Think Of Hell As A Consequence Of Sin Itself
A member of a Church congregation approached the pastor after his 1 ½ hour service one Sunday morning saying, “Reverend, I didn’t know what hell was like until you kept going on and on with your 45 minute sermon!” Now every preacher has his “on” days and “off” days! And we all have our images of hell!
Catholics grew up with the image of hell involving eternal punishment in inexhaustible fire. In trying to understand the reality of hell, we naturally use images and symbols from our experiences in this world to describe the worst kind of punishment that could possibly be inflicted upon a person for a life hardened against God. For most of us, being burned alive expresses such horror – just think of the firemen who died fighting the forest fires in Arizona this past summer. We have all seen pictures, or maybe know people, who have been severely burned or scarred by fire. The recovery period comes with excruciating pain.
However, if we were living in the world’s Artic or Antarctic regions, fire would not be the worst punishment imaginable. Punishment there could involve hunting on ice; having the ice break off; and heading out to sea on an ice floe to be frozen bitterly to death. Images of hell depend upon the culture in which we live.
Something else to keep in mind is this. In the afterlife, we will be spiritual beings; therefore, nothing physical can ever really harm us. We can only be harmed by fire or ice or any other physical reality if we have a physical body.
How, then, can we understand hell? On July 28, 1999, in his weekly audience, Blessed Pope John Paul II reflected on hell as the absolute rejection of God. He said, “hell is the final consequence of sin itself…. Rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy.”
He went on to say that people possess human freedom to respond to God. However, people choose to reject God’s love over an entire lifetime, thus separating themselves forever from communion with God. Christian doctrine calls this eternal damnation – or hell. God does not impose this punishment on an individual. God sends no one to hell. The punishment of hell results from the choices made by people who act contrary to God’s will in this life. They cut themselves off from communion with God forever.
The Holy Father reminds us that the Bible uses symbols to describe hell. In the Old Testament, God had not yet revealed what happened to the dead. The Old Testament believed that the dead went to Sheol, a land of darkness or a pit from which no one could escape, where it was not even possible to praise God. Thanks to Christ’s Resurrection, the New Testament brings a new life to an understanding of the dead – Christ went to the kingdom of the dead and liberated them.
Eternal salvation is God’s gift to humanity, which people must freely accept. Therefore, the Bible tells us that all will be judged "by what they have done" (Rev 20:13); and each “shall stand before the judgment seat of God to give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:11, 12). The New Testament uses symbols to describe the destiny for evildoers as a fiery furnace, (Mt 13:42; 25:30, 41); like Gehenna with "unquenchable fire" (Mk 9:43). Or in the parable of the rich man, hell is a place of eternal suffering – with no possibility of return, nor of the alleviation of pain (Lk. 16:19-3 1).
