Dichotomy: division into two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups.
I already wrote about hell in a recent post. I defended the notion. It seems unavoidable from Scripture. I stand by it. However, I have to admit that the concept of Hell carries with it a certain dichotomy, an apparent contradiction.
I explained that Hell was basically separation from God. It's hard to avoid that conclusion. Jesus, talking to those who claimed to work for Him but never did, said, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness" (Matt 7:23). At the end of Revelation, John describes the New Jerusalem -- our standard perspective on heaven. He says, "Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood" (Rev 22:15). There is a view that says that Hell is simply the presence of God for people who hate God, and that would be torment. But how does that take into account these passages that talk about separation, not proximity?
So what's the problem? I have passages that tell me there is a separation from God. And why would anyone suggest otherwise? Well, the reason for such a suggestion is the problem. You see, if God is indeed omnipresent -- actually present everywhere -- then God is present in Hell. I know ... we've been told that's the domain of Satan. (Don't believe it. Nothing in the Bible supports that.) But if God is everywhere, He is there, too. So ... now we have a problem, don't we? If Jesus said "Depart from Me", but God is anywhere else you might go, how is Hell a separation from God?
There are a couple of given difficulties when we examine human concepts of God. One of the problems of human-to-God relations is this problem of finite v. infinite. Simply by definition, the finite cannot fully grasp the infinite. So when the demand is, "You must fully explain God", the demand is irrational. No human can fully understand or explain God. The second difficulty is that, being human, we can only relate to God in ways that we know. In other words, we can only work from our own perspective. God may (likely does) have a whole variety of aspects outside of our comprehension, but we can't see, understand, or even discuss them because we can only look at things from our own perspective. The truth is that all we can know about God is what He chooses to reveal to us about Himself, and we can only understand them from the things we know.
Well, here's what I know. I know that it is possible to be present and apart at the same time. You know how that can work. You know people who are lonely in a room full of people. You've had relationships with people where you are sharing the same space but there is a gulf between you. You're in the same geographical location, but you're not connected. Maybe you're mad or maybe the conversation is outside of your area of understanding or ... lots of reasons. But we're already familiar, as humans, of this odd dichotomy of being present but apart.
Since this oddity is something we can understand from our own experience, I don't see why it's so hard to understand from God's perspective. There are a variety of views on what Hell is in Christendom. Some argue it doesn't exist. That requires a presupposition that the Bible cannot be trusted and that what we have today is a modified Bible. Let's not go there. Some argue that "Hell" simply references the annihilation of those who die without Christ. This doesn't line up with the eternal torment passages ... primarily from the lips of Christ Himself. Some argue that it is eternal torment away from God and some (primarily Eastern Orthodox) argue that it is eternal torment in the presence of God. I would argue, from those last two ideas, that the right answer is "Yes!". God is omnipresent, so no one can be actually outside of God's presence. On the other hand, if you are one who loves God, being in His unadulterated presence would be sheer joy. If, on the other hand, you're one who hates God (Rom 8:5-8), then being in His presence would be agony. There would be a separation, not of geography, but of a different kind, and being one who loves the darkness forced into eternal light would be eternal torment. So I would say that it would be eternal separation from God in some sense.
Let me try explaining it from this approach. We've all heard the classic Jewish blessing: "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace" (Num 6:24-26). That's the standard biblical definition of "blessing" -- God's face is turned toward you. The standard biblical definition, then, of "curse" is not some "evil eye" or some such. It is simply the reverse of the blessing -- God's face is turned away from you. If you want peace, grace, security, and joy, you want God's face toward you. If God's face is turned away, there is no peace, grace, security, or joy. Now, consider this: In which of these two scenarios -- God's face turned toward you and God's face turned away from you -- is God not there? One is eternal joy and one is eternal torment, but God is present in both. The separation in this description is not geographical; it is relational. Does that help?
2 comments:
Yes, Stan, it helps. Thank you!
It makes good sense within our limited human understanding. The things we go through here on Earth ~ the inability to really, truly "connect" (BEYOND superficially) with a whole LOT of fellow humans, feelings of loneliness, and of being "outsiders" even when people are all around us ~ those experiences must be for some purpose that we too often don't grasp.
We think there must be something wrong with us when that happens! Something is certainly amiss! Lonely in a crowded place? Lonely on a planet of millions? That's crazy. That's pretty weird. And you can be very busy but, once you settle down and face your reality, still feel lonely.
God wants to be our "all in all" now and forever. That, too, is something pretty darn hard for many to grasp, because probably MOST of us seek human-to-human relationships above all else. We can SEE, HEAR, and FEEL those beings fairly regularly and predictably. But of course God wants us to slip out of our skin and experience what we can NOT just on the surface level and to enter into our eternal lives with Him NOW.
With our limited human understanding, it seems it WOULD be hell to perhaps be in close enough proximity to see God Almighty, the maker of Heaven and of Earth, and to feel the sheer awesomeness of His very presence, maybe to hear those who ARE with Him, but then to feel completely ignored by Him ~ the being who has wanted to be our heavenly FATHER. NOT to be acknowledged by Him as someone of importance/worth and as a child of His, an heir of His vast riches and blessings would be more than enough to make a person regret not having given Him "the time of day" during his or her life.
Depicting it as a piece of real estate, as an appealing draw, you could say of Hell, "Lake of fire not included", and it would still not be someplace in which anyone would want to live out the rest of his or her time. Lakefront property or not.
"Depicting it as a piece of real estate, as an appealing draw, you could say of Hell, 'Lake of fire not included', and it would still not be someplace in which anyone would want to live out the rest of his or her time."
Colorfully put. Sadly, there are too many today who are happy to think of themselves as going to Hell. "I wouldn't be happy in Heaven." They don't understand that what you said there was quite true.
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