saved from what? terminology on "hell" please

hi stacy

if i look to the right, there is a block within this web page: entitled "Similar Entries" which currently lists these pages that might answer your question.

• Brian McLaren’s Inferno 3: five proposals for reexamining our doctrine of hell
• Salvation in a pluralistic and relative world.
• Emerging Visions of Hell: What are their consequences for missional living and intra-church relations?
• How context contextualizes the language of hell

shalom! - john (eternalpurpose.org.uk)

Hi Stacy.

I’m not qualified to give an expert opinion, but here’s what I’ve gleaned over the past few years.

Sheol—the place of the dead in the OT. Apparently there is no uniform ‘theory’ as to what this consists of. Sometimes the dead in Sheol are just dead (no thinking, no dreaming, no existence), other times (perhaps in the intertestamental litterature?) the dead (who are in Sheol simply by virtue of being dead) are either in "Abraham’s bosom" or in a place of torment (cf. the rich man and Lazarus parable in the NT).

Hades—roughly the Greek equivalent of Sheol.

Gehenna—the valley of Hinnom. A literal valley outside of Jerusalem where trash and refuse were burnt. Takes on mythical proportions in certain prophecies and becomes a universal symbol of desolation, abandonment by God, and utter and irreversible destruction (for NT Wright and Andrew, it would symbolize the very opposite of ‘vindication’). 

"Hell" seems to be a post-biblical construct which amalgamates gehenna and the nastier parts of Hades… I blame John’s Apocalypse with some of its more gratuitous vindictive imagery.

As Andrew (and NT Wright?) has pointed out, Jesus primarily talks about Gehenna, and this in the context of Israel’s downfall. I agree with Andrew that this should lead us to favor a historical conception of ‘hell’ rather than a post-mortem metaphysical one (where hell is some kind of torture chamber).

But this, of course, is controversial.

Universalism is perhaps a handy theological construct, but I think you can only find it in Scripture if you assume the NT writers cared more about the afterlife than they did (and even then, you have to fish around a little bit).

Personally, I think Scripture is mostly vague about what the new heavens and the new Earth will look like. Some are optimistic and hope that all people will eventually be reconciled to God. Fair enough. In any case, we can be certain that nothing incompatible with God’s terrifying goodness will have any part in the new Creation. Some of us think that that’s bad news for some people (and perhaps a reminder to ourselves to be humble, and to ‘examine ourselves’…).

Hope this was helpful.

Peace,

-Daniel-

PS: I wrote about this a little bit on my blog (http://hopeful-daniel.blogspot.com/2007/11/on-hell.html)