Fear of Death, Fear of Hell
Recently, I heard about the death of the uncle of a friend of mine. A death in the family is hard enough to take by itself, but add to it the circumstances of this one and it becomes truly complicated. From what I heard, and I'm summarizing here, the uncle did not live a Christian life, and is believed therefore to be currently in Hell (or at the very least the nephew is distraught that he won't see the uncle in Heaven). Regardless of the terminology you might use (i.e. he "wasn't saved") this story really bothered me when I heard it because of this last portion.
As I stated already a death in the family is harsh enough; I'm not writing about it in any way to demean anyone or their beliefs or points of view. If you've read [OSC] long enough then you know I have very conflicting and confused views regarding Hell, so to listen to people talk about it (and act in response to it) with such surety and fear is disconcerting at best. I had filed this story away in my mind but upon reading a section in Philosophy for Dummies where Tom Morris is discussing mankind's fear of death I could not help but think about my friend's story.
I think most of us, Americans at least, would agree that fear is a bad thing. I'll admit that fear, in some instances, can be healthy and keep us out of danger, but I believe the majority of uses of fear in regards to governing (whether it be one's life or a country) are categorically "bad." So, with this in mind, why are we so quick to fear death and to fear Hell as well as govern our lives in such a way that this fear reigns?
Hopefully we are mature enough as individual human beings that we can view the world around us and realize that our own death is an inevitability. It's a given. It will happen, sooner or later; our bodies are not engineered for "forever use." Nothing in this "material" world is, frankly, since things decay and degrade. The word "time" is merely what we attribute to the slow decay of the world, when looked at practically. Perhaps I'm being too general here.
Does this thought depress you?
My point is that since death is what it is (unavoidable) why be afraid of it? Not that we need to embrace or seek it! The seeking is done for us, frankly. Again, I'm sorry if this seems morose but I want to make clear how important this "fear" truly is. People claim all the time to have lived a better life after casting off the fear of death (usually after they were certain of death due to cancer or some other malady) or the "living like today is your last" attitude. Take chances as they come because you may not get another, you might hear someone say.
This concept applies similarly to my view about Hell. Imagine, if you will, some kind of torturous condition that you have been informed (on good authority) will never end. Nothing you can do will end it. Nothing you can say will abate it even by an iota. Taking intellectual stock of the situation, one might then be able to "accept" this state of reality and conclude that since it will never end that there is no reason to get upset about it. Perhaps it is an oversimplification, but perhaps it isn't. Don't the minds of human beings adapt to their situation? If that is all that is left of us, our minds and not our bodies, what torture guaranteed for eternity would threaten us further once it was applied? Doesn't the Serenity Prayer mention accepting the things we cannot change? By my interpretation of Saint Francis, it's possible that serenity might even be found in Hell.
Either way, why life in fear of it? I'm not endorsing a purposeful immoral lifestyle, I'm asking us to have true motivations for wanting to do good. If you buy into the looming threat of Hell, you can't help but become selfish in regard to helping others, I think. The entire concept of the phrase "saved" carries the implication of saved from Hell. Therefore, to "save" others via evangelism could be compared to spreading governing fear. I believe we can't have a choice about being selfish once we have the fear of Hell; anything and everything we do and say could be construed as an attempt to earn positive points.
Not only that, but I think the authors of the Bible made it a point to quote Jesus any time he told us not to be afraid. Fear destroys love. If you doubt this, ask yourself why you don't hang out with the destitute homeless people living just downtown. Your fear of them keeps you from loving them the way Jesus would, doesn't it? Mine certainly does, and I'm more than willing to admit it, even though it is difficult to come to terms with.
Fear, particularly of Hell, takes away hope. Actually, fear is hope, just in reverse. If you fear something is going to happen, in reality you are hoping that it will not happen, and visa-versa. I've heard a particular pastor talk so many times about "hope" and it's importance in our daily lives, but in the same breath he can intimate how literal and certain Hell's existence is. His outright stance is that God has no qualms about sending us to Hell for the "crime" of being unconvinced about how the universe works (regardless of whether it's too complicated for us to fully understand and regardless of how unconvincing the Christian world-view can be/is). How can we reconcile the practical truth of "don't believe everything you hear" with the spiritual surety of our neighbors?
Well, that's a thought for another day, so I'll let that one lie for the moment. I'm sure I'll come back to it at some point.
In the end, the best I can do is repeat my opinion on my friend's story. A death in the family is difficult but our fears, however much we accept them, can truly complicate things. I think a loss of a loved one is bad enough without worrying where they "ended up," and a feeling of personal responsibility for their absence in Heaven discourages living your own life. If you loved them, you should remember loving them - if a person has the capacity to be loved by another, be consoled by the fact that God loved them before you did.
And be not afraid.
