Why is there no mention of God creating Hell in Genesis?

[Robert_Sock]

I’m not familiar with the context of this verse, but I would bet there is more to it than what appears at face value. Perhaps John was referring to loving material possessions and money or engaging in immoral behavior?

20* Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21* So these came to Philip, who was from Beth-saida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew went with Philip and they told Jesus. 23* And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. 24* Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25* He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If any one serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honor him. 27* “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28* Father, glorify thy name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd standing by heard it and said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31* Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out; 32* and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what death he was to die. 34* The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains for ever. How can you say that the Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man?” 35* Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. 36* While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said this, he departed and hid himself from them.

 

[meltzerboy]

Robert_Sock:
Jesus is speaking according to the Mishnah tradition of the Pharisees, who preached in the form of parables. The prior verse is the key to the meaning. My initial interpretation is that we must undergo a transformation in order to have eternal life. If we, like a grain of wheat, do not die to our old life and its pleasures, then we will never experience a new and glorified life, just as the grain of wheat will not yield fruit. Instead, we, like it, will remain alone and isolated in our earthly life attached to our earthly needs.

 

[Robert_Sock]

I’m not familiar with the context of this verse, but I would bet there is more to it than what appears at face value. Perhaps John was referring to loving material possessions and money or engaging in immoral behavior?

Here are a few related quotes:

The death of the just: Death will reach everyone, the good and the bad; but the destiny of each one is quite different. The just man sees himself in this valley of tears as a prisoner, serving a very hard term. He considers himself a slave in this world, suffering an extremely distressing servitude. He regards himself a sailor caught in a horrible storm. And as death means an end of his confinement, an end of his slavery, and is the port of his salvation, he ceases not to cry with David, “Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged!. . .” (Ps. 119:5). He ceases not to ask with the Apostle, “. . . Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24)
–The Golden Key to Heaven, by Saint Anthony Mary Claret

Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!

 

[Robert_Sock]

Everyone look at our world and notice all the different levels of torment, We live in a world of good and evil, but I’m focusing on the evil in this thread.

 

[rcwitness]

Everyone look at our world and notice all the different levels of torment, We live in a world of good and evil, but I’m focusing on the evil in this thread.

hey, that’s easy for you to do…you live in L.A.

“While you have the light, believe in the light, that you might become sons of the light”

Maybe it’s better to focus on the light…?

 

[Trigonometric]

I still think that the life we are living here in this world is a living Hell, designed to promote LOVE and elevate our souls…

Read some of the Biblical descriptions of Hell, “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” (Mark 9:44).
As bad as this planet may be, it’s not eternal, and it’s nowhere near as bad. Not even the worst suffering here on Earth could be as bad as Hell. I’m not saying this life can’t be a struggle, but Hell is much worse.

 

[allhers]

Everyone look at our world and notice all the different levels of torment, We live in a world of good and evil, but I’m focusing on the evil in this thread.

Maybe this will help you. The Last Things:
ewtn.com/faith/teachings/lastxmenu.htm

By the way, tomorrow is Divine Mercy Sunday:
…I want to grant complete pardon to the souls that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of My mercy. (Diary 1109)…
ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/feast.htm

 

[irenaeuslyons]

Hell is mentioned in Genesis a few times,

For instance:
credobiblestudy.com/roman/en/catholic-bible-douay-rheims-ot-book-genesis-gen-chapter-37/1/37/35

And here:
credobiblestudy.com/roman/en/catholic-bible-douay-rheims-ot-book-genesis-gen-chapter-42/1/42/38

But you are right to say that it does not mention God creating it by name. However, I think God creating it can be inferred, since hell is a physical place, and not just a theological concept (i.e. distance from God). We don’t know where it is, but the devil does not have the power to create. Only God can bring something into existence. It is also fitting that it be created by God, because he is Justice. He is infinitely Just. Without Hell, we would not have free will, for there must be a place reserved for those who choose to reject God’s holy way.

