The End of Hell

Sunday, December 1, 2013
First Sunday of Advent

I will say one thing for the very challenging music that Will Robbins picks for Mass at the Newman Center - it really makes me pay attention to the lyrics.  That is the source of the inspiration for my Advent blog this time around (well, that and Clara Biesel): dissecting hymns.

All of the hymns this week (including my all-time favorite always sung on the first Sunday of Advent, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel") focus on waiting for the new Jerusalem - longing for our true home.

It put me in mind of a heretical belief I hold about hell and the afterlife.

I clarified my thinking on hell after listening to the episode "Heretic" of This American Life (it is fabulous and interesting even if you disagree strongly with his conclusions, follow the link!).  In it, Carlton Pearson discusses how he came to stop believing in hell and damnation.  I pulled my car over to the side of the road when I heard it and started to cry.  I had gone through exactly the same thing, and it felt beyond wonderful to have confirmation that someone else felt the same way.

Basically, he was watching TV with his daughter and saw on the news the war in Sudan and demanded of God why he would let people suffer so and then suck them into Hell.  The answer came - "you think that's what we're doing?"  You think that's what a loving God would do?

Of course not.

Now, there's a lot in the Bible that contradicts this belief (and a lot of arguments to the effect of "that's letting us all off the hook/rewriting the difficult parts of the Bible") but I always think of this Bible verse that I simply CANNOT find tonight (and it is very late for a school night) where Jesus describes Hell - by naming a place outside Jerusalem.  A miserable place -- on Earth.

I believe in Hell.  I believe we create all kinds of inventive hells here on Earth.

I don't believe that there is an eternal one.  I believe that God is all-powerful and all-loving, and that all the evil in the world is the result of something twisted inside a person's soul.  And I believe that God can untwist them.  I believe in Purgatory or if we are lucky a more gentle place of healing.  I believe we are all saved.

And these songs tonight remind me of this belief.  That there will be an end to suffering and hell.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel.

Save us from this place where we make hells for ourselves because we are broken inside.  Because we do nothing when evil twists our souls into pretzels.

We speak of the Second Coming as a time of universal joy and peace -- not a time when significant chunks of the world will go to torment.  I can not long for such a day.  But a day when Hell ends?  That I long for with all my heart.

That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

We are in exile from heaven.  We create hells out of the Earth He gave us.  But someday we will be set free.  Someday the torment will end.  Over that, we should all rejoice.

If we are good and loving Christians, we cannot rejoice for the other version of Judgment Day.  We cannot be loving Christians and rejoice at the idea of millions sentenced to eternal torment and exile from God.

No, we rejoice because Jesus is coming to save us all.