The Abolition of Hell

Easter Sunday, 2012: There are mysteries about the death of Death in the death of Christ that no one has completely grasped. We Christians honor Christ, worship God, and sing praises of what was accomplished on the cross, but does anyone really understand the depth of what occurred in that event, or the fullness of what occurred three days later in the resurrection?

The following is a post placed up on (the usually political) Corner on National Review Online. It presents a glimpse of what I'm increasingly convinced is the deeper reality of Christ's death and resurrection.

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The Abolition of Hell (and a Few Words in Defense of Church)

By Michael Potemra - April 8, 2012

What does Easter mean, for mankind? In many Eastern Rite churches, both Catholic and Orthodox, the Easter services feature the reading aloud of a most eloquent answer, written by the great Greek Church Father St. John Chrysostom. (It is also read at the Easter Vigil night services at my own high-church Episcopal parish in NYC.) Here’s part of it, from one translation I found on the Internet:

Let no one lament persistent failings, for forgiveness has risen from the grave.

Let no one fear death, for the death of our Saviour has set us free.

The Lord has destroyed death by enduring it. The Lord vanquished Hell when he descended into it. The Lord put Hell in turmoil even as it tasted of his flesh.

Isaiah foretold this when he said, “You, O Hell, were placed in turmoil when he encounter[ed] you below.”

Hell was in turmoil having been eclipsed. Hell was in turmoil having been mocked. Hell was in turmoil having been destroyed. Hell was in turmoil having been abolished. Hell was in turmoil having been made captive.

Hell grasped a corpse, and met God. Hell seized earth, and encountered Heaven. Hell took what it saw, and was overcome by what it could not see.

O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory?

Christ is risen, and you are cast down! . . .

Christ is risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead.

When we look around us, it is easy to believe in the reality of Hell: A world dominated by cruelty, hatred, and sin seems all too reasonably to point toward a final destination that embodies these values and is purged of all goodness. But with the eyes of faith, we see that Hell is not the final truth about reality, and the Paschal Mysteries celebrated this weekend proclaim forcefully God’s answer to man’s sin. God has declared, to repeat the powerful words of Chrysostom, that Hell has been eclipsed. Mocked. Destroyed. Abolished. Made captive.

A promise to all people

Isa. 25:6-9 was the Old Testament reading this morning at our Easter service (emphasis added):

6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for ALL PEOPLES
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
7 And he will swallow up on this mountain
the covering that is cast over ALL PEOPLES,
the veil that is spread over ALL NATIONS.
8 He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from ALL FACES,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from ALL THE EARTH,
for the Lord has spoken.
9 It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

Recommended reading: Dropping Hell and Embracing Grace

(Product information): DROPPING HELL AND EMBRACING GRACE is a call for a reconsideration of the scope of God's recovery plan for His fallen creation. Does He intend to recover all, or will He settle for less than all? That is the question.

The author, Ivan A. Rogers, takes an affirmative position on the issues raised in this book. He makes a compelling and scripture-based case that, when finally embraced, will result in the greatest reformation of positive change yet experienced by the church Christ founded. Rogers brilliantly takes the reader on a spiritual journey that actually began even before the world was made. He convincingly demonstrates that God's ultimate objective is the salvation of all humanity from Adam forward to a glorious future of promise. In his book the doctrine of eternal conscious torture in a so-called "hell" becomes a casualty of God's all-encompassing grace.

Ivan A. Rogers book is essential reading for everyone who desires to understand God's plan of salvation of all humanity. Boldly tackling the key issues regarding universal reconciliation, this book provides clear, succinct explanations. Dropping Hell and Embracing Grace is solidly based upon Scripture and honors the Word of God above human opinion or religious tradition. Read it --and be challenged to think deeply about the world-changing grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Compelling evidence

When one considers

• The sovereignty of God
• The power of God
• The character of God
• The desire of God
• The purpose of God
• The scope and depth of the grace of God
• The lordship and kingship of Christ
• The completeness of what Christ accomplished on the cross

...the idea that every person is reconciled to God (whether they're living in that reconciled state or not) must be seriously considered.

A controvery that isn't going away

We're told in Rom. 5:10 that we "were [past tense] reconciled to God through the death of his Son." We're also told that Jesus died for all, that his death covered the sins of the entire world. So, how is it possible that by Christ's death we were reconciled to God, that Christ's death covered the sins of everyone, and yet only some are reconciled to God? It doesn't make sense. From an "infernalist" perspective (not my term -- coined in a book I'm reading), God through Christ saves 10-maybe-20% of humanity. How does it glorify God that Satan drags upwards to 80% of humanity with him to hell? It begs a more thorough consideration of what "reconciliation," "redemption," and "salvation" are. These may be more broad than we understand.

I'm convinced that salvation isn't simply coming to Jesus to have your sins forgiven, and getting out of hell and into heaven. Salvation, I'm convinced has more to do with reflecting more and more the image of Christ through one's life. Is it possible that the entire world is reconciled to God, but that the main problem is that 80-90% of humanity doesn't walk in the Spirit that God is willing to freely give, and thereby reflect the image of Christ? When we look at our own churches and see that 80-90% of people aren't walking in a way which enables them to reflect the image of Christ, we begin to understand that it may be possible for most of humanity to be reconciled, but not to walk in the fullness of what God intends. Firey trials exist for the believer in this life, and are intended to burn away whatever it is that keeps one from the fullness of Christ. Is it possible that "hell" is a firey trial after death which burns away whatever kept people in this life from the fullness of Christ?

I read Gerry Beauchemin's book, HOPE BEYOND HELL, about a year ago. He wrote about Matt. 25:46 where Jesus talks about the separation of the sheep and the goats.

Jesus refers to the goats being sent to "eternal punishment." Bell points out that the world translated "eternal" -- aeonioan in the Greek -- is translated elsewhere in the New Testament as "age" or "era" -- a finite period of time. The word punishment" is translated from a word in the Greek which was primarily used as a horticultural term meaning "to prune." The word was most often used in Greek literature to mean "chastisement" or like the pruning analogy, "corrective action" or "discipline." "Chastisement or corrective discipline for a finite period of time" is a far cry from "eternal punishment."

And even if Jesus meant "eternal punishment," we have a problem because this is the fate of those who did not feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, care for the widow and orphan, or visit the person in jail. Is Jesus saying that we avoid eternal punishment through the works we do in this life? It's hardly an evangelical message.

Most of what we know about hell we got from Dante, not from scripture. The word or concept of hell doesn't appear in the Old Testament. Jesus talks about Gehenna, and this has been translated "hell" in older translations of the New Testament, but Gehenna was a specific valley outside Jerusalem, the place of the city dump, where fires burned and never went out. As I mentioned the other night, Jesus's apocalyptic warnings about the fires of Gehenna could be understood as warnings to that generation of Jews who were about to reject him as their Messiah -- a warning that their corpses would end up in Gehenna, dumped there by the Romans, which is exactly what happened in 70 AD. I Cor. 3 references a firey judgment, but this is a judgment of believers for the quality of their works in life (gold, silver, precious gems vs. wood, hay, stubble). The book of Revelation refers to a lake of fire, but Revelation is so filled with symbolism who knows what the
lake of fire actually refers to.

There have been quite a few books written recently about this topic. Rob Bell's book, LOVE WINS, brought it front and center. Some may be concerned about bringing into question a teaching of the church that is a thousand years old. But the church lost the doctrine of justification by faith for about a thousand years until Luther in the early 1500s. This is an interesting discussion and controversy. I don't think it's going to go away any time soon.