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By John T. Crestwell, Jr.
May 1, 2005
I counsel troubled young men
at Duval High School two days each week. In our meetings, we discuss
many things—their grades, attendance and their issues at home and I
also provide counsel on matters of religion if they ask.
Two weeks ago, I met with a 16 year old youngster who said that he
had been having several reoccurring sexual impulses and desires, and
that he had recently committed some petty crimes. He had stolen a
few items from students… He said to me that he’d been feeling very
guilty about it all. He had also gone to church the previous Sunday
and expressed his concerns with his Pentecostal pastor who said that
he should return the items right away (that was a good idea). Then
he said to the young man that his lustful thoughts and criminal
behavior was going to cause his soul to be tormented forever and
ever in Hell. The young man said to his minister, “I thought I was
saved by grace?” The preacher replied, “You are but the grace can be
taken away…” I was thinking to myself, “This preacher didn’t scare
the Hell OUT of him, but scared the Hell IN him. If you know what I
mean… This kid looked at me, dead in my eyes, afraid, and asked,
“Sir, you’re a Reverend. Am I going to Hell? Am I going to Hell?”.
What was my answer? I’ll tell you in a moment…
I’ve been pondering this idea of Hell and what it means to me
today. For many the idea of eternal fire is sacred ----as in our
opening meditation (“Rise up, O flame, by thy light glowing, show to
us beauty, vision, and joy.”) Fire has many meanings… Fire can mean
purification, birth and eternity. As Unitarian Universalists, many
of our forebears were burned alive at the stake, and so fire can
also represent a life sacrificed for the sake of truth. So fire has
many meanings and all of them are not negative. But, the issue of
eternal hellfire torments, perhaps, scares the Hell into many
people. Millions still believe, I think, that fire and brimstone,
fire and sulfur await the unrighteous…
I was visiting with Dr. Chris Bell Friday in the hospital. He’s
doing fine… But we talked about the sermon title, FIRE AND
BRIMESTONE. He said to me, “You know John, I’m glad some people
believe in hell because this would be one Hell of a world if some
people didn’t. I thought about what he said for a moment then I said
to him, “Do people really believe in Hell Dr. or do people
understand and believe in consequences?”
There are two problems with the idea of Hell. First, we must look at
the issue of who is good and who is bad. Second, we have to look
briefly at the development of the concept of hell and this will
allow us to see if it is worth thinking about…
Looking at the first issue of who is good and who is bad, Betrand
Russell, the once great English Scholar, would say that we don’t do
good for goodness sake, nor do we do good to avoid Hell, rather we
do virtuous deeds because they make us feel good and because the
culture often times has a positive response to our good act or
positive actions. And, most don’t like to do “bad” things (bad as
defined by the cultural mores & folklores)—we don’t like to do bad
things because we don’t like the negative response or the
consequences that come from the act or from our negative actions.”
Who is good and who is bad? Who is righteous and who is unrighteous?
From a religious standpoint, the original Universalists said that
all are God’s creation therefore all are good. The Holiness/
Pentecostal churches say that you must show evidence of your
salvation by speaking in tongues or you won’t receive eternal life
(you are not truly saved therefore you are condemned.) The Jehovah’s
Witnesses say they are the one true church and God’s voice on earth
right now. Choose their way, receive paradise, choose another, and
you will not live forever. The Catholics say they are the “Universal
Church” the original and authentic representative of God’s Kingdom
on earth. Thus they imply that their way is the righteous way. I
could go on and on, but for religion, good has not been measured by
the good deeds done, but by the creeds recited. In this case, it is
not what you do but what you believe that matters (that keeps you
out of Hell)... It is faith in the religion’s system---- not your
works that give you eternal life or eternal damnation, depending on
which road you choose. Countless have been crucified, burned at the
stake, silenced, assassinated, taken out, because they were made out
to be heretics and liars when they where telling, boldly, a truth
that needed to be told. They were considered by the religious
system, to be a rabble-rouser, a trouble-maker, subversive, bad.
If you remember the Dark Ages in England, the Catholic Kings and
Queens would kill the Protestants in their kingdom, seeing them as
evil, while the Protestant Kings and Queens, when they would get
power, they would do the same calling the Catholics evil. Of course
you remember Martin Luther who protested against the Catholic Church
in Germany. His life remained at risk as a result. Many Catholics
wanted Luther burned at the stake as a heretic, they said they
wanted to expedite is entrance into hell… Well, Luther over time,
gains power and prestige. The Anti-Trinitarian movement is also
growing, and strangely enough, Luther and later John Calvin would
attempt to nullify this new movement’s growth by burning and
imprisoning many early Unitarians saying, they were, yes, you
guessed it, evil heretics.
