The Lake of Fire has been a theological topic of great controversy. Several cults reject the doctrine of eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire, instead they assert that the place is purely symbolic in nature, and are adamant that one should not take this teaching literally. However, any good student of the Bible knows that although there is much figurative language throughout the Scriptures, he should always interpret the Bible in the literal sense. Therefore, the believer of God’s Word should consider the Lake of Fire a literal place of torment. The Bible is clear that a place of torment does exist, and that it is a place where many real people will meet their final fate. Moreover, the Bible is clear on who will go to the Lake of Fire, and why they will go there. This research will show who is destined for such a place and why. This research will also analyze Scripture erroneously taken out of context by those who claim that a believer can lose his salvation and end up in the Lake of Fire. Scripture quotations are taken form the New American Standard Bible, NASB, unless otherwise noted.
What is the Lake of Fire? According to The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, the Lake of Fire is synonymous with the Greek term Gehen’na, which carries the same meaning. The word Gehen’na in the Hebrew language is Hinnom. The Hebrew word Hinnom refers to the Valley of Hinnom, which was a place near the city of Jerusalem in the Old Testament that served as a garbage dump for refuse. The Valley of Hinnom was also a place where idolaters practiced the sacrifice of infants to the god Molech. The valley later became a place where the bodies of dead criminals were taken for incineration. Due to its hellish nature, the valley eventually be...
... middle of paper ...
... Lake of Fire was not originally meant for man (Matt. 25:41), however, Jesus tells us that because a person does not believe in Him, he will be condemned (John 3:16), and the Day of Judgment awaits him (2 Pt. 2:9). Consequently, the punishment will be an eternal separation from the God that created him (2 Thess. 1:9). The Bible has made it abundantly clear that God does not take any pleasure in the eternal destruction of the wicked person. On the contrary, it is God’s desire that every man turn from the evil that he does and cling to Him for salvation (Ezek. 33:11). To show His love for unrighteous man, Christ died for every man (1 Pt. 3:18). Christ is the truth that will lead a person to salvation, and this salvation it is available to all men (1 Tim. 2:4), but it is man’s responsibility to repent and come to the knowledge of this truth (2 Tim. 2:25).
Faustino, Mara. Heaven and Hell: A Compulsively Readable Compendium of Myth, Legend, Wisdom and Wit for Saints and Sinners. New York: Grove/Atlantic Inc., 2004. Print.
Edwards describes hell as being the most horrific place and how no one is immune from falling into the hollows of hell. Edwards states, “their foot shall slide in due time (Edwards).” Our lives hang by a thin thread above the pits of hell. Such a contrarian view by a preacher must be taken seriously. We can live our lives to the fullest, or we can live our lives in trepidation of being banished to hell. People of the congregation mu...
...coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, and irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell. (6)
1. “It is dark here. The flame of the candle stands still in the air. Nothing moves in this tunnel save our hand on the paper. We are alone here under the earth. It is a fearful word, alone. The laws say that none among men may be alone, ever at any time, for this is the great transgression and the root of all evil.” pg. 17
In Dante’s Inferno hell is divided into nine “circles” of hell; the higher the number correlates to the grimmer the sin and the pain you will endure. However, I do not completely agree with Dante’s version of hell, perhaps due to the difference in time periods. In this essay I will be pointing out my concerns with Dante’s description of hell and how I would recreate hell if I were Dante.
Murray, Michael J. "Heaven and Hell." Philosophy of Religion: A Reader and Guide. By William Lane. Craig. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 2002. N. pag. Print.
Dante’s Inferno presents the reader with many questions and thought provoking dialogue to interpret. These crossroads provide points of contemplation and thought. Dante’s graphic depiction of hell and its eternal punishment is filled with imagery and allegorical meanings. Examining one of these cruxes of why there is a rift in the pits of hell, can lead the reader to interpret why Dante used the language he did to relate the Idea of a Just and perfect punishment by God.
The first mention of Mt. Sinai in the Bible is in Exodus chapter 19, where the Israelites camped at the foot of the mountain. God tells Moses to inform the people of what to do in preparation for when the Lord would descend onto the mountain. When the time came, Mt. Sinai was covered in smoke, for God had descended wrapped in flames. When Moses went to the top of the mountain to meet with God, he was given the Ten Commandments, the laws of what would become the laws of Israel. Moses was also informed of other laws outside of the commandments. Laws such as treatment of servants, injuries, protection of property, justice, mercy, and the sabbath.
Dante Alighieri presents a vivid and awakening view of the depths of Hell in the first book of his Divine Comedy, the Inferno. The reader is allowed to contemplate the state of his own soul as Dante "visits" and views the state of the souls of those eternally assigned to Hell's hallows. While any one of the cantos written in Inferno will offer an excellent description of the suffering and justice of hell, Canto V offers a poignant view of the assignment of punishment based on the committed sin. Through this close reading, we will examine three distinct areas of Dante's hell: the geography and punishment the sinner is restricted to, the character of the sinner, and the "fairness" or justice of the punishment in relation to the sin. Dante's Inferno is an ordered and descriptive journey that allows the reader the chance to see his own shortcomings in the sinners presented in the text.
Another aspect of hell that surprised me was that the devil was standing on a frozen lake. This isn't the picture of Larson's Far Side hell scenes, nor is the devil the cool, rebellious bad boy of Milton's Paradise Lost.
What I detected, rightly or wrongly, was an animus against punishment as such. When I gingerly introduced the subject of Hell, those who had spontaneously rejected capital punishment and then had some second thoughts about life imprisonment when looked at in itself and not as an alternative to the death penalty seemed inclined toward a creative interpretation of eternal punishment. And of course there have been eminent theologians who have wondered aloud about the doctrine of Hell. Even Jacques Maritain, late in his life had written equivocally on the subject.
While subsequent passages that deal with the geography of hell, notably the description of the mount that is stripped of it’s gold to build Pandemonium (I.669-674) and the lands encountered by the devils who spread out to explore following Satan’s departure (II.570-626), include some, and in the case of the latter ample physiographic detail, the closest we come to a an explanation of the relationship between the various regions of hell is that there are four rivers that run through them (II.57...
It is with the second circle that the real tortures of Hell begin. There lie the most heavy-hearted criminals in all of Hell, those who died for true love. Here, those who could not control their sexual passion, are buffeted and whirled endlessly through the murky air by a great windstorm. This symbolizes their confusing of their reason by passion and lust. According to Dante, ?SEMIRAMIS is there, and DIDO, CLEOPATRA, HELLEN, ACHILLES, PARIS, and TRISTAN? (Alighieri 57).
Our Lady visits hell, and the Archangel Michael leads her through the torments. She sees the sinners and their punishment. There she sees among others one noteworthy set of sinners in a burning lake; some of them sink to the bottom of the lake so that they can't swim out, and 'these God forgets'- an expression of extraordinary depth and force. And so Our Lady, shocked and weeping, falls before the throne of God and begs for mercy for all in hell- for all she has seen there, indiscriminately. Her conversation with God is immensely interesting. She beseeches Him, she will not desist, and when God points to the hands and feet of her Son, nailed to the Cross, and asks, 'How can I forgive His tormentors?' she bids all the saints, all the martyrs, all the angels and archangels to fall down with her and pray for mercy on all without distinction.
"God hath promised the hypocrites, men and women, and the rejecters of Faith, the fire of Hell; therein shall they dwell; sufficient is it for them: for them is the curse of God, and an enduring punishment." (9:68)