Hell
Hell is, according to many religions , a state of extreme suffering of the human spirit after its separation from the body, pain experienced after death by those who have committed serious crimes and sins in their earthly life. According to religions, hell is eternal or temporary.
Summary |
In Judaism
Among ancient Jews, as among other Semitic nations, the existence in Sheol was regarded as a ghostly continuation of earthly life, during which problems of this earthly life came to an end. Sheol was designed as a place underground where the dead lived a life lethargic. Later, the prediction of the prophet Isaiah of Judaism in his satire on the death of the king of Babylon, speaking in these terms to the tyrant: "How art thou fallen to the grave in the depths of the abyss" (Isaiah xiv 15), gave birth to the idea that there should be several depths Sheol, depending on the degree of reward or punishment deserved. Anyway among the Jews the concept of eternity in hell does not exist.
In the Judaism of the Second Temple period, and in the literature intertestamental , Greek influence can be seen in the Jewish ideas of the remains of the dead:
- The Jewish Hades - has become a place where the dead could be aware .
- Gehenna - the fire of the Last Day in the Mishnah .
In the Bible
Old Testament
New Testament
- Hades : Gospel of Matthew 11:23, 16:18. Gospel of Luke 10:15. Acts of the Apostles. 2:27,31. 1 Corinthians 15:55. Apocalypse 1:18, 6:8, 20:13,14
- Gehenna : Gospel of Matthew 5:22,29,30, 10:28, 18:9, 23:15,33. Gospel of Mark 9:43,45,47, Lucas 12:5, 3:6 Letter from Jacques.
In Christianity
At the beginning of Christianity: Early Christian writers used the term to describe hell limbo of the fathers, in which the souls of the righteous who died before the advent of Christ awaited their redemption and which are mentioned in the Apostles' Creed, "He .
The duration of punishment in hell was the subject of controversy since the earliest days of Christianity. The Christian writer and theologian of the third century Origen and his school, the school of Alexandria, taught that these punishments were designed to purify the sins and they were proportional to the importance of the misconduct. Origen argued that over time the cleansing effect is obtained at all, even the bad, the punishment would eventually stop and that those who were in hell could finally have a right to happiness. This doctrine was condemned by the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, and the belief in eternal punishment in hell became characteristic of Churches Orthodox and Catholic. She also spent in the symbols of the Reformed churches , but the doctrine of hell was rejected by the most radical thinkers of the Renaissance.
Beliefs and biblical quotes
According to the Apocalypse of John, the demons are rebellious angels who were cast from heaven to earth, after a revolt, and from there, in hell, which is the abyss of fire.
One third of the "stars of heaven" and would have lost, under the direction of the devil or Satan or the big red dragon.
And the men who follow the " antichrist ", that is those who refuse to acknowledge Jesus Christ, would share the fate of Satan and his angels. This would be for them the "second death".
What does the Bible say about it:
The Sheol
There is no exact equivalent in French of the Hebrew word sheol. This is the Hebrew term referring to the Old Testament Sheol, the underworld. It represents a dark and quiet where the dead are asleep, lying in the dust. Even if, during the following centuries, the teaching of Greek immortality of the human soul has crept into the Jewish religious thought, the fact remains that the text of the Bible shows that the grave is the common grave of men, a place where you are unconscious.
In the book of Ecclesiastes (or Qoheleth), chap. 9 vv. 5-10 (version TOB , ecumenical ), it is said:
The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all ... because there is no work or results, nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol where you go.
According to Psalm 146:4, "His breath will leave on that day they return to their dust, and that day is the ruin of their plans" ( NIV ) or "ruin their thoughts" ( Jerusalem Bible - Catholic translation).
Although these passages indicate inactivity, other passages show that the living are able to bring back the dead from the beyond to question them, wake them up. God in the Pentateuch forbids his people to do. The first king of Israel according to the Bible, Saul, is questioned by a medium at Endor, the prophet Samuel, who died recently on the outcome of a battle. (1 Samuel The Hades
It is the Greek word equivalent of the word sheol, used in the Old Testament. Repeated and illustrated in the New Testament, it means the living dead. In this sense "Hades" Hades corresponds more to the beyond , even in purgatory , not hell Judeo-Christian.
