The Problem with Hell

When God sentenced Adam to death for the sin of disobedience, there was no mention of an immortal soul burning eternally. The Scriptures tell us simply the result of a sinful mortal life: “The penalty for sin is death.” (Rom 6:23). So why did a concept of a burning hell enter church doctrine? Christians need to be aware of the biblical definitions of "death" and "grave," and the correct interpretation of the word "hell," because the truth is that the word "hell" in both Hebrew and Greek means "grave," and both good and bad people go there. At the same time, "God is love," and assures people that the thought of burning anyone would never cross His mind:

“‘For Israel has forsaken me and turned this valley into a place of wickedness. The people burn incense to foreign gods—idols never before acknowledged by this generation, by their ancestors, or by the kings of Judah. And they have filled this place with the blood of innocent children. They have built pagan shrines to Baal, and there they burn their sons as sacrifices to Baal. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing! (Jer. 19:4-5)

“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the Day of Judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”      (1 John 4:16-18)

It is a mistake to assume that eternal torment is the penalty of sin in general, or even Adam’s first sin, when the Scriptures explicitly state that the wages of sin is death, not eternal punishment. In reading the Genesis account of humanity's separation from God and the sentence imposed, we find no suggestion of a future punishment, but merely of a death penalty. Later, the Lord says, "Dust you are, and to dust you shall return." (Gen. 3:19); he says nothing with respect to devils, fire and torment.  Similarly the same is found in the New Testament. Paul, who wrote significant portions of the New Testament, emphasizes, “I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.” (Acts 20:27), and says not a word about torment. Quite the contrary, discussing the matter of sin and its penalty, he says, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” (Rom. 5:12). Note that it was not eternal torment that humanity inherited from Adam, but death. The biblical data stands for all to see, so if someone suggests that death is not a sufficient penalty for sin, the Scriptures indicate that such a suggestion is illogical.

For the sin of disobedience, Adam and Eve, as representatives of early humankind, lost their home in paradise, eternal mortal life, and an intimate, face-to-face fellowship with the divine. In the place of these, they received sickness, pain, sorrow, and death. In addition, their descendants disinherited the intimate blessings of God and inherited mental, emotional, moral and physical weaknesses, along with, as the apostle declares, "A groaning creation." (Rom. 8:22). What they did not inherit was an afterlife of fiery torment and torture.

When I was about 19, I discovered (through listening to Christian leaders) that I was probably going to hell, for being gay. Young, impressionable, and with a relatively new faith, I listened intently to descriptions of tortuous, unquenchable flames, brimstone, and sulphur, that would burn human bodies forever and ever; of worms eating away at decaying flesh; total darkness without the presence of God; and worst of all, no release from these barbaric horrors for all eternity.   Thankfully, not long after that I began my first theology degree at London Bible College (now The London School of divinity), where I learned how to think and to understand the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek; I learned the foundations of ethics and philosophy, and studied church history, theological criticism, pastoral studies and a mass of other subjects, including gaining an appreciation and respect for other faiths. Needless to say, thanks to having Greek and Hebrew under my belt, I gradually gleaned from the Bible that I was not going to hell and that God actually loved me far beyond my wildest dreams and imagination.

Hell haunts people deep down inside, where they fear to put a foot wrong, and where they fail to admit uncertainty in case sudden surges of doubt disturb their secure world of faith (however large or small), or in case someone considers them less Christian and more heretical. I have no intention of doing away with hell as a dimension altogether. I can’t, since it does seem that God created hell for his fallen angels (Mt 25:41), and it is here that some people end up, out of free will and a personal choice of being apart from God’s presence; wilfully choosing separation from God. I shall speak more of this later. Even so, I am concerned about remaining faithful to the Christian scriptures, which make no mention of an eternal hell in the fire and brimstone sense, and remaining faithful to the God of love, who loves even the worst of the worst, including the world’s hateful leaders and mass killers such as the Joseph Stalins, Adolph Hitlers, Idi Amins, Pol Pots, and the Osama bin Ladens that have risen up over the decades. The traditional view of hell as a place of eternal punishment where unbelievers dwell in undying flames completely contradicts the image of God as ever merciful, limitlessly forgiving, and eternally compassionate. A traditional focus on hell as an evangelistic tool simply fails to authentically communicate the heart of the gospel - and if someone receives Jesus as Saviour merely to avoid hell, the entire point of Christ’s salvific work has been missed.

