The tough questions...
I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth:And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.
Amen.
We often forget how old our faith is. This creed, the Apostles Creed, dates back to the 4th century, with this exact text dating back to the 8th century. It is the one universal statement that spans Catholic and Protestant, conservative and charismatic. It contains all the essential beliefs and tenants of the Christian faith.
About a month ago a student says to me, "Wait... Jesus descended into hell?"
I hate a smart kid. Just kidding.
I never try to make up the answer. I said I don't know, but I'll get back to you - planning a series to start now tackling all the tough and confusing issues that come into play with our faith.
Basically, the word "hell" should rather be something along the lines of "the place where dead people went". There is no English word that it translates to. The Hebrew word is "Sheol", and the Greek word is "Hades". William Barclay says this:
They believed that the souls of all men, or rather all men themselves, went to Sheol which was a grey, shadowy land, in which men moved like ghosts, in which there was neither light, nor colour, nor joy, and in which the shades of men were separated alike from God and from their fellow-men. Sheol is simply the place of the dead, with none of the connotation of torture and punishment which the word hell includes.
This is further backed up with many scriptural references that talk about Jesus descending "below the earth". Acts 2:27, Phil 2:9-1, and Rev 5:13. Then, the part that really boggled my mind, there are several scriptures that talk about Jesus speaking to those who were in Sheol. John 5:24-25, 1 Pet 3:18-20, and 1 Pet 4:5-6. Woah! This is where it all comes together - why it is part of the creed.
I had always wondered what happened to those who died before Christ. David was a man after God's own heart, but he didn't have an opportunity to know Christ - so, what happened? According to all this, they went to a place called "Sheol", like a dead guy waiting area or "lobby" as one of my kids described it, and that's where they waited for Christ, 2000 years ago.
Barclay writes again that "this doctrine means that in this life or in the next all people have a chance at hearing the gospel of Christ." It is not until after a decision is made that they pass either to heaven or hell.
There is so much to this that I cannot even begin to comprehend - Jewish cosmology, Jewish and Greek beliefs regarding Sheol and Hades - you get the idea. This raised up the next interesting point - what about people who die nowadays - post Christ, who never really had a chance at accepting or denying Christ. I don't know - that is to be wrestled with at a later date. To close up the evening, I asked my students to write down any questions that they had. Anything was fair game - and I promised to teach on those topics in the coming months. It will be a great series, that's for sure. Here is what my students came up with:
Mormonism, Scientology, and other sects/denominations
The idea of people dying without having an opportunity to decide for Christ
Why do bad things happen? (The tsunami has raised much conversation in this topic)
"Hola" - I have no idea what they meant by this.
Lastly, I want to hear from you. What are some other good things to wrestle with in the coming months? Theresa, it's about time you commented on my blog.. :)
Phew! I sure wish CS Lewis was still alive to write a book about this topic. I would love to hear your thoughts.
posted by Devo @ 9:47 PM
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