Architecture...deconstructing Hell

 

I continue to think deeply about " Hell " after a recent friend was sent in exile after daring share what he had lost by loosing " Hell." Really Hell has become the trump card in the game of evangelism. I venture to say it's almost bigger than Jesus, because if we can't convince them with Jesus teachings, his own words...and how he lived out the fullness of humanity. We will scare them to our side by a clever piece of architecture that we've constructed and really has nothing to do with God, or Jesus. 

Even from the earliest writing of the " God Story " there was no idea of an immortal soul living a full and vital life beyond death, nor any resurrection or return from death. We saw our selves not much different from the animals we would name, like livestock, creatures that move along the ground, wild animals...from the dust of the earth, and at death they will return to the dust.

Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried; you started out as dirt, you'll end up dirt."  ( Genesis 3:19, Eugene Peterson's, The Message )

About the closest we come, and it is really stretching, to Hell in the Old Testament is " Sheol " Job gives us a glimpse in his profoundly mysterious story. " All the dead go down to Sheol, and they lie there in sleep together...whether good or evil, rich or poor, powerful or weak, slave or free. 

 "Why didn't I die at birth, 
   my first breath out of the womb my last?
Why were there arms to rock me, 
   and breasts for me to drink from?
I could be resting in peace right now, 
   asleep forever, feeling no pain,
In the company of kings and statesmen 
   in their royal ruins,
Or with princes resplendent 
   in their gold and silver tombs.
Why wasn't I stillborn and buried 
   with all the babies who never saw light,
Where the wicked no longer trouble anyone 
   and bone-weary people get a long-deserved rest?
Prisoners sleep undisturbed, 
   never again to wake up to the bark of the guards.
The small and the great are equals in that place, 
   and slaves are free from their masters. ( Job 3:11-19, Eugene Peterson's. The Message )

And from our earliest imagination, we construct Sheol...the exit door off the grand stage of life's drama through which mysteriously enough every character will leave. Through the the early " God Story " we are to imagine this Sheol, this " Exit Door ",  as being a region that is deep and dark, the pit, this land, this void of forgetfulness...where we are cut off from both God and humanity. It is this profound place, space of suspended animation...of total separation. It really is the flip side of the world above...of life, and light. One only need to reflect on how consumed Jesus was in his mysterious parables, with the paradox of light and life. But the really profound truth about the earliest imagination of this mysterious " exit " of the grand stage of life, is that there is no idea of judgement, or of reward, or of punishment.

So I have to ask the big question...did God one morning woke up, and forgot to take his medication and had a psychotic episode, grabbed an eraser and started to edit and re-write this eternal predestined script. Or did we grow fearful of the idea that we might end up in the crazily diverse place Job speaks about. The fear just kept gnawing at us...there had to some kind of exclusion...a good place and a bad place. 

Jesus mysteriously interjects, in Matthew..." In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. "

We get our chance to to exclude, when something is lost and gained in translating the original script to Greek. A lot of times we think we can exchange something word for word. But more often it is like trying  to put the square peg in the round hole. It has to be hammered in, and it is always messy...it never ever looks like it did before.

With some poor creativity the square peg ( Hades ), was manipulated with the help of scribes and scholars and forced into the round hole ( Sheol ). With Hades just didn't come the word, but it came with alot of messy baggage...Greek Mythology. With Hades came this mythological association of an after-life existence. And also in ancient Greek myth, Hades was named after gloomy deity who ruled over it. 

We finally got our wish...a place for bad people, who weren't like us...and better yet, we'd created a god in our image.

So, I go back to the image at the start of my post, " Architect : Really, the best you can do? The building is ugly, and therefore irresponsible. Future generations will have to live with them. So go back to the drawing board. You can do better than this.

Really, Hell is of our own making. We chose a word in a place and time. Was there a better word that could have been chosen, a word with less baggage that didn't come with cultural, and mythological influence.

We need to go back and visit " Sheol " and re-imagine. If our theologians are unwilling, maybe from the fringe, the desert, the wilderness...the poets will come with words will reflect the reality of " Sheol " in our context, while hanging on to that same creative strand that first captured the imagination of God's people. It was a place of profound diversity, mystery, of rich and poor, powerful and weak, good and bad...it is filled with paradox...but I wouldn't call it hell.

 

Comments

[Paige Hughes]

There's something wrong with my brain. I can't seem to grasp what I'm reading - smelling chocolate cake baking, thinking of a trip to Library, getting ready for our youngest daughter's wedding this Saturday, wanting to read and decided on your post.... I CAN'T CONCENTRATE! (That was shouted inside my head not using voice.) It's all very philosophical (had to look that one up for spelling) and not literal any more or even mythic. In our thinking, what is it? Is it about naming it? Do we want an answer? There's enough of it on earth and we are all very aware of that. There's enough of it inside us. Anyone in their right mind and thinking clearly would want to escape it. We philosphize about it (yes, it's a word) and we grasp it and in doing that maybe we can see that somehow it can marry compassion in our lifetime and be put to practical use and give birth to Justice.

Paige
with blessings to you and yours

[ron cole]

" In our thinking, what is it? Is it about naming it? Do we want an answer? There's enough of it on earth and we are all very aware of that. There's enough of it inside us. Anyone in their right mind and thinking clearly would want to escape it. We philosphize about it (yes, it's a word) and we grasp it and in doing that maybe we can see that somehow it can marry compassion in our lifetime and be put to practical use and give birth to Justice."

Beautifully said Paige...I think that is why we need the poet, the artist they have the gift of not labeling something with a single word. They paint something, much in the same way Jesus' parables did...they engage us, unravel us, move us into a place where mystery engage us. We so want to point at something a say with certitude...Yes! but we can't we keep coming back again again.

[Marcus Ampe]

In Scriptures all answers can be found and when the language of the time is taken in consideration, clearly sheol or hell is just the grave where every animal or human being is being placed when not burned or incinerated or cremated: the grave.

[Christadelphians]

When people die, they have paid for their sin. God shall not demand another penalty.
Sheol, the hell is the grave or sepulchre.