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What “In Hell” is Going On! An Explanation From Doug Jesus said that you cannot put new wine in old wineskins. Renovations often require the removal of the old before we can build the new. Spiritual transformation is no different. Sometimes old beliefs first have to give way in order to make room for new ones. I am very aware that many, and especially those within fundamental Christianity and/or the Messianic Movement will vehemently declare the views expressed on this web site to be heretical and blasphemous. I understand that having lived in those worlds for about 25 years. Over the past few years I have experienced a “renovation” of sorts and have come to believe that it is time for fundamentalism, be it Christian, Messianic, Islamic or otherwise, to undergo a transformation of epic proportions. Actually, what I believe needs to emerge is not some renovated form of fundamentalism but an entirely new expression of faith. We do not need the phoenix to die and simply reappear as the same phoenix. Fundamentalism needs to die and be “born again” but this time as a completely new creation though in many ways, the “new creation” would be a “very old creation.” The more I discover about this “new spiritual path” I find myself on, the more I discover that it is not new at all but instead is very “ancient” in many ways. In this section we are going to tackle core fundamental doctrines, starting with eternal punishment and hell.. For those of you who are untouched by fundamentalism, this section will be irrelevant to a great degree. However, this section isn’t really for you though feel free to explore it and hopefully enjoy it. This section is primarily for two other groups of people. It is for those of you who are within fundamentalism currently and are starting to have questions, you may be feeling unsatisfied and you know deep inside that there has to be more to the spiritual journey than the fundamentalism experience. This section is also for those of you who have stepped out of fundamentalism but may have some lingering issues. It is not easy to get the “fundamental voice” out of our heads after it has been entrenched in us for years. You may also be taking a lot of criticism from family, friends and former church members. It is to those two groups that this section is devoted. It will hopefully help you be more confident and assured as you move away from a fundamentalist mindset and will also hopefully assist you in dealing with those who will insist that you have backslidden, left the faith and are headed straight to hell if you don’t repent. |
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I found this image in Google Images. The words on the front read “What happens to a soul when they reject Jesus Christ as Lord God Almighty?” The actual website that contains this image asks ”Do you hate Jesus Christ?” If you click on the question, it links to this image. Though assumptions can be dangerous, it seems to me that the website is suggesting that if I don’t accept their version of Jesus, then I hate Jesus. What is ironic is that, far from hating Jesus, the more I have jettisoned their version of Jesus, the more meaningful and relevant Jesus has become in my life. His teachings are making far more sense and the possibility and hope that I can actually experience what he taught in my life grows in direct proportion to the distance I put between me and the version of God and Jesus portrayed by this image. |
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This image depicts a doctrine that I believe to be the most disparaging and denigrating doctrine that mankind has ever invented and attached to God and Jesus. When you look into the Hebrew words used, the first of the Ten Commandments could be translated as follows - Do Not put a False Face upon God. I can think of no other doctrine that violates the first commandment more than what is portrayed by this image and is expressed in most fundamental Doctrinal Statements. The following articles are presented in the hope that you will discover a very different God and Jesus from what this image portrays. |
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