I am further troubled by the behaviour of those who claim kinship with God through Jesus, who for centuries have instigated and participated in horrendous denial of other people’s equality, the exiling and scapegoating of those considered ‘other,’ such as LGBT people, and their verbal or physical violence in the name of God; all underpinned with the presumptive judgement of ‘we are saved,’ ‘they are going to hell.’ There are a number of short simple points I want to make here:

Hell neither avenges evil nor reveals God’s power. It actually does quite the opposite. By holding on to the doctrine of an eternal hell we are, in essence, holding on to the belief that in the end God’s will to save all people (1Tim. 2:4; 2Pet. 3:9; Ezek. 18:23) is not enacted upon, which makes God either impotent, placing God’s infinite power and goodness in doubt, or it makes him lethargic and uncaring without any concern to follow through on his intentions.

Hell maintains the eternal existence of evil. The Bible tells us that, in the end, God will utterly abolish evil (Isa. 2:18; 1 Cor. 15:26; Eph. 2:15; 2 Tim. 1:10). However, somewhere in the expanse of God’s limitless perfect peaceful kingdom, the existence of a hell, filled with human souls suffering eternally, ensures that evil continues to survive eternally, totally contradicting God’s intent to be rid of evil. It leaves us with Epictetus’ paradox: “Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to.”

The existence of an eternal hell assigns eternal violence to the being of God. Traditional theories of hell not only maintain evil in eternal existence, but they also keep a cycle of violence in motion for all eternity as ‘unsaved’ souls suffer the ferocious barbarity of eternal torture because God requires it and even demands it. It flies in the face of any sense of a God of infinite love and compassion and puts him on a similar level to the ancient Greek gods such as Zeus and Hera, whose petulance, spite and fickleness were so human.

The existence of an eternal hell executes never-ending punishment, for sin that is limited to a human lifetime. This must raise the question of whether sin committed during one short, temporary life span actually deserves an eternity of punishment. Even in our own failing and very human society, we endeavour to deal fairly with perpetrators of criminal acts and make the punishment fit the crime. God is wholly fair in his judgement, with Christ reminding us that God “desires mercy, not sacrifice.” (Mt 9:13; cf. Hos. 6:6). Consequently, the existence of hell as a place of eternal torment and punishment absolutely contradicts any sense of a merciful God and makes him out to be the ultimate hypocrite.

Existence of an eternal hell heralds ceaseless hopelessness. Suffering perpetually in hell means that souls burning there forever exist without any hope of redemption. This must logically lead to the belief that God withdraws his unconditional love once a person’s body dies. In short, God’s love for us is intrinsically linked only to the physical body and the temporal realm, so once a person dies, grace disappears for anyone outside the dimension of heaven.

The existence of an eternal hell means that the concepts of God’s justice and God’s love clash. We are suddenly faced with a cruel heavenly Father who demands that unrepentant sinners spend eternity in flames and darkness, and thus we are presented with endless torture being acceptable as a divine means to achieve justice. This is simply not a biblical picture of the God who loves with everlasting love and deep, endless compassion. Such a view portrays a God who promotes eternal punishment as a positive aspect of his being, and as a facet of his divine love and justice, which is actually contradictory nonsense. So we attempt to unravel this paradox by appealing to God’s divine love and mercy on one hand, and his justice and wrath on the other, promoting a two-sides-to-the-same-coin God scenario in order to make sense of it.  However, such a view of God’s love, mercy, justice, and wrath must conclude that to love is to punish eternally and to punish eternally is just, which is simply not a biblical representation of the God of love and merciful Father as revealed through Jesus Christ.

I sometimes despair over the question of how many priests, pastors, and other Christian leaders across the world have their congregants scared out of their wits and running towards the kingdom of God purely as a precaution, and considering their faith to be an insurance policy against the threat of hell. I also believe God cares deeply about this. He desires to save us from choosing a life and an eternity outside his presence and choose instead both a temporal mortal life and an eternal life in loving communion with him and with one another, not by scaring us to death but by drawing us through his divine compassion, guiding with a tender hand, forgiving us, gently reconciling us to him, bringing us his blessing, and calling us to do the same with each other.

C.S. Lewis considered the doctrine of hell in his short but profound book, The Problem of Pain, saying, "There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this, if it lay in my power.  But it (1) has the full support of Scripture, and, (2) especially, of our Lord's own words; (3) it has always been held by Christendom [thus three arguments from authority]; and (4) it has the support of reason."

I think Lewis echoes the sentiments of many Christians, who are naturally troubled by the thought of people spending eternity in hell, although I completely disagree with Lewis on all four points, especially that the doctrine of hell has the full support of Scripture. Such a notion appears wholly unjust, and irreconcilable with the claim that God is infinitely good and loving, and incapable of doing evil. With this in mind, and with reference to what the Scriptures say concerning hell, I am convinced that the common fundamentalist understanding of the nature of hell is theologically misguided and based on, at best, a highly dubious rendering of biblical text.

