Hell and
the Near-Death Experience
As with
heaven, there are various hell realms witnessed by near-death experiencers.
We can even see many manifestations of hell right here in the physical realm.
There are people in prison, in the Bahamas, in mental institutions,
universities, skid row, palaces, crack houses, all kinds of life situations.
While hell realms can be seen outside all around the world as a manifestation
of an inner hell within humans, hell realms in the spirit world are an even
greater manifestation of inner hell within humans. Near-death accounts show
that the hell realms in the spirit world are actually the spiritual/mental
manifestations of spiritual conditions that humans create within themselves
while on Earth.
Between
the Earth realm and the heavenly realms, there exists two hellish realms
known as (1) the earthbound realm and (2) the void. Both of these realms can
be considered hell because they are the two darker levels. This web page will
focus only on the earthbound realm. The earthbound realm is a hellish
dimension that overlaps the physical realm. It is a dimension where souls who
are bound by some strong earthly fixation, may remain indefinitely until they
are able to extract themselves from this fixation. After death, most souls
expand very quickly through the dark hellish realms of the earthbound realm
and the void, by means of the tunnel and on to higher realms.
The
following are highlights concerning the earthbound hell which will be
described. It is a state of mind where earthly, physical desires cannot be
satisfied and is due to a lack of spiritual development. This hellish state
of mind is the result of living a hellish life and is neither condemnation
nor judgment. Its purpose is purification not punishment. The ways to escape
from the earthbound realm will be discussed and the reasons why negativity
must be removed in order to enter heaven. NDE examples of the earthbound
realm, including traditional hell, fire and brimstone NDEs, will be
presented. Religious descriptions of the earthbound realm and scriptures
suggesting universal salvation will be provided here. Even more Biblical and
NDE evidence of universal salvation can be found at the link provided here.
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1. Hell
is a State of Mind
"Hell is a state of mind. When we die,
we are bound by what we think." (Angie Fenimore)
"Hell is a psychological condition
which represents the hellish inner thoughts and desires within some souls. In
hell, souls become uninhibited and their hellish condition is fully manifested.
No demons are there to inflict punishment. Each soul acts out their own anger
and hatred by warring and tormenting others." (Emanuel Swedenborg)
"The hell of hells is knowing you were
our own devil." (Arthur Yensen)
"It is your mind which creates
hell." (Dr. Timothy Leary)
"Hell refers to levels of negative thought-forms
that reside in close proximity to the Earth realm. It is where we go to work
out, or remain within, our hang-ups, addictions, fears, guilt, angers, rage,
regrets, self-pity, arrogance, or whatever else blocks us from the power of our
own light." (P.M.H. Atwater) "Hell is a level of consciousness which
can be experienced in or out of the body." (Arthur Yensen)
2. Hell is Having Earthly Desires
That Can't Be Satisfied
"Hell is a place where everyone retains
the physical desires they were fixated on without a way to satisfy them. Hell
is real hell for anyone who lives only to satisfy their selfish desires."
(Arthur Yensen) "One level of hell exists right here on
Earth where an earthly desire is craved but cannot be satisfied." (Dr.
