HELL 9

This series must be read in order. Begin with HELL 1 here.

Let’s take a moment to put our humanity into perspective.

If a person is microscopic when viewed from less than a few miles away and less than a nanoparticle when viewed from the moon, what is a person in a universe that is 46 billion times 5.8 trillion miles to its outer edge?

I hate to say it this way, but from a size perspective, we are nothing.

And if God created this universe, then is God not larger and even more pervasive than the entire universe? And if God’s very essence, God’s very composition, God’s very DNA is love, then is this love not even more immense and even more unbounded than the utter vastness and expansiveness of this universe?

Even more, if God’s love is that immeasurable, that unfathomable, that exhaustively immersive, then how do we, as nearly nonexistent human beings, measure up within that love?

If we are nearly nothing in relation to that love, can we really be that much of an offense to such an overwhelming love? Can we really be that deserving of an eternity burning in hell?

As those who are beloved, worthy, and valuable to this love, who are made in the image of this cosmically-sized love is this the answer is an unequivocal no.

From the very beginning of creation, God declared that this creation was good and that we were very good. And despite all the ways we have lived in relational disunion from God (sin) and then lived out of that disunion (sin), and even despite the ways in which we have each participated in and perpetuated injustice toward others, this love has always been patiently, mercifully, and gracefully welcoming us back into a relationship that restores that original goodness.

That is where this story has always been heading.

So it’s important for us to always be reminded who God really is and what God is really up to in history. Because once we lose sight of these truths, we can very quickly, and oh so easily, begin creating a god in our own image, a god that isn’t cosmically-sized in love with a heart for making all things whole and all things new, but a god that is very small, very conditional in love, and as punitive and vengeful as we are.

The questions that each of us need to continually ask ourselves are, “What God am I seeking and pursuing? What God am I trying to find in the text and in the stories? What God does my heart really want to discover?”

In the parable of the Sheep and Goats, if you want to find an angry, retributive god that sends the unjust to eternity in Hell, you will find it. But if you trust that God is more than a monstrous caricature, and actually the God that we see in the life of Jesus, then maybe there is more to the story.

The most important Greek phrase in the Sheep and Goat parable is kolasis aiónios, which is translated into English as eternal (or everlasting) punishment. The traditional understanding of that phrase, as you may surmise, is that a person is cast into Hell for eternity.

There are two problems with this translation and then the subsequent belief.

The word aiónios does not mean everlasting or eternal. It means an age.

The former indicates an unending duration of time, while the latter indicates a definite duration of time.

My favorite example to prove this, and to show again how biased the translation is toward what they need it to say, is Matthew 28:20.

The verse reads, “I will be with you even until the end of aiónios.”

The translators were forced to actually translate aiónios accurately as “age,” because there is no such thing as the “end of eternity” or the “end of everlasting.” Because neither eternity, nor everlasting has an end.

The word aiónios means age and it has a definite duration.

So at the very worst, punishment (kolasis) for the unjust is for a definite period of time. It is not unending. It is not for eternity. It is not everlasting. It is not forever.

So what exactly is the nature of this punishment (kolasis) for the unjust?

According to David Bentley Hart, “The word kolasis originally meant ‘pruning’ or ‘docking’ or ‘obviating the growth’ of trees or other plants, and then came to mean ‘confinement,’ ‘being held in check,’ ‘ punishment,’ or ‘chastisement,’ chiefly with the connotation of ‘correction.’”

Kolasis implies a punishment for the sake of growth. It is not retributive.

So if the parable of the Sheep and Goats is indicative of some sort of future punishment for the unjust, it is a corrective punishment for a definite duration with the ultimate hope of restoration.

But the parable suggests that the punishment of the unjust will be in fire. How does a fire equate to corrective punishment with the hope of restoration?

In a previous post, we discussed the parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus, the parable of The Unmerciful Servant, and Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. What we discovered was that when one faces the refining fire of God’s love, it reveals the truth of who we are and how we have treated others. But, it is a punishment, not for the sake of retribution, but for the sake of individual transformation and the full restoration of a person into a right relationship with God and with others.

This does not mean that it won’t be painful or that it won’t elicit a consuming sorrow.

It absolutely will.

Facing the truth of one’s life, especially the truth of an unjust life, in the light of a love that is more immense and immeasurable and immersive than the entire cosmos, in the light of a love that swallows each one of us whole as a microscopic piece of dust in the universe, will absolutely produce immeasurable sorrow and regret.