When we consider the doctrine of hell, the ethical issues surrounding the reconciliation of the existence of a good, loving, and morally perfect God with the existence of hell must be addressed. Many Christians simply reject the notion that hell exists, arguing that ultimately all people will come to know God and be reconciled to him. This view, commonly known as universalism, is built on the claim that the point of God's judgment of fallible human beings is the promotion of repentance, of moral and spiritual transformation. With this as a foundation, it follows that even if hell exists, it is temporary and God will continue to work towards reconciliation for all until it is empty; in the end all people will freely say yes to God and come to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.

Another view, separationism, establishes the understanding that some people will be in hell for eternity, but purely because they choose to be there. They choose to be separated from God and God honours their choice in accordance with his gift of free will, so they will not be in hell because he sends them there, but because they want to be separated from God for eternity. This seems logical but hell, in this regard, certainly does not equate with the literal "fire and brimstone" conjured up for many. However, I think that is exactly the point: hell, from a separationism viewpoint needs to be understood fully as separation from God, not as a place of fiery torment and punishment, and this sense, the fiery damnation should be viewed as a metaphor for the devastation realised by those who truly want separation from God but for whom the reality of separation turns into a torturous and costly mistake - hence the wailing and gnashing of teeth Jesus speaks of (Mt. 25:30).

Being separated from God and the light of God, must leave one in utter darkness by default, desolate as if in a bottomless pit. The searing truth of that could certainly be like unquenchable flames that bring no peace and no rest. I believe the authors of the Christian scriptures intended their readers to understand the text exactly this way. A literal understanding leads to glaring contradictions, such as how could there be a place where both unquenchable fire and complete darkness are present simultaneously? Metaphorically understood, hell provides a cogent appreciation for what separation from God might actually look like and feel like for a human being made in the image of God and intended for relationship with him, but who chooses not to embrace such a relationship.

The point of the metaphorical imagery for separationists is that hell is eternal. It is not a temporary chamber of torture, but a place of separation from God who is regarded as the ultimate source of joy, love, peace, satisfaction and light. As Lewis points out in The Problem of Pain, those in hell have "tried to turn everything they meet into a province or appendage of the self; their very capacity for enjoying everything good is quenched in them. At death, the lost soul has his/her wish, to live wholly in the self and to make the best of what he/she finds there - and what is found there is hell." From this perspective, God really does not sentence people to hell. On the contrary, God's desire is for all people to turn to him and say yes (2 Pet. 3:9). However, God allows people to choose to reject him, even for eternity, giving them the freedom to choose out of his love for them and because of the free will he has given humanity.

Perhaps those in hell are remorseful and recognize their mistake, but choose to remain there because they are simply unable to enjoy the pleasures of heaven because of their sense of self and an ‘anti-God’ attitude.  They prefer to live apart from God's presence, rather than in it, and would not wish to leave hell if the only other option was heaven. This idea is made imaginatively clear in another Lewis work, The Great Divorce, where people in a hellish and dismal landscape are given the opportunity to visit heaven to experience what they are missing. Needless to say, a minority embrace heaven as a new home and are welcomed, but the majority hate it and cannot wait to return to their familiar, albeit lonely and gloomy existence in hell.

The apostle Paul undoubtedly preached a gospel of Universal Salvation and Reconciliation: Rom. 5:18-19, 6:10, 11:26, 32; 1Cor. 15:22-23a; 2Cor. 5:18-19; Gal. 3:8-9; Eph. 1:7-10; Phil. 2:9-11; Col. 1:15-20; 1Tim. 2:3-6, 4:9-10; and Tit. 2:11-12. There is one solitary statement he makes, in 2Thess. 1:9 that speaks of ‘everlasting (aionios) destruction’, but ‘everlasting’ is actually a serious mistranslation of the Greek word aionios. Aionios may be understood as epoch, life time, a long time, an age; it could also mean ‘continuity of action’, but it was never used in the sense of eternal, forever, or without end, either in Scripture or contemporary Greek literature. The Hebrew word, Olam, was similarly understood, hence when the Septuagint was composed, olam was translated as aionios.

Paul understood and presented the idea that God will not allow any unrighteous person to enter the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9), but he also fully understood that God’s power, love and justice will not allow any unrighteous person to remain unrighteous forever. Ultimately, in God’s time and order, all without a single exception will come to believe in the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, hence Paul’s note of praise that “at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” (Phil. 2:10-11). To emphasize this Paul confirms, “Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.” (Rom. 5:18). In short, since the whole of humanity inherited sin and death because of Adam’s rejection of God, so the whole of humanity has received forgiveness and eternal life because of Christ’s death and resurrection. Paul does not say ALL have sinned and only a FEW are saved; there is no differentiation in his use of ALL. This is why, when it comes to salvation, everyone actually already has it and it must be opted out of in order to risk any sense of entering an eternity of hellish nothingness.

