Hell and its Eternity

There are a few who say that hell is not eternal and that some day God’s mercy will overcome his justice and hell will be emptied. What does the Bible and catechism say about this?

CCC 1021 Death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ.
CCC 393 It is the irrevocable character of their choice, and not a defect in the infinite divine mercy, that makes the angels’ sin unforgivable. "There is no repentance for the angels after their fall, just as there is no repentance for men after death." [St. John Damascene, Defide orth. 2, 4: PG 94, 877]

So the catechism is clear that once we have died we have made our choice. And it is in fact a choice that we make here on earth.

The Bible says in Hebrews 9:27 And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment

So we have had our chance and then comes judgment…now something that we must keep in mind is that God is not a jerk. Everyone is offered the grace to go to heaven. Now to some it might not be as evident as it is to others but that is God’s business. Just because Jimmy down the street saw an apparition of our Lady and you didn’t doesn’t mean that he is guaranteed a place in heaven. He still needs to obey the gospel the best way he knows.

There is also in Romans 2:14-16 When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

Exactly so keep those things in mind

Continuing on, Jesus says in Matthew 25:41 that Hell was originally prepared for the devil and his angels.

It wasn’t originally created for humans who had rebelled but for the angels. But now we see that those who share in the sin of disobedience before death share in the fate of the devils and are sent to Hell.

But is Hell eternal! Yes and to those who did not clothe, feed, or visit Christ he will say - Matthew 25:46 And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Notice that there is a contrast between the eternity of the punishment and the eternity of the reward.

If someone argues that God’s mercy will some day triumph over his justice and thus free the souls from hell, how do we know that at some later date God’s justice won’t triumph over his mercy and send everyone to hell? This is an undependable position.

Mark 9:43-48 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 44 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. 46 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 48 where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

Now Jesus here isn’t recommending a lot of one armed one legged Christians. He is here warning us of the seriousness of this life and its effects on the afterlife. And that somehow he must communicate the terribleness of Hell, Jesus says that it is better to loose a limb than experience the pains of hell.

I would also say that there are some moral and theological danger to the teaching that hell will be emptied.
First is that in the churches 2000 years it has never taught this. So to teach it is to divorce yourself from the churches teaching.
Second I would then wonder what the purpose of purgatory would be - would a person who went to hell still have to go to purgatory?
Third, if I am going to heaven anyway, why not live it up here on earth? Its not like I am going to hell for eternity?
Finally, those who are in hell, have no wish to be in heaven because the one that they refused to serve is there and to see him face to face for all eternity would be worse than hell.
C.S. Lewis said that the door to hell is locked - from the inside. They want to keep God out.

David And Jesus Their Tribulation

In the Book of 2 Samuel beginning in the 15th chapter it talks about how Absalom has ambitious plans of overthrowing his father David and he himself will become king.

David hears of this plan in advance and so he flees Jerusalem, but listen to where he goes.

Verse :23 The king also passed over the brook Kidron,
And verse :30 And David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went, and his head was covered and he walked barefoot.

This is exactly what Jesus did on the night that he was betrayed by a spiritual son - Judas.

John 18:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden, into which He Himself entered, and His disciples.
Matthew 26:30 And after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.


Also notice what happens next David says this:


2 Samuel 15:25-26 If I find favor in the sight of the LORD, then He will bring me back again, and show me both it and His habitation. 26 "But if He should say thus, 'I have no delight in you,' behold, here I am, let Him do to me as seems good to Him."


And then the prayer of Jesus:


Luke 22:42 "Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Thine be done."


Both David and Jesus desire the will of God, whatever it may be. They both pray that their hardship may be removed, but their ultimate desire is that the will of God be done.


Meanwhile back in Jerusalem the plot to put David to death is underway, and listen to what one of Absalom’s advisers says.


2 Samuel 17:1-3 I will set out and pursue David tonight. I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged, and throw him into a panic; and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down the king only, and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace."


Several things point right to the life of Jesus and the plot to kill him.


Mark 14:27 And Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away; for it is written, `I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.'


- Hey wasn’t David a shepherd?


What Absalom’s servant said also points to what Caiaphas the high priest would say of Jesus.


John 11:49-52 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all; you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish." He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.