George Ritchie) "Hell contains people who have been
alcoholics or drug addicts, who find these cravings still with them after
death. They stay near the Earth to be near alcoholics or drug addicts who are
still in the physical body, in order to participate vicariously in the
sensations which alcohol and drugs give. They can be helped in the world beyond
to clear their soul bodies of these cravings so that they, too, may go on and
progress. However, this is a long and tedious process." (Margaret Tweddell)
There is
no geographic hell. We build our hells right here in our own lives. (Harry Hone)
The quality
of life after death for a suicide is determined by their motive for killing
themselves. Those who kill themselves from drugs, alcohol, or any other
addiction, may become stuck in limbo trying in vain to satisfy their addiction
until eventually something frees them. Those who, because of mental illness,
confusion, or a terminal illness, take their own life, are allowed many
opportunities from God to grow in love just as any other person would who had
not committed suicide. (Dr. George Ritchie)
Earthbound
souls linger around the living, usually to try to satisfy a physical desire. (Betty
Bethards)
If an
addiction isn't conquered before death, it could keep your soul earthbound. (Ruth
Montgomery)
Your
personality - your likes and dislikes, your hopes, your fears-are still
attached to you, although in a more nebulous form that when you are on Earth in
a physical body. (Margaret Tweddell)
3. Hell is Caused By a Lack of
Spiritual Development
"Hell is a lack of wisdom and not moving
forward to progress. Hell is not a place." (Cecil) "Hell is a spiritual condition we
create by being away from God until we choose to return to God. Hell is a
spiritual condition that is totally devoid of love." (Sandra Rogers) "Hell is the pain, anguish, hurt and
anger that you have caused others or who suffered as a result of your
actions/words to others. Hell is what you have created for yourself within your
soul by turning your back on unconditional love, compassion and peace." (Tina) "What people call hell is really a
spiritual time-out condition in which souls reflect and work out the things
that blocked them from the power of their own light." (P.M.H.Atwater)
"Concerning hell, heat is molecules in
motion, while cold is their lack of motion. Likewise, love is a fast vibration
of the soul, while hate is a slower vibration. Complete love would be God,
while complete hate would be death, leaving the soul extinct." (Arthur
Yensen) "Heaven and hell are spiritual states
of being. They are not static states but are states in which there can be
growth and progress toward ultimate wholeness of being." (Margaret
Tweddell) "The difference between life on Earth
and life in the spirit is that your spirit world corresponds to your inner
nature." (Nora Spurgin) "As there are degrees of heaven or hell
on Earth, so there are degrees of heaven or hell in the spiritual world."
(Margaret Tweddell) "After death people gravitate into homogenous
groups according to the rate of their soul's vibrations much like throwing a
small pebble into a threshing machine. It goes into the box that fits its
proper size and weight. After death, we are sorted by the high or low
vibrations of our soul. Everyone goes where they fit in! High vibrations
indicate love and spiritual development, while low vibrations indicate
debasement and evil. All one has to do is to love so unselfishly that their
soul-vibrations rise high enough to fit into heaven." (Arthur Yensen) "An extreme neglect of spiritual
matters on Earth can result in an earthbound condition. This is the condition
people often associate with ghosts." (Dr. Michael Newton) "The quality of life after death for a
suicide is determined by their motive for killing themselves. Those who kill
themselves in order to hurt someone, get revenge, or who kill themselves out of
hatred for someone else, will haunt the living by being aware of every horrible
consequence their suicide had on others. Those who, because of mental illness,
confusion, or a terminal illness, take their own life, are allowed many
opportunities from God to grow in love just as any other person would who had
not committed suicide." (Dr. George Ritchie) "People who have an orientation of
hate, for instance, find themselves unable to appreciate a realm of love and
harmony. Therefore, they continue in their state of bitterness and are 'closed'
to the glory which exists around them." (Margaret Tweddell) "Those who have stunted their spiritual
growth through an undeveloped or misdirected lifestyle, have led a purely
self-centered life or have hurt other people, their spiritual environment will
reflect something of these realities. A self-centered life on Earth places one
in an area of the spirit world with like-minded people who have yet to learn
the value of unselfishness for the advancement of the soul." (Nora Spurgin) "The spiritual state of being you have
on Earth is the spiritual state you take with you to the world beyond when you
die. There is no sudden metamorphosis from an idle person into an active
person, from a nonreligious person into a religious person, from a
money-centered person into a God-centered person. This is not an automatic
thing." (Margaret Tweddell) "Environments distant from God are said
to be dark, cold and inhospitable. Indeed, they reflect the spirits of those
dwelling there." (Nora Spurgin) "We create our own hell within us while
we live on Earth. After death, we step into this hell." (Kevin Williams)
4. Hell is Caused By Living a
Hellish Life
"In the spirit world, everyone lives in
the kind of a heaven or hell that they have prepared for themselves while on
Earth." (Arthur Yensen) "People are in hell before they die. At
death, we are gathered together with those who think as we do." (Angie
Fenimore) "The general rule of thumb is this:
hellish life, hellish afterlife - heavenly life, heavenly afterlife. Death will
not change a hellish life into a heavenly afterlife, nor does it change a
heavenly life into a hellish afterlife." (Dr. Melvin Morse) "Occasionally, the encounter with light
is perceived as a reflection of the fires of hell." (IANDS FAQ) "Physical desires can be carried over
into the afterlife but physical desires cannot be satisfied there. This can
create a hellish condition for those who have them." (Nora Spurgin)
5. Hell is Neither Condemnation
Nor Judgment
"There is no condemnation in hell, only
the outworking of our own misjudgments, mistakes, misalignments, or
misappropriations." (P.M.H. Atwater) "Those with too many negative thought
patterns might flee the light of God after death because they are too ashamed
or too afraid to have their inner thoughts and negative natures revealed to
everyone." (Dr. George Ritchie) "After his death, Jesus descended into
the lower afterlife regions to 'unlock' the gates of hell. But souls still
remaining there - for them - the gates are locked from the inside.