While the concept of endless torment in hell is nowhere to be found in the Hebrew and Greek Manuscripts of the Bible, it is found in the writings of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. For example, Plato (427-347 BC) discusses the concept of hell in his dialogue ‘Gorgias’ where he speaks of everlasting punishment. Belief in eternal punishment in hell was indubitably a pagan belief, which was favoured and Christianised by the church in Rome in the early years of Christianity. The Schaff-Herzog Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge (Vol. 12, page 96: retrieved from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, online) notes:

“During the first five centuries of Christianity, there were six theological schools, of which four (Alexandria, Antioch, Caesarea, and Edessa, or Nisibis) were Universalist; one (Ephesus) accepted conditional mortality; one (Carthage or Rome) taught endless punishment of the wicked.”

The Roman Church first taught this pagan doctrine of endless punishment of the wicked as a doctrine of Christianity toward the end of the second century. The Roman Catholic Latin Church Fathers, Tertullian (160-220 AD), Jerome (347-420 AD) and Augustine (354-430 AD) embraced the doctrine of hell and taught it as part and parcel of the Gospel of Christ. Eventually, as a doctrine it incorporated the understanding that God’s punishment of everlasting torment would include those who rejected Roman Catholicism as the one true faith. Perhaps not surprisingly, these early Latin Church Fathers became highly venerated Roman Catholic saints.

In 382 AD, Pope Damasus commissioned Jerome to make a revised translation of the Bible in Latin. Jerome, a Roman Catholic from birth, believed in the doctrine of hell and produced the revised translation of the complete Bible in Latin known as the Latin Vulgate (circa 405 AD). Unfortunately, Jerome mistranslated and misinterpreted several key Hebrew and Greek words into the Latin Vulgate in order to support the already established Roman Catholic doctrine of hell. The Latin Vulgate became the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church, and today, it continues to be regarded as free from any doctrinal errors by the Roman Catholic Church. This version reigned supreme for over a thousand years and consequently the doctrine of hell became deeply entrenched into the psyche of the Christian world as if it were a true biblical doctrine; which is not surprising when we understand that the Roman Catholic Church held complete dominance over Europe and elsewhere throughout the Middle Ages, from the 5^th to the 16^th century.

From around 590-1517 AD, the Roman Church reigned supremely over the western world, controlling religion, philosophy, morals, politics, the arts and education, and became a very wealthy institution. For Christianity, these were certainly the dark ages. Vital doctrines of biblical Christianity had, to some extent, disappeared and the Roman Catholic Church refused to allow Scripture to be available in any language other than Latin. Those in possession of non-Latin Scriptures were persecuted and occasionally executed for crimes against the Church. Only priests were educated to understand Latin, and consequently this gave the church immense power to control not only the masses without question, but monarchies, armies, officials and diplomats. The Roman Catholic Church capitalised on this enforced ignorance of the peoples for over a thousand years, becoming financially rich and, one might argue, spiritually poor. The doctrine of hell ultimately enabled the Roman Catholic Church to maintain tight control over the general population. ‘Do as the church says, or you will go to hell’ must have been motivation enough to encourage anyone to do exactly as their priest dictated.

The first hand-written English language Bible translation was produced about 1380 AD by John Wycliffe, an Oxford professor, scholar and theologian. Wycliffe translated it from the Latin Vulgate - the only source text available to him. He was well-known throughout Europe for his opposition to the teaching of the organized Church, which he believed to be contrary to the Bible. With the help of his followers, called the Lollards, and his assistant Purvey, and many other faithful scribes, Wycliffe produced dozens of English language manuscript copies of the scriptures. Wycliffe died from a stroke in 1385 and was later denounced by the Church as a heretic in May, 1415. Pope Martin V was so infuriated by the activities of Wycliffe and his translation of the Bible into English that, 44 years after Wycliffe’s death, he ordered the bones of Wycliffe to be exhumed, crushed and scattered in the river Swift, which flows through Lutterworth.

In 1517 AD, Martin Luther, a Roman Catholic German monk, openly confronted some unbiblical practices of Roman Catholicism, and famously posted his 95 theses (in Latin) to display his displeasure of Roman Catholicism, most notably the sale of indulgences. This revolt by Martin Luther changed the course of western civilisation by initiating the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther abandoned many of the unbiblical teachings and practices of Roman Catholicism. He had a degree of understanding of the biblical truth of righteousness by faith alone. Sadly however, he failed to see the Gospel truth that ultimately, God grants the gift of salvation to all people, through Jesus Christ, extending through this age and beyond. Nor could Luther break loose from the Roman Catholic doctrine of hell. This was because of the supremacy of the Latin Vulgate and the domineering influence of Augustinian theology. He died without coming to understand the full extent of God’s love and forgiveness towards all people whom God created in his own image.