In religious circles, this would be referred to as repentance. But there is significant religious baggage with that word that has completely distorted it and made it unrecognizable in its original form. To understand the true restorative heart of God, it is essential that we see clearly repentance (Greek metanoia).

In Greek mythology, Kairos was the god of opportunity portrayed as a man with winged-feet who was always on tiptoe, indicating constant movement. Kairos was adorned with a long, single lock of hair that extended from an otherwise bald head. It was understood that as Kairos, or opportunity, passed by, there was a fleeting moment in which one could seize Kairos by the lock of hair before the moment, or opportunity, passed.*

The deeper meaning was to seize the opportunity at the right moment before it was lost, or before it passed.

However, when opportunity was missed, a shadowy, cloaked goddess named Metanoia stood in the wake of the missed opportunity. Metanoia symbolized the regret of missing the opportunity at the right moment. But there was also something more that Metanoia offered to those who were left in the path of a missed opportunity and the regret that accompanied it, a chance to reflect and then transform.

Metanoia, Greek meta-”after” and nous- “mind,” is an afterthought or reflection of a missed opportunity, which can elicit a feeling of regret, but that can also result in a change or transformation in one’s mind, in one’s heart, in one’s life. While there is an obvious element of regret inherent in metanoia, it does not come as a result of threats or shame or damnation.

Metanoia comes from self-reflection and contemplation after missing an opportunity and then facing the truth of one’s life in light of God’s loving kindness.

That is where transformation begins.

The refining fire of God’s love does not confront in hostility or wrath. It surrounds us in compassion and mercy to reveal the truth about ourselves with the hope of transformation.

But we all must face it.

Some will face the fire of the Spirit in this lifetime and be transformed, but others may not. Either way, you will ultimately face the refiner’s fire. Facing the fire is not for the sake of torment by a wrathful God. Facing the fire is done in the hope of one’s transformation and restoration into a right relationship with God and others.

This understanding gives us insight into the fires of Gehenna that Jesus referenced a handful of times throughout the Gospels.

Gehenna is an Aramaic rendering of the Hebrew word Ge-Hinnom. It was a valley, a real physical location, southwest of Jerusalem, where tradition states worshippers of the pagan deities, Baal and Moloch, sacrificed children by fire.

Interestingly, when this location was translated by King James in the Old Testament, it was left as Hinnom, indicating a physical location. However, when it was translated by King James in the New Testament, Gehenna was translated as Hell and somehow made the leap to mean an eternity of punishment in the fiery flames.

The problem with the connotation of Gehenna as eternity in Hell is that the two leading rabbinic schools of thought at the time of Jesus, Hillel and Shammai, each believed that the idea of Gehenna symbolically meant the place of punishment and purification for a limited duration.

The concept of eternity in Hell would have never entered their minds as the possible meaning of Gehenna.

So the fundamental question is, “Was Jesus talking about an eternity in Hell when mentioning Gehenna? Or, was he using Gehenna to speak to the prevailing belief at the time that it was a place of punishment and purification for a limited duration?

Being that Paul never once mentions Gehenna, or anything resembling eternity in Hell, a single time in his writings, but only that one must ultimately face the refiner’s fire to test one’s life, one must conclude that Jesus was not talking about eternity in Hell, but something else entirely.

While it’s clear that eternity in Hell is not supported by the biblical narrative, it’s unclear as to whether all will be restored.

In my opinion, God can’t override the free will choice of any single individual. So there is a distinct possibility that there will be those who, despite experiencing the love-essence of God and facing the truth of their lives, are not consumed with sorrow and who shake their fists and resist the open-armed God who welcomes them into a life of shalom. And for those who adamantly choose non-life, there is nonexistence.

However, as one who imagines that this narrative is truly the greatest story ever told, and as one who believes that no one can ultimately resist the cosmically-sized love of God, and as one who has hope that the accomplishment of God’s love through Christ is more impossibly beautiful than anything we could ever in this lifetime comprehend, I believe that there will be a restoration of all things, that includes even the hardest heart and the vilest offender.

And I have a great argument to back it up. Read HELL 10 here.

Peace and love…

Brandon

 

*Myers, Kelly A. Metanoia and the Transformation of Opportunity. Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 1, pp. 1–18.

HELL 8

This series must be read in order. Begin with HELL 1 here.

I recently read an article from a guy who said that Jesus was the “Great Theologian of Hell.”

The problem is that hell is never once mentioned in the Bible.