Nevertheless, NDE evidence reveals Jesus continues to rescue souls from hell
during a near-death experience." (Kevin Williams) "I saw the reasons for all of my
actions and understood why I did what I had done. There was a place for all of
my positive and negative actions. There was no action that was necessarily
wrong, but there were actions I took that did not enhance positive
growth." (David Oakford) "In hell, we have the opportunity to
either revel in our folly or come to grips with the reality of consequences
-that every action has a reaction, what is inflicted on another can be returned
in kind. This is not a punishment for our sins but a confrontation with any
distortion of our sense of values and priorities." (P.M.H. Atwater) "Just knowing the bad mistakes you made
through your carelessness or your selfishness is a hell. You don't need a devil
prodding you with a fork." (Margaret Tweddell)
"God does not condemn anyone to hell
and there is no eternal damnation. We have the ability to condemn ourselves to
the hell we create within ourselves." (Kevin Williams) "The God of love suffers for those in
darkness, ignorance and misery." (Nora Spurgin) "Many people believe that those who
don't give verbal assent to Jesus are cast headlong into eternal fire to burn
forever. It should be common sense to anyone that a God of love would never
treat people this way. As Jesus said, even an evil father knows how to give
good things to children." (Kevin Williams)
6. How To Escape From the
Earthbound Realm
While Benedict was in hell, he called out to
the light and the light opened up and formed a tunnel that insulated him from
all that fear and pain. (Mellen-Thomas Benedict) "The way out of these hellish realms is
to have a willingness to see the light and seek love for others and God."
(Angie Fenimore) To escape the darkness, you must cry out to
God. Then the light will appear. (Rev. Howard Storm) "From what may anyone be saved? Only
from themselves! That is, their individual hell. They dig it with their own
desires." (Edgar Cayce) "The gates of hell are open. Those in
hell will eventually join up, link hands, and walk out of hell together."
(Mellen-Thomas Benedict) "We stay in hell for however long best
serves our development. We do not leave until we have changed our attitudes and
perceptions." (P.M.H. Atwater) "Souls in the hellish realms do not
have the same powers to progress and achieve joy that others with more light in
the higher afterlife realms have. Their progress is limited - a result of
divine justice. However, these souls can choose to grow if they wish." (RaNelle
Wallace) "The living have auras of light
surrounding their bodies. If the aura becomes distorted through alcohol or
drugs, an earthbound soul can temporarily possess the body." (Dr. George
Ritchie) "There are no permanent sinners. Even
the saddest example of humanity can become the greatest." (Harry Hone) "Accept the greater power around you
and let go of the Earth and its desires." (Margaret Tweddell) "Based on a soul's desire and
willingness, those in hell are given an opportunity for an upward
journey." (Nora Spurgin) "People on Earth are protected from
earthbound discarnates and any harm they may try to do against us when they
focus on the love within them." (Kevin Williams) "To appreciate heaven well it is good
for a man to have some fifteen minutes of hell." (Will Carleton)
7. Negativity Must Be Removed to
Enter Heaven
"At this point, I could feel this group
of beings eliminate or pull from me the negative energy of my life in the
physical world and fill me with love beyond what I can describe." (Sherry
Gideon) "After death, if a soul has been too
bad, they go to a realm of lower vibrations where their kind of thoughts can
live. If they entered heaven, they would be annihilated by the Master-Vibration
of God. This is because souls gravitate into groups according to the rate of
their soul's vibrations. If the percent of discord in a soul is small, it can
be eliminated by God; then the remaining good can live on in heaven. However,
if the percentage of bad were too high, this couldn't be done, and the person
would have to gravitate to a lower level and live with people of his own kind.
