Hell? #LoveWins Chapter 3

The point of this series of posts is an exercise in how I would answer the questions Rob Bell is asking as if I were in an actual dialogue with someone. This series is not meant to be read as a critique, review, a medium to bash Bell, or a way to prove I am “right.” See the first four posts in this series here, here, here, and here.

Bell’s basic thesis of this chapter I believe can be found in this statement: “There is hell now, and there is hell later, and Jesus teaches us to take both seriously.”

Hell now?

Rape, genocide, murder, war, abuse. The list could go on and on. Hell on earth. Yes. I think we can all agree that something just is not right in the world. We call that sin.

Hell later?

The above image, unfortunately, is the image that comes to mind when we hear the word hell. Far from biblical.

So what is the biblical vision of hell?

Sheol

Any discussion of hell must begin with the use of Sheol in the Old Testament. Though its precise meaning is difficult at best to discern, it is evident that it refers in some way to the place of the dead. When described, Sheol is almost always in a downward direction, functioning as the extreme opposite of the heights of heaven. The general belief is that once one passes through its portals, there will be no return (for example, see Isaiah 38:10-19).

Geenna, Hades, Darkness, Fire

Throughout the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels, the concept of hell is consistently refered to the place of punishment and suffering prepared for the devil and his angels (see Matthew 25:41, Luke 8:31), as well as for those people who reject Jesus (see Matthew 25:41-46). Moreover, it seems that Jesus taught that hell would involve an eternal, conscious punishment. The clearest indication of this is in Matthew 25:46 (referenced above), where the lots of the two groups are contrasted by means of the adjective eternal. Additionally such images as the “undying worm”, the “fire that is not put out” and the emotional picture of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (see Mark 9:42-50, Matthew 8:12) all contribute to this perspective of a place of suffering and punishment.

Although some interpret these images literally, we do well to follow the Reformers and understand these biblical pictures metaphorically. Hell, therefore, is the anguish generated by the awareness that one has invested their life in what is perishable and temporal rather than imperishable and eternal (see Matthew 6:19-20). Because this life will end and eternity has dawned, no opportunity to change directions remains.

Hell is also isolation. God’s purpose for humanity is community – fellowship with God and one another. As isolation, hell is marked by estrangement and loneliness. Banished from the realm where believers bask in the light of God’s presence, the unrighteous, who are shut up into themselves, can only grope in darkness.

The anguish and isolation of hell means that God’s love is experienced in a terrifying manner. In other words, rather than the freedom of God’s love, hell is the experience of the dark side of that love. As the eternal lover, God never withdraws his love from humanity. Even the unrighteous remain recipients of God’s love. Yet in their alienation from God experience his love in the form of wrath because they have destroyed the convental love relationship God desires to share with all of his creation.

In short, those who reject God’s reconciling love in this life must know that love as wrath in eternity. This is hell. But thanks be to God that he is long-suffering. The God who does not delight in the death of the wicked and who desires that none shall perish continues to offer grace to the wayward. He continues to call sinful humans to enter into community with him.

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