(The Nationalist, 8 November 2004)
What is hell? The teaching of Jesus about it is addressed to our conscience, not our intellectual curiosity; it is a call to the responsible use of human freedom in view of our eternal destiny.
Hell is not so much where we go as what we become. It is possible only when we put ourselves outside the range of human love and forgiveness, when we have made ourselves incapable of being loved and forgiven, not so much because we have rejected God as because we have ignored humanity. Hell is the suffering of refusing to love. Those ‘in hell’ refuse forgiveness, perhaps by denying they have done anything that calls for it.
Hell isn’t about flames but a cold self-centredness – the fuck you syndrome – though created for relationships; it is living a self-centred vision instead of accepting the vision of God. It the continuation of an earthly life of self-centredness. If I behave selfishly, I become a selfish person, and to be like that is a misery. There is punishment ‘in hell’, but not arbitrary punishment. Actions have consequences; in a sense, sin is its own punishment. We get what we choose – the self – instead of God.
There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done’, and those to whom God says, ‘Thy will be done’. The one principle of hell is – ‘I am my own!’ There’s a difference – a hell of a difference – between saying ‘I make the rules my own’ and ‘I make my own rules’. The only thing that burns in hell is self-will.
The answer to those who object to the doctrine of hell is itself a question: What are you asking God to do? To wipe out past sins and give us a fresh start? God has done that, on Calvary. To forgive? We refuse forgiveness. To leave us alone? That is what God does.
Hell is where God is not. People don’t have to be sent there. God would rather they came to him, but they refuse. They refuse to be where God is. They act in such a way that they exclude God. They choose denial of God, and denial of God is what they get.
Damnation creeps up on us. It is made up of the little but regular denials of God we make in everyday life. We hardly notice them because they don’t seem important. The safest road to hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without turnings, milestones or signposts, going our own undemanding way.
The best religious understanding of the person is not found in terms of reward or punishment, but in terms of wholeness and division. Hell is being permanently out of tune with our deepest meaning. When we freely, decisively and fundamentally refuse to love God and our neighbour, we deny ourselves. To be ‘in hell’ is to live without love in such a way that God, who always respects human freedom, is unable to fulfil the longings of our heart. God’s will is to love the hell out of us.