ONE FAMILY PLAN
Essence of Hell
HELL is told in Parables. In its essence, HELL is a place of torment, the refining of metals... the refining of the heart... It is all around us... Prisoners of the Planet...
Judaism
The Furnace of Affliction
"And the words of the LORD are flawless, LIKE SILVER purified in a crucible, LIKE GOLD REFINED SEVEN TIMES." (Psalm 12:6) "See, I have refined you, though NOT AS SILVER; I HAVE TESTED YOU IN THE FURNACE OF AFFLICTION." (Isaiah 48:10) "THE CRUCIBLE FOR SILVER AND THE FURNACE FOR GOLD, BUT THE LORD TESTS THE HEART." (Prov 17:3)
Place of the Dead (Hebrew: Sheol, Greek: Hades)
In Greek Mythology, Hades is the name of the lord of the dead and ruler of the netherworld. It is also the Place of the Dead. Hades rules with Persephone (abducted from the earth goddess Demeter) and various other characters (Hypnos, Charon, Thanatos, Cerberus). There is thirst and hunger with an inability to eat of the fruit or drink of the water (Tantalus). The rock that is pushed up a hill is rolled back over its aggressor (Sisyphus).
Valley of Gehinnom
Child Sacrifices were made to the god Molech
It became a refuse dump, continually burning
Gehenna is thought to be a sort of Purgatory where one is judged based on one's deeds. It is a place where one becomes fully aware of shortcomings and negative actions during one's life. The Kabbalah calls it the "waiting room" (entry way) for all souls (not just the wicked).
Rabbinical Texts indicate a short stay in HELL.
Christianity
It is the fires of Gehenna, NOT the literal fires of Christianity's hell. The symbolism speaks of "God's refining fire" NOT the doctrine of eternal torture.
Unquenchable fires do not burn forever. They fully complete their purpose and they are no more. Sodom and Gomorrah's "eternal fire (Jude 1:7)" stopped burning years ago.
NEW TESTAMENT:
"Because thou wilt not LEAVE MY SOUL IN HELL, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." (Acts 2:27, KJV)
...quoted from OLD TESTAMENT:
"For You will not ABANDON ME TO SHEOL (THE PLACE OF THE DEAD), neither will You suffer Your holy one [Holy One] to see corruption." (Psalm 16:10, Amplified)
They are one and the same. Hades is translated from the Hebrew "sheol." HELL is the Realm of the dead...
"What man can live and SHALL NOT SEE DEATH, or can deliver himself from the [powerful] hand of SHEOL (THE PLACE OF THE DEAD)?..." (Psalm 89:48, Amplified)
We live in the world of the dead
"Jesus said unto him, LET THE DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:60)
Who is the dead?
"WE KNOW THAT WE HAVE PASSED FROM DEATH TO LIFE, BECAUSE WE LOVE EACH OTHER. ANYONE WHO DOES NOT LOVE REMAINS IN DEATH." (1 John 3:14 NIV)
"...ALL WHO HATE ME LOVE DEATH." (Proverbs 8:36 NIV)
Fire is symbolic of God's refining process
"Beloved, THINK IT NOT STRANGE CONCERNING THE FIERY TRIAL which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you." (I Pet. 4:12) "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He that comes after me is mightier than I, Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, AND WITH FIRE." (Matt. 3:11) "For EVERY ONE [sinner and saint] shall be salted with FIRE." (Mark 9:49) "That THE TRIAL OF YOUR FAITH, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it [your faith] be TRIED IN THE FIRE, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." (I Pet. 1:7) "Every man's work (including believers) shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed BY FIRE, and the FIRE SHALL TRY EVERY MAN'S WORK of what sort it is." (I Cor. 3:13)
Islam (Jahannum)
In the Qur'an there are descriptions of a fiery Hell. Muslims call it Jahannam which is related to the Hebrew word Gehinnom. It resembles the hell of Christianity. Jahannum is contrasted to the garden-like Paradise (Jannah) enjoyed by the righteous believers- Zamhareer is the Hell of extreme coldness, of unbearable blizzards, ice, and snow.
It is an "evil resting place" and a "Fire" its residents are showered with water "hot as molten brass" which scalds the face. Garments of "Fire" are worn. They are lashed with rods of iron. They are told to "taste the torment of the Conflagration."
"Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their Home: an evil fate." (Koran, 9:73)
"Garments of fire have been prepared for the unbelievers. Scalding water shall be poured upon their heads, melting their skins and that which is in their bellies. They shall be lashed rods of iron. Whenever, in their anguish, they try to escape from Hell, back they shall be dragged, and will be told: 'Taste the torment of the Conflagration!'" (Koran 22:19-22:23)
"For the wrongdoers We have prepared a fire which will encompass them like the walls of a pavilion. When they cry out for help they shall be showered with water as hot as molten brass, which will scald their faces. Evil shall be their drink, dismal their resting-place." (Koran 18:28-30)
"...That is the Hell which the unbelievers deny. They shall wander between fire and water fiercely seething..." (Koran 55:41-52)
"For the unbelievers We have prepared chains and fetters and a blazing Fire..." (Koran 76:1-5)
"We have in store for the unbelievers heavy fetters and a blazing fire, choking food and harrowing torment: on the day when the earth shall quiver with all its mountains, and the mountains crumble into heaps of shifting sand." (Koran 73:12)
"...On that day they shall be sternly thrown into the fire of Hell, and a voice will say to them: 'This is the Fire which you denied...Burn in its flames. It is the same whether or not you show forbearance. You shall be rewarded according to your deeds.'"(Koran 52:1-52:15)Â
"Those who reject faith shall be the companions of the Fire." (Koran 2:39)
"Those who resist Allah and his messenger will be humbled to dust." (Koran 58:5)
Zoroastrianism: The Chinvat Bridge
Those who die must walk The Bridge of Separation. Its path broadens for the righteous and leads to the beautiful maiden. It turns on its side and becomes as a razor to the unrighteous. Mithra holds the scale to balance one's good and evil deeds. If the evil weighs heaviest the soul is tormented by an old hag prior to its fall off the bridge into hell. It is a horrific fate, vividly described in the Vision of Arda Viraf. In the end, everyone is purified and released to join the righteous with God, Ahura Mazda. Â
The Book of Arda Viraf
Part IV - HELL
CHAPTER 54
"(1) And I saw the darkest hell, which is pernicious, dreadful, terrible, very painful, mischievous and foul-smelling. (2) And after further observation, it appeared to me (3) as a pit, to the bottom of which, a thousand cubits would not reach; (4) and though all the wood which is in the world, were all put on to the fire in the most stinking and gloomy hell, it would never emit a smell; (5) and again also, as close as the ear to the eye, and as many as the hairs on the mane of a horse, (6) so close and many in number, the souls of the wicked stand, (7) but they see not and hear no sound, one from the other; (8) everyone thinks thus: 'I am alone'. (9) And for them are the gloom of darkness, and the stench and fearfulness of the torment and punishment of hell, of various kinds; (10) so that whoever is only a day in hell, cries out (11) thus: 'Are not those nine thousand years yet completed, when they should release us from this hell?'"
CHAPTER 55
"(1) Then I saw the souls of the wicked who died, and ever suffer torment and punishment, in that dreadful, dark place of punishment of various kinds, such as driving snow, and severe cold, and the heat of brisk-burning fire, and foul stench, and stone and ashes, hail and rain, and many other evils."
"With propitiation of Ahura Mazda. Homage to you, O Fire of Ahura Mazda..." [Atash Niyayesh (Litany to the Fire)]
"...So Zarathushtra gives as an offering even the life of his body...
Unto Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda. Unto thee, O Fire, son of Ahura Mazda." [Atash Niyayesh (Litany to the Fire), 3, 4]
Hinduism: Samsara
Hindu Hell is a continuation of life on earth, or Samsara (to wander across). It is a constant cycle of death and rebirth until one attains the ultimate reality of the universe. Our Karma, or actions in the current life determine the nature of rebirth and the caste in which he or she is born. Eventually one is released and the cycle will cease.
"The little space within the heart is as great as the vast universe. The heavens and the earth are there, and the sun and the moon and the stars. Fire and lightening and winds are there, and all that now is and all that is not." Swami Prabhavananda, The Upanishads: Breath from the Eternal
Buddhism
The "Devaduta Sutta" describes hell in vivid detail. There are 5-6 realms of rebirth. These are subdivided into degrees of agony or pleasure. Of these realms (Hell, Naraka), lies the lowest realm of rebirth, the worst being Avici or "endless suffering."
Rebirth into hell is not forever, though suffering may continue for eons prior to being reborn again. We are to escape the endless migration of both negative and positive rebirths through the attainment of Nirvana.
Tibetan Buddhism: The Book of the Dead
The Tibetan Book of the Dead, or the Bardo Thodol, is occupied with death, dying, or the State of Between. It is a cycle (many "betweens") of birth and death, sleeping and waking, walking and trance, and 3 others withing the death-rebirth process. After death, the soul exists in the Bardo for 49 days. It is a between that may lead to Nirvana or a return into rebirth. The dying itself plays a role. A good death directs the soul toward enlightenment whereas a bad death toward rebirth.
Tibetan Book of the Dead (online), from Part II, The Bardo of the Moments of Death
"Thine own consciousness, not formed into anything, in reality void, and the intellect, shining and blissful, -- these two, -- are inseparable. The union of them is the Dharma-ya state of Perfect Enlightenment. Thine own consciousness, shining, void, and inseparable from the Great Body of Radiance, hath no birth, nor death, and is the Immutable Light -- Buddha Amitha. Knowing this is sufficient. Recognizing the voidness of thine own intellect to be Buddhahood, and looking upon it as being thine own consciousness, is to keep thyself in the [state of the] divine mind of the Buddha."
Baha'i
Heaven and Hell are symbolic of the spiritual condition. Closeness to God is heaven. Remoteness from God is hell.
Jainism
Naraka is the realm of existence of great suffering. It is not eternal but may last billions of years. One is born into Naraka as a result of his or her previous actions (karma).
Causes
Killing or causing pain with intense passion.
Excessive attachment to things and worldly pleasureÂ
Indulgence in cruel and violent acts
Vowless and unrestrained life
Taoism
Morality is man-made with no concept of the immaterial soul. In China, Taoist Hell holds many deities and spirits. Sin is punished in a variety of hellacious ways, considered Karma.
Chinese
Realm of the Dead: Diyu (simplified "EARTH PRISON") ...based on the Buddhist concept of Naraka ...Hell is ruled by Yanluo Wang, the King of Hell. Diyu is a labyrinth of underground passages where souls are taken to atone for sins.
A combination of Taoism, Buddhism, and traditional Chinese folk religion, Diyu is a kind of purgatory. It prepares the spirits for their next incarnation.
