I tend to think there are two stages of hell—just as the fire of Gehenna and the lake of fire do not really sounds like they are doing the same things or even necessarily in the same location / realm.
The first aspect of hell deals with a person’s relationship with God—that salvation is by grace alone, not by works. That God is the one who reconciles all to Godself.
The second aspect deals with relationships among people. Reconciliation between human beings and their communities and their so-called “enemies.”
People in hell do not love God as God truly is. They do not understand salvation by grace alone. They are outraged when they see sex-workers, adulterers, the LGBTIQA+ community, alcoholics, drug addicts, the poor and the disadvantaged entering into heaven before them—the last shall be first, after all.
These people want salvation by works. They are like the Pharisees. They think that how many times they pray and read their Bible has some bearing on their salvation. That tithing exactly ten percent is more important that actually helping the poor. That they can condemn people who have abortions while simultaneously declaring their right to own a gun and to shoot-to-kill intruders on their property.
They are like the goats in Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats. They have very little compassion, love, or grace for others in their poverty, sin, nakedness, and imprisonment. They want a justice that is more like revenge, than the justice that restores people to health and wholeness.
In essence, they wish that God would be more religious like them. They likely resist the idea that God loves and forgives everyone, because this kind of person wants revenge on their so-called enemies. They want their perception of the angry and vengeful God of the Old Testament, waging wars and destroying people groups. The want traditional-hell to be real and the punishment of so-called evildoers to be permanent!
So, God, in God’s grace, allows self-righteous pharisees to be disciplined in the fire of God’s love, to come to a place of accepting that God’s love is unconditional and includes all types of “evil” people. Resisting God’s love—and the fact that it includes all your enemies—will likely feel like torture. But eventually the people suffering this “hell” will see that God’s justice of forgiveness and unconditional love is the only answer to their desire for revenge or human justice.
When people stop trying to save themselves by their own self-righteousness, and surrender to God’s ability to save them, thereby repenting; then they are entering the Kingdom of God / heaven. Repent means to change one’s mind. We all need to repent of thinking that our works, fruit, theology, denomination, religion, nationality, or sexuality, affects our entry to heaven, our salvation, our relationship with God.
The other type of hellfire isn’t simply us accepting that God loves and forgives everyone, it is us, also, loving and forgiving everyone. This is what everyone being salted with fire is all about. Jesus was talking to his disciples about their relationships with one another. They were in need of reconciliation. Reconciling relationships with all the people with whom we have broken relationships, will be a painful process. It will require understanding exactly why people said and did the things that hurt us and being totally accepting and forgiving of them. It will involve apologies, and both parties understanding the heart of the other party.
Everyone will be salted with fire, Mark 9:49
This type of hell occurs on earth and even in heaven. Let me show you. In Revelation 21 we have people in the lake of fire “the nations” seeing the light of heaven and walking through its gate. Then in chapter 22 the tree of life from the garden of Eden is depicted in heaven, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations, Revelation 22:2.Why do people need healing in heaven? Because their relationships are still broken. Revelation 21:4 talks about God wiping the tears from people’s eyes. But why are they crying? Because they are still learning, and healing, and reconciling with one another. That’s what God’s fiery love does. It heals broken relationships, not just our relationship with God but our relationships with one another!
Similarly, I believe now more than ever, that hellfire is present here on the earth, because I believe it is God’s love, teaching us what real love and forgiveness are all about. Teaching us what salvation by grace is all about—it releases us from anything we could ever have owed to God and in turn we learn to release others just as we have been released. Isn’t that what Jesus prayed? Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven… forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. (I cannot find a translation that uses these exact phrases together, but this is how my 2023 United Methodist Church quotes these verses).
The Lord’s prayer is found in Matthew 6 and goes on to say If you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Point blank, I don’t believe that the English version of this text should be taken literally. But I think it is hinting at something very similar to “Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.” That there are a couple of things God will not tolerate long term (see my post on blasphemy of the Holy Spirit). In this instance, God will not forgive us for the act of refusing to forgive. In other words, God simply won’t allow the human race to continue permanently in unforgiveness. God will take matters into God’s hands to ensure that every person reconciles with every other person. It is necessary. It is essential to our continuation and health as a species or as part of Godself. It will not be forgiven because it will come to a necessary end. That doesn’t mean God doesn’t forgive us right now in our lack of ability to forgive one another. It simply means God’s “ideal world” and the cosmos we are headed toward—eventually—is one in which all things are reconciled to one another. All creatures, all people, all objects, all principalities and powers—all things can and must and will be reconciled to God and each other, because God has said they must.
Colossians 1:20 Through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
It makes sense that reconciliation would need to continue in the afterlife if we haven’t truly reconciled with each other during our life time on earth.
So, if there is a hell outside of heaven and earth, then the people in hell will come to see that God is love and that Jesus is the way, the truth, the life, and the narrow door / the gate to heaven, or rather, to the life of the age to come—the “eternal life.” Jesus is the only way and Jesus has saved the day for all of us! Or perhaps—as I see things now while editing this book—God is the only way and the universal way. God is all inclusive and never exclusive.
And those who need to reconcile with one another will do so because the fiery love of God compels us. It burns away our hatred, unforgiveness and misunderstanding. Until God and humanity truly are one.
God-the-parent + God-the-human-race + God-the-Spirit = hellfire = love.
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