So you see, the OPPRESSED become the OPPRESSOR, then the OPPRESSOR
becomes the OPPRESSED in a never-ending cycle like the seasons of
life.
Now, religion does agree that treating people as you wish to be
treated is a universal standard, but this alone will not keep you
out of Hell. One sister said to me, “John, good ‘aint good enough to
save you!” I said, “Save me from what sister?” She looked at me,
smiled and said, “You know what!”
The problem of who is good exists in the secular world as well. Many
political liberals think political conservatives are bad. When you
look at morals and ethics, some, like me believe ethics are
situational, while others say “right is right and wrong is wrong”.
And so, who is good and who is bad? Dr. King said it well, “In the
best of us there is some evil and in the worst of us there is some
good.” I wrote in my book back in 2001: “The powerful dominate,
and unrighteousness seems to reign. People are falsely accused and
taken advantage of. We want those who do this to pay! We want
vengeance! Hell is our created vengeance. This is our attempt to
make sense of wrongdoing. Yet, ‘All of us, like sheep, have gone
astray; everyone to his own way.’ In this world, there is justice in
some situations but for many others there is sorrow, misery and
injustice. Hell helps us to say, when we think people get away with
evil, ‘They’ll get theirs.’”
For me, Hell is our created vengeance and Heaven (although that is
not the topic of discussion, but it relates) is our created reward.
We are dualistic creatures and we do think in opposites. Opposites
attract. Therefore, if there is an explanation and place for the
evil in our world (HELL), then there is an explanation and place for
the good in our world (HEAVEN). But for me, both are mythological
representations of humanity’s lowest and highest hope.
Second, to understand the mythology, one need only to do some simple
research on the origins of Hell… The word Hell comes from ancient
Norse Mythology and predates Christianity. Hell means “to hide.”
H.E.L. was the goddess of death and the underworld. Now, the idea of
a judgment and suffering, one can argue, comes from ancient Egypt
with the Egyptian Book of the dead in around 1240 BCE (before the
common area).
The idea, not the word Hell, did exist in Hinduism in the 1500’s
BCE, but it was not a permanent place. After death your soul went to
a temporary stop, where it had to work out a few things undone in
life. Buddhism, by the 500’s BCE, would pick up this concept as
well. In the Hindu/Buddhist belief, this was a spiritual journey to
eventual perfection, and is more in line with the idea of
reincarnation not eternal damnation.
In Judeo-Christian mythology, it wasn’t until around the 580’s BCE
that we begin to see the concept or place, that would later be
called Hell, emerge. The religion Zoroastrianism had its influence
on the Israelites when they were under Persian rule. Zoroaster had a
belief that at death the soul had to cross a bridge. If you are good
the bridge widens and you go right to Heaven. If you are bad, the
bridge narrows and gets heavy. Eventually, you fall off into a
freezing and foul-smelling pit where you are tormented forever.
Initially, the ancient Hebrews believed in Sheol, a dark underworld
where all went after death to exist as a shade of one’s self. This
was the end of life. There was no eternal damnation yet. But by the
300’s BCE (before Christ), the Zoroastrian philosophy began to
infiltrate the Israelite ranks; and then after Greek and Roman
occupation of Jerusalem in the early centuries of the Common Era,
you find new words and ideas emerging, like Hades, who was the Greek
god of the underworld. Hades eventually would be turned into a place
by the writers of the New Testament. Hades was the place for dead
souls. This matched very closely to the Jewish idea of Sheol.
Also, in Hebrew history, there was a Valley of Gehinnom, south of
Jerusalem, where Pagan sacrifices had been made. This valley had for
many years, and into the first century, been deemed unclean and
overtime it became a local dumping ground for garbage and animal
corpses and the like. It was a trash dump. It is said that there was
always a fire burning and bad stench coming from this most wretched
place. If Hades matched the Jewish idea of Sheol, Gehinnom matched
the Persian or Zoroastrian idea of Hell.
You see, the Hebrew word Gehinnom became Gehenna in Latin which
eventually translated to Hell (from the English Norse word) which is
used today in the New Testament. You see how it all comes together?
It’s mythology at its best!
Watch this: By the time the Gospels of Mark, Luke and Matthew then
Revelation come on the scene, from the 60’s-100’s CE (I read from
Luke and Revelation this morning), the Romans had thoroughly
controlled the Palestine region. The Jewish peoples of that time
were quite frustrated with being exploited and dominated by the
Romans in the first century. They wanted revenge as all who are
exploited tend to want revenge. Their writings express their
deep-seated desires for justice and vengeance! So when you hear the
stories of the judgment of the good and bad and eternal damnation,
what you are hearing are the stories of a frustrated people who want
the Roman Empire out of their domain. You are also hearing language
that comes from the Egyptian book of the dead, and language from
Persian Zoroastrianism, and Jewish mythology.
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