Is hell separation from God?
Emphatically, NO!
This is yet another downfall in the traditional concept of hell. I have been told all my life that hell is separation from God—even more than I was told that hell was eternal conscious torment. In fact, the torment was explained to me as eternal separation. Being separated from our true essence, from our parent, our lover, our destiny, sounds like torture to me. I was easily convinced of this position as a child, and, of course, 2 Thessalonians 1:9 NIV was used as evidence. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord. My Christian school and family in Australia emphasized the use of the NIV (hence why I use it a lot in my posts). Let’s take a look at some other translations:
The KJV/NKJV reads, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.
The Aramaic Bible and the American Standard versions use the phrase, from the face of our Lord.
The Jubilee Bible says, by the presence of the Lord.
Webster’s Bible translation says, from the presence of the Lord.
Now listen to Young’s Literal Translation of the entire text: Who shall suffer justice-destruction age-during from the face of the Lord! There is nothing about eternal punishment in there and certainly nothing about separation from God. These translations of Thessalonians reveal hell to be in the very presence of God.
For more evidence that hell is in the presence of God (and has only been mistranslated as separation) take a look at these verses:
Revelation 14:10 (New NIV) They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.
Psalm 139:7-8 (NKJV) Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee form your presence? If I ascend into heavens, you are there; if I made my bed in hell, behold you are there.
God is fully capable of rescuing us from any hell. 2 Samuel 14:14 [God] devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him! I would still argue that being abandoned by God is impossible and is only in our imagination. But God stoops to our imagination to convince us that even if abandoning us were possible, God would put a stop to it.
Romans 8:38-39 (NKJV) For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created things, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Philippians 2:10 every knee will bow in Heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
1 Peter 4:6 the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead.
CS Lewis wrote a book called The Great Divorce. I read it in my early twenties and was shocked when he described hell as a place or state-of-being inside of heaven. Inside the cracks of the footpaths. Tiny people, living and shrinking in the very presence of God. The people who perceived themselves as “in hell” were tortured by their distorted perception of who God is, who they are, and who the people around them are, in contrast to the people who perceived themselves as “in heaven” and had a very positive experience of God, themselves and each other.
My perichoresis friends of my early twenties, often described hell to me as screaming baby held in the arms of God, though they baby may not want to be there.
These depictions are not without their faults. One could argue that it sounds a bit “rapey” to be forced to remain with God, even if you do not want to be with God. It sounds like a violation of the person’s will.
But when you actually think of a child’s need for affection, attention, love, food, shelter etc., what person in their right mind—and their so-called free will—would continue to reject their deepest needs being met forever. I find it difficult to believe that even Satan himself (assuming Satan is a being) would resist the truth of his identity for endless time.
I only see two options here. Those who resist will cease to exist, as CS Lewis arguably implies by the continuous shrinking of the people who perceive their life as “hell,” or the will of the person will be persuaded by love and they will join heaven.
Think about the fact that our very existence relies upon God and is inside of God, For in him we live and move and have our being, Acts 17:28.
Colossians 1:17 He is before all things and in him all things hold together. This passage in Colossians goes on to explain that separation is only in our minds. Being reconciled to God is our truest reality. Colossians 1:21-22 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you…
The only way to be separated from God, is to cease to exist at all. Unless you believe that hell is annihilation, then the traditional position that hell is separation from God, is unbiblical.
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