I know this may be a shocking statement, because that is what you have heard your entire life. But the idea of being punished for eternity in hell did not develop until the 5th Century and it was by a bishop from Hippo name Augustine, who began to paint a picture of a retributive God that sends the unrepentant to the fiery underground.

And as you know, fear can be an effective method in controlling people.

Enter the Roman Empire and Roman Catholicism.

The government and the church.

With the concept of hell flourishing within those two great superpowers of the world at the time, and also subsequently spreading into Protestantism much later, it is no wonder that hell quickly became the pervasive belief in Christianity throughout the world.

But eternity in hell is not a belief original to the Early Church.

Understanding this context helps us see how biblical translations can be significantly influenced by what people already believe at the time they are translated.

And since the belief of a retributive god that punishes people for eternity in hell was the predominant theology in Christendom from the 5th Century, then that would be the obvious lens one would use to translate the Bible.

Enter King James.

When the Bible was translated into English in the 16th century, the Olde English word helle (pagan word for the abode of the wicked after death) was the single word used in place of four completely different Hebrew and Greek words, each with differing meanings.

Those words are Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, and Tartaroo.

These are the original words from the original Hebrew and Greek texts. You will notice that it is not one single word being translated as helle, but rather four distinct words, each with different meanings and cultural contexts, that were combined to construct the idea of eternity in hell.

Interestingly, of the four words mentioned above, only one word is from Hebrew. It is Sheol.

Even more interestingly, Sheol means grave.

And what we find is that it is a place where both the righteous and unrighteous dead go upon death (because both righteous and unrighteousness people die and are buried).

That’s why there is no Jewish conception of eternity in hell. Because the Tanakh, the Jewish Bible (our Old Testament) does not conceive of such an idea.

One ought to pause at this fact alone.

If the tradition in which Jesus was born and raised did not even have the belief of eternity in hell, did the “Great Theologian of Hell” just invent it?

The answer is no, because the notion of eternity in hell is a man-made fiction.

Even more disturbing is the selective bias of the King James translation.

While the word Sheol is mentioned over 70 times in the Old Testament, it is only translated as hell half of the time.

Why is that?

Because it does not fit the already developed idea of eternity in hell.

If both the righteous and unrighteous dead go to Sheol, what does a translator do when the passage suggests that there are righteous people there? Do they translate it as hell? Do they really put the righteous people in Hell?

Of course not. They translate it as grave.

Here is a perfect example of the problem (among many) and the inherent bias of translation.

In Genesis 37, it states that when Joseph died, his father, Jacob, exclaimed, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in Sheol.”

Is Joseph in hell? Does Jacob long to go to an eternity burning in hell? Of course not.

It can’t be grave sometimes and eternity in hell at others times. It is disingenuous. There are not two meanings. It is just grave.

To add to the madness, when the Hebrew Bible was translated into the Greek language, the word Sheol was translated to the Greek word Hades. And in the Greek world, Hades was widely known as the mythological god of the underworld who ruled with his wife, Persephone, in the “house of Hades.”

I know they did the best they could, but translating Sheol to Hades picked up a lot of extra mythological baggage. But it should not be lost on us that the original Hebrew word, Sheol, still means the grave. It is the dwelling place of both the righteous and unrighteous dead. And it signifies the singular problem that ultimately needs to be resolved- death.

So when you read the verse in Revelation that says, “Then death and Hades (read Sheol or the grave) were thrown into the lake of fire,” it is indicating that the last thing to be finally conquered and defeated is death.

That is why early believers in Christ knew that their ultimate hope was a deliverance from DEATH, not a rescue from an eternity being tormented in HELL. Even more, they knew that their future hope was, not going to a spiritual heaven when they died, but resurrecting to new, physical life at the renewal of all things.

That is why the parable of The Sheep and Goats is so fascinating. Because it gives us insight into the resurrection of all people, both the just and unjust, and God’s judgment and punishment at the renewal of all things.

The parable tells of a future in which Christ gathers the nations together and separates them into two groups- the sheep and the goats, the favored and the unfavored, the just and the unjust.

But according to the upside-down justice of God, those who are determined to be truly “just” are those who gave hospitality to the stranger, those who clothed the naked, and those who visited the sick and imprisoned.

And it is to the “just” that the King will say, “Come, you blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the cosmos.”

But here is the kicker.

Those who actually perceived themselves to be “righteous” and “just” are actually the goats, or the unfavored, because they are those who ignored the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned during their time on earth.

