of suffering for that matter? even with a toned down view of hell, why would you want folks to go there? that's like defending the long lines at motor vehicle or something. one thing i can honestly say i that i don't see how the bible uses hell as a "motivation" for folks to walk with god. is it discussed in the new testament, yes (not as much as we think though). but, in my view, using hell to convince someone to walk with Christ is a scare tactic. doesn't the scripture say, "perfect love casts out fear" in 1 John? and every relationship that i know that is based in fear is a dysfunctional one. fear creates slaves at best and rebellious folks at worst.

i don't think god is after slaves. i think god is after consensual, reciprocal love that prompts service and loyalty.

and i really don't understand why someone that believes in predestination would argue about hell because...it doesn't matter. whatever you get out of the sorting hat is what you get. the end. if you get the black card, you can't debate it! okay, perhaps the sorting hat joke was a little much. but to me, a strong, all encompassing predestination stance just makes everything pointless, the true definition of "vanity" and "chasing the wind."

what do you think about hell?