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Religion See other Religion Articles Title: What Has Happened to Hellfire? What Has Happened to Hellfire? WHAT image does the word “hell” conjure up in your mind? Do you see hell as a literal place of fire and brimstone, of unending torment and anguish? Or is hell perhaps a symbolic description of a condition, a state? For centuries, a fiery hell of excruciating torments has been envisioned by religious leaders of Christendom as the certain destiny for sinners. This idea is still popular among many other religious groups. “Christianity may have made hell a household word,” says U.S.News & World Report, “but it doesn’t hold a monopoly on the doctrine. The threat of painful retribution in the afterlife has counterparts in nearly every major world religion and in some minor ones as well.” Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Jains, and Taoists believe in a hell of one sort or another. Hell, though, has acquired another image in modern thinking. “While the traditional infernal imagery still attracts a following,” states the aforementioned magazine, “modern visions of eternal perdition as a particularly unpleasant solitary confinement are beginning to emerge, suggesting that hell may not be so hot after all.” The Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica observed: “It is misleading . . . to think that God, by means of demons, inflicts fearful torments on the damned like that of fire.” It added: “Hell exists, not as a place but as a state, a way of being of the person who suffers the pain of the deprivation of God.” Pope John Paul II said in 1999: “Rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy.” As to the images of hell as a fiery place, he said: “They show the complete frustration and emptiness of life without God.” Had the pope described hell in terms of “flames and a red-suited devil with a pitchfork,” church historian Martin Marty said, “people wouldn’t take it seriously.” Similar changes are taking place in other denominations. A report by the doctrine commission of the Church of England said: “Hell is not eternal torment, but it is the final and irrevocable choosing of that which is opposed to God so completely and so absolutely that the only end is total non-being.” The catechism of the United States Episcopal Church defines hell as “eternal death in our rejection of God.” A growing number of people, says U.S.News & World Report, are promoting the idea that “the end of the wicked is destruction, not eternal suffering. . . . [They] contend that those who ultimately reject God will simply be put out of existence in the ‘consuming fire’ of hell.” Although the modern-day trend is to get away from the fire and brimstone mentality, many continue to adhere to the belief that hell is a literal place of torment. “Scripture clearly speaks of hell as a physical place of fiery torment,” says Albert Mohler of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A. And the report The Nature of Hell, prepared by the Evangelical Alliance Commission, states: “Hell is a conscious experience of rejection and torment.” It adds: “There are degrees of punishment and suffering in hell related to the severity of sins committed on earth.” Again, is hell a fiery place of eternal torment or of annihilation? Or is it simply a state of separation from God? What really is hell? A Brief History of Hellfire WHEN did professed Christians adopt the belief in hellfire? Well after the time of Jesus Christ and his apostles. “The Apocalypse of Peter (2nd century C.E.) was the first [apocryphal] Christian work to describe the punishment and tortures of sinners in hell,” states the French Encyclopædia Universalis. Among the early Church Fathers, however, there was disagreement over hell. Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Cyprian believed that hell was a fiery place. Origen and theologian Gregory of Nyssa thought of hell as a place of separation from God—of spiritual suffering. Augustine of Hippo, on the other hand, held that suffering in hell was both spiritual and sensory—a view that gained acceptance. “By the fifth century the stern doctrine that sinners will have no second chance after this life and that the fire which will devour them will never be extinguished was everywhere paramount,” wrote Professor J.N.D. Kelly. In the 16th century, such Protestant reformers as Martin Luther and John Calvin understood the fiery torment of hell to be figurative of spending eternity separated from God. However, the idea of hell as a place of torment returned in the following two centuries. Protestant preacher Jonathan Edwards used to strike fear in the hearts of 18th-century Colonial Americans with graphic portrayals of hell. Shortly thereafter, though, the flames of hell began to flicker and fade. “The 20th century was nearly the death of hell,” states U.S.News & World Report. “Scripture clearly speaks of hell as a physical place of fiery torment,” says Albert Mohler of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary The above quote