It is not surprising that the translators of the King James Version (1611 AD) were greatly influenced, both directly and indirectly, by the Latin Vulgate, and simply copied many of the translation errors made in the Latin Vulgate, in support of the doctrine of hell. The KJV was the standard version of the Bible for Protestant Christianity for nearly 350 years and it has been translated into many languages. The KJV has had a major influence on formulating the traditional Protestant Christian doctrine of hell which is, of course, similar to the Roman Catholic doctrine of hell.

Subsequent versions of the Bible have corrected the translation errors found in the KJV to varying degrees. However, the most popular versions of the Bible like the NIV, NKJV, NAS, RSV and others still retain the basic translation errors, which support the doctrine of hell. However, there are some versions like Young’s Literal Translation, Rotherham’s Emphasised Bible and the Emphatic Diaglott Greek/English Interlinear Bible, which make no mention of hell in their translations, correctly translating as ‘grave’ references to sheol and hades.

The doctrinal teaching of what is basically an unbiblical pagan doctrine of hell is a misleading teaching with enormous consequence. It changes the salvific work of Jesus Christ on the cross over sin and death for all people into a substantial and horrendous defeat for most people. Similarly, it turns the finished work of Christ on the cross for the salvation of the whole world into an exclusive situation for the few, justifying phobic attitudes towards people of other faiths, and those regarded as ‘different’ or ‘other’ such as LGBT people or those who do not abide by specific conservative evangelical or Roman Catholic rules of morality, and are therefore outside the saving grace of God.

Interestingly, no one in the Bible warns against the prospect of hell as much as Jesus does. He taught in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus that immediately after death the selfish rich man goes to the grave, ‘hades.’ There he is ‘in torment’, and complains that he is ‘in anguish in this flame’ (Luke 16:23-24). Of the humble Lazarus Jesus says that he is ‘at Abraham’s side’ (Luke 16:22), where he is blessed. Here as elsewhere Christ reveals the importance of serving and helping others who are poor and hungry, of being aware of more than the self, and not placing ourselves in situations where the reality of God and other people are ignored. Little wonder that, when questioned, Jesus replies without hesitation that the two most vital commands, which sum up the entirety of Scripture are, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, strength and soul, and love your neighbour as yourself.” (Mt. 22:36-40; Mk. 12:28-31; cf. Lev. 19:9-18). Later Paul writes that after death believers are ‘with Christ’ (Phil. 1:23).

These are the two states often projected as hell and heaven, and that we go there immediately after death. Although not entirely wrong, these are likely to be temporary states, while the judgment of the last day is awaited. Only then will the full glory of heaven and the full darkness of hell be revealed. How that occurs can only be left in God’s hands, given that mortality is governed by lineal time, while God and eternity stand outside of time. Remember, time was created by God to govern humanity on earth; in his realm there is no time. So for all we know, judgement and eternity may seem to ‘take time’ to occur, or it may be as if judgement and eternity happen simultaneously. We simply cannot know. Judgment on a variety of people on the last day is described in various ways in the Bible.

“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2).

John the Baptist about Jesus: “he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (Mt. 3:12).

Jesus talking about judgment on the last day: “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’ ” (Mt 25:41).

“. . . when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2Thess.1:7-9).

“And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:15).

Such verses indicate that there are two elements to the punishment of those who go into the solitary darkness of hell. Firstly, it appears to be a punishment without end, as seen from the words ‘everlasting’, and ‘unquenchable.’ Secondly, it is a severe punishment, most often compared to ‘fire’, although as previously stated this does not mean a literal fire, since other words are also used: ‘shame and contempt’, ‘destruction’, ‘outer darkness’ (Matthew 25:30). Basically, these terms point to a terrible reality, and the torments of hell will not be the same for everyone; the Bible strongly implies that some will be punished more severely than others:

“But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for the land of Sodom than for you” (Mt. 11:24).

“And that servant who knew his master’s will, but did not prepare or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. To everyone whom much was given, much will be required, and from him to whom has been entrusted much, much more will be demanded.” (Lk. 12:47-48).