It is this group of “goats” who will not be welcomed into the Kingdom, but will “go away to eternal punishment.” For the King will say to them, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

This parable ought to be eye-opening for everyone, especially the religious.

Is this passage suggesting that the “eternal fire” is an eternity in hell? Do those who practice empty religiosity and ignore the cause of the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned burn in the underworld with the wicked, the devil, and the fallen angels? Based upon what we know about the nature and character of God, is this “eternal fire” a retributive punishment, or could it be a refining fire that leads to the restoration of a person? Is Jesus really the “Great Theologian of Hell” or the “Great Restorer of All?”

In HELL 9, we will look at how a better understanding of Gehenna will help us understand, not what is typically translated as and believed to be, everlasting punishment, but something entirely different with the hope of restoration at its very heart.

Peace…

Brandon

HELL 6

This series must be read in order. Start with HELL 1 here.

I remember watching the Christmas classic Home Alone for the first time when I was about seventeen years old. If you haven’t seen this movie, it is about an extended family rushing to leave for a Christmas vacation, but through the rush of the early morning chaos, they accidentally leave eight-year old Kevin at home.

Running through the early part of the movie was a rumor in which Kevin believed that a scary-looking, bearded, old man named Marley had murdered his family and half the neighborhood with a snow shovel and was storing them in garbage cans full of salt. Marley was known by those who heard the rumors as the “South Bend Shovel Slayer.”

And as you can imagine, while Kevin was trying to overcome his fear of being left at home alone, he had a couple of encounters with old man Marley that further terrified him, not least of which was their encounter at a church service on Christmas Eve.

Although petrified upon facing the old man, Kevin discovered from Marley that all of the rumors and mischaracterizations about him were untrue. Not only was he at the church that night to watch his granddaughter sing, he was also secretly hoping to reconcile a broken relationship with his son. In one of the most revealing lines of the movie, Marley tells Kevin, “You don’t have to be afraid. There’s a lot of things going around about me, but none of it’s true.”

I’m not much for movie examples like this, but it could not be any more perfect in the way that it captures how the majority of Christians misconstrue God as a violent and retributive deity, while God is really a god of peace and love and wants to reconcile with every child.

There are bits and pieces about God that have been read flatly from the Old Testament. There are passages and parables about God that have been taken out of context from the New Testament. There are words about God that have been egregiously translated by committees trying to maintain doctrines, theologies, and beliefs developed hundreds of years after Christ but that the majority of Christians now believe as orthodox teaching.

Like old man Marley, people have formulated ideas about God and what God must be like. One could say that, “There’s a lot going around about God, but none of it’s true.”

I recently asked a few dozen of my Christian and post-Christian friends how they have always understood “God’s wrath.”

Taken together, their responses described a schizophrenic deity that sometimes loves people so much that he would be willing to die for them, but then at other times, a deity that views people, especially non-Christians, as objects of impending vengeance and destruction who he dangles over a chasm of hell-fire for simply existing, or for not loving him back the right way.

It’s the open-armed God of love and restoration inviting us into a relationship of shalom, but whose dark side, the wild-eyed and vindictive god of retribution, is always around the corner ready to bash in our skulls if we step out of line.

And just so you don’t think I am over dramatizing the bloodthirsty monster god motif, Brian Jones writes in his book Hell is Real (But I Hate to Admit It):

Jesus rescued you from falling into the hands of Someone larger than your mind can conceive, stronger than the combined strength of a trillion nuclear explosions, a holy God destined to unload the complete, unrestrained force of His wrath on you for offending His holy nature.

Hell isn’t your friend’s biggest problem; God is. Hell is simply the end result of God’s justified wrath. It’s the final permanent expression of his anger towards those who have purposely chosen to reject His lordship over their lives.

There is no other way to say it, but this mindset is sick and twisted and sadistic.

And it is heartbreaking how a God described by Jesus as love-essence and who was enfleshed so beautifully in Jesus, has been reconstituted into a distorted and monstrous deity that hates us so much and thinks so little of us that the only thing that would satisfy his wrath and keep his “holiness” intact is to “violently torture his son his on a cross.”

But even if your image of God is not quite so horrific and contorted, you may still be wondering how God is going to deal with serial killers, sex traffickers, genocidal maniacs, perpetuators of systemic enslavement and oppression, rejectors of God, and the like.

These people deserve God’s wrath for the way they have shaken their defiant fists at God and hurt other people along the way, right?

I guess it depends on what the word “wrath” actually means and then toward what end we are ultimately moving.