In Luke 16 (verses 19 to 31), a rich man staying, tormented in the flames, although according to some theologians, Sheol mentioned in this passage actually refers to hell and not to hell.
Jesus of Nazareth is also descended into Hades, Hades for 3 days, to preach to the spirits in prison (see NIV , footnote on page), the unbelievers of Noah's day (1 Peter 3:18-20 ), that is to say, sinful humanity before Christ died.
The hell
Just Gehinnon or Hinnom Valley south-west of the old city of Jerusalem (Joshua 15:8) where children were sacrificed to the god Moloch. (2 Chronicles 28:3, 33:6, Jeremiah 7:31-32).
This place was turned into a dump by King Josiah (Yoshiya) to prevent the cult (2 Kings 23:10). At the time of Jesus were thrown debris, but also the bodies of dead animals and the bodies of executed criminals, considering them unworthy of a decent burial. This is to protect the city from any taint from the worship of the Temple and for which the city would remain pure .
To keep this fire continually to get rid of rubbish and prevent epidemics, it is regularly paid sulfur which made this perpetual fire.
Gehenna was thus associated with the fire that never dies. "Better for you to enter life maimed than to go away with your two hands into hell, into the fire unquenchable. "(Mark 9:43).
Jesus used this place to explain to his contemporaries as hell symbolized the final punishment.
The lake of fire
Place of eternal fire, where, after the Last Judgement , the devil will be cast (also known as Satan, that is to say, "The Adversary") and his angels ( Matthew , chapter 25, verse 41). The book of the Apocalypse (chapter 20 verses 10 to 15) explains:
"And the devil Artistic representations Medieval
Graphic representations of Hell are present in the churches ( spandrels carved showing the Last Judgement, capitals, frescoes ...) in the manuscripts and paintings. Hell is a place of torture , boiling hot, which are activated dozens of demons. It was a recurring theme in the iconography of the pious Middle Ages, mainly in Catholicism.
Designs by Christian movements
The concept of a hell where they burn eternally is derived from the first-degree interpretation of certain passages of the New Testament. However, some movements called Christians (such as Adventism , a variation of Protestantism , or the Jehovah's Witnesses ), usually from the doctrines of William Miller ( 1782 - 1849 ), does not share this belief.
- See also: annihilationism
In Catholicism
On the basis of scripture and reasoning, reflecting the Catholic Tradition, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992) affirms the existence of hell and its eternity (Article 12, Part IV, paragraphs Nos. 1033 to 1037). It refers to the Gospel, where Jesus often speaks of "Gehenna" of "fire unquenchable" (see above).
According to the Catechism, there is no fatalism: "God predestined people to hell, this requires a deliberate aversion from God" (paragraph No. 1037) and only a refusal, voluntary, free and fully aware God and love of neighbor leads to hell as only the choice of God, love of neighbor leads to Paradise "at the end of your life, you reckon your will and your love "(St. John of the Cross, Sentences, No. 50). On this point, as on that of incompatibility between doing evil and declare God choose, insist the Catechism in paragraph No. 1033:
"We can not be united with God unless we freely choose to love. But we can not love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: "Whoever does not love remains in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him "(1 Jn 3, 15). Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from Him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and little ones who are his brothers (cf. Mt 25, 31-46). To die in mortal sin without repenting and not welcome God's merciful love means remaining separated from him forever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called by the word "hell". "The last sentence "This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called by the word 'hell'" epitomizes the notion of hell in Catholicism. The present Catholic doctrine of hell as a state, not a place in which plunges automatically who chose him and in full knowledge of not being in communion with God and love of neighbor.
