Thoughts on Hell

coffee cupI was having coffee with a friend last week when they mentioned that they just finished a book about different views on hell. Intrigued, we talked a bit about the three main ways that Christians see view hell as mentioned in the Bible. Ever since then, the concept of hell has been on my mind…. And as a result, this blog post was written. 😕

Three Main Views

It seems that within Protestantism, there are three main views on hell – or the end destination of those who choose not to follow the Living Creator God, relieved through Jesus Christ.

1) Literal View

I would guess that this is the most common view as it is the one I hear the most about. In a nutshell, proponents say that hell is a real place, where those who rejected God’s gift of grace are tormented by fire and darkness for all of eternity.

Thoughts:

This view would seem to assume that humans are in essence immortal – in that they can continue for eternity without God. However, if God is the sustainer of all life (Heb 1:3), then how can anything – human or not – continue to exist outside His presence….. noting, of course, that hell, by its very definition, is outside God presence…

2) Metaphorically

This view states that the Biblical passages detailing the punishment of those in hell should be taken metaphorically versus literally. In other words, while those who reject God will be punished for eternity, it will not be through literal fire and darkness. It will be through some other means which we do not know this side of eternity.

Thoughts:

Similar to the Literal View thoughts…. only, the metaphorically view removes the question of whether or not those who reject God will be physically resurrected…. as in, if the punishment is metaphorical, then it could simply be spiritual and not physical.

3) Conditional Immortality

Then there is the crowd who say that not only should the punishment passages be viewed metaphorically, but the whole concept should be. They look at Revelation’s  “second death” as the annihilation of those who reject Christ. In other words, those who reject God’s salvation will be judged and then cease to exist.

Thoughts:

On one hand this view is appealing as I don’t like to think of anyone being punished for long periods of time – whether metaphorically or literally. However, to be true to the Faith, one has to look at the Biblical passages that talk about the punishment of those who reject God. While some of them could be figurative or metaphoric – there are others that seem pretty literal….

Yet, on the other hand, conditional immortality does remove the tension of how something could exist outside of God’s presence and sustaining hand….. 😕

My Conclusion

After thinking about the subject for a week, I have come to the simple conclusion that I don’t want to find out which view is “correct”.  I just want to follow my Liege with all my hearth, soul, mind, and strengthen. He can take care of the rest.