Some years ago I did a post on biblical metaphors for hell:
The point of the post is that conventional views of hell generally neglect the range of metaphors used to illustrate the condition of the damned.
Recently I did a short story on hell ("Journey out of hell"). As fiction, it wasn't necessarily meant to be theologically accurate. The hell which the characters experienced was a hell of their own imagination.
That, however, raises an interesting question which I've touched on in the past. There may well be a sense in which hell is a theme park furnished by the imagination of the damned–like the Dark Island in Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
If so, hell is self-inflicted punishment because the source of suffering is the externalized imagination of the damned. The more evil the damned, the darker their minds.
The damned can't reasonable complain about their punishment because they are being punished by their own wicked imagination. This may mean hell is worse for some of the damned than others, because the imagination of some unbelievers is soaked in evil. Hell is only as bad as you are. The worse you are, the worse hell will be because it mirrors your heart.
This might also mean that for some of the damned, hell is like a horror flick or gangster flick, because that's the mental world they inhabit even before they die. Hell is what you live for–even before you get there. Some moviegoers revel in vicarious sadism.
Ironically, while progressive theologians eliminate hell, secular directors reintroduce hell. For some of the damned, hell might be forever warring crime families. For some of the damned, hell might contain monsters like werewolves, zombies, vampires, Terminators, Xenomorphs, &c. Monsters animated by the lurid minds of the damned. In that respect, hell may be compartmentalized.
Ironically, while progressive theologians eliminate hell, secular directors reintroduce hell. For some of the damned, hell might be forever warring crime families. For some of the damned, hell might contain monsters like werewolves, zombies, vampires, Terminators, Xenomorphs, &c. Monsters animated by the lurid minds of the damned. In that respect, hell may be compartmentalized.
By the same token, we might describe heaven (or the world to come) as what you live for. The difference is that the saints live for something different than the damned.
I'm not suggesting that horror flicks are necessarily evil or evil to watch. Monsters in horror flicks can be powerful personified emblems of archetypal dread, malevolence, and retribution. Paradoxically, showing evil can be good. But it's a question of balance. The Bible sometimes describes evil in shockingly graphic terms (e.g. Judges, Lamentations, Revelation, Ezk 18 & 23). But that provides a contrastive background for good.
"There may well be a sense in which hell is a theme park furnished by the imagination of the damned."
ReplyDeleteI think the idea behind this is intriguing, but I don't know how well it's represented in Scripture. Did you have something in mind? I ask because if it really is this way, then why go through the trouble of describing it as a place where flames are unquenched and worms do not die?
I have intelligence briefings from the angel Gabriel, but those are classified, so I can't be more specific than that.
Deletei) As I note a the top of the post, there's a variety of hellish metaphors in Scripture, but those are neglected in conventional discussion.
Deleteii) Maggots are a natural metaphor for death and decay. To say they never die extends that to make a point about the everlasting duration of hell.
"Unquenchable fire" is deliberately paradoxical since fire can normally be doused. So that, again, underscores the eternality of hell.
iii) There's the question of what fire represents. I've discussed that before. It's an open-textured metaphor. The most common association, at least for many readers, is pain. But in general in represents heat, and it's probably not coincidental that this is used in the context of a hot dry climate like the Middle East where drinking water is scarce and ravaging thirst is an ever-present danger.
Also, blindness is common in the Middle East due to the unremitting glare.
iv) There's also the darkness motif, which may play on instinctive fear of the dark. That's another open-textured metaphor. It can dovetail with fear of getting lost.
v) Scripture uses a variety of metaphors or picturesque metaphors to describe or evoke damnation. Some of these are literally incompatible with each other. So I don't think the point is to exclude other possibilities.
Excellent, thanks for your response!
DeleteI don't know how progressive theologians eliminate hell. Revelation says the Antichrist and the false prophet are tormented day and night forever and ever.
ReplyDeleteI think Dante nailed it. Some people who weren't exactly evil will spend eternity doing exactly what they want. Fishing, partying, playing cards. But all the while knowing that eternity can't get any better.
I think Judaism believes that the real torments are reserved for the truly evil people like Haman and Hitler.