As we saw last week, the language of “hell” in the Bible refers to a temporary place where the dead go before Judgment Day. This is certainly true of the words Sheol and Hades. And it is probably true about the term Gehenna, though there is more debated about that in the word of biblical scholarship. So we are left with the question what happens after Judgment Day? What happens to those who are damned and excluded from eternal life with God? What is the final fate of the unrepentant? I wish I had the perfect answer to that question. I could probably make some money by pretending that there is a clear and obvious answer, but alas, there isn’t. There are some things that we seem to be able to say for sure, and there is much about which we can only speculate.

What We Can Say
As I mentioned last week, universalism isn’t an orthodox option, despite the appeal that it holds. The Bible seems to almost affirm a universalist position but there is one pesky person who keeps insisting on some kind of final sorting between righteous and unrighteous. That person is Jesus so there is some added authority to the idea. In a number of his teachings and parables Jesus makes clear that there will be some kind of sorting, some kind of separation, some final judgment that will divide people into two groups: one that is included in the eternal life of God and another group that is excluded from it. (See Matthew 13, 24-25, Mark 13, Luke 21 for some examples.) This final state, or place, is usually what we are talking about when we use the language of heaven and hell today. But what can we say about that final state? I’ll talk about heaven in a couple of weeks. Right now I want to review a few of the ways that people have “filled in the gaps” and imagined the final state of the damned, or hell.

Filling in the Gaps

Eternal Conscious Torment
Perhaps the best known image of hell is one of eternal, conscious torment. In this idea, the damned are excluded from the presence of God and tormented for all eternity. Often fiery images populate this idea, sometimes accompanied by red-horned devils with pitchforks. It is a very medieval image that is clearly built off of Jesus’ use of the term Gehenna. This is the kind of imagery that is used in the Christian “hell houses” and many “evangelistic” altar calls. But is it the only, or the best, option for hell? I don’t think so.

There are two issues that I have with the idea of hell as eternal conscious torment. One is the injustice of it all. This model requires that a finite person endure an infinite punishment for a finite sin. No matter how long you live, and even if you are a truly terrible person, you’ve sinned for a limited amount of years, probably measured in decades. I don’t deny punishment for such a person, but a never-ending, unlimited conscious torment seems to me overly vindictive and not very gracious.

The response to this objection would probably assert that the finite sin was against an infinite God, or against the image of said God in other people and therefore the punishment should be infinite. Perhaps, but maybe eternal conscious torment isn’t the only option for an infinite punishment.

The other issue I have this this model is that it seems to allow humans to be “alive” in some form while being alienated from God. This doesn’t work too well theologically. Humans are dependent creatures who can’t exist without God. We are not intrinsically immortal (See 1 Timothy 6:15-16) as this model would seem to require.

All in the Presence of God
One of the more interesting options for hell that I have come across is the idea that everyone spends eternity in the presence of God. Those who are repentant enjoy this presence as a joyful blessing, while the unrepentant experience this presence as a torment. I like this option as it recognizes the dependency of humanity. But I struggle with an aspect or two of it.

In this model, hell and heaven are in reality one objective place that is experienced differently by its inhabitants. Which makes heaven and hell subjective. This seems a weak option to me. I struggle to imagine how heaven could be truly heaven when it is populated by people who are experiencing it as hell. I think humans are too inherently relational (created in the image of a relational God) for this to work. Heaven can’t be just a subjective experience, at least not in my mind. (Pun intended.)

I also struggle to see how this model doesn’t lead to universalism. It would work as a kind of purgatory, or temporary state, where the inhabitants could “improve” or repent and learn to enjoy God’s presence. I struggle to imagine how the God who so loves the world that he became a man and died on a cross, could keep a multitude of people alive being tormented in his presence. Wouldn’t the love and grace of God eventually lead them to repentance? Eternity is a long time. Wouldn’t this model eventually become universalism?

Annihilationism
The final option I’ll offer is the one I’m most drawn to. (Though I humbly acknowledge that it is by no means the only option and that every other option available has been held by faithful, clear-thinking, intelligent Christians.) In this option, the damned are simply destroyed for all time. They are excluded forever from God’s presence; this is their infinite punishment. But to be excluded from God’s presence means to no longer be held in existence by God’s grace. So the damned simply stop existing. This is their final state after Judgment Day.

This view recognizes that humans can’t exist apart from God, and that heaven is an objective place of God’s full presence. It recognizes that the Christian hope is in resurrection, not just of bodies, but of the whole cosmos (See Isaiah 65:17, 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1-2). The whole universe is to be transformed into a heavenly paradise. If this is true, then where is hell? I find it significant that in Revelation 20 both death and Hades are destroyed in a lake of fire, along with all the damned. Who is to say that this isn’t a final and absolute destruction? Must we insist that the lake of fire persists even after the coming of the New Heaven and New Earth in which there is no sea? These questions don’t have final answers. But I think they are worth exploring.

Summary
Again, these are just some of the ways that people have filled in the gaps of what the Bible seems to say for certain about the nature of hell. Whatever model of hell we are drawn to, we would be wise to hold on to it loosely as there is insufficient authoritative evidence for any kind of detailed description.

I do find it important to recognize that our actions have eternal consequences (an unavoidable theme in the New Testament). Which means that the nature of heaven and hell must be such that the choices we make in our lives in some small ways lead us to one or the other final state. But that is the topic of another blog post. Next week, we look at the Rapture!