i'll have to refresh on daniel, but the new testament hell is typically the grave (as in a potatoe - Danny told me so - was planted in hell) with a few exceptions where it meant the place where fallen angels may be restrained or when it referred to the Gehenna garbage dump where everything burned up and died... except those pesky worms which always seemed to survive in that horrid environment.
the bible is ultra clear that the wages of sin is death. the first lie recorded in the bible is when satan said that adam and eve wouldn't die (i.e., they have an eternal soul). funny, nearly every christian church teaches that first lie satan is said to have told adam and eve.
since it is crystal clear that the penalty for knowingly and consciously rejecting god's way of kindness is death, the people have tried to make death = life, which is really bizarre when one thinks about. is black, white? is up, down?
whatever it takes to hold fast to the tradition of people.
to clarify, when i say god doesn't do harm to people, i don't mean that he can't pummel you physically in your current vessel of clay. ask job about that.
a child doesn't like to be spanked by a loving parent who is trying to teach them to keep their hands off the cool glowing red stove, either.
the pain and suffering serves a much greater, eternal purpose. it ingrains in us that our ways inevitably lead to pain and suffering and that god's way of caring for others equal to oneself (not more, not less) is the right way.
the angels never had that experience and, apparently, 1/3 rejected the way of decency and kindness and tried to "get theirs" and now live in apparent eternal misery.
if only they had tasted the stench of selfishness before making that decision. well, we will have tasted the stench - and it will lead to an ultimate good similar to how that spanking keeps little hands off of cool glowing red burners.
every time i've gotten into trying to interpret vague parts of the bible i've embarrassed myself badly, so i now pretty much try and stay with the obvious stuff.
you know, love your neighbor as yourself, care for the needy and stuff like that. one could meditate on that stuff for a lifetime and still end up bewildered. going out and trying to actually work those ideas is awful difficult. succeeding is impossible for mere mortals. i figure that's enough to keep me busy well past my last breath.
if i go off on a vague tangent, i'm sure the embarrassment is right around the corner. ;-) |
