{"id":2489,"date":"2011-04-01T07:00:22","date_gmt":"2011-04-01T12:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/?p=2489"},"modified":"2011-03-31T16:03:50","modified_gmt":"2011-03-31T21:03:50","slug":"what-abou-hell-i-don%e2%80%99t-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/what-abou-hell-i-don%e2%80%99t-know\/","title":{"rendered":"What About Hell I Don\u2019t Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

Textually, as I covered in a couple<\/a> of posts<\/a> before this, I must affirm a literal hell which consists of judgment, separation from God, punishment, eternality and should be rightfully shunned. I think it is dangerous to say the place doesn\u2019t exist when the volume of Scripture teeters with the weight of the matter. I also gave some responses to the nay-hellsayers<\/a> and some broad theological reasons <\/a>why we should affirm a hell. This was all consistent with the broad philosophical reasons<\/a> I gave earlier which allow the doctrine of hell.<\/p>\n

But in this last post, I wanted to touch on the fact that although we know certain things from the text, there are certain things we don\u2019t know and can\u2019t even really be sure. We might be able to posit careful answers but even then, those answers might need a lot of nuancing or niggling when we\u2019re not forced to appeal to mystery. So if you wish, these are questions that may or may not have answers but I may not be as confident on them as the textual basis already listed.<\/p>\n

Is Hell the same as Sheol?<\/strong> I know that Sheol has a semantic range that goes all the way from the place of righteous rest down to the place of the wicked. I know that Christ uses the metaphor of Gehenna and the New Testament uses Hades or Tartarus or even the Lake of Fire. So surely, Hell lies on the semantic range of Sheol but that doesn\u2019t help me understand the mechanics of the Grave. Indeed, Hades seems to have more of the semantic range of Sheol than Hell. This gets into questions of geography and so forth but even then we still wind up with Hades being thrown into the Lake of Fire. So maybe Hell is specifically the Lake of Fire but Hades is something else? It seems to contain some similar elements but can we be sure?<\/p>\n

Is the intermediate state all the same place?<\/strong> I doubt Dante was right but we have Jesus\u2019 parable where the Rich Man looks across a chasm. I understand the point (there\u2019s no crossing over from one side to another) but is this merely hyperbolic language or is it a detail? Is it possible that the Wicked Part gets thrown into the Lake of Fire but the Other Part isn\u2019t?<\/p>\n

Do I think that every presentation of the Gospel needs an explanation of hell?<\/strong> No. But I do think that every Christian should be concerned with the people that are heading there. If there is some random child on a train track while the 6:35 Shuttle barrels down in his direction, all of us would be horrified and quick to act\u2014but what about this Thing that is currently reaching up and out?<\/p>\n

Why don\u2019t we have more details?<\/strong> Sheol occurs some 65 times in the Old Testament. Gehenna is found in 12 verses. Hades is found eleven times in the New Testament. Tartarus is used once. Lake of Fire occurs 4 times. Just counting that, we have to admit that it\u2019s not that much. But then again, we have more verses here than we do about a literal Adam, about Adam\u2019s Sin causing death, and several other things we believe. But the fact is that we do have quite a bit here but even so, it\u2019s never as much as we would like. But maybe God is using these details as a means to motivate us to warn others?<\/p>\n

Should we be happy about hell?<\/strong> I think that it may be okay to hope<\/em> that there is no hell. I think it is okay to hope that God saves everyone pulling them from the very edge of the fire. I think it is even okay to hope that one day, all sinners will repent and that God has allowed a way for them to be saved. But I think we need to be careful about not trying to be more moral than God. We don\u2019t know everything that\u2019s going on. On the other hand, I think it\u2019s proper to not be gleeful with this doctrine. I remember getting into a conversation with a Christian who planned to be standing by the lake of fire cheering as the unregenerate, the Devil, his cohorts, and me were being tossed in screaming\u2014horrifying thought. I think that sometimes we Christians can get a bit too hell-happy. Christ took the place seriously and painted some graphic images of people sawing off their arms to ensure that they don\u2019t head there but then we get the book of Revelation showing that same Christ squishing bodies and the blood reaching up to the side of a horse and filling the valley. As my last post noted, hell is predicated on several attributes and actions of God and yet we see there is an equal amount of saying the place should be shunned.<\/p>\n

Can we go<\/em> to Hell?<\/strong> I know people die and go Somewhere but, it looks like people don\u2019t necessarily have to die to go to that Somewhere (ala Enoch). We get location information from Scripture (it is down) but that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it\u2019s below our feet. What if that means sub-dimension? What if that means something else altogether like a black hole? A blackhole would end in a singularity whereby the closer you approach the singularity the closer you approach that single point into infinite. Or not. But if hell is like that, we\u2019d have an eternal testimony while the people in it are eternally going but not reaching. But that\u2019s complete speculation. In fact, some theologians have argued that hell is a state…a position absent God…and I think that sounds partly right while it ignores that there is a spatial element but, what do I know.<\/p>\n

Is hell barred from the inside?<\/strong> A Catholic theologian (cited here<\/a>) has a hope for universalism while allowing for hell because people are basically free to reject God. CS Lewis, knowing that God judges, looks at free individuals who reject God as rebels. We also know that people stand condemned because they haven\u2019t believed Christ. I find it hard to imagine a place where the rebels can push out God (especially when Scripture has God even in Sheol, in some sense) but I also find it hard to imagine that these people are there against their choice. And here I don’t mean the Calvinistic pseudo-choice. I mean that these people have really made a mad decision by rebelling against God. So yes and no?<\/p>\n