So the severity of eternal punishment will depend both on what people have done in their lives, and on the opportunities they have had to hear and respond to God and/or the Gospel. God’s judgment is always righteous. Yet whoever believes in Jesus and follows him does not need to fear hell. He or she will be eternally happy in the presence of the Lord, whether in heaven or on the new earth God intends to re-create. Even so, most of the occurrences of the word heaven (or heavens) in the Bible are references to the atmosphere above the earth or the starry universe beyond, and in the same way, almost all occurrences of the word hell refer simply to the grave. Of course, as human beings we are not purely physical; and the body we have in eternity will be unlike the physical body we have in mortality. We also have a spiritual component (the conscience, the channel we use for contact with the divine, the moral analysis we make judgements on) and the soul (the seat of imagination, inspiration, memory and experience that makes us who we are, amoral and conscienceless). Both the Hebrew (nephesh) and Greek (psyche) words translated as soul mean literally, "breath of life." The Scriptures refer to animals as having the same breath (Eccl 3:19). However, the God-given spirit and soul components in every human being separate us from animals:

“But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.” (Job 32:8).

“Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.” (Eccl. 12:7)

The Ecclesiastes passage is occasionally cited as Scriptural support for the idea that individuals go to Heaven. However, it does not discriminate between saved and unsaved people, suggesting that both the good and the wicked enter heaven, and also worth noting is that it does not say that the spirit of a dead individual goes to heaven, so it may simply mean that the spirit returns to God’s possession, who could keep it anywhere he wants. Interestingly, the verse does not say whether the spirit is conscious after the death of the body.

The creation of humankind is different from the prior creation of angelic beings, and therefore must have a different purpose; otherwise, God would have simply created more angels. The Book of Hebrews, chapters 1 and 2 present a picture of mankind with a greater destiny than angels, sharing in the glory of God, and being given an eternal inheritance. According to Christian understanding, the Holy Spirit is given to all believers in Jesus Christ, presenting us with a further indwelling of God’s breath or wind (Ruah). As with the word soul, the Holy Spirit is associated with breath and wind, although other scriptures compare the Holy Spirit to fire and to water. One must receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in order to have a deepening relationship with the Father and the Son during mortal life, and also be given a spirit body for eternal life.

So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit." (Jn. 20:21-22)

When the Day of Pentecost arrived, the disciples were together in a locked room. “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, like a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then tongues of fire appeared, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:1-4).

We know that our physical bodies die at some point. While the first created human beings seemed to live for hundreds of years, God eventually limited the human lifespan to 120 years (Gen 6:3). So death, unless sudden by accident or by another’s intent, tends to arrive because our health gives in to illnesses, diseases, or conditions. Generally, people highly value living and being alive, and they would like to live longer, with better health and under better conditions. If the Bible presented no prospect of resurrection and living forever in the perfection of heaven, it might not be such a popular book, even if it does contain inspiring wisdom and plenty of guidance for making the best of mortal life. If there were no biblical reason to hope for a perfect and eternal life, one's motivation in mortal life would have to come from an entirely different source of inspiration. Not only so, but also funerals would be events of insurmountable grief if everyone knew that their dear departed was truly dead forever.

Some people may cry at funerals simply out of their sorrow for losing a loved one. Others may cry because they don't believe they will ever see their departed friend or family member again, perhaps indicating a lack of confidence in any belief they have concerning an afterlife. However, some may cry out of the personal opinion that the departed is destined for a far less desirable destination than the one they anticipate for themselves. Even so, if we understood the plan of God for humanity, we would know that there is real hope for everyone who dies, whether saved or unsaved.

Common images of an afterlife seem rather limited in scope, mainly because no one has come back from the afterlife with a photo or painted a picture of it. Those artist’s impressions we do have present the impression that life in glory could become seriously boring if we are there for eternity. Such impressions include activities like staring into the Lord's face, eating milk and honey, singing with the angels, and floating on clouds while playing harps. I am sure that God did not create human beings for eternal, but limited activities; and he must have better things for us to do than just sit around, staring into his face. In fact, isn’t eternity about continuing to grow relationships with the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and billions of others who have entered heaven? Isn’t it also about creative projects and activities; and no doubt a myriad of other things we cannot begin to imagine in our mortal flesh?

There will be no more tears of sorrow, troubles, illness or death. With immense energy and joy, we will be living life as it should be lived, and do so forever. The Father will receive worship and love from the huge human family he created, speaks of throughout the Scriptures, and into whose history he has continually broken through.   There will be endless joyful reunions between friends and family, and limitless reconciliations between former enemies. No doubt it would require eternity to really get to know billions of other people, so it seems just as well that time becomes endless. Being made in the image of God, we will most likely continue to reflect God's qualities in our activities, so there will still be music, art, literature, all manner of creativity and cultivation, humour, adventure, and all kinds of learning from God and one another. With such things to meditate on the possibilities become inexhaustible.

