Rejection of Hell

[Sha'irullah]

Are there any Christian denominations or personal opinions held by Christians that reject or have a strong varying interpretation of Hell?

I specifically wish to know how certain Christians reject the notion of hell considering its usage in the Bible. I have seen this belief held by various 'Christians' and I have always found it an odd rejection of basic Christian dogma.

 

[Shiranui117]

It seems to be something that's only come up within the past couple hundred years in some more liberal Protestant denominations.

 

[Alceste]

The doctrine of hell is incompatible with the doctrine of a loving, merciful, benevolent god. Many, many Christians choose to believe in the latter, although it requires rejecting the former.

I would argue that the nature and character of god is a more significant doctrinal issue than the persecution and / or torture of unbelievers, so their choice is understandable.

 

[crossfire]

I think Jehovah's Witnesses reject hell as a place of torture.

 

[Breathe]

JWs do.

Many Anglicans reject it from my experience.

The view is usually because Hell is literally "the grave" (Sheol, Hades), and not "a place of torture", and so a place of torture is not seen as Biblical. The counter "the lake of fire" as in Revelation is sometimes brought up in opposition, but the response is "the lake of fire is the second death" (Rev 20:14) -- so iow, death and the grave are destroyed.

 

[Karl R]

Are there any Christian denominations or personal opinions held by Christians that reject or have a strong varying interpretation of Hell?

Historically universalists have rejected the traditional view of hell. There are records indicating that universalist "heresies" have existed almost as long as christianity.

I specifically wish to know how certain Christians reject the notion of hell considering its usage in the Bible.

As Alceste mentioned, the idea of a benevolent, merciful, loving god condemning people to an eternity of torture doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

I have seen this belief held by various 'Christians' and I have always found it an odd rejection of basic Christian dogma.

As Odion pointed out, the biblical word "Sheol" (or "Hades" in the new testament) literally translates into "the grave." It was figuratively used to refer to any calamity, misery or degradation (such as Jonah's time in the belly of a great fish, even though Jonah was still alive).

The word Gehenna literally referred to the valley of Hinnon, which was an actual place used as a landfill, and a place to dispose of the bodies of criminals. The trash was constantly being burned to prevent the putrefaction from fouling the air. It figuratively came to mean severe punishment or infamous death ... on earth, not in some metaphysical afterlife.

It wasn't until medieval times that the description of the lake of fire from Revelations (which is based on a vision, and probably not intended to be taken literally) became the common interpretation of Sheol/Hades.

 

[fenrisx]

hell is a state of willing ignorance

 

[Sha'irullah]

hell is a state of willing ignorance

I was going to say an angry ex-wife but ignorance is close enough

 

[cataway]

hell is a small town in michigan
Hell, MI - Town of Hell

 

[Raban]

I personally find in my opinion to Hell being separation from God. Though what this means is beyond me; there are parts of me that hold a traditionalist perspective, however this seems to go against the very nature of Christianity. So I know that I share such opinions with many of my friends, but I also know that a lot of my peers disagree. The concept of Hell is one I can see to be used as a metaphor, or perhaps even just symbolism used in ancient times to tell a point.

 

[Gaura Priya]

A few denominations do reject Hell as a place, and see it rather as a state of the soul, or even to go farther, a state of the mind. Catholics see Heaven and Hell as states of the soul's existence, and not places. Anglicans certainly do not adhere to rigid beliefs about Hell either. Certainly not Quakers, or those of the United Church (the most liberal of them all, it seems!). Christian Universalism is a theological doctrine that is found in pockets of many denominations, more than you can think.

Mormons do not believe in Hell. They believe in the 'Outer Darkness,' but only those who have done terrible things go there. Otherwise, people who do good, even the non-religious, can attain the Heavens.

If you study the Bible for 'Sheol,' 'Gehenna,' 'Tartarus,' and Christian Universalism, you will see a very different idea of what it means to be a Christian; it is certainly something completely far from evangelical, fundamentalist Christianity, that is for sure!

 

[Pegg]

Are there any Christian denominations or personal opinions held by Christians that reject or have a strong varying interpretation of Hell?

I specifically wish to know how certain Christians reject the notion of hell considering its usage in the Bible. I have seen this belief held by various 'Christians' and I have always found it an odd rejection of basic Christian dogma.

We Jehovahs Witnesses do reject the idea of hellfire and torment for several reasons.

1. It is completely out of harmony with the nature of Jehovah God, who is merciful and kind and loves all without partiality. He even put laws in place in Ancient Isreal banning the common practice of sacrificing children in a fire...something the cananite nations did on a large scale.
Deut 18:9-12 “You must not learn to do according to the detestable things of those nations. There should not be found in you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire . . . For everybody doing these things is something detestable to Jehovah, and on account of these detestable things Jehovah your God is driving them away from before you.”
And in Jeremiah we can see how God feels about that vile practice:
Jeremiah 19:5 And they built the high places of the Ba′al in order to burn their sons in the fire as whole burnt offerings to the Ba′al, something that I had not commanded or spoken of, and that had not come up into my heart.”