I submit that the word “wrath” isn’t “like a trillion nuclear explosions” unloading God’s fury and rage on the unrepentant. Even more, I submit that the end toward which we are moving with God is not retributive in nature, but rather restorative.

Let’s start with the Greek words for wrath.

There are only two words in Greek that have been translated as wrath in the New Testament. They are orgē and thumos and neither mean anything close to the meanings we now associate with God’s wrath.

Understanding each word will be absolutely essential as we look at parables and other passages throughout the New Testament that mention God’s wrath.

Orgē, which is translated as wrath throughout the New Testament, means a settled anger.

It is not explosive rage or vengeance. It is not hostile or retributive.

Orgē “proceeds from an internal disposition that steadfastly opposes someone or something based on extended personal exposure.” (Source: HELPS Word-Studies, Gary Hill)

In other words, as a person exists in relational disunion (sin) with God, and then continually lives out of that disunion by perpetuating wrongdoing and injustice (sin), it angers God.

But it is a settled and controlled anger.

Not explosive.

God longs for all of creation to exist in shalom, for each of us to live in oneness and wholeness with God, within ourselves, and with others. However, when a person rejects this freedom and love in God and then goes on to abuse others and perpetuate injustice, it angers God.

But it has nothing to do with an outburst of rage, vengeance, or retribution toward anyone.

It is an anger, but again, it is settled and controlled and fixed.

The other Greek word, which is also translated as fury or wrath and which is now my favorite Greek word ever, is thumos.

Despite what your Greek translation books state, thumos is an ambiguous word that is difficult to translate. It is better translated as “spiritedness” than “wrath.” (Classical Wisdom)

Plato used an allegory to demonstrate this spiritedness in which two horses, one black and one white, steer a chariot. The dark horse represented man’s desires, which can be chaotic and lawless. The white horse represented the spiritedness of thumos, which can be noble, courageous, and heroic. The idea was that when both horses are in balance the charioteer can successfully navigate the chariot.

To take this idea of thumos further, it is one’s passion that can manifest in a variety of emotions, from love to joy and from grief to anger. The key is how the thumos is harnessed. Plato suggested that the spirited energy and passion of thumos can be guided either toward negative or positive ends. But when directed positively, it can be guided in beauty, truth, and goodness. And on that positive end, thumos stands up for what is right, is ready to defend what is good and right, and is even willing to sacrifice itself when opposed, surrounded, and ready to be killed.

This is why it is dangerous to flatly translate thumos as anger or wrath. Because in verses attributed to human beings, thumos may very well mean anger or wrath, as the black horse of chaos and lawlessness overrides that which works toward beauty, truth, and goodness.

But when thumos is applied to God in Jesus, it is a spiritedness and passion to stand up against injustice and lawlessness. It is the deep resolve to defend the cause of the weak, the outcast, the downtrodden, the marginalized, the victimized, and the oppressed. It is the passion to sacrifice, even to the point of death, for beauty, truth, and goodness to flourish for all.

And I don’t think it is any coincidence that when thumos (thymou) is mentioned in Revelation 19, it is Jesus who rides in on a white horse named Faithful and True. Yes, the white horse motif not only captures all of the cultural nobility of the time, but in light of our discussion on the spiritedness and passion of Plato’s white horse, it captures so much more.

For it is Jesus, in his passion, who stands up against the oppositional forces in honor, not to wage a retributive war against evil, but to sacrifice himself in order to demonstrate that it is love, not vengeance, which is victorious.

It is Jesus whose robe is described as sprinkled in blood (his own blood) before the battle even began. It is Jesus who tramples the winepress of his own passion. It is Jesus whose sword is the truth of all that is good and righteous and pierces the hearts of all mankind. And it is Jesus and his kingdom of love that prevails and will shepherd all people justly.

Had the New Testament writers wanted to use a Greek word that implies supernatural anger and rancor and the “ultimate sanction against taboo behaviors,” they would have chosen a word like mênis.

But they didn’t.

They used orgē and thumos.

God’s orgē is settled and controlled and solidified against those who reject the life found in God and who perpetuate injustice. But it is the spirited passion of God that stands in truth and love against injustice and lawlessness and that consumes like a refiner’s fire so only beauty, truth, and goodness remain.

In HELL 7 we will explore Romans 9, the parable of Lazarus, and the parable of the unmerciful servant that discuss God’s wrath in order to determine if God is working toward a retributive and punitive end or a restorative end.

Peace…

Brandon