As I stated already a death in the family is harsh enough; I'm not writing about it in any way to demean anyone or their beliefs or points of view. If you've read [OSC] long enough then you know I have very conflicting and confused views regarding Hell, so to listen to people talk about it (and act in response to it) with such surety and fear is disconcerting at best. I had filed this story away in my mind but upon reading a section in Philosophy for Dummies where Tom Morris is discussing mankind's fear of death I could not help but think about my friend's story.
I think most of us, Americans at least, would agree that fear is a bad thing. I'll admit that fear, in some instances, can be healthy and keep us out of danger, but I believe the majority of uses of fear in regards to governing (whether it be one's life or a country) are categorically "bad." So, with this in mind, why are we so quick to fear death and to fear Hell as well as govern our lives in such a way that this fear reigns?
Hopefully we are mature enough as individual human beings that we can view the world around us and realize that our own death is an inevitability. It's a given. It will happen, sooner or later; our bodies are not engineered for "forever use." Nothing in this "material" world is, frankly, since things decay and degrade. The word "time" is merely what we attribute to the slow decay of the world, when looked at practically. Perhaps I'm being too general here.
Does this thought depress you?
My point is that since death is what it is (unavoidable) why be afraid of it? Not that we need to embrace or seek it! The seeking is done for us, frankly. Again, I'm sorry if this seems morose but I want to make clear how important this "fear" truly is. People claim all the time to have lived a better life after casting off the fear of death (usually after they were certain of death due to cancer or some other malady) or the "living like today is your last" attitude. Take chances as they come because you may not get another, you might hear someone say.
This concept applies similarly to my view about Hell. Imagine, if you will, some kind of torturous condition that you have been informed (on good authority) will never end. Nothing you can do will end it. Nothing you can say will abate it even by an iota. Taking intellectual stock of the situation, one might then be able to "accept" this state of reality and conclude that since it will never end that there is no reason to get upset about it. Perhaps it is an oversimplification, but perhaps it isn't. Don't the minds of human beings adapt to their situation? If that is all that is left of us, our minds and not our bodies, what torture guaranteed for eternity would threaten us further once it was applied? Doesn't the Serenity Prayer mention accepting the things we cannot change? By my interpretation of Saint Francis, it's possible that serenity might even be found in Hell.
Either way, why life in fear of it? I'm not endorsing a purposeful immoral lifestyle, I'm asking us to have true motivations for wanting to do good. If you buy into the looming threat of Hell, you can't help but become selfish in regard to helping others, I think. The entire concept of the phrase "saved" carries the implication of saved from Hell. Therefore, to "save" others via evangelism could be compared to spreading governing fear. I believe we can't have a choice about being selfish once we have the fear of Hell; anything and everything we do and say could be construed as an attempt to earn positive points.
Not only that, but I think the authors of the Bible made it a point to quote Jesus any time he told us not to be afraid. Fear destroys love. If you doubt this, ask yourself why you don't hang out with the destitute homeless people living just downtown. Your fear of them keeps you from loving them the way Jesus would, doesn't it? Mine certainly does, and I'm more than willing to admit it, even though it is difficult to come to terms with.
Fear, particularly of Hell, takes away hope. Actually, fear is hope, just in reverse. If you fear something is going to happen, in reality you are hoping that it will not happen, and visa-versa. I've heard a particular pastor talk so many times about "hope" and it's importance in our daily lives, but in the same breath he can intimate how literal and certain Hell's existence is. His outright stance is that God has no qualms about sending us to Hell for the "crime" of being unconvinced about how the universe works (regardless of whether it's too complicated for us to fully understand and regardless of how unconvincing the Christian world-view can be/is). How can we reconcile the practical truth of "don't believe everything you hear" with the spiritual surety of our neighbors?
Well, that's a thought for another day, so I'll let that one lie for the moment. I'm sure I'll come back to it at some point.
In the end, the best I can do is repeat my opinion on my friend's story. A death in the family is difficult but our fears, however much we accept them, can truly complicate things. I think a loss of a loved one is bad enough without worrying where they "ended up," and a feeling of personal responsibility for their absence in Heaven discourages living your own life. If you loved them, you should remember loving them - if a person has the capacity to be loved by another, be consoled by the fact that God loved them before you did.
And be not afraid.
posted by Todd Newton at 12:25
1 Comments:
dude honestly at this point, sometimes the thought of living forever would be my own personal hell. i'm not really into my life all that much that i would want to be doing this forever. i'm looking forward to that day when i can "rest" from all of my burdens and really from MYSELF.......and frankly, i don't fear death....i fear not having the control or influence over my children if i were to leave this place before i was able to teach them all that they need to know in order to become responsible people that love the Lord....and of course how to return to live with God again as well......but i do see your point. i think the fear comes with the fact that some people or rather most people do not know what will come after this life on earth...it's the fear of the unknown i think that frightens people the most.....
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