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Huckelberry Finn

Huckelberry Finn. “I was a-trembling because I’d got to decide forever betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied for a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself, ‘All right, then, I’ll go to Hell.”. HELL Away from God. The doctrine is the most difficult to defend

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Huckelberry Finn

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  1. Huckelberry Finn “I was a-trembling because I’d got to decide forever betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied for a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself, ‘All right, then, I’ll go to Hell.”

  2. HELLAway from God The doctrine is the most difficult to defend The most burdensome to believe The first to be abandoned BUT We cannot dispense with hell

  3. Issues at Stake in the Doctrine of Hell Disbelief in hell destroys the whole Christian faith Three presuppositions • To believe there is no hell presupposes that both Scripture and the church lie. • If our authorities are wrong everything could be wrong • If scripture and the church do not lie about what Jesus said then it presupposes that Jesus is the liar. • If there is no hell the authority of Christ is denied • If we drop hell because it is unbearable to us it presupposes that we can change any doctrine • If one doctrine can be changed then all doctrine is negotiable. Christian doctrine is not optional

  4. Issues at Stake in the Doctrine of Hell Seven Consequences • Life’s choices no longer make an infinite difference. • Drop hell and bad behavior has no relevance • If salvation is universal and automatic, then ultimately there is no free will. • We may still be free to choose the road but all roads lead to the same destination • Absolute objective morality disappears • Any opposition between good and evil is nonexistent

  5. Issues at Stake in the Doctrine of Hell • Jesus is not our savior • There is nothing to be saved from • Religious indifference follows faith in Christ and neither makes a difference • Missionaries and martyrs need an apology • Christ’s sacrificial death was not what Christ himself said it was • If there is no reason to believe hell there is no reason to believe heaven or even that God is love. • All are given on the same authority

  6. Defining the Doctrine of Hell Hell is the absence of heaven “The Outer Darkness” Darkness is defined only negatively as the absence of light Evil is privation of good If you believe Good and Evil are relative to each other, then you cannot believe in the God of the Bible God is perfectly good We were designed for heaven because of the designer

  7. Things Hell Is NotPopular substitutes for hell • Universalism or universal salvation • Hell exists only in this life, we are in it now but Jesus warns us about eternal death • Purgatory seems to many to do what they suppose hell should do • punish sin but not eternally • everyone should eventually graduate to heaven

  8. Things Hell Is NotPopular substitutes for hell Some think the eternity of hell can be preserved if its thought of as: annihilation of souls rather than eternal punishment. God simply zaps them which is after all eternal • It is contrary to the plain words of Jesus • It makes hell have an end It becomes temporal rather than eternal • Souls are intrinsically immortal

  9. Things Hell Is NotPopular substitutes for hell Reincarnation Eastern religions see reincarnation as punishment and undesirable It functions as hell but is not eternal and hopeless A universal purgatory Reincarnation denies hell and free will Eventual enlightenment is fated. You have no choice

  10. Things Hell Is NotPopular substitutes for hell Temporary Hell (Apocatastasis) The word hell is sometimes used, misleadingly, to translate two different notions in Scripture: Sheol, the realm of the dead Gehenna, eternal fire Some believe Christ will clear out hell at the end of the world

  11. What the Old Testament Says Early Hebrew thought includes the belief that both the good and evil descend to Sheol A subterranean place of dust (Job 17:16) darkness (Job 10:21) and forgetfulness (Psalm 88:12) Similar to the Greek concept of Hades

  12. What the Old Testament Says As belief in resurrection began to take shape the fate of the dead began to differentiate Good are awakened after death to a new and eternal life Dn:12:2; 2 Mc 7:9, 11, 14, 23 Are received by God Ps 49:15; Wis 5:15

  13. What the Old Testament Says The wicked are punished Is 50:11; 66:24; Jdt 16:17; Wis 4:19 Rise to condemnation and shame Dn 12:2; 2 Mc 7:14 Their punishment is by fire (destruction) Is 50:11; 66:24 and worms (corruption) Is 66:24 First Enoch

  14. What did Jesus say? Jesus did not teach explicitly about hell He focused on the Kingdom of God He did however threaten divine judgement and Gehenna Place of fiery punishment Mt 5:22, 30; 10:28; Mt 11:23, 28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mk 9:43, 45, 47; Lk 12:5

  15. Gehenna Greek transliteration of the Aramaic gehinnam, Which means “Valley of Hinnon” Refers to the valley running south to southwest of Jerusalem. Place of idolatrous worship of the Canaanite gods Molech and Baal. They practiced sacrifice of children through fire Came to be called “the accursed valley” or “abyss”