For philosophy and Catholic theology, this does not reveal a vindictiveness or jealousy (in the modern sense) of God, but it is the consequence of that there is no property independent but a unity of good. Good and God merge. God is, God is love, so anything that comes from love comes from God. Choosing one is to choose another, even unconsciously at the start: he who wants the good can only recognize it when they understand God. Good looking for real and absolute, he is delighted to find it in God, and runs towards him. While he who says he wants the property but does not rejoice to find it in God but want to live separated from him in parallel, is more interested in the well and he seeks his own glory.
Thus one who says he searched the property but refuses to acknowledge that God will not find that separates him as one who has sought only evil and God has refused from the outset.
No. 1035: "The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which it was created and to which he aspires. "
According to Catholic theology, God is Love, Truth, Life, he who rejects it, rejects this and finds himself in Hate, Lies and Death. Among Seventh Day Adventists
The Seventh-day Adventists do not believe that the ill suffer for eternity in hell, but instead accept the doctrine of soul sleep of Martin Luther , plus a final punishment by fire for bad. By accepting the death of Jesus Christ , people are reconnected to God and have eternal life. Those who choose not to be reconciled with God , considered the source of life, chose death by default. Seventh-day Adventists believe that the descriptions in the Bible speaking of punishment for the wicked by fire actually describe the ultimate fate of sinners after the advent of Christ.
With the advent, Christ will resurrect the righteous who are dead and take them to heaven. God will destroy the bad, leaving only Satan and his fallen angels on earth. After the millennium, Christ will come again on earth. Then God will destroy permanently Satan, his angels and humans who do not repent by fire. The view on Adventist hell is often referred to the term annihilationism.
Among Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses reject the idea of a fiery hell that would be a place of eternal suffering after death.
For Jehovah's Witnesses , the Bible teaches that the dead are unconscious and that the human soul is not immortal, they often cite passages in this regard to Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10 and Ezekiel 18:4. Thus, in their doctrine, the wicked as the good will in the nether world. They will be in the nether world until the Day of Judgement God (Jehovah). Moreover the existence of a fiery hell where humans are tormented after death is incompatible with the qualities of God, especially His love (1 John 4:8).
In Islam
Many passages in the Quran describe hell, for example:
. But, like Plato, Ostad Elahi emphasizes the therapeutic significance of these sentences, which sometimes appear "in the form of a fire that spreads into our being and our internal and burns us until we either purified. "
- Sura 78, verses 21 to 26: "Hell is still on the lookout, a refuge for violators. They will abide therein for ages. They shall not taste therein cool nor drink, except boiling water and pus as fair compensation. "
- Sura 15, verses 43 to 44: (43. And Hell will surely be their place of rendezvous for all.) (44. It has seven gates, and each door has its share determined.)
- Sura 39, verse 71: "And those who disbelieve will be driven to Hell. Then when they arrive there and its doors opened and its keepers will say: "Messengers In Buddhism
In the Buddhist tradition transmitted by the Tibetans, the underworld is one of six modes of the sphere of passion. Traditional cosmology describes 18 hell: 8 hot hells, 8 cold hells, hells peripheral and ephemeral hells. It is said that these states of rebirths in hell are induced by negative acts occurred under the influence of anger.
By whom and how is produced The weapons of the inhabitants of hell? Who's their hot metal floor? And where they get their fires? The Buddha taught that all these phenomena Are the production of a mind beset by passions Shantideva , Bodhicharyavatara .
Yanluowang () (King Yanluo) is a Chinese god of original Buddhist guardian and judge of Hell. It also has a divinity school in Japan under the name of Enma.
In modern esotericism
According to the modern esoteric, ie theosophy of Helena Blavatsky , anthroposophy of Rudolf Steiner , Mikhael Omraam Aivanhov and many others there after the death of the physical body, survival of some subtle body and reincarnation after a longer or shorter. Hell, purgatory or more precisely, would be a period of purification after death, during which the entity would get rid of that which still holds the world land while being aware of the mistakes it committed to During his life on earth .
