The Myth of Hell, Part 1
I want to do a couple of things in this first installment. This will be a shorter installment, but just as important, nonetheless. In any conversation one of the most important things to do is define terms and definitions. In this case, defining the repercussions is also an integral part of the conversation.
The term "hell" is not in the Bible. Never. Not once. This is not opinion, nor is it subjective. It is a fact. Most people aren't aware of this, though, because they accept the translation they have in their hand as though it were the original manuscript instead of a translation. But now I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll be addressing this in installment 2.
Assuming the term/idea "hell" was in the Bible, here is what the term means:
A place of eternal, conscious torture for the souls of human beings to go when they physically die for not believing a particular set of ideas about the person of Jesus Christ. This is a place that God created before anything or anyone existed.What must be believed about Jesus Christ differs from denomination to denomination. One institution's "essentials" are another institution's "minors." Here is a list of what is usually required in order to escape infinite torture:
Belief in Jesus Christ as a personal Savior of you as a sinner
Belief that Jesus is in fact God
Belief that Jesus is in fact also the Holy Spirit
Belief in Hell
Belief that the Bible is the inspired and inerrant word of God 6. A rejection of anything not accepted by "the Church"
There's more that's required by the individual institutions, but they aren't usually mentioned out loud until they are questioned. I'm also aware that in the list above there's a lot that would have to be unpacked - sinner, inspired, inerrant. Maybe one day I will tackle all of that, but it's not germane to the current topic.
If anyone does not believe the "essentials" required of them, then the soul of that human being will be tormented and tortured for eternity in the place of Hell that God created for them. All human beings, according to majority tradition, are separated from God at birth by sin and will burn in Hell for eternity unless joined to God by the blood of Jesus, God's Son, who He (God) sacrificed on a torture device (the cross) for people.
There are some denominations that eventually rejected the idea of "original sin" (another doctrine I will address soon) because of its repugnancy. After all, if human beings are born "dead in sins and trespasses," and this is accepted prima facie, then that means that *any* human being born that does *not* confess these "essentials" is going to weep and gnash their teeth in horrendous pain in Hell forever and ever in the place God created for them. That includes babies, people who have never heard of Jesus, the mentally impaired, etc. After all, there can be no loopholes in an "essential;" especially loopholes with absolutely no Biblical backing. If there's a provision for one, there must be a provision for everyone. And if it's a "mystery," then a mystery by its very definition can have no definitive requirement.
So, to summarize the topic at hand:
All human beings are born (this means babies) "dead in sins and trespasses." They are separated from God and in need of being "saved" from their sins. Their destination upon physical death is a place called Hell that God created for them before anything or anyone ever existed. Their souls are tortured for eternity for their unbelief. There is "weeping and gnashing of teeth" in this place. There is no escape once a person is deceased. The only escape is to believe certain requirements that differ from one institution to another.
The consequences of believing, or not believing, in this particular doctrinal construct is grace.
On the one hand, if I am wrong, well, to hell with me.
On the other hand, if I am right, there's a lot to reconsider.
So, off we go. Since the final arbiter of truth for Christians and "the Church" is the Bible, that will be my starting point. Some of these will be somewhat academic. I will try to make it as understandable as possible. But honestly, unless a person is willing to "test the spirits" (another Biblical proposition) and "give a defense for the faith that is in them" (another Biblical proposition), this won't matter. I probably lost those people 3 sentences in. For those of you who have stuck around, I hope you grow in your faith - no matter whether you agree with me or not.
Finally, again, if anyone wants to chat with me about any of this, please feel free to message me. I won't have comments turned on for any of these because I am not mature enough to not react to people’s assumptions or insinuations. I'm working on that.