  16. Jesus uses “apocalyptic” imagery Furnace of unquenchable fire misery pit prison torture chamber outer darkness worms that do not die weeping and gnashing of teeth destruction of body and soul To avoid fundamentalism first understand the author

  17. Apocalyptic Genre • A revelation given by God or Jesus Christ • Through an other worldly mediator • for example an angel • To a human seer or prophet • for example John • Disclosing future, imminent events • for example the final judgement by God • Containing an admonition • for example exhortation to steadfastness during persecutions

  18. Things Hell Is NotPopular substitutes for hell When the Apostle’s creed says, “He descended into hell.” It speaks of Christ emptying Sheol not Gehenna If Christ empties gehenna and not sheol this contradicts his own words that hell is eternal It also contradicts justice and free will What if a soul will not choose to leave even sheol?

  19. Things Hell Is NotPopular substitutes for hell Some teach that hell exists but is empty Lk 13:23-24 “Lord will only a few be saved?” Instead of satisfying our theoretical curiosity Jesus tells us what we need to know practically “Strive to enter.” If no one went to hell we would not have to strive

  20. Things Hell Is NotPopular substitutes for hell Hell is occasionally confused with limbo Limbo was invented to solve the problem of unborn infants The Church has never officially defined this teaching Either way there is a big difference between a happy nursery and a burning fire

  21. Things Hell Is NotLet’s not make it worse than it is Because there is a hell God must be a God of wrath and vengeance and hate References to God’s wrath are either Projections of our own hate or His wrath against sin, not against sinners God is love

  22. Things Hell Is NotLet’s not make it worse than it is Some teach that hell is forced on the damned That they end up in hell against their will This would go against the fundamental reason for hell Our Free Will The damned in hell do not enjoy hell but they do will it Sin is insanity! The deliberate refusal of joy and truth

  23. Things Hell Is NotLet’s not make it worse than it is How can the blessed in heaven have eternal joy if they know that friends they loved on earth are in hell? In heaven we will be more like God Can one damned soul in hell destroy God’s joy for all eternity? The divine joy, which we shall imitate, will not be disturbed by hell We may not know how God resolves this problem but He does

  24. Things Hell Is NotLet’s not make it worse than it is Some think hell is a structural necessity in the great scheme of things That if there is a heaven there must be a hell That each thing requires its opposite This is true only for us fallen, spoiled creatures The present limitation is due to our fall not God’s creation Hell is due to freedom not necessity

  25. Things Hell Is NotLet’s not make it worse than it is Some think that if there is a hell, justice gets the last word, not love or mercy,which is one of love’s works. Love is God’s essence, justice and mercy are just two of its works Justice is like the structure, the skeleton of love Love is like the person Hell is due more to love than justice Love created free persons who could choose hell

  26. Things Hell Is NotLet’s not make it worse than it is Some Calvinists believe in a double predestination • Just as some are predestined for heaven some are predestined for hell • God wills their damnation before they are born Mt 18:14 How could one love such a monster God?

  27. Things Hell is Hell is punishment Not Punishment as for “positive law” A law that is willed and then chosen The punishment is arbitrarily set by the enforcer Hell’s punishment is not something which God chose but could have chosen differently

  28. Things Hell is Hell is punishment Punishment as for “natural law” A law that is objective and absolute The punishment is inherent to the action Hell’s punishment is intrinsic to the mortal sin committed If we eat the forbidden fruit of disobedience to God’s will, divorcing our will and spirit from God’s, the the inevitable result will be disaster and death, for God is the source of all joy and life

  29. Things Hell is Hell is pain God is the sole source of all the joy in reality If God is joy, hell must be pain Pain can be thought of as external or internal Internal pain is far worse than external pain Dostoyevsky “Hell is the suffering of being unable to love.” Loving is greater joy than being loved Love is the greatest joy therefore there can be no greater pain than to not love

  30. Things Hell is Hell is privation Deprivation of God We shut God out by our own choice The desire to be happy without God is doomed to failure, pain and inevitable punishment because God is the only choice Privation of God is the absence of all joy

  31. Do I Necessarily Have to Choose Hell? It is not necessary explicitly to choose hell We can rather choose Mortal Sin We are separated from God not only when we refuse to love God but also when we refuse to love God’s children 1 Jn 3:14-15 Whoever does not love remains in death Catechism 1033 We will be separated from him if we fail to meet the needs of the poor

  32. The Problem of PainC. S. Lewis “In all discussions of hell we should keep steadily before our eyes the possible damnation, not of our enemies, nor our friends, families, loved ones but of ourselves” Honesty and Love are the reasons we teach and believe in hell

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