The Bible contains a variety of scriptures concerning subjects related to the communion of saints and the future disposition of human souls, yet there are also many different interpretations of such scriptures. Cherry-picking specific scriptures to support a particular dogma and adding a biased explanation, permits one to create whatever scenario preferred, but such dogma created in this manner cannot be relied upon. Only God’s truth will come to pass, as Peter points out: “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by an individual’s own interpretation of things.” (2 Pet. 1:20). So we are warned not to come up with our own interpretation. Instead, we need to seek an open understanding of everything we read in the Scriptures. Sound scholarship requires research of all biblical data relating to any particular subject, in this instance, life after death. Whatever picture emerges from Scripture, that gels with all appropriate biblical data is a teaching worth holding; and this should be done without twisting biblical verses, changing the meaning to fit personal opinion, or adding specific caveats. Logical deduction is necessary to unwrap biblical meaning, which is a difficult exercise for many people. Those who may need to let go of their cherished dogma frequently do so with trepidation and anguish. Even so the resulting understanding is more than worth the effort.

In this paper I have not covered every single scriptural passage relating to aspects of the soul, judgment, heaven, hell, mortality, immortality, death, sleep, resurrection, and eternal life, but the work covers a great deal and I encourage you to study further and meditate on what is revealed. Where we perceive a scriptural conflict, the reason is most likely a flaw in our own concept, rather than a flaw in the scriptures themselves. Or there may be instances where an original language word has been poorly or incorrectly translated to make it conform to the translator’s own bias, and I have covered some of those.

An added difficulty for some people studying the Bible is that prevailing teachings can redefine the meanings of some words. There are certainly cases where a variety of original words have all been translated into the same English word. For example, as already noted, almost all occurrences of the English word ‘hell’ in the Scriptures actually simply mean ‘the grave’ (Hebrew sheol, Greek hades), but one can also find where the word hell has been translated from the Hebrew word referring to a fiery rubbish dump (gehenna), or in one case a hell for angels (Greek, tartarus), as in 2Pet. 2:4. God did not inspire the writers of the Bible to write in such a way as to confuse us; it is we human beings who fail to study, and consequently invent flawed teachings.

So, when we seriously consider the biblical understanding we have concerning the ‘saved’ and ‘unsaved’ when it comes to eternity, we must conclude that there is actually great hope for both, considering that salvation is available to the whole of humanity through Jesus Christ. Only by choosing to opt out is there a risk of entering a separation from God and thus the eternal darkness of hell.

When God looked at humanity and was dismayed that he had created human kind, he decided to wipe humanity out by flood (Gen. 6:5-8). But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and he instructed Noah to build the ark, a large ship that was the size of two Wembley Stadiums. In it, Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives, plus numerous animals, survived a flood that ended the lives of all other human beings and most other creatures then living on the earth (fish had to fend for themselves), beginning roughly 1,660 years after the Genesis account of Creation.

Are all the people who died in that flood lost forever? Was the flood scored up as God: 8, hell: millions? Noah had preached for 120 years. Did all the people on earth hear Noah, understand what he said, believe what he said, and yet rejected his preaching? Did they all have a full chance for salvation, but wilfully and tragically discarded it away? That is what some Christians claim - that these wicked people received their final judgment.

What if the people of the pre-flood world heard Noah preach but didn't believe it or take it to heart? How much credibility might they have attributed to this man who was building a huge ship on dry land in the middle of a desert setting? What if they thought Noah was a religious nut and completely ignored what he said? After first drowning in the flood, did they then find themselves thrown into eternal darkness in hell? Many would say yes, that is where they suffer to this very day.

Fast forwarding in time, will there be yet a further uneven score between God and the devil as this present age ends?

"But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left." (Mt. 24:37-41)

Will billions of souls die unsaved when they lose their mortal lives? Those who profess to be Christians are certainly a minority of the present world population. Christians who believe in a pre-millennial ending to the world believe that these Matthean verses refer to being raptured, meaning that Christ will take the saved away from the earth before the worst trouble. But from the context, ‘taken’ seems quite likely to simply mean death, as with those who died in the Flood, since Christ was comparing conditions at the time of Noah with conditions at the time of his return. His point being that future events will see many die, just like at the time of the Flood, but some will remain alive on the earth. NB: Most preaching about the rapture utilizes the companion passage in Lk. 17:26-36 which, conveniently for the rapture doctrine, does not compare people at the time of the Lord’s return with the people whose lives were taken in the Flood.

Given the great loss of life in the flood, and the prophesied future loss of life near the time of Christ's return, is God's work of creation turning out to be a terrible experiment gone wrong? Are most human beings living in vain, never to be saved? Are billions of lost souls being tormented in hell’s darkness for all eternity for their failure to respond to the Gospel? Will the billions who were brought up in other religions and who never investigated Christianity also find themselves being tormented in hell forever and wondering why? What about those who never heard of Christ? And of those who have heard the name, how many were never motivated to learn about him or seek Him? Have their lives been lived in vain, without hope, pending eternal torment? If Christians receive a full chance, aren’t all non-Christians also recipients of that same full chance?

