The Biblical Hell and Heaven in Selective New Age Perspective

[Berserk]

A. THE DIVERSITY OF HELLS:

The Hebrew term "Gehenna" [= Hell] derives from a valley just outside ancient Jerusalem used for discarding and burning trash.  As a poetic symbol, Gehenna can be viewed as a repository for wasted lives.  In the early Christian era, fire can serve as a symbol for a purifying process.

Like modern astral adepts, Jesus implies a multiplicity of hellish planes, each based on the principle of like attracts like: "For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you put out will be the measure you get back (Matthew 7:2)."  In a sense, God has no absolute standard of judgment.  We are automatically judged by the implicit criteria we use to judge and treat others.  So if I measure people as chumps for theft, I will find my way to a hellish plane where souls view me the same way.  We basically judge ourselves by the essence we choose to create and hence by the postmortem company we unwittingly choose to keep.

There is, of course, a diversity of OBE insights and New Age perspectives on the hellish planes.  But there is a widespread consensus on two points:   (a) that there are many hellish planes, each with its own distinctive characteristics; (b) that these Hells are governed by the principle of like attracts like (e.g. a hell for thieves).  Or as Howard Storm learns from Christ during his NDE: "Love attracts more love and hate attracts more hate ( see "My Descent into Death," 52)."   

Jesus also implies the existence of hellish planes for people whose limited spiritual development and unloving acts are caused by severe deficiencies in the spiritual light available to them.  For these souls the poetic image of "few lashes" implies limited confinement followed by quick release:

"That servant who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted, will be beaten with many lashes.  But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will be beaten with few lashes.  From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded (Luke 12:47-48)."

B. MORE ON POSSIBLE RELEASE FROM HELL:

Jesus also envisages hellish planes that function like a debtor's prison.  If God creates us to be unique beacons of pure unconditional love and we instead choose to live lives of self-indulgent egotism, then we "owe" God a soul that outgrows this counterproductive orientation.

In Matthew 5:25-26 Jesus envisages the possibility of paying "the last cent" of one's "debt" and gaining release from a postmortem debtor's prison:

"Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, in order that your opponent may not deliver you to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown in prison.  Truly I say to you, you shall not come out of there until you have paid the last cent."

There are four grounds for assuming that Jesus implies the possibility of ultimate release from Hell:

(1) The saying makes little sense if taken literally.  Jesus would then be advising His culpable disciples on how "to beat the rap" in a justified [?] criminal charge against them.  In that case, why advise them to wait to settle until their accuser is already in the street en route to court?  A symbolic interpretation makes more sense.  "The opponent would then be God, "the  way" would be the way of life, and the "prison" would be Hell.  In the Jewish thought of Jesus' day, Hell is often imaged as a prison.

(2) Jesus restricts His use of the formula  "Truly I say to you" to spiritual subjects like prayer, divine judgment, and our relationship with God.  The formula is never used in a secular sense like "Truly I say to you, you'll never get out of the slammer."

(3) The two earliest interpretations of the saying construe it symbolically as a reference to postmortem conditions.

(4) Luke places this saying in an eschatological context (Luke 12:57-59).  This context may support the symbolic identification of "prison" as Hell.

Jesus' Parable of the Two Debtors concludes: "and his lord, moved with anger,  handed him over to the tormentors until he should pay all that was owed him (Matthew 18:34)."  Here Jesus plays off the image of sin as a "debt" in the Lord's Prayer: "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors (Matthew 6:12)."  What is striking in this parable is that Jesus does not say, "and the lord handed him over to the tormentors, from whose grasp he will never escape."  Rather, he again implies the possibility that the debt will be paid off and the prisoner released.  Of course, this interpretation must not be misconstrued to undermine grace-based salvation. 

In the parable, the debt (10,000 talents) is immense and would be very hard to pay off.  Both Bruce Moen and Howard Storm agree that one remains Hell-bound by virtue of one's free choice rather than by divine fiat and, therefore, that graduation from Hell is theoretically always possible.  But both also agree that the lower the hellish level, the more difficult it is to be retrieved: 

Astral adept, Bruce Moen has discovered: "Since visiting Max's Hell, I have been to several other Hells in Focus 25." "In my experience, it is extremely difficult to move people from this area to areas of greater freedom of choice." "Examples of positively reinforced reasons to change are nonexistent in the Hells (quoted from Bruce's website articles)." During his NDE, Howard Storm is taught the same point: "But the terrible truth is that the deeper people sink into [Hell's] degradation, the less willing they are to seek salvation ("My Descent into Death 53)."

Still, Jesus implies that Hell can be the lowest stage in the often interminably long process of evolutionary soul progression.  God is love and Christ is the savior not just of believers, but also of unbelievers (1 Timothy 4:10).  "Our Savior...wants everyone to be saved and to reach full knowledge of truth (1 Timothy 2:3-4)."  "The Lord...is not willing for anyone to perish, but for everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9)."  If the desire and purpose of an omnipotent God is to save everyone, then why assume that His desire and purpose end after our death? 

