Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Religion News
Hell Believers, Please Consider the Following

Hell Believers, Please Consider the Following

Last updated on: December 14, 2017 at 9:16 pm by Matthew Distefano

Hell Believers, Please Consider the Following 2017-12-14T21:16:27-06:00 Matthew Distefano

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Courtesy of Pixabay

Courtesy of Pixabay

On December 14, my family and I will be heading down to Orange County, California to, among other things, record a live episode of the Heretic Happy Hour (we are also going to Disneyland, but who is counting?). To be perfectly honest, though, I’m more excited about the podcast than visiting Disneyland for the umpteenth time. First off, it will be our tenth episode, so it is a milestone of sorts. To celebrate, we’ll have special edition merch—koozies, mugs, and flasks—a mini-concert by Barrett Johnson, a live audience, plenty of spirit/s, and a topic that is sure to set folks on fire: hell. And secondly, I get to see my good friends Jamal Jivanjee, Keith Giles, and Ralph Polendo!

Really, one couldn’t ask for a better night.

Now, to be quite honest, prior to this week, it had been quite a long time since I thought about the doctrine of hell. It’s just one of those things that once you deconstruct, you tend to forget about it. Kind of like the Rapture™. So, because of this upcoming podcast, I’ve had to revisit some ideas that have been long since been brushed aside. I’m actually quite thankful though, because it has helped me reformulate some questions and ideas that I’d like to share with you now. I’ve narrowed them down to five.

Do We At Least Hope That All Will Be Saved?

I don’t know about you, but for me, believing in hell was akin to believing in hopelessness. Sure, one could always hope that, in the end, they’d “make it.” But what about everyone else? What about those family members who died without having first confessed Jesus as Lord? What about our sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives: Do they end up lost to us forever and ever? Can we even fathom such a thing? Do we at least hope that somehow, someway, they too will be saved?

If we don’t—if we truly hope that, in the end, some people will be tortured for time-everlasting—then it is my contention that we are in need of some serious help. I am not sure how to say it any other way, but those, like Tertullian and Martin Luther, who revel at the sight of their enemies roasting in a fiery cauldron for all eternity are acting beyond shitty. There’s just no two ways about it.

To that end, can we, for the sake of our humanity, at least hope for a better ending than the one we’ve grown up hearing? Can we hope that all people will be saved?

Are We Sure We’re In?

I just mentioned that to avoid the terror of hell, one could always hope that they’d be spared the flames. However, how can we really be sure? When I affirmed eternal torment, I never was. I’m sure we’ve all experienced this fear at least once. I mean, not for nothing, but if we take seriously Jesus’ warnings in Matthew 25:31–46, then we’d realize that it’s not the unbelievers who need to worry about hell, it’s those of us who profess Jesus as Lord but then fail to help the hungry, the thirsty, and the other “least of these” who do. They’re—or, more accurately, we’re—the ones who are gonna burn.

What Does Eternal Hell Say About God?

Most Christians believe that God created out of nothing. In philosophical terms, it’s called creatio ex nihilo. If this is true—and I’m fine with that—then what does it say about God if some of God’s creation is, in the end, utterly lost? To put it another way, what does it say about God if God created a scenario in which some of those whom God loves will one day suffer, not only eternal annihilation, but eternal suffering? To my mind, it suggests that God should not be trusted.

Some would, at this point, likely attempt to use the “free will” defense for hell, but I’ve long since found that to be an unpersuasive retort. Not only has the libertarian notion of free will failed to stand up to philosophical critique, but it still doesn’t change the fact that God—the first cause, the grounding of all being—is still ultimately responsible for what “free” moral agents do, given that God is the one holding the whole of the cosmos together. You simply cannot escape that fact. So, if God indeed created a cosmos in which “free” agents can make choices that potentially lead them to suffer for all eternity, then God is, to my mind, at best capricious and at worst, out-and-out malicious.

If Hell is Eternal Separation from God, Who or What Holds Hell Together?

Acts 17:28 tells us that “In [God] we live and move and have our being.” In other words, we can’t exist apart from God. In fact, nothing can. Indeed, everything comes from God as God pervades all things.

So, how in the world can a place of eternal separation from God exist? How would existence even be sustained apart from God? Is hell a kind of god unto itself? Wouldn’t that reduce the one true God to a mere demiurge—a being who creates things, but isn’t that which sustains existence as such—among other demiurges?

Now, I know some will be inclined to turn to 2 Thessalonians 1:9, which reads “these [those who do not know God] will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” as a prooftext for such a fate. However, a simple prima facie reading of this passage will never suffice, simply because our English translations do not do justice to the Greek text. I attempt to point that out in an essay entitled “An Exegesis of 2 Thessalonians 1:7b–10” that you can read here. I encourage you to give it a few minutes of your time.

Doesn’t Believing in Hell Lead to Violence?

Haven’t you noticed how, over the centuries, the belief in eternal hell—regardless of faith tradition—has led to the justification of some pretty heinous violence against others? And it’s not just modern, radicalized factions of Islam who are guilty of this. We Christians are just as culpable. If you remember, when heretics were burned at the stake, it was justified with help from the doctrine of hell. In other words, it was a righteous act to kill a heretic because in doing so, souls were being saved from the flames of hell.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Fear does not generally lead us to do good things. Sure, in a fight or flight situation, fear is fine. A little death anxiety is a good thing if we are confronted by mountain lion, for example. But the neurotic kind of death anxiety, the kind that drives us to kill in the name of saving people from hell, that is not a great motivator to doing good. Never has been, never will be.

May we consider these things. And may we hope for something better than hell.

Peace and love.

Previous Post

December 7, 2017

A Response to One of My Detractors (Re: ‘What My Universalism Is and Is Not’)

Next Post

December 20, 2017 A Review of Lily Burana’s "Grace for Amateurs: Field Notes on a Journey Back to Faith"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atonement Book Review Early Church Eschatology eternal torment Hell Hermeneutics LGBTQ+ Mimetic Theory Mysticism News Old Testament Podcast Poetry Politics Prayer Religion Sacrifice Satire Soteriology Theology Uncategorized Violence

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 June 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 June 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Beelzebub" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Accuser Evil One Prince of Darkness Lord of the Flies

Books by This Author Books by All Set Free

See All Titles »

Hell Believers, Please Consider the Following

Do We At Least Hope That All Will Be Saved?

Are We Sure We’re In?

What Does Eternal Hell Say About God?

If Hell is Eternal Separation from God, Who or What Holds Hell Together?

Doesn’t Believing in Hell Lead to Violence?

What does "Beelzebub" mean?