What About Hell?

Matt. 23:33 You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?

Using the Strong's Concordance:

There are 23 references to "hell" in the Old King James Version of New Testament.

15 of those verses are spoken by Jesus. The actual word He is using is "hades", referring to the Greek concept that described "the abode of the dead," or the place people go when they die to await judgment, whether they were good or evil.

4 more verses are found in the book of Revelation also referring to this destination or the destination of evil angels (tartarus).

Hell is not mentioned at all in the gospel of John.

There are 4 more uses of the word:
In Acts, referring to Jesus' burial state;
in James, referring to the evil use of the tongue or speech; and
in 2 Peter, referring to the destination of angels.

Jesus' references to hell are fairly graphic and seem to utilize the Jewish mode of exaggerated metaphor. That is, He is painting a picture of something to be avoided at all cost. He uses terminology like "fire", "damnation", and pictures hell as a very hot place, like a desert. These are imaginative references to something that is real: as if you were trying to describe prison to someone who had never seen one. You might say, "It was dreadful, and the food was bad, and I was confined, and I was all alone, and so thirsty, and so hot. Like being in the burning dump. Like drowning in a burning sea. Like wasting away in a huge hole."

It is interesting that the apostles did not, in Acts, use fire and brimstone in their sermons to motivate people to turn to Christ. Basically, in the epistles, this method is nonexistent. Did the church, over the centuries, develop a hell mythology?

Anxiety about death and future judgment is fairly universal in all of history and among all nations and religions. We don't know what to expect. Most of the time we live our lives unconscious of the imminence of death and judgment. But when a preacher causes us to focus on it, we may become agitated and upset, and even be inspired to change our habits and life trajectory. Or we may rationalize and get it out of our minds. Some may even embrace it, thus rendering it temporarily impotent. But death and what comes after will come regardless of how we approach it.

So what do we, as Christians, do with hell? Theologians only have a few versions. The one most of us are familiar with is some variance on eternal punishment. Then there are visions painted of a possible place of purging or purgatory. Some are more comfortable with a future annihilation of the wicked. Others feel that God ultimately forgives all sinners.

I can only wrap my mind around hell as a metaphor for divine justice. Hades was a place of waiting for sentencing for the deeds one did while living, whether good or bad. So if one was bad, it was a bad place.

Jesus used it to picture something important. We all will receive justice for the way we lived this life: and justice for some will be tough stuff. Part of Jesus' mission was to get people off the wrong road, to "go and sin no more." Why? Because crime pays back in punishment.

The other part of His mission was, "Neither do I condemn you" and "Father, forgive them for they don't know what they're doing." This presents a paradox that is not resolved by emphasizing mercy or law. The two go hand in hand. Mercy is extended to enable us to live rightly and escape the surety of judgment for evil.

We can endlessly develop theologies about hell. It has been done, in fact. The confusion over this is everywhere. The point is that a bad future after death is undesirable, and Jesus is the way out. "I will repay," said the Lord. And why Him? Because He alone knows what He's doing.
He alone will be truly just.

"Faith" is another word for "confidence" and "trust." Jesus said, "Come to me all you who are loaded with anxiety and care." He is the ultimate defense lawyer before God. Whatever we have faith in ~ confidence in ~ is misplaced if it is not in Jesus. It's that simple and yet so very hard for so many to get there.

Go ahead and trust Him. Then you'll understand.