This divine purpose is most tellingly demonstrated in Romans 11:32: "God has bound all men over to disobedience, so that He may have mercy on them all."  Here our sinful nature is part of God's plan, so that access to God must be on the basis of grace rather than any pretentious accumulation of merit points.  Paul anticipates our objection to this system: "One of you will say to me, `Then why does God blame us?  For who can resist His will (Romans 9:19)?'  In 9:20 Paul dismisses the impudence of this question.  God is off the hook because, even after death, His love still pursues the sinner in Hell.  Thus Romans 11:36 casts 11:32 within the framework of the destiny of all creation: "For from Him and through Him and back to Hm are all things."  The expression "back to Him are all things" presumably includes those languishing in Hell, though perhaps not those who have chosen the annihilation option.

C. THE POSSIBILITY OF ANNIHILATION IN HELL:

The Bible warns of the possibility of straying so far from God's love that spiritual restoration becomes impossible (Hebrews 6:4-6).  Paul warns of the danger of postmortem "annihilation" ("apoleia" in Greek--Romans 9:22; Philippians  3:19). 

Astral adept Bruce Moen concurs: "Recent exploration has discovered a sort of permanent death.  It is extremely rare."  In Howard Storm's NDE, "Jesus and the angel" agree with Bruce about the reality of soul annihilations, but not on their frequency:

"For every individual there is a unique journey into the abyss.  There is no limit to its complexity and depths of distress...Hell is separation from God...For some people, this may culminate in the ultimate annihilation of their being, if...they..do not seek their way back to God.  For others there is the possibility of salvation . . .Many desire annihilation as relief from the torment of hell (Storm, 53)."

In a future post, I will shed further light on the bibliical hells from the perspective of the relationship between heaven and hell.

Don

[Berserk]

Luke 12:47-48 teaches that God judges us fairly according to the limitations of our role models and environment.  Thus, Jesus already implies the future "ascent" of such deprived souls to higher planes.  To make this point clear, It seems advisable to document the biblical and early Christian case for soul retrievals.  Christian texts provide the earliest LITERARY documentation of retrievals, though it is possible that shamanism was already engaging in retrievals.

We find this affirmation in the Apostles' Creed:
"He (Jesus] descended into Hell."  This affirmation is based in part on Peter's ciaim that, after His resurrection, Christ sought to gain the release of sinful human spirits who had been dead for thousands of years:

"He [Christ] was put to death in the body, but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who disobeyed long ago...(1 Peter 3:18-19)."

"Prison" is a common Jewish image for Hell.  The implication is that the unrighteous dead receive a new chance to repent and be "retrieved" to Heaven.  Peter then extends the potential for soul retrievals to include all the dead in Hell.  1n 1 Peter 4:5-6 it is no longer Christ who proclaims the Gospel to the dead;  rather He Himself is proclaimed to them, probably by deceased saints:

"They [pagans] will have to give account to Him [Christ] who is ready to judge the living and the dead.  For this reason HE WAS PREACHED EVEN TO THOSE WHO ARE NOW DEAD, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit."

Thus, the tragic verdict on our bodily existence can be reversed in the realm of spirit by Gospel proclamation and soul retrievals.  The souls selected for retrieval have presumably evolved to the point where they are ready to move on to a higher spirit plane, a Heaven.

Jews begin praying for the dead prior to Christ (e.g. in the Catholic Bible see 2 Maccabees 12:41-45).  In  the early church this practice evolves into proxy baptism for the unredeemed dead.  We encounter this mysteriously lost rite in 1 Corinthians 15:28-29.   Here Paul hints at his belief (expressed more clearly elsewhere) in the possibility that all humanity will eventually be saved.  He insists that God will ultimately "be everything to everyone" and implies that proxy baptism for the unredeemed dead is part of that process.  Paul's invocation of this practice in support of Christian doctrine means that we cannot dismiss it on the grounds that it is an obscure and soon to be ignored aspect of early Christian ritual.

In the early 2nd century, this practice is reinforced by a belief in postmortem baptism in the Acherusia lake near the Elysian field.  The early church borrowed these locales from Greek mythology and incorporated them into its vision of Heaven.  Consider these two quotes from orthodox Christian apocalyptic from the first half of the 2nd century:

"[Christ:] Then I will grant God to them (the damned), if they call to me (in their torment) and I will give them a precious baptism for salvation in the Acherusia lake, which...is located in the Elysian field, the portion of the righteous with the saints (Apocalypse of Peter 14--from 135 AD)."

"To the devout, when they ask eternal God, HE WILL GRANT THEM TO SAVE PEOPLE OUT OF THE DEVOURING FIRE AND FROM EVERLASTING TORMENTS.  For having gathered them again from the unwearying flame and set them elsewhere, He will send them FOR HIS PEOPLE'S SAKE into another life, indeed an eternal one, with the immortals, in the Elysian plain, where are the long waves of the ever-flowing, deep-bosomed Acherusia lake (Christian Sibylline Oracles II:331-38
from 150 AD)."