is interesting to me, esp. as regards the Southern Baptist stand on any kind of drinking. How much of what they preach actually comes from the Bible? Should you be aware of this, and cautious of anyone who preaches that which does not come from the Bible? I would guess that this depends on where your faith is based; on man, or, on the Word of Almighty God. Gen 14:18 And Mel·chiz82;e·dek king of Sa82;lem brought out bread and wine, and he was priest of the Most High God. Lev. 23:13 and as its grain offering two tenths of an e82;phah of fine flour moistened with oil, as an offering made by fire to Jehovah, a restful odor; and as its drink offering a fourth of a hin of wine. Psalms 104:15 And wine that makes the heart of mortal man rejoice, To make the face shine with oil, And bread that sustains the very heart of mortal man. Eccl. 9:7 Go, eat your food with rejoicing and drink your wine with a good heart, because already the [true] God has found pleasure in your works. Eccl. 10:19 Bread is for the laughter of the workers, and wine itself makes life rejoice; Isaih 55:1 Hey there, all YOU thirsty ones! Come to the water. And the ones that have no money! Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk even without money and without price Proverbs 9:1 - 6 True wisdom has built its house; it has hewn out its seven pillars. 2 It has organized its meat slaughtering; it has mixed its wine; more than that, it has set in order its table. 3 It has sent forth its lady attendants, that it may call out on top of the heights of the town: 4 “Whoever is inexperienced, let him turn aside here.” Whoever is in want of heart—she has said to him: 5 “Come, feed yourselves with my bread and share in drinking the wine that I have mixed. 6 Leave the inexperienced ones and keep living, and walk straight in the way of understanding.” John 2:3 - 10 3 When the wine ran short the mother of Jesus said to him: “They have no wine.” 4 But Jesus said to her: “What have I to do with you, woman? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to those ministering: “Whatever he tells YOU, do.” 6 As it was, there were six stone water jars sitting there as required by the purification rules of the Jews, each able to hold two or three liquid measures. 7 Jesus said to them: “Fill the water jars with water.” And they filled them to the brim. 8 And he said to them: “Draw some out now and take it to the director of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When, now, the director of the feast tasted the water that had been turned into wine but did not know what its source was, although those ministering who had drawn out the water knew, the director of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him: “Every other man puts out the fine wine first, and when people are intoxicated, the inferior. You have reserved the fine wine until now.” Luke 5: 37 Moreover, no one puts new wine into old wineskins; but if he does, then the new wine will burst the wineskins, and it will be spilled out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 But new wine must be put into new wineskins. 39 No one that has drunk old wine wants new; for he says, ‘The old is nice.’” 1 Tom 5:23 Do not drink water any longer, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent cases of sickness. Very clearly, the Bible does not prohibit drinking, in moderation. This is the admonation printed in a recent article; It would be a serious mistake, however, to jump to the conclusion that because wine in itself was not prohibited one could indulge in it to excess or to the inflaming of the baser passions. Excess is wrong and harmful, regardless of what it may be, and the Scriptures condemn excess in food (gluttony) as severely as they do excess in drinking; a fact which total abstainers are prone to overlook.—Deut. 21:20; Prov. 23:20, 21. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 2.
#1. To: richard9151 (#0)
This is one reason why I do not waste my time with organized religion. Hell is neither a place of punishment nor eternal separation from God. Anyone with a Strong's Exhaustive Concordance knows that hell is nothing more than the grave. Strong's No. 7585 from the OT translates "showl" as adobe of the dead, and Strong's No. 86 from the NT interprets "hades" as a place of the dead; yet, in English both words are rendered as "hell." Hell is, literally speaking, a place where everyone goes when they die unless, of course, the person's remains are cremated. RO
You make excellent points. And, you are correct. However, hell in the second sense is eternal separation from God when you consider the second death, which is forever. I suspect that this is what the liars of organized religion are referring to in a round-about way as they shudder, because they know what awaits them. Also, this is why we are told that hell will be thrown into the lake of fire in Revelation, along with those who have not accepted the Soverignity of Jehovah God. Following that judgement, there will be no more death/graves.
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