the story of God and Hades

I taught class on Sunday. The church is going through St. Paul’s letters to the Philippians. I was asked to teach the first service gathering, so I obliged. I taught out of Philippians 1.15-18, where Paul writes about preachers who preach the gospel out of bad motives, but he writes that he is not going to oppose them because the gospel message is being preached (he doesn’t endorse their motives, however). We talked about how some people will preach the gospel out of bad motives even today—desire for wealth, fame, status, success, popularity. And we talked about how St. Paul viewed “the advancement of the gospel.” To Paul, the gospel’s advance is not marked by how many people become Christians but how many people hear the gospel and have the chance to respond. We can’t control whether or not people embrace the gift of the cross, but we can tell people the Good Message and thus give them a chance to partake in the gospel. With this in mind, we talked about how one would advance the gospel through their school—that being making the gospel message known—and then we addressed the question, “What is the gospel?” And I presented the gospel to them in the form of a story:

Creation: God creates the universe, and mankind and God are friends. The creation is beautiful and good.

The Fall: mankind decides to rebel against God (sin), and so mankind becomes enemies with God. The universe, because of this situation, begins to fall apart.

Cross: through the cross, God “erases” our rebellion against Him, and so we are no longer His enemies but His friends. And though we are God’s friends, we still live in a world that is falling apart because of the Fall, a world dominated by sorrow, grief, suffering, and pain. We await the day when God will fix all of this.

Restoration: God re:makes the universe, re:forming it with new planets and new stars and new galaxies and new animals, and God’s friends will dwell in this universe and reign with Him, building homes, raising crops, enjoying one another’s company, playing with the animals, enjoying the world of the new universe.

At the end of the class, a kid raised his hand and asked, “What about those people who aren’t Christians? What happens to them when God makes the new universe?” I paused for a moment, said, “The concept of Hell is not a very clear one. The Jews didn’t have a concept of the afterlife until the Intertestamental Period, when they adopted the afterlife views of Babylonian and Persian mythologies. And when the Bible talks about Hell, it isn’t really clear. But there are several views on Hell that can be supported using various scriptures. You should study them for yourself.” I wrote them on the board:

Exclusivism: only Christians go to heaven, all non-Christians are tormented in Hell for eternity. Our church holds to this view.

Inclusivism: some people who are not Christians will go to heaven and live with God because they responded appropriately to the knowledge of God that was available to them; salvation still comes through Christ’s blood, even if they do not know who Christ is.

Conditionalism: all Christians will go to heaven, and non-Christians will be tormented in Hell for what they deserve, and then they will be annihilated or extinguished. Their consciousness will be eradicated. Peace-loving people will not go through nearly as much pain as someone like Hitler or Kim Jong II. Purgatorial: people will be tortured in Hell for a period of time to pay for their sins, and then they will join everyone in heaven and share in the new universe with them.

Universalism: Hell does not exist; only Heaven is real; and everyone will go to Heaven due to the triumphal victory of God through Christ on the cross.

He asked me, “Which do you believe?” After a moment, I said, “I don’t know.”
And that’s just the truth.