Thought for Today
Psalm 30:3 O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.
Psalm 86:13 For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
Matthew 5:22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire.
Mark 9:47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell,
“Many Christians believe there is a hell for the reprobate when they die . . . But if hell is real, is it eternal? . . . I suspect that, because God’s love is unfathomable and unending, God never withdraws from us the possibility of repentance and amendment of life . . . Indeed, even the most self-absorbed sinners will eventually find a place in the forgiving arms of God.” (These Days. July 17, 2026)
Does Hell exist? If so, is it eternal? Both are good questions. Both questions have been pondered and debated ever since Cain’s disagreement with Abel. A corollary question for me is ‘from where did evil come?’
The word hell only appears in the New Testament. It occurs 13-54 times in various translations. It is often the translation for the Greek, “γέεννα . . . (also Γέεννα) Gehenna; literally valley of Hinnom, a ravine south of Jerusalem where fires were kept burning to consume the dead bodies of animals, criminals, and refuse; figuratively in the Gospels and James for hell, a fiery place of eternal punishment for the ungodly dead.” (Friberg, Analytical Greek Lexicon) The etymology of our English word hell is, “[ME, fr. OE; akin to OHG helan, to conceal, L celare, Gk kalyptein]” (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, pg. 532)
The word Sheol only appears in the Old Testament. It occurs 18-67 times and is often the translation for the Greek, “ᾅδης, ου, ὁ Hades (literally unseen place); (1) the place of the dead underworld.” (Friberg, Analytical Greek Lexicon)
It seems ironic to me that whether we think about Sheol or Hell, irrespective of our preconceived notions of the afterlife, the Bible never offers us much detail about the exact nature of either although Revelation and a few other books do. We owe most of our concepts of hell to Milton and Dante. The imagery of burning pits of sulfur, of flames and torture come more from literature and poetry than from the Bible. Admittedly, when we think about Gehenna as a municipal refuse dump, the undesirability of spending eternity in the alternative to heaven is unappealing. For the Jews, who believed that even unintentional or unwitting contact with a dead body made one ritually unclean and unable to participate in worship, such an idea was probably terrifying.
What is your idea of hell? Is it descending levels of increasing torture? An eternity of punishment inflicted by various legions of devils and demons? I prefer to imagine hell as standing outside of a window looking into heaven for eternity and knowing you can never climb through that window.
Maybe most interesting is that question of whether or not hell is eternal. For me, the question is not about whether or not God ever withdraws his love, never erases the possibility of repentance and salvation. I firmly believe God loves all of God’s children. I do not believe God ever stops loving anyone. That is the truth behind John 3:16-17. God loves God’s Creation and all of the creatures in Creation. And, God’s love never ceases.
I do believe, however, that there are some of God’s children who do not reciprocate God’s love. I believe that there are those who, fully knowing and believing the consequences, choose not to love and obey God.
Imagine the worst sinner you can, Hitler, Stalin, Mao. Can that individual be saved? I so believe that if that sinner did realize the depth of the sin and did truly repent, the sinner could be and would be saved. Theoretically! But, there are those who are truly too sinful, too evil to admit their sin, much less to repent their sin.
The choice is ours. We have the free will to do our best, to be our best. But, the choice is up to us. We can believe, we can love God and love our neighbor. But, we must know that claiming to believe and to love is not the same as acting like we believe and love, “Joshua 24:15 as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
Love God, love each other, trust God,
Pastor Ray