I hope you don’t mind if I quote a small piece out of Timothy Keller’s book ‘The Reason for God’
People seem to think that hell works a little bit like this -
God gives us time, but if we haven’t made the right choices by the end of our lives, he casts our souls into hell for all eternity. These souls in hell then cry out for mercy but God say’s “Too Late! You had your chance! Now you will suffer!”
However, I believe this misunderstands the very nature of evil.
The biblical picture is that sin separates us from the presence of God, which is the source of all joy, love, wisdom or good things of any sort. Since we were originally created for God’s immediate presence, only before His face will we thrive, flourish and achieve our highest potential. If we were to lose His presence totally, that would be hell, the loss of our capability for giving or receiving love or joy.
A common view of hell is fire; fire disintegrates. Even in this life we can see the kind of soul disintegration that self-centeredness creates. We know how selfishness and self-absorption leads to piercing bitterness, nauseating envy, paralysing anxiety, paranoid thoughts, and the mental denials and distortions that accompany them. Now ask the question:* “What if wen we die, we don’t end, but spiritually our life extends on into eternity?” *
Hell then, is the trajectory of the soul, living a self-absorbed, self-centered life, going on and on forever.
Jesus’ parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man in Luke 16 supports this view of hell presented here, Lazarus is a poor man who begs at the gate of a cruel rich man. They both die and Lazarus goes to heaven while the Rich Man goes to hell. There he looks up and sees Lazarus in heaven.
The Rich Man and Lazarus:
Luke 16:19-31
19 “There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Laz′arus, full of sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Laz′arus in his bosom. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Laz′arus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Laz′arus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’
27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.’”
What’s interesting is that though their statuses have now been reversed, the Rich Man seems to be blind as to what has happened. He still expects Lazarus to be his servant and treats him as his water boy. He doesn’t ask to get out of hell, but strongly implies that God never gave him and his family enough information about the afterlife.
Others have noted the amount of denial, blame-shifting, and spiritual blindness in this soul in hell. Others have also noted that the Rich Man, unlike Lazarus, is never given a personal name. He is only called a “Rich Man” strongly hinting that since he had built his identity on his wealth rather than on God, once he lost his wealth he lost any sense of a self.
Please continue to next post -