Birds of a feather, flock together."(Arthur Yensen) "Since I had lived such a totally
self-serving existence, I was in a hellish state of indescribable agony and
sorrow. I was in shear agony. I still remember being on my knees while this
blinding light broke and crushed my false-ego. This breaking process was
extremely painful." (Daniel Rosenblit)
"Negative thoughts cannot be expressed
in the heavenly realms - only positive ones." (Ned Dougherty) "God is the Master-Vibration who
neutralizes all negative thoughts so that you think only the good thoughts,
such as love, freedom and happiness." (Arthur Yensen) "God's love looks at all of us
throughout the eyes of eternity. God's overriding desire is to purify the
darkness of our souls, irrespective of the suffering God has to put us through
to achieve that end. However, it will greatly minimize our suffering if we
learn to accept instead of fighting against our situation in life." (Daniel
Rosenblit) "There are earthbound spirits of low
vibrations, whom we may regard as devils because they annoy us through mental
telepathy. These demons tune in on us through our low vibrations of hate, fear
and greed. They can be tuned out with unselfish love, or if necessary be chased
away by the stronger spirit of Jesus Christ." (Arthur Yensen) "The only thing that burns in hell is
the part of you that won't let go of your life: your memories, your
attachments. They burn them all away, but they're not punishing you, they're
freeing your soul." (Meister Eckhart) "The purpose of religion is not so much
to get us into heaven, or to keep us out of hell, but to put a little bit of
heaven into us, and take the hell out of us." (E. Stanley Jones)
8. NDE Examples of the Earthbound
Realm
The
following are summaries of the NDE accounts of those who experienced this
earthbound region for themselves.
David Oakford saw dark souls who were
earthbound and who refused to go to the light. They prey on the energies of the
living in an attempt to prevent the evolution of their spirit. David learned
that we protected from these dark ones as long as we chose to focus on the love
within us. David noticed that the dark ones did not even try to affect him.
They just gave him nasty looks and went away. David was told that whenever he
sees one, he was to tell them to go to the light. The light is a porthole to
the place all souls go if they choose to go. David learned that higher beings
know where to go and what to do to help an earthbound soul so they may advance
themselves if they so choose to do so. (David Oakford) Josiane saw faces rushing toward her with
incredible speed. They would race toward her face, expanding and then
dissolving. Face after face washed over her and she is terrified. She drifted
along and was unable to keep her eyes open. She wondered who these people were.
She recognized some of them as people she knew who had died. The whole room was
filled with spirits and they would hover near her and look into her eyes. She
tried to push them away and she fought them. This experience seemed to go on
forever. She identified these people as restless spirits. Their faces were
twisted with pain and they seemed lost. She was frightened to see them around
her. Suddenly, spirits with glowing faces appeared to her. They reflect a
gentle and powerful light which reminded her of pictures of beautiful angels. (Josiane
Antonette) While in the earthbound realm, Howard
Pittman watched living people going about their daily pursuit and completely
unaware that they were being stalked by beings from the spirit world. Pittman
refers to this earthbound realm as the first heaven. He was totally
flabbergasted as he watched in horror demons in all shapes and forms moving at
will among the humans. Pittman was shown an employee's lounge on Earth where a
young man and young woman were talking and laughing. Between them was a
grotesque demon who was unseen by the two. Pittman learned that this was a
demon of lust. Pittman watched in astonishment as the demon entered the body of
the young man. Pittman was told that the demon made himself desirable to the
young man and he accepted by his own free will to violate his space. (Rev.