So Absaloms's advisor is almost speaking prophetically like Caiaphas. - If we would just get rid of this guy the people would be won over and then there would be peace. It would be like bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband.


What Absalom's advisor and the high priest don't know is that this is for Jesus a fulfillment of scripture.


This gathering of the children of God who are scattered abroad is spoken of in Hosea. The people of Israel (who are described as a bride) are going after false gods, but God will bring her back
Hosea 2:16 "And in that day, says the LORD, you will call me, `My husband,'


So God will once again be reunited with his Bride Israel.


Again Absalom's advisor is saying that killing David would win the people over to Absalom the false king. Just like when they put Jesus on trial the people shouted - we have no king but Caesar. On the contrary hat actually happens though is that in putting the true king to death, Israel (the bride) is won over to the true king.


Also both the plans of Absalom and the Jewish high priest at the time of Jesus are thwarted. When David (the true king) returns from exile he brings with him forgiveness for those who previously had cursed him. So when Jesus returns from the grave he also brings with him the forgiveness of sins.

Raised Accourding to What Scriptures?

Every Sunday we profess our faith in the Nicene creed. And in the creed we say and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; What Scripture is are we referring to in the Creed?

This is a quote from:
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.

Here is the mysterious thing. Nowhere in the Old Testament does it explicitly say that the Christ would rise on the third day. Christ does though make hints to it during his ministry on earth.

Matthew 12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Now there is more going on in the Jonah story than you may have seen before. When Jonah gets swallowed by the fish he says.
Jonah 2:1-2 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, saying, "I called to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you did hear my voice.

Sheol in the Old Testament is the abode of the dead. So Maybe Jonah died maybe he hadn't. But he certainly compares his situation with death. And the of course three days later he is spit out to continue his mission.

I think also that people saw in Hosea 6: 1, 2 an illusion to the resurrection of Jesus. The context is of course important, Hosea is calling Israel to repentance after it has gone astray and is preparing it for exile to Assyria (Just like Jonah was doing). Here is what Hosea says:
Hosea 6:1-2 "Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn, that he may heal us; he has stricken, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.

Now listen to Hosea 11:1 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. Matthew says that this is a reference to when Jesus went to Egypt and then came back again(Hosea 11:1), but Hosea is saying that this is in reference to Israel. So we see in Jesus the embodiment of Israel, Jesus is the New Israel and Hosea says of Israel (Jesus)" After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him."
Certainly this is a reference to the resurrection of Jesus.

One more reference
Psalm 16:9-10 Therefore my heart is glad, my soul rejoices; my body also dwells secure, 10 For you will not abandon me to Sheol, nor let your faithful servant see the pit.
quoted by Peter in
Acts 2:24 But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it. For David says of him: 'I saw the Lord ever before me, with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted; my flesh, too, will dwell in hope, because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld, nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.'

The Resurrection and Re-creation

A.M.D.G.

With the coming of the resurrection of Jesus comes a new creation. Here are some of the signs of the new creation:
The first thing to notice is that Jesus is raised on the first day of the week, the Gospel of John is introduced with the words "in the beginning" which is to call to our minds the creation story in Genesis. The Gospel of John is ending with a new creation with these words.
John 20:1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark,
This is going right along with Genesis 1
Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep;

And who comes out of the darkness but Jesus himself who said
John 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

We also see a garden in both Genesis and in the resurrection. John tells us:
John 19:41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb where no one had ever been laid.
So Jesus’ tomb is in a place where there is a garden, which is why in John 20:12-15 Mary is inconsolable and after seeing a vision of two angels sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?" Supposing him to be the gardener.

Now Mary Magdalene thinks that Jesus is the gardener and she is not mistaken. God is the original gardener. It is through Christ the WORD of God that all things were made. And in the beginning of creation in Genesis chapter 2 Adam is created in a garden.

Here the New Adam who is the creator begins his new creation in a garden.

There is another scene here that most definitely points us to a new creation and this happened on the evening of the first day when Jesus appears to the apostles and says
John 20:21-23 "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

Now look at:
Genesis 2:7 then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his face the breath of life; and man became a living being. ( in Hebrew - breath and spirit are the same word)

Both in Genesis 2 and in John 20 are the only times that God breathes on anyone. Christ is restoring what Adam lost through sin, and the apostles are the first fruits of the new creation receiving once again what Adam lost.