 

[Robert_Sock]

Jesus is speaking according to the Mishnah tradition of the Pharisees, who preached in the form of parables. The prior verse is the key to the meaning. My initial interpretation is that we must undergo a transformation in order to have eternal life. If we, like a grain of wheat, do not die to our old life and its pleasures, then we will never experience a new and glorified life, just as the grain of wheat will not yield fruit. Instead, we, like it, will remain alone and isolated in our earthly life attached to our earthly needs.

There’s a lot of Good too that must be taken into account along with the evil. Namely, our world allows our souls to become much more elevated than if evil did not exist. If it were not for evil, we would live in a twilight world with little chance of the soul being elevated.

 

[Robert_Sock]

Jesus is speaking according to the Mishnah tradition of the Pharisees, who preached in the form of parables. The prior verse is the key to the meaning. My initial interpretation is that we must undergo a transformation in order to have eternal life. If we, like a grain of wheat, do not die to our old life and its pleasures, then we will never experience a new and glorified life, just as the grain of wheat will not yield fruit. Instead, we, like it, will remain alone and isolated in our earthly life attached to our earthly needs.

A little known fact: When Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, he included a depiction of a poor soul with the fist of a demon stuck up his anus. Some may call it crude, but it depicts homosexuality as an abomination in the eyes of God. Our world indeed contains good and evil, not good versus evil.

 

[Jerry-Jet]

Hell is real. St. Faustina said that she once was taken to see what Hell was like.

She said that a lot of people who went to Hell didn’t believe there was a Hell.

The reason that Hell is so awful is a matter of justice.

Anyone who rejects the infinite love that Jesus exercised on the Cross really belongs in Hell and actually they would rather be there than be with Him.

God loves us so much that He LETS us go to Hell if that’s what we choose.

God is even merciful when it comes to Hell because even though the duration of it is infinite and the PAIN of it is severe–the PAIN of it is not infinite–which is the penalty that is deserved.

If more of the world believed in the sheer reality of Hell we’d have a lot less problems in the world today.

How many people that get and support abortion do you think believe in Hell?

How many people who are for gay marriage believe in Hell?

Today is Divine Mercy sunday and Jesus want to shower that Mercy on the worst of sinners.

Lord have mercy on us and Lord have mercy on lost sinners.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

Read some of the Biblical descriptions of Hell, “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” (Mark 9:44).
As bad as this planet may be, it’s not eternal, and it’s nowhere near as bad. Not even the worst suffering here on Earth could be as bad as Hell. I’m not saying this life can’t be a struggle, but Hell is much worse.

So true. God can reach us here on Earth, and God is palpably present in many people’s lives. Whereas in Hell, God is NOT THERE. Can any of us even imagine the pain of the TOTAL ABSENCE of God???

 

[fisherman_carl]

Why is there no mention of God creating Hell in Genesis?.

I don’t know but Jesus in Mark 9:48 when he speaks of Gehenna or hell and how their worm does not die is quoting Isaiah 66:24:

“And they shall go out and see the corpses of the people who rebelled against Me, for their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring for all flesh.”

Gehenna I have heard was a place where children were sacrificed to the false God Mulloch and was also used in Jesus’s day as a garbage dump where they would burn garbage. The valley of Gehenna was mentioned several times in the OT. See en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehenna

Hell is really a state of being alienated from God. So it might not be so much a place as a state. The Orthodox view heaven and hell as God. That is there is no place where God is not. That is a person in heaven is in God’s presence and is able to receive God’s love. And a person in hell is in God’s presence but unable to receive it because of their sinful heart. In the former the person experiences total bliss. In the latter they experience hell because God’s love or his light is like torture to them. Imagine someone in the dark all day and walking into the blinding sunlight. Their eyes would feel tortured, not used to the light. But someone walking around in the light all day is already adjusted to it.

 

[cheezey]

I’m not familiar with the context of this verse, but I would bet there is more to it than what appears at face value. Perhaps John was referring to loving material possessions and money or engaging in immoral behavior?