Howard Pittman) "Emanuel Swedenborg's description of
the first stage after death is a remarkable description of the earthbound
realm: After death, there are various states that souls must pass through
before arriving in heaven or hell. The first state involves their more outward
aspects and the second [the void] involves their more inward aspects. The first
state after death is very much like their state in the physical world, since at
that point they are similarly involved in outward matters. This is why some
souls are unaware that they are dead. (Emanuel Swedenborg) Dr. George Ritchie's NDE: Jesus took
Ritchie to a large city on Earth where he observed earthbound souls stalking
the living for one reason or another. One earthbound soul begged in vain for a
cigarette. A young man who committed suicide begged his parents in vain for
forgiveness. In a house, Ritchie was shown the soul of a boy following a living
teenage girl and begging for forgiveness despite the fact that the girl was
completely unaware of the boy's presence. Jesus told Ritchie that the boy
committed suicide and was chained to every consequence of his act. Then Ritchie
saw group of drunken sailors in a bar with earthbound alcoholics trying in vain
to get a drink. Ritchie is horrified when he witnessed a sailor pass out and an
earthbound alcoholic quickly possess his body. Jesus and Ritchie then viewed a
realm that was jammed with hordes of angry, frustrated, and miserable
earthbound souls who were locked in fights to the death. Yet, nobody could be
injured. Ritchie realized that this was hell where souls are enslaved to habits
of destructive thought-patterns. He also witnessed frustrated souls attempting
to perform sexual acts. He saw souls arguing over religion or politics and
trying to kill those who disagreed with them. Whatever anyone thought was
instantly apparent to everyone there. Most of the thoughts he heard were thoughts
such as, "I told you so!" and "I always knew!" and
"Didn't I warn you!" Ritchie became aware that Jesus did not condemn
them and that he had only love for them. The only thing that kept each soul
from leaving this realm was that they all shared the same kind of thoughts.
This created a bond where soul of similar feathers can flock together. Ritchie
wonders if these souls had fled the light that showed up the darkness of their
souls. Jesus then takes Ritchie away from there. (Dr. George Ritchie) Ruth Montgomery: This is an example
of a person who is so sure that there is no God and no hereafter that he treats
others badly while on Earth and he feels no moral obligation to lend a helping
hand or to be a decent citizen. When he makes the transition he is angry and
tempestuous as he finds himself in a situation of his own making, surrounded by
other greedy souls who, because they are in like situation, welcome him
gleefully to the hell that they have created for themselves. He tries to break
out of the fiendish group, but they surround him. He is utterly miserable, for
he now begins to see the folly of his ways but does not know how to avert his
fate. He is left there until his own remorse for sinful ways begins to
penetrate his being and he acknowledges to himself that he wasted a lifetime, a
rare privilege, by thinking only of himself. After he reaches full repentance
he is then able to free himself of the unrepentant creatures around him, and
for a long time thereafter he searches his own soul to review the past
mistakes. This is sometimes a long, drawn-out process because he will have to
make his way alone. Only he is able to assess his wrongs and seek forgiveness,
although there are many here willing to lend a hand whenever he reaches out to
them for it. (Ruth Montgomery) Ruth Montgomery: People who die as an
alcoholic may hover around people on Earth who drink too much, lusting after
the pleasures of alcoholism yet unable to break the bond of habit which bound
them to their physical bodies. The same with heavy smokers or drug users, there
or here, or the sex maniacs who take advantage of others to appease the bodily
craving for intercourse.This is a very important lesson which we learn on this
side. To escape the perpetual cycle of rebirth into physical form, we must
erase the ties, the shackles which bind us to satiation of the physical body.
So try to lick the bad habits while on Earth. It is easier by far than to come
unloose from them on Earth. Those who neither drink nor smoke nor use drugs nor
lust after sex will be free of those shackles on the other side. It is easier
while in physical form to break those shackles than it is to undo them on the
other side, where no temptations are put in our way. Thus, there is no reward
for behaving correctly here in spirit, because there is nothing to tempt us
otherwise. The hard school is in the physical one, and there it is there that
we must meet and overcome the temptations. (Ruth Montgomery) "A friend of mine who had recently
taken his life came through and did not know how to go into the light. I kept
telling him to go forward to the light, but he was afraid of judgment. He
couldn't forgive himself. Also, he was having a problem with the fact that
after he had taken his own life, his spirit obviously lingered around the scene
of the act. He could not overcome the memory of his father's discovering him,
and that was haunting him emotionally to a tremendous degree in the next
dimension. What he and many of us don't understand is that there is judgment
there, but it is not done by God on a throne. Judgment rests basically with
yourself. It can take eons of time as we understand it before they go into the
light. It depends on the person." (George Anderson)
9. The Traditional Hellfire and
Brimstone NDEs
"Why do some people have NDEs that
resembles the fire and brimstone hell of the Bible while other people describe
a different kind of hell? The quick answer is that there are many kinds of
hells and many kinds of heavens. A person's situation in life and after death
is based upon many factors including: perception, perspective, cultural and
religious background, spirituality or lack thereof, and education. If you
examine enough hellish NDEs that resemble the traditional hellfire and
brimstone, you will notice that they mostly occur to fundamentalist Christians.
