The Misunderstood Hell

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please read the description of this book before you start reading this chapter or you might get the wrong idea regarding what this book is about. Though it presents deep concepts and a lot of facts, it is written as a fairly easy read for teens and adults alike. Before you're half-way done with this book, you'll have a far clearer understanding of Hell than 99% of the world, including the evidence that tells us what Hell actually is, as opposed to what most people believe it is. Even contemporary scholars are not taught about the ample writings of the scholars of the 1800s regarding Hell. If they were, there would be huge debates and far more scholars who would be Universal Restorationists, just as every authority on the early Church was in the 1800s, according to John Wesley Hanson, D. D. in his book Universalism: The Prevailing Doctrine of the Christian Church During its First 500 Years. If anything you read here rubs you the wrong way, just toss it out and keep reading. Take what you want and leave the rest. But keep in mind that sometimes, the things that rub us the wrong way indicate there's an area of our heart we need to work on. When you finish this book, you may be pleasantly surprised at what you discover and how much more lovingly it shows us God's character is. And now, without further ado...

(FIRST DRAFT - You're welcome to point out mistakes)

Has anyone ever told you you're going to burn in Hell for eternity if you don't believe the same things they do?

If not, just sit back, close your eyes, and imagine someone doing that to you right now. Take the time to really picture yourself in that situation and embody the emotions of that interaction for a fully minute or two before you continue reading. Make sure those emotions are on the surface before you continue reading.

Now that you're done, really think about each individual question before you answer it and move on to the next. These are deeper questions than you realize, even though some are in gest.

How did that scenario make you feel?

How did it make you feel about God specifically?

Does it give you warm fuzzy feelings about that person's idea of God?

Does it make you want to really get to know the God they presented and have a close relationship with Him?

Does it make you think their God must be extremely loving and kind?

Clearly it conveys all of those things, doesn't it?

Wait—what's that? You say no, it doesn't convey those things about God? Blasphemy! Who are you to question God?!

Okay, I'm having a bit of fun with the scenario above, of course, but the fact is, some people have actually experienced a similar scenario in their life and gotten an impression of God that is not at all loving and kind. It's even happened between close friends of mine.

When you read the questions above about the scenario you imagined, did you feel a harsh disconnect between God's nature and the idea we have today of Hell?

I sure do.

It's almost like a delusion. We'll get into the translation of the Bible and several of the facts surrounding this subject in the following chapters, but for the moment, let's just linger in the philosophy of the dilemma of Hell and God's character.

Since God built this system in which we live, wouldn't every component of it reflect His nature in some way? Wouldn't it reflect His way of parenting His children, at least to some degree? God is a parent, after all, and since He created us, we are all technically His children, aren't we? That's what the Bible says, anyway. We didn't pop out of thin air, and a demon certainly didn't create us, despite the figurative language in the Bible that calls some people children of the devil.