This also points to the divinity of Christ with him breathing on the apostles just as God did in Genesis.

Mary the New Eve

Often we might hear Jesus being called the New Adam and for good reason 1 Corinthians 15:45 So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. That Last Adam is Jesus.
The Church also calls Mary the New Eve, is there any scriptural ground for this?

Certainly there is but to see it we need to go back to the beginning in Genesis where two covenants were made and then broken.

When God made Adam he said Genesis 1:27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
But we know that Adam was made first because Genesis 2 talks about the man being alone with the animals.

Getting into the creation of the man, it says that God made man in his own image. This is familial covenant language. WE know this because in Genesis 5:3 When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. So that image and likeness language points us to a familial covenant relationship that God has with mankind. God has made a covenant with Adam by making him in God’s own image and likeness.

That is the first covenant.

The second is when in Genesis chapter 2 God took one of Adams ribs and makes from it a woman. And the man said, "This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." When we say that someone today is our own flesh and blood we mean that they are family. Adam is saying the same thing. This is familial covenant language that is why in the next verse it says
Genesis 2:24 For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

That is the second covenant.

The devil enters upon the scene and systematically helps ruin both covenants.

First, by getting the woman to listen and believe the devils message instead of her husbands message to not touch the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The devil drives a wedge between the couple, and in some sense causes the woman to commit spiritual adultery.
So that marriage covenant has been compromised.

Next the devil gets the Adam to break the covenant between himself and God by Adam disobeying God and eating from the tree.

The Church Fathers talked about Mary untying the knot that Eve had tied. And just when you untie a knot, you must do it in reverse of the way that it was tied. This is exactly what happens with Jesus and Mary.

Now getting to Mary being the new Eve. We see in the Gospel of John is another woman who is present only two times. Once at a wedding and another time at a tree.
Mary is never mentioned by name in the Gospel of John, she is called two times "woman".

The first is at the wedding of Cana when in John 2 when Jesus at the request of his mother provides wine for a marriage feast. So Jesus’ first miracle not only saves a marriage feast from social danger and embarrassment by running out of wine, but also blesses marriage by his very presence, thus restoring the sanctity of marriage.

Next we see Jesus nailed to a tree and at the foot of the tree is his mother, who he addresses as "woman". It is on this tree that Jesus is restoring the covenant between God and Man.

So Adam we given two covenants one with God and one with the woman. It is the same with Jesus but in reverse. His first miracle is provided at a wedding at the request of the woman, and finally restoring the covenant with God at the crucifixion with the woman again - his mother.

It is in this was that Mary untied the knot that Eve tied., thus becoming the new Eve.

Immortality of the Soul & Jehovah's Witnesses

The JW’s teach that once you die, you stop existing, sort of a materialistic point of view with a twist. They do believe that pretty much everyone will be resurrected from the dead and be conscience again.

They really point to 4 key passages that I will go through with their arguments, then we will examine them one by one:

Genesis 2:7 - then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

• The JW Bible says that man became a living soul, which is an ok interpretation of that word. They then reason that we don’t have souls. We are souls.

Ezekiel 18:4 - Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins shall die.

• See (they say) because we ARE souls, the soul that sins dies. So when we die we are dead.

Psalms 146:4 - When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish.

• The JW Bible reads that his thoughts will perish. Now obviously if your thoughts have perished with your death, then there is nothing left of you to exist, therefore you have stopped existing after death. And to back this up is…
  

Ecclesiastes 9:5 - For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing.

• See the dead are conscience of nothing because when you die, you stop existing, there is no special part of you that goes on living after you die.
  

Now how do we respond to these verses?
Lets look at Genesis 2:7 - then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
- I agree that the Bible describes people as being souls such as in 1Peter 3:20 where is says that "eight persons (souls), were saved through water." But I have noticed also that the Bible has a wide range of the use of the word "soul" [Heb. Nephesh, Gk. Psuche]. For example:
Gen 35:18 – a soul can go out at death.
1Kgs 17:21 – come back in a person.
Luke 1:46 – people have souls.
Mt 10:28 – the soul is not the body and it can’t be killed by man.
Josh 10:37 – can be struck with a sword.
Ps 42:6; Ps 43:5 – is the dwelling of emotions.
Rev 6:9-11 – can speak after death.