Life after death often means "getting what you expect", that is, if
you believe heaven is a place where you float on a cloud and play a harp, you
just might get that when you die. And only when you realize that this kind of
heaven is a fanatasy-to-be-abandoned will you find reality different. In other
words, reality is what you make it. This applies on Earth as it is in heaven.
If we believe that such a hell exists, it actually does exist - in our own
minds. And since the afterlife is the realm of the mind and spirit, these
hellish conditions actually exist merely by creating them in our own mind. This
is why it is critical that we be careful what we put in our minds and what we
build there. For more information about the differences between NDEs visit my NDE
Differences page." (Kevin Williams)After an attempted suicide, John Bunyan (1628-1688)
was given an extended guided tour of hell containing all the traditional images
of fire, brimstone, devils, tormentors, etc. Bunyan, an English author and
preacher imprisoned for his faith, is best known for his fictional work, The
Pilgrim's Progress. (John Bunyan)Rev. Kenneth Hagin descended into a pit until a
darkness totally surrounded him. The farther down he went, the darker and
hotter it became until he could see the fingers of flames playing on the dark
walls of the pit. In front of him, beyond the entrance into hell, he saw giant,
orange flames. He was pulled toward hell like a magnet pulls metal. He was
aware of some kind of creature at his right side, which he didn't dare look at,
that escorted him toward the entrance to hell. When he did, a powerful voice
spoke which caused everything to shake. Kenneth then floated back up through
the darkness to the top of the pit. (Rev. Kenneth Hagin)Don Brubaker travels through a tunnel while a
large, eerie red eye peers at him which he realizes to be his own. While in the
tunnel, he is stricken with panic and believes he is in hell. A voice, which he
identifies to be God's, tells him not to fear. He has been chosen to write
about what he is experiencing. He is told he must testify about the reality of
hell. Afterward, he is drawn into a vast, flaming oven filled with other
people. They laugh as they realize the flames are not painful. Suddenly, he is
alone in the dark with God communicating to him. In an instant, he is aware of
everyone in his life whom he was ever angry with. Afterward, he floats in a
glorious deep blue sky. Christ appears shining a tremendous amount of light.
Christ gives Don a choice of staying or returning to the physical world.
Thoughts of his family cause him to choose to return. Before he returns, Don is
taken back in time to witness the crucifixion of Christ. (Don Brubaker)Other hell, fire, and brimstone NDEs: Sarah and George
Lennox
10. Religious Descriptions of the
Earthbound Realm
Buddhism: The deceased
eventually enters a realm of hungry ghosts were the deceased have huge stomachs
and throats the size of pinholes. Because of this, they wander around in a
constant state of unsatisfied ravenous desire. Eventually, the unliberated
deceased encounters the Lord of Death for judgment. The Lord of Death holds up
before him the Mirror of Karma where every good and evil act is vividly
reflected. Now demons approach and begin to inflict torments and punishments
upon the deceased for their evil deeds. Even here the deceased can attain
liberation by recognizing this. The deceased who is still not liberated after
the Judgment will now be drawn remorselessly toward reincarnation. At some
point, liberation is no longer possible and the deceased are instructed on how
to choose the best womb for a favorable reincarnation. (Buddhism) "Be not fond of the dull smoke-colored
light from hell." (Tibetan Book of the Dead) Hinduism: Each of the
dimensions of the Great Mandala of the Cosmos represents a quality of energy,
or light. Each dimension of this Mandala, which moves out from the central
Whiteness, are infinite numbers of possible worlds and various kinds of
embodiment. The dimension which we live in now is on the outskirts of this
Great Mandala. Dimensions even farther away from the center may be called
"hells" where there is less awareness, less possibilities, than the
dimension we live in now. (Hinduism) Islam: Muslim theologians,
particularly those of the Asharite school, believed that if a believer entered
hell, God could forgive his sins or nonconformities and remove him, either immediately
or after a certain period during which imperfections had been burned away. The
basis for this doctrine is the Hadith: "He shall make men come out of hell
after they have been burned and reduced to cinders." In addition to this