But God’s blessings are all around us. And we can chose His life everyday. “Our hour is always here”

In hell, there is no hour. just shadows.

…
“While you have the light, believe in the light, that you might become sons of the light”

Maybe it’s better to focus on the light…?

…Hell is much worse.

difficult to imagine at times, but yes.

 

[R_C]

We live in a world of good and evil

We do not.

The only sensible, rational way to define evil is as imperfect good, always in good, and accidental to good.

We live in a world in which our ill will and fallen nature and imperfection and concupiscence (the worst possible way of living our God-given free will, that is) has led to the fullness of goodness, the perfect good, to be hidden from the eyes of men. That is why Christ the Light came down here: to remind us, to show unto us, and to transform us in Him, that we may show unto others.

We live in a world in which the princes and powers of the “world of darkness” try to gather followers by usurpation of the authority of the true King, Christ. These wretched creatures gather self-subjected followers and make much noise and clatter to make everyone believe all is lost. The earth was covered in darkness as the Son of Man was nailed to a Cross, and the world shook in distress as He gave up His spirit and a lance opened His Sacred Heart. The Earth was truly empty, now, and covered with darkness. But God said once more, in the New Creation sealed under the New and Everlasting Covenant: “Let there be light.” And there was Light. Christ the Light. “In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” He rose, and we rise with Him. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” He told all of us: “you are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. I will be with you always, until the end of time.”

Is there darkness in the world? Yes, there is. But “the true Light that gives light to everyone” is also in the world. We do not live in a world of “good and evil”, of “light and darkness”. We live in the world that Christ has overcome, over which He has received all authority.

What is, then, the problem? Perhaps we are unwilling to suffer? But if the Son of God chose to suffer, then - mystery great indeed - there is something sacred in suffering for the sake of one’s brothers and sisters, especially when one is subject unfairly to suffering (though, as we carry our cross, we can probably all echo the good thief: “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man, Christ, has done nothing wrong.”).

Darkness will never prevail. Never. Because Christ stated with words that will never pass: “Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.” We must trust in Him, with faith and hope, but even if those two imperfect things were to fail, the perfect one remains: we must love Him. Then everything will make sense, and even in darkness “we shall need no light from lamp or sun, for the Lord God shall be our Light” and “even though we walk in the valley of the shades of death we shall not fear, for God is with us”.

 

[Jerry-Jet]

No darkness will not prevail but the universalists spout such things to trying to state that the light will make everything light forever.

It won’t!

Hell is SCREAMING, DARKNESS, suffocating foul odor and torture by demons and crushing despair–total alienation from God with no hope forever and ever and ever while one remembers all the times one could have avoided Hell.

It is the crushing weight of being with Satan forever–being tortured and horrified by demons while one never stops crying and shrieking and cursing and hating.

Please spare us the oh it’s just a state don’t I sound like a theologian sophistication nonsense!

Hell is the most painful to the senses and soul nightmare that NEVER stops!

Yes–one really does FEEL the burning–the bodies of the unjust are reunited with the unjust souls so that BOTH body and soul FEELS the tortures of Hell.

And one FOREVER knows the joys and complete ecstasy of those in heaven while one FEELS the horrors of the other souls with them in Hell FOREVER SCREAMING!!!

Anyone who does not seek out the Divine Mercy of Jesus after knowing the REALITY of Hell and the CERTAINTY of Christ’s judgement and our eventual death really does hate Jesus and really does deserve to go to Hell!

No one has to go to Hell FOREVER!

The best way to avoid Hell is though Jesus and His Catholic Church.

 

[Robert_Sock]

I feel that God is going to judge me more harshly for all the graces he has given me,

 

[R_C]

I feel that God is going to judge me more harshly for all the graces he has given me

“When someone has been given much, much will be required in return”…However…

The Father has given “all judgment to the Son”. Yet the Son did not come to judge, but to save and to give the life he has in himself. By rejecting grace in this life, one already judges oneself, receives according to one’s works, and can even condemn oneself for all eternity

Thus, as long as you accepted those graces…