2. When he created mankind, he created them to live in the flesh as humans on earth in this phyisical world. Adam didnt live before he was created because there is no immortal soul. We are only alive while we are physically alive....the bible says that once we die, all consciousness ceases. So there is no possible way that a person can experience any sort of pain or suffering after he has died....we cease to exist.
Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten


3. The hebrew bible uses the word 'sheol' when discussing what happens to people when they die. That word means 'grave' .... so when people die, they go to their graves. Thats all that happens. Sheol is this hebrew word which is translated 'hell' in english. So when a JW reads a passage in which 'hell' is being discussed, we simply view it as the 'grave'.... because we know that the original word is 'sheol' and means grave. Jesus was a jew after all.... he held the same beliefs as are found in the Hebrew bible and his view of sheol was that i was where we go when we are dead.

We have absolutely nothing to fear from hell. Its just the grave to us.

 

[james bond]

I was wondering where Roger Ebert went since he was an atheist or something similar when he died.

Here is how he believed in God.
Google "How I believe in God Roger Ebert" (sorry, can't post links)

Is it just heaven or hell with Christians? I remember from going to a private Catholic school during elementary school that:

Heaven - for those who were good and believed in God
Limbo - for those who were good and didn't believe in God
Purgatory - for those who weren't totally bad and believed in God
Hell - for those who were bad and didn't believe in God

Don't hold me to strict interpretations. The definitions are pretty loose.

 

[james bond]

Oops, I misunderstood the question .

I don't know of anything in the Bible that repudiates Hell, but it appears to be a subterranean place.

Matthew 5:29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

Revelation 12:9
The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

It could be a state of mind or consciousness and am open to that, but do not think that it does not exist. However, I am open to hell being temporary. Are there any Scripture to that effect?

 

[Sha'irullah]

Oops, I misunderstood the question .

I don't know of anything in the Bible that repudiates Hell, but it appears to be a subterranean place.

Matthew 5:29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

Revelation 12:9
The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

It could be a state of mind or consciousness and am open to that, but do not think that it does not exist. However, I am open to hell being temporary. Are there any Scripture to that effect?

The only scripture I know of that mentions hell being temporary is the Qur'an and piled Ahadith. But they dictate that hell is temporary for only the Muslims not the disbelievers. As far as Christian scripture no. But do take into fact that Hades the Greek god of the underworld is used to refer to sheol or hell in the Bible. The very concept of hell is a corruption within the Bible since it derives so much from Hellenistic sources. I shouldn't even say derive since the Septuagint uses Greek concepts altogether to replace hebrew words.

 

[Domenic]

Are there any Christian denominations or personal opinions held by Christians that reject or have a strong varying interpretation of Hell?

I specifically wish to know how certain Christians reject the notion of hell considering its usage in the Bible. I have seen this belief held by various 'Christians' and I have always found it an odd rejection of basic Christian dogma.

Hell is from the word Hades. It means the common grave of mankind.

 

[Sha'irullah]

Hell is from the woed Hades. It means the common grave of mankind.

That is not the issue. The issue is how eternal damnation and rejection of Jesus Christ got mixed in with hades and Hellenism.

 

[Shiranui117]

That is not the issue. The issue is how eternal damnation and rejection of Jesus Christ got mixed in with hades and Hellenism.

IDK, honestly. Seems that along the lines, "Hell" stopped being the English version of "Hades" and became synonymous with the "Lake of Fire" from Revelation.

 

[Brickjectivity]

That is not the issue. The issue is how eternal damnation and rejection of Jesus Christ got mixed in with hades and Hellenism.

Christianity lost its universal character and become something else. As the Church hardened into a rigid system it fragmented, creating closed (self referential) systems of theology.

A reason eternal torment of hell-fire got worked into the scheme of things was the symbolism of dragons in the Bible, the relation in the Bible between fire and purification and the fact that first Rome and then the Byzantine empires were conquered and absorbed by invading Germanic tribes. These tribes had their own theories about the afterlife. Christian theology, which is quite universal in its original form, adopts traits from faiths it encounters. It is to be expected that pagan elements from European cultures have been incorporated. What is shocking and horrible is the past uses of intimidation and ignorance to control people.

In parallel to the above: The root cause is that 'The Church' embraced the monarchy instead of rejecting it as idolatry, calling 'Pax Romana' the fulfillment of prophecy. This highlights within the church a rapid acceptance of authoritarianism. Authoritarians find fear to be a righteous tool. The authoritarians incorporated fear into sermons and worked to remove objective thought and discussion from the community. They placed all kinds of restrictions on women, for example and carefully controlled who could perform ceremonies, who could marry, who could talk about holy matters. Everything became tightly controlled and miserable. Long before 6th century, Christianity had fallen. Personally I think this fall was anticipated and should hopefully be reversed in the long run. We shall see.

 

[Vouthon]

As Gaurya said above, the official position of the Catholic Church is that Hell is not an actual place but a spiritual state of the soul arising first in this life:

"...Hell is not a punishment imposed externally by God but a development of premises already set by people in this life...The images of hell that Sacred Scripture presents to us must be correctly interpreted. They show the complete frustration and emptiness of life without God. 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..."Eternal damnation", therefore, is not attributed to God's initiative because in his merciful love he can only desire the salvation of the beings he created. In reality, it is the creature who closes himself to his love. Damnation consists precisely in definitive separation from God, freely chosen by the human person and confirmed with death that seals his choice for ever. God's judgement ratifies this state...The thought of hell — and even less the improper use of biblical images — must not create anxiety or despair but is a necessary and healthy reminder of freedom..."

- Blessed Pope John Paul II (General Audience, July 28, 1999)