For some reason I was thinking about Hell the other night and about the general lack of fear it seems to instill into people. There are many obvious reasons for this, the most likely being that people simply don’t believe in Hell.
I must admit that the idea of Hell rarely crosses my mind (thankfully) and so it maintains a simple abstract place deep in the undredged places. Still – there are many who seek to evangelize through instilling the fear of Hell into people.
Believe it or not there are only 13 usages of the word ‘Hell’ in my New American Standard (Updated) Bible. This seemed a little low given the historical preoccupation so I turned to the trusty King James version (KJV), because – if you are going to find references to Hell you’ll likely find it there. Sure enough the KJV has 54 mentions of the word.
Now I know it is too much to ask that people not get bent out of shape over this and immediately blame the translators of the NASB for translating the ‘Hell’ out of the Bible but the reason for the difference is that there are many different words used in Scripture that the KJV translators translated into ‘Hell’. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word Sheol was translated as Hell but it literally means ‘the world of the dead’.
It isn’t until the New Testament that we find the word ‘Gehenna’ which is of Hebrew origin and references a place of everlasting punishment. Gehenna referenced a valley not far from Jerusalem where the cities refuse was dumped and burned. It stank of the garbage of the day and fires burned there constantly. The other reference in the New Testament translated as Hell was the Greek word for Hades – place of the dead. Peter references Tartarus – being the deepest pit of Hades designed solely for incarceration.
Finally in Revelation we hear of the future when both death and Hell are cast into the lake of fire – the second death.
Wheww!!
All this to say the original languages lend a nuance to Hell that english doesn’t do well to capture.
Based on my reading the entirety of scripture points to a place where the dead go, an undesirable place away from God, a place of holding and punishment – a place, as bad as it is, that will ultimatly be cast into a worse place…
Words connected with Hell include mourning, death, sorrow, a place of punishment, a definite place, a place from which there is no return, place of darkness.
In Job 38:18 it specifically references God’s ability to prevent people’s lives from passing into Hell (Sheol).
Psalm 6:5 hints that God’s presence is not felt in Hell (Psalm 139:8 does say that even in Hell/Sheol one cannot escape God’s presence). Psalm 9 is more specific in it’s mention of Hell as a place of punishment where God sends the wicked. Psalm 16 specifically mentions God’s ability to prevent the soul from going to Hell. Psalm 49 spends time expanding on the fact that God punishes with Hell/Sheol and redeems others to Himself.
Proverbs 15:24 specifically states that the path of life leads upward for the wise, for the rest – Sheol.
Song of Songs 8:6 references Sheol as severe.
It should also be noted that of all the people in the Bible, Christ speaks more of Hell than anyone else and in His references we find the most specific details. Matt. 25:41 is the most clear when Christ says – "Depart from me you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels."
Anyhow – you get the idea.
So with all that people generally still do not fear Hell, likely out of unbelief or ‘selective’ belief.
To me the issue of fear is irrelevant. The desire to know God should outweigh the fear of not knowing God. That is to say that one should not primarily come into relationship with God merely out of fear but rather out of desire. That is not to deny the many who do enter into relationship through fear – but I often wonder at the quality of their lives if it is motivated primarily out of fear and not love.
Many people believe the undesirable nature of Hell comes from its contrast to the present world. I think this is a fairly western idea. The idea that Hell sucks because I won’t have my house, car, TV, family etc. This is hardly a motivator for someone living in the Sudan whose current life must feel very much like Hell.
I suspect the real horror of Hell comes from the fact that ALL will stand in the presence of God one day. Those who are condemned and those who are not. That to stand in the presence of God is a bliss that overshadows all things – for those condemned to Hell, they will have eternity to contemplate that time in God’s presence and live in the torment of their eternal removal from it.
To come into the presence of God is the motivator. To come into the presence of God is to want nothing else. Our primary goal should be to lead people into the presence of God, rather than away from Hell – in so doing we will impact the quality of this life and not just the next. They will live lives motivated to draw nearer to God out of love and not simply running away from Hell out of fear.
So we lead people to Christ, God and mediator in one. The question we as followers of Christ must ask ourselves is – do we embody fear or love in our relations with others?
P.S. Having said all of that I must still concede that when all else fails God will still point to the consequences of not knowing Him – Hell – as a motivator.
Harnessing Chaos 
Finally some posts.I knew I wasn\’t holding out for nothing.There is a story of a man who was at prayer and saw an angel carrying in one hand a pail of water and in the other a brazier of coal. The man said, "What is the meaning of this vision?" The angel replied, "I go to burn heaven and put out hell, that men may serve God with a pure heart."
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I\’m glad you posted…cheers! I have heard of this story and I think it does a good job to illustrate part of the problem humanity has – it seems we are woven alternately out of threads of selfishness and pride. If we are are than it is our own doing.
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