Does the grave finally win by sheer numbers?<\/strong> If the scenario was based on quality vs. quantity (if one finds a piece of gold that is better than all the fools gold others have) I guess it could change things. But I personally think that more people will be in a state of eternal life. I think God saves children (babies, miscarriages, kids who don\u2019t know wrong or right) and the mentally handicapped but I don\u2019t have much to base that on. A few scant passages and lots of hope. But in this way, I think that it will wind up that the quantity (and the quality) is all the greater. I don\u2019t think that means we should go out killing children. To me it means God made provision.<\/p>\n

Is all hell equally horrid?<\/strong> There are passages in Scripture speaking about more culpability to those who know more. So you\u2019ll have Christ wailing for Jerusalem and saying it would go better at the judgment for some other cities than for Jerusalem during the time of her visitation. To my mind that sounds like hell is in general bad but not equally torturous for everyone. I don\u2019t think that means that people should be fine going there. It might be that it\u2019s bearable for reasons we don\u2019t even know.<\/p>\n

Is the torture of hell eternal?<\/strong> Scripture says that the place seems to be eternal, the punishment seems to be eternal, the flames seem to be eternal\u2014but I don\u2019t know if that means that the people being in the situation of torture is eternal. What if the eternality of the tears is the fact that they are there, want to be there, and knowingly hate it? I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

Like I said, a lot of these I don\u2019t know. I believe some of the things without knowing but I think I\u2019ve explained why. Some of it is predicated on God\u2019s dealings with people throughout history. Some of it is sheer imagination. I don\u2019t think believing these things makes a person an heretic though it may make them an uncareful teacher. What\u2019s important here is that we don\u2019t take our questions and make them overrule the information we do have.\u00a0 Be honest having the questions but be equally honest with what God has said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Textually, as I covered in a couple of posts before this, I must affirm a literal hell which consists of judgment, separation from God, punishment, eternality and should be rightfully shunned. I think it is dangerous to say the place doesn\u2019t exist when the volume of Scripture teeters with the weight of the matter. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15,11,195,13,339],"tags":[621,612,622],"class_list":["post-2489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apologetics","category-eschatology","category-hermeneutics","category-human","category-philosophy","tag-cs-lewis","tag-hell","tag-questions"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat About Hell I Don\u2019t Know - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/what-abou-hell-i-don\u2019t-know\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What About Hell I Don\u2019t Know - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Textually, as I covered in a couple of posts before this, I must affirm a literal hell which consists of judgment, separation from God, punishment, eternality and should be rightfully shunned. I think it is dangerous to say the place doesn\u2019t exist when the volume of Scripture teeters with the weight of the matter. I […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/what-abou-hell-i-don\u2019t-know\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reyreynoso\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reyreynoso\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-04-01T12:00:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"rey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/what-abou-hell-i-don%e2%80%99t-know\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/what-abou-hell-i-don%e2%80%99t-know\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"rey\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa\"},\"headline\":\"What About Hell I Don\u2019t Know\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-01T12:00:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/what-abou-hell-i-don%e2%80%99t-know\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1516,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa\"},\"keywords\":[\"cs lewis\",\"hell\",\"questions\"],\"articleSection\":[\"apologetics\",\"eschatology\",\"hermeneutics\",\"human\",\"philosophy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/what-abou-hell-i-don%e2%80%99t-know\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/what-abou-hell-i-don%e2%80%99t-know\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/what-abou-hell-i-don%e2%80%99t-know\\\/\",\"name\":\"What About Hell I Don\u2019t Know - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-01T12:00:22+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/what-abou-hell-i-don%e2%80%99t-know\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Rey Reynoso and The Bible Archive\",\"description\":\"Notes and Thoughts from An Unabashedly Plymouth Brethren Blogger\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa\",\"name\":\"rey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1\",\"width\":\"1000\",\"height\":\"288\",\"caption\":\"rey\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.biblearchive.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/reyreynoso\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/reybeez\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/biblerey\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What About Hell I Don\u2019t Know - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/what-abou-hell-i-don\u2019t-know\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What About Hell I Don\u2019t Know - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive","og_description":"Textually, as I covered in a couple of posts before this, I must affirm a literal hell which consists of judgment, separation from God, punishment, eternality and should be rightfully shunned. I think it is dangerous to say the place doesn\u2019t exist when the volume of Scripture teeters with the weight of the matter. I […]","og_url":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/what-abou-hell-i-don\u2019t-know\/","og_site_name":"Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reyreynoso","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reyreynoso","article_published_time":"2011-04-01T12:00:22+00:00","author":"rey","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"rey","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/what-abou-hell-i-don%e2%80%99t-know\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/what-abou-hell-i-don%e2%80%99t-know\/"},"author":{"name":"rey","@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa"},"headline":"What About Hell I Don\u2019t Know","datePublished":"2011-04-01T12:00:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/what-abou-hell-i-don%e2%80%99t-know\/"},"wordCount":1516,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa"},"keywords":["cs lewis","hell","questions"],"articleSection":["apologetics","eschatology","hermeneutics","human","philosophy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/what-abou-hell-i-don%e2%80%99t-know\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/what-abou-hell-i-don%e2%80%99t-know\/","url":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/what-abou-hell-i-don%e2%80%99t-know\/","name":"What About Hell I Don\u2019t Know - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-04-01T12:00:22+00:00","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/what-abou-hell-i-don%e2%80%99t-know\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/","name":"Rey Reynoso and The Bible Archive","description":"Notes and Thoughts from An Unabashedly Plymouth Brethren Blogger","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa","name":"rey","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1","width":"1000","height":"288","caption":"rey"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.biblearchive.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reyreynoso","https:\/\/x.com\/reybeez"],"url":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/author\/biblerey\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbR50-E9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}