purgatory of suffering, there is another Muslim limbo - al-A'raf (the
"heights" or "ramparts"), described in a chapter of the
Koran by that name - in which those souls reside that do not merit damnation
yet are unable to enter paradise. (Muslim) Judaism: In rabbinical thought,
the model for heaven was Eden. The rabbinic word for hell, Gehenna, is taken
from the name of a valley of fire where children were said to be sacrificed as
burnt offerings to Baal and Moloch (Semitic deities). Jewish legend paints hell
with all of the vividness that medieval Christians did, even associating
particular tortures with particular sins. (Judaism) Gnosticism: Christian Gnostics
viewed living on Earth as a kind of hell. Gnosticism saw human beings as
trapped in a cycle of reincarnation and believed that even suicide could not
release one from bondage to the flesh. In marked contrast with orthodox
Christian belief, bodily resurrection was not viewed as part of the scheme of
redemption. Rather, only the destruction of the body and of all Satan's visible
creation - which is hell - was adequate to ensure salvation of the soul and its
ascent to heaven. (Gnosticism) Christianity: Scriptures
showing souls do not stay in hell forever:
a.
"[Jesus] went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago
when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being
built." (1 Peter 3:18-20)
b. "That
servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what
his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know
and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows." (Luke
12:47-48)
c.
"Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do
it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the
judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown
into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the
last penny." (Matthew 5:22-26)
d.
It should be difficult for any Christian to honestly conceive of a God of
infinite love and mercy to permit even one soul to be tortured forever in hell.
It is common sense that a few minutes in hell is enough for even the hardest of
sinners to change their mind and repent. And what kind of God would create
someone knowing that he will ultimately throw that person in hell to be
tortured forever? It should be obvious that it would be better for God to not
even create such a person. If an evil father treats his children better than
this, how much more so God? Jesus stated: "Which of you, if his son asks
for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a
snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who
ask him!" (Matthew 7:9-11)
11. The Purpose for Hell is Purification
Not Punishment
The early Church developed the concept of
purgatory based on particular passages of scripture.
a.
According to St. Isidore of Seville the Church taught that in the next life:
"Some sins will be forgiven and purged away by a certain purifying
fire." (Deord. creatur., c. xiv, n. 6)
b. St.
Augustine also argued: "Some sinners are not forgiven either in this world
or in the next, would not be truly said unless there were other [sinners] who,
though not forgiven in this world, are forgiven in the world to come" (De
Civ. Dei, XXI, xxiv).
c.
The same interpretation is given by Gregory the Great (Dial., IV, xxxix); St.
Bede (commentary on this text); St. Bernard (Sermo lxvi in Cantic., n.11) and
other eminent theological writers.
d. Origen,
the first great Church father, taught that purgatory is the true description of
hell. He believed if people depart this life with lighter faults, they are
condemned to fire which burns away the lighter materials, preparing their souls
for the kingdom of God, where nothing defiled may enter. He wrote: "For if
on the foundation of Christ you have built not only gold and silver and
precious stones; but also wood and hay and stubble, what do you expect when the
soul shall be separated from the body? Would you enter into heaven with your
wood and hay and stubble and thus defile the kingdom of God; or on account of
these hindrances would you remain without and receive no reward for your gold
and silver and precious stones? Neither is this just. It remains then that you
be committed to the fire which will burn the light materials; for our God to
those who can comprehend heavenly things is called a cleansing fire. But this
fire consumes not the creature, but what the creature has himself built, wood,
and hay and stubble. It is manifest that the fire destroys the wood of our
transgressions and then returns to us the reward of our great works." (P.
G., XIII, col. 445, 448).
Origen based this statement on the following
Bible verse:
a.