Now baptism in Greek means "immersion." Perhaps these poetic images of postmortem baptism are symbols for purification processes such as that experienced by Guenter Wagner during his NDE.  The Being of Light performed the "baptism":

"I received the impression that I would have to take a bath, but by dipping the whole body.  It was made plain to me that the process was going to be unpleasant, but I could stop it if it became too painful...I was willing to do what the Being of Light wanted me to do.  I was lifted up and put into a red light...After some time,  I realized that I was being tossed about rather vigorously.  It was like being in a washing machine.  I cried, `I think that is enough!'  Immediately, I was lowered down and the love and the warmth were switched off (Guenter Wagner--quoted from "near-death.com")."

Consider the contrast between these ancient apocalyptic visions of Heaven and another early patristic vision, which  imagines the righteous sitting in Heaven's Colosseum and enjoying the role reversal of damned Romans in the arena below.  The texts just quoted hint at a much nobler Christian perspective that is at times implied, but is never made explicit, namely that none of us ultimately make it unless we all make it.  Your success is my success; your failure is my failure.  I like the way a  missionary to China, C. T, Studd, expresses this attitude in a charming little ditty:

"Some wish to live within the sound of church and chapel bell.
I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of Hell."

As a realm of pure unconditional love, Heaven cannot truly remain Heaven for the righteous unless they dedicate themselves to facilitating the growth and liberation of denizens of Hell and the lower Heavens.  Fire is an early Christian symbol of this purification process.

The seeds of this teaching appear in John's Apocalypse.  To see this, it helps to realize that John the seer does not comprehend every aspect of his otherworldly journeys and that, if he did, he might well grimace at the teachings being disclosed to him.  He and his beloved churches are being persecuted by both the Romans and local synagogues.  John is shown Heaven through the image of a hovering New Jerusalem and learns that Heaven's gates can never be shut (Revelation 21:25).  This image implies eternal traffic coming and going.  But going out on what missions?  Why would anyone leave Heaven?  We are told that "outside" are the evil souls residing in Hell (22:15).  So the image allows for soul retrievals from Hell.

This interpretation finds reinforcement from two other texts in Revelation: (1) John's vision of everyone in Hell (i.e. "those under the earth") joining all humanity in the worship of God and Christ (5:13); (2) the intriguing mystery of the unidentified "2nd resurrection."  That is, his visions assume a pattern of first death, followed by "first resurrection" and "second death" followed by 2nd resurrection (20:6).  But John never identifies the 2nd resurrection.  His anger at his persecutors probably makes him reluctant to do so.  It is usually assumed that the 2nd resurrection precedes the Great White Throne judgment (20:11ff.).  But that assumption places the 2nd resurrection before the 2nd death.  Besides, resurrection ("anastasis")implies the concept of being raised up and there is no implication that the dead are "raised up" to Heaven for the Great White Throne judgment.  The 2nd death is the lake of fire.  So to maintain the pattern first death, then first resurrection and 2nd death, then 2nd resurrection, the 2nd resurrection must surely be retrieval from the lake of fire.  Only Heaven's eternally open gates make sense as the vehicle for the 2nd resurrection.  

The prospect of universal salvation through soul retrievals also seems implicit in the hymn in Philippians 2:6-11:

"therefore, God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven, on earth, AND UNDER THE EARTH, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (2:9-11)."

In this hymn everyone in the universe makes this saving confession.  "Every knee...under the earth" refers to everyone in Hell.  For Paul, the confession, "Jesus Christ is Lord", cannot be uttered apart from the Holy Spirit's inspiration, if it is sincerely uttered (1 Corinthians 12:3), and this confession automatically makes one a Christian (Romans 10:9-10).  The Philippian hymn must have in mind the salvation of the hellbound confessors because it is based on the invitation to universal salvation in Isaiah 45:22-23: "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth...Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear."  The hymn's glorious image resembles John's vision of everyone in Hell worshiping God and Christ in Revelation 5:13.

Some might object to this perspective by invoking texts like Hebrews 9:27: "It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment."  But one must ask, "What happens after the judgment?"  Or for similar texts, one must ask, "What happens after the wrath, the exclusion from God's kingdom, and the consignment to Hell?"  In this respect, it is important to realize that neither in Hebrew nor in Greek do the words translated "eternal" mean that.  Rather, they mean "for an indefinitely long period of time."  Thus, in Judaeo-Christian literature from late antiquity, "eternal sleep" can be followed by a new and positive status.

So what about sayings like John 14:6: "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me?"   In the afterlife Christ can redeem those who never believed in Him during their earthly lives.  Christ Himself performs soul retrievals (1 Peter 3:18-20) and other retrievals from Hell are performed through opportunities to respond to the Gospel (see e.g. 1 Peter 4:6).  In short, God's desire to save everyone never changes and God's love never permanently abandons anyone after death.  Perhaps, God's omnipotence even allows Him to reclaim those who have opted for soul annihilation.  That prospect must remain an open question for now.

Don