So sometimes the Bible says that the person IS a soul. Other times it says that the soul is something IN a person. Even other verses say that the soul is something that survives death.

Ezekiel 18:4 - Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins shall die.
- The context here is just saying that a person will have to be accountable for their own sin, not their children. But you are saying that this verse is saying that souls can and do die. I agree with that, but not in the sense that when a person sins his soul dies, meaning ceases to exist. A person’s soul can be dead to God, meaning that they have fallen out of relationship with him like in Luke 15:24 - About the prodigal son, the father says - my son was dead and is alive, he was lost and now is found.

Psalms 146:4 - When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish .
- The Hebrew word here for thoughts implies ‘plans’, as if when the person dies, all the plans that he had planned cannot come to fruition because he died before be could make them come to pass. The whole psalm is about trusting in the Lord and not in man, because while plans of men perish the plan of God is forever and can be trusted.

Finally Ecclesiastes 9:5 - For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing.
- If you have spoken with a corps lately you will notice that you have done all of the talking. It is in this sense that the dead know nothing. Even the context of this verse betrays the interpreation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses if we read the whole 12 chapters of Ecclesiastes

In Ecclesiastes 3:20, 21 - All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dustagain.21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down to the earth? So the author himself asks the question about where does the spirit go at death?
Ecclesiastes 12:7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. At the end of the book he gives the answer - the spirit returns to God - it isn’t destroyed at all.

Some other verses that show the soul survives death:
Matt 10:28 - do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
Matt 17:3 - Moses and Elijah - (two dead guys) talking to Jesus
Luke 16:23 - Lazarus and the rich man. Whether this is a parable or not, Jesus always drew his images from real life situations.
Philipians 1:23 - St. Paul says, My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

Miracles

What should we say to Christians that say that Miracles were only done in the Biblical times and that we should no longer expect them?

I think that some "Bible Christians" come up with this interpretation for three reasons. The first is that they aren’t recognizing miracles in their own lives. The second is that if they saw a miracle they might not know how to handle it. The third and final reason is that in light of the first two things, they needed to find a Biblical answer and so they twisted some scripture passages to make it say what they wanted.
That verse is 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 8 Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; 10 but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.

They point to where it says that prophecies and tongues (these are gifts of the Holy Spirit spoken of in 1 Cor 14) will pass away when the perfect comes. They then interpret "the perfect" to mean the Bible and the end of public revelation.

But is that what St. Paul was talking about when he said "the perfect"? No way and the context gives us the answer as it always does.

St. Paul sandwiches this enter section with the word "love", Which we need to keep in mind
1 Corinthians 13:8-13 8 Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
9 For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect;
10 but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.
13 So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
St. Paul is saying that their focus needs to be on love, and the perfect that is coming where we will understand fully is the second coming of Christ.

It can’t be when the Bible is finished that would mean that Paul was preaching an incomplete Gospel this whole time. The reason why the greatest is love is because in heaven, we won’t need faith because we will see God face to face and we won’t need to hope because our hope will be complete, but we will still love.

What about the people who say that, they would believe in God if only he would show them a miracle?

This is exactly what the Pharisees said in Matthew 12:38-40 38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you."
39 But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

So the sign that is given is his resurrection, but there is another sign that was already given in connection with a resurrection. Remember that Jesus has a friend named Lazarus who dies and he goes to Abraham’s Bosom, while the rich man was in fire.

Luke 16:27-31 27 And he said, `Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house, 28 for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' 29 But Abraham said, `They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' 30 And he said, `No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' 31 He said to him, `If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.'"

What happens next is a bit shocking; - Jesus goes to the tomb of Lazarus and says John 11:43-53 "Lazarus, come out." 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him;
46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, and said, "What are we to do? For this man performs many signs….
53 So from that day on they took counsel how to put him to death.

See the miracle was the cause not of faith, but of hatred. So people who are asking for a sign, might not necessarily want one. The Catholic Church is not afraid of miracles, in fact we believe in the god of Miracles. You only have to look as close as your local Catholic Book store to find all sorts of amazing stories of how God is still doing miracles today.