"It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each
man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is
burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one
escaping through the flames." (1 Corinthians 3:11-15)
"In the Council of Lyons, in 1274 A.D.,
it was stated that after death the soul goes promptly either to heaven or to
hell. On the Day of Judgment, all will stand before the tribunal of Christ with
their bodies to render account of what they have done.
12. NDEs Support Universal
Salvation
"What all people seek, what sustains
them, is love, the light told me. What distorts people is a lack of love. The
revelations coming from the light seemed to go on and on, then I asked the
light, "Does this mean that humankind will be saved?" Then, like a
trumpet blast with a shower of spiraling lights, the Great Light spoke, saying,
"Remember this and never forget; you save, redeem and heal yourself. You
always have. You always will. You were created with the power to do so from
before the beginning of the world. In that instant I realized even more. I
realized that WE HAVE ALREADY BEEN SAVED, and we saved ourselves because we
were designed to self-correct like the rest of God's universe." (Mellen-Thomas
Benedict) "Life is a cycle of improvements and
humans are not perfect yet. Most people have this secret revealed to them when
they die." (Dr. Frank Oski) "All souls were created in the
beginning and are finding their way back to God." (Edgar Cayce) "We are immortal and indestructible. We
have always been alive, we always will be, and there is no way in this world
that we can ever be lost. It is impossible for anyone to fall into a crack in
the universe somewhere and never be heard from again. We are utterly safe and
we have always been forever and ever." (Jayne Smith) "From the light we have come, and to
the light we all shall return." (Josiane Antonette)
"It is God's love for us that sends us
on our journey and it is our love for God that allows us to return to God's
loving arms again." (David Goines) "A central aspect of our eternal
existence is continued spiritual growth through love and service. We can spend
what seems like an eternity before incarnating in the flesh. During that period
in the spirit world, soul growth can be attained there as well." (Nora
Spurgin) "It [reincarnation] is a universal
process, and prevails not only in the human kingdom but also throughout the
whole of nature. Whenever we find a living form, the consciousness of that form
is also evolving, using temporarily for that purpose the physical form in order
that it may gain physical experience. In each incarnation we have a different
physical body, a different name, and may have different souls acting as
parents, but these changes do not in the slightest imperil our individuality
... Reincarnation is not an endless process, and when we have learned the
lessons taught in the World-School we return no more to physical incarnation
unless we come back of our own accord to act as Teachers of humanity or as
Helpers in the glorious plan of evolution." (Amber Wells) "Without physical bodies, feelings of
hate and fear are intensified as souls [in hell] vainly try to hide from their
enemies. Their only hope is to reincarnate. Then unfortunately when they do,
they may forget all about their torment in hell and again lead lives of greed
and tyranny. This miserable cycle can continue forever unless they find
salvation in one of their lifetimes. Such people really need a savior, since
they are not able to help themselves. I'm sure Christ incarnated to help them
because he said, 'I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance.'" (Arthur Yensen)
14. Scriptures Supporting
Universal Salvation
a.
"The Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him,
so that God may be all in all." (1 Corinthians 15:28)
b.
"God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a
knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:3-4)
c.
"But I, when I am lifted up from the Earth, will draw all men to myself."
(John 12:32)
d.
"For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive."
(1 Corinthians 15:22)
e.
"And all mankind will see God's salvation." (Luke 3:6)
f. "[God]
is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone
to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)
g.
"For this we labor and strive, that we have put our hope in the living
God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who
believe." (1 Timothy 4:10)
h. "And
he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure,
which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have
reached their fulfillment -- to bring all things in heaven and on Earth together
under one head, even Christ." (Ephesians 1:9-10)
It is God's will to have all humanity
saved. And because nobody can thwart God's will, then the only
conclusion is that all humanity will be saved.
a
"No plan of yours [God's] can be thwarted." (Job 42:2)
b. "[Christ]
is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the
sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:2)
c.
"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men."
(Titus 2:11)
d.
"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now
crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of
God he might taste death for everyone." (Hebrews 2:9)
e.
"And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior
of the world." (1 John 4:14)
f.
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men -- the testimony given
in its proper time." (1 Timothy 2:5-6)
g.
"And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for
themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians
5:15)
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