According Aivanhov
Occident wrote: death, you leave "the various bodies that you have to release one after the other: first the physical body, then some time later, a week or two, the etheric body , and then the body chart , and there is a lot longer, because in the astral plane are piled passions, lusts, all the sentiments below. And this is Hell, the Astral Plane and the lower mind the mental body where it must remain for some time to purify themselves. Then you release the mental body, and that is where Paradise begins with the first heaven, the second heaven, the third heaven. Tradition says that there are seven And the return of man on Earth, the birth of the child. "
According to Allan Kardec
According to the founder of spiritualism , hell is not a place circumscribed. Hell refers to the state of suffering in which minds are imperfect because of personal shortcomings they have not yet fixed. This state is not eternal and depends on the will of the spirits to rise .
In modern spiritualities
According to Ostad Elahi
Hell, according to Ostad Elahi , is a state of malaise in which the soul finds itself after its separation from the body after physical death. This state of inner suffering is but the acts committed by the individual during his earthly life: "The acts and deeds, good or bad, that we are guilty of the body and attach themselves to the spiritual world
Literary References
Recurring theme in literature, hell has inspired many writers.
- Dante Alighieri describes the descent into hell in The Divine Comedy (written between 1308 and 1321 ).
- Honore de Balzac compares Paris to hell in The Girl with the Golden Eyes ( 1835 ) .
- Maurice Joly in Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu ( 1864 ) shows Machiavelli and Montesquieu descended into hell who discuss politics.
- Victor Hugo , Choses vues , 1887
- Jean-Paul Sartre , Huis Clos , 1944
References
- For example in the Book of Enoch
- IV Maccabees
- For example confusing the concepts of the last battle of Isaiah 66:24 and in Mark 9:48 Gehenna, often in the Mishnah.
- Sheol
- Hinnom
- Hades
- Gehenna
- "Children who die without baptism are also destined to" paradise "" , ZENIT , April 23, 2007. Accessed October 3, 2008.
- Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Volume 1.
- Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche, The Way of the Buddha, Editions du Seuil, coll. "Points Wisdom", June 1993 (ISBN 2-02-01877-0)
- Rudolf Steiner, The science of the occult, 1910, Triad Publishing, Paris.
- Aivanhov, Reincarnation, 1966, in The man to conquer his destiny, Prosveta Publishing, 1981, p. 161-162).
- "A place in the universe is circumscribed it affected the pains and pleasures of spirits, on their merits? We have already answered this question. sorrows and joys inherent degree of perfection of spirits, and each draws from itself the principle of his own happiness or unhappiness, and as they are everywhere, no place is closed or confined assigned to one over the other. As for the incarnated spirits, they are more or less happy or unfortunate, depending on whether the world they inhabit is more or less advanced. The Book of Spirits "
- See the website devoted to him: http://www.e-ostadelahi.fr/
- a and b Asar al-Haqq (Vol. I), ed. Diba, Tehran, 1373 (4th edition), p. 277 (extract No. 924).
Notes
Related articles
- Hades ( Greek mythology )
- Hel ( a href = "Mythologie_nordique" alt = "Norse Mythology"> Norse mythology)
- Satan or Lucifer and Beelzebub ( Christian mythology )
- Damnation
- demon
- Spirit world
- Judgement Day
- Paradise
- The Divine Comedy of Dante
- The Phaedo of Plato
- Camera of Jean-Paul Sartre
- Life after death
- Limbo
Bibliography
- Article "Hell" in the Dictionary of Theology, Paris, Letouzey, 1913.
- Article "Hell" in the Dictionary of Christian Theology, Paris, Descle de Brouwer, 1977.
- Hulin (Mr.), The dark side of time. The imagination of the afterlife, Paris, Fayard, 1985.
- Delumeau (John), sin and fear. Guilt in the West (thirteenth-seventeenth century), Paris, Fayard, 1983.
- Goff (Jacques), The Birth of Purgatory, Paris, Gallimard, 1993.
- Minois (George), History of Hell, Paris, PUF, Coll. What do I know? 2823, 1994, "History of the Underworld", Fayard, 1991.
- Berti (Giordano), "Hell", in "The worlds of the Hereafter", Grund, Paris 2000.
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