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12 in reference to Jesus Christ). Again, reading such a piece of Scripture in the light of Paul’s writing, the salvation Christ brings is indeed for absolutely everyone, just as thanks to Adam, the world and all humanity inherited sin and death. ‘All people’ can only mean everyone and never ‘us, but not them.’

If, apparently, so many people will not be saved, can we honestly say with a straight face that God is a God of love? Or say that God is omnipotent and competent, seeing how he seems to lose more souls to hell than he receives into heaven? If God is, in truth, a loser of souls we should actually be very seriously concerned about how we read Scripture. Sadly, many are not, simply because they are content with the concept of the lost staying lost, and only a few special people – like them - being saved. Such Christians are even happy with the idea of unimaginable eternal torment for the lost, because in their minds it must be deserved since God’s judgement is perfect. Paradoxically, what they are really saying is that their own opinion is perfect as is their understanding and judgement. They like the idea that they are "the few, the chosen, the saints." However, such a position is neither biblical nor correctly estimates the power of God. Indeed, this is exactly the kind of judgement and the type of personal opinion Jesus tirelessly spoke against as being entirely wrong:

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Mt. 6:14-15)

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Mt. 7:1-2)

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Mt. 7:3-5)

“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” (Mt. 23:2-4)

"But many who are first will be last, and the last first." (Mk. 10:31)

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.” (Lk. 6:37)

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Lk. 18:10-14)

“Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” (Jn. 7:24)

And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let whoever is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” (Jn. 8:7)

If God is infinitely loving, supremely intelligent, wholly determined, and limitlessly capable, then we would do well to acknowledge that God is entirely in control and has a perfect plan. He will right what is wrong and judge completely fairly, but with compassion, grace and mercy. There are reasons why God permits the sufferings which mankind endures, and reasons why God has at times directly ended the lives of many people – we simply cannot, in our human frailty, begin to grasp the reasoning of God. If God is mean, weak, incapable, and losing to evil, we should certainly fear to spend eternity with such a God. However, this is not the case, and his written word confirms that all will be made well and in the end, that every tear shall be dried and that sin, death, end evil shall indeed be no more.

There is tremendous hope for every single soul in the salvation of God regardless of size of faith or status, or indeed culture, race or creed, for whether people realise it or not Christ has brought salvation for all humanity. Similarly, God has hope for mankind, and the infinite power to see that hope realized. “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the children of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope: because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Rom. 8:19-21)

Whichever way we think of the devil, Satan, Lucifer, he remains subject to the will of God as a created, albeit fallen, angel and is not winning souls as if in a constant and equal arm wrestling match with God. An appropriate analogy might be to think of God as the Sun and Satan as a rather small candle – no real comparison at all.   If God wants to save all of His human children, then there must be a way to facilitate that goal, and Satan and the other rebellious angels cannot get the best of their Creator. If that were actually possible, it would have been madness for God to allow Satan into the Garden of Eden, and it would have been madness to allow the devil to roam the earth to this present day, brining deception, and causing havoc, and suffering. Since God is omnipotent, he has a plan by which the devil does not ultimately win.

Even so, prevailing teachings seem to acknowledge that the devil has notched up billions of lost souls, snatching them away from God. At the end of the day, God knows the nature of the devil - an angel, filled with pride and lust for power, who rebelled in heaven, convincing other angels to also rebel. The devil goes by the name of Satan (‘the accuser’) and is also known as the adversary in the Scriptures, "the god of this age," the "prince of the power of the air" and “the father of lies.”

God has allowed the devil to deceive and cause trouble ever since the Garden of Eden, but as can be seen in the Book of Job, he is still limited by God’s rules and cannot do more than God allows.  Until Christ returns, the devil will continue to do his contemptible work, motivated by irrational hatred, vindictiveness, and jealousy. However, unlike God, Satan’s time is not eternal and his ability to affect humanity will come to an end.

“...For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” (Rev 12:12

Satan, the devil, a former angel, wanted to usurp God, and did not succeed. Influencing God’s greatest creation, humanity, seems to have been the best way for him to express his hatred of God. Perhaps he is convinced that he can keep some people from being saved and attaining the glory he lost through his own pride. Whatever Satan’s thinking, he knows that his time of hurting humanity will end. God will turn the present situation around, and provide all of his children with salvation, from the most faithful prophet to the unsaved thief on the cross. And note that the potential for human beings is greater than for the angels. When this is achieved, with the destruction of sin, death and evil, God's work of creating humans in his image, and Christ’s saving of all humanity through his salvific grace on the Cross, will have been fully accomplished.