What “HELL” Is Like
According to the Doctrine of Christendom
About one hundred years ago a very serious, prominent, and respected Bible student, Charles T. Russell (whose lectures, sermons and writings were carried in newspapers all around the world), dared to point out the following about “Hell” according to Christendom’s doctrines and teachings (which they still teach and preach to this day, although neither as loudly nor as often as they used to).
The Apostle calls our attention to the fact that the heathen in his day laboured under the delusion of ‘doctrines of demons’ (1 Tim. 4:1). We know what these doctrines were, for they are still prominent throughout heathendom. Plato, one of the philosophers whose teachings were widely accepted at that time and which were set aside by the Apostle as vain philosophies, the wisdom of men as compared with the wisdom of God, taught the theory of human immortality. (Col. 2:8). He claimed that man received from the gods a spark of Divine quality which could never be extinguished, and that hence his portion must be to live on and on throughout all eternity.
Accepting the recognized fact that Christendom leads the world in thought today we note that the philosophy instituted by Plato — not by Moses, not by the Prophets of Israel, not by Jesus, not by His Apostles — has taken a firm hold upon Christian faith, and left its terrible impress upon nearly every item thereof. Practically all of the larger denominations of Christendom hold to the Platonic theory, though the majority are quite unaware of the origin of the doctrine, many of them supposing that it is the Bible teaching — that it is supported by every writer of the Holy Scriptures. Quite the contrary of this is true, however; and, as we shall shortly show, the testimony of the Scriptures is radically in opposition to this theory from first to last, and without the exception of a single writer or a single text.
The Catholic View
As the oldest of the denominations, Catholicism should be heard first as to its views on the subject — Where Are The Dead? Its answer is that it ignores the heathen theory of the transmigration of souls, but that it holds to the feature of Plato’s philosophy which declares that the human soul is immortal — that a human existence once having started can never cease — hence that the twenty thousand millions of Adam’s race who have died are not really dead, but more alive than ever before, and that notwithstanding the appearance of death they have been experiencing either joy or sorrow, pleasure or pain. In answer to our more particular inquiries it tells us that the dead are in one of three places: (1) A very few saintly ones went to Heaven directly at death; (2) a comparatively small number who died outside the Roman Catholic faith, in wilful opposition thereto and hence called heretics, have since their death been enduring a hell of torture which will be never ending; (3) the great mass — all others than those enumerated above — they claim go to Purgatory. Their claim is that nearly all of the heathen go there because they were not counted worthy of the blessing of knowledge before they died, and because on the other hand they had done nothing to merit either the eternal torture of hell or the eternal peace of Heaven. To Purgatory they assign practically all the members of their own Church also — including bishops, archbishops, cardinals and popes.
Dante was one of their prominent theologians whose description of the Inferno gives the Roman Catholic view of Purgatory. The artist Dore, also a good Catholic, used his remarkable skill in the illustration of Dante’s epic. We advise you all to notice, in some public library or bookstore, this remarkable work — Dante’s Inferno, illustrated by Dore. The artist has faithfully depicted the descriptions of the teacher, and his work would surely touch the most callused heart with sympathy. Every conceivable form of torture is depicted, from roasting and boiling to freezing and mangling — horrible, terrible. No wonder our dear Catholic friends and neighbours, as they have these pictures before their mental vision as their prospect after death, have not only sad countenances but a terrible fear of death and thereafter.
Neither should any think that these Catholic doctrines of the past have any degree changed at the present time. In this very day Catholics have tracts for their children which describe in vivid language the most excruciating tortures awaiting those who in any sense or degree are disrespectful or disobedient to the priest and to the teachings of the Catholic Church.
It is no wonder, then, that Catholics make no pretensions to a love for God. They fear and dread. The hope held out to these is that any good deeds of theirs will be credited up and serve to shorten the period of their sentence to suffering, the period of their stay in Purgatory, the period of their deliverance to Heaven. This doctrine of life in Purgatory is the basis for the many exhortations from Catholic pulpits and Catholic books that faithfulness be manifested by penances and masses. A certain number of attendances at Church in the Lenten season constitutes a penance to which is attached a blessing and the remission of so many years of purgatorial suffering. Those who have money are exhorted to set apart a good portion of it to defray the expenses of masses for their own soul or for those of others. The calculation seems to be that all the penances and all the masses imaginable would still leave long years or decades or centuries to be suffered before deliverance to Heaven. And this rule is applied indiscriminately to rich and poor alike, high and low.
To illustrate, when Pope Pius IX died, masses were said for the repose of his soul throughout all the Roman Catholic Churches of the world. Likewise when Pope Leo XIII died, the same command for masses for the repose of his soul went forth, and was executed in all Catholic Churches. This implied the belief that these men, while the highest functionaries of that Church, were not sufficiently holy or pure or good to be admitted to Heaven; for surely those gaining access to Heaven have no need of masses for the repose of their souls. The expression “repose of the soul” implies the tortures of that soul in Purgatory, and supplication and endeavor to have God remit a measure of those sufferings and shorten the period of the tribulations.
We are not making light of those matters. We are merely stating them, not because they are unknown, but because they are not realized and appreciated. All Catholics then, we believe, will assent to our declaration that their faith is that the great mass of mankind are now in Purgatory, a comparatively small number in eternal torment, which they call Hell, and a small number, comparatively, in Heaven. It should be remembered, however, that on a Papal Jubilee it is the custom for the Pope to exercise a power he claims is his, of setting free from Purgatory certain thousands of its inmates who have not fulfilled all of their term of punishment, though it is to be supposed that it is not his intention to admit them to Heaven insufficiently purged.
The Protestant View
Protestants claim to be much in advance of Roman Catholics in respect to their religious faith. They often, we know, speak of Roman Catholics as ignorant, superstitious and deluded. What shall we say then if we find that the Protestant view on the question of our discourse is much more unreasonable than that of Catholics? We at least would be obliged to say that they have no room for boasting.
Protestant creeds, almost without exception, agree to the Platonic theory that no human being can die — that when men seem to die they really become more alive that same instant than they ever were before. We ask, Where, then, do they go? They reply that they cannot tolerate the Roman Catholic view of a Purgatory, that they have looked into the Bible sufficiently to find that there is no such teaching in the Scriptures. They tell us, therefore, that they believe that there are just two places for the dead, Heaven or Hell. We inquire of them, Who go to heaven? They answer, The saintly, the holy, the pure in heart, the Little Flock, the Elect, those who walk in the footsteps of Jesus. We inquire respecting the rest, and hear the Protestants (to their credit be it said) balk at the teaching of their creeds even while they affirm them, and declare that all not begotten again of the Holy Spirit, not sanctified in Christ, not saints, go to hell.
We inquire the kind of hell they have gone to, and get various replies. Some assert that it is a place of literal fire and excruciating pains at the hands of fire proof demons, and that this will be the fate of all who enter there to all eternity, without any hope of escape. Others, without being able to give particular reasons, tell us that in their great wisdom they agree with all the foregoing except as to the kind of punishment, which they conclude must be mental anguish or suffering. But lest we should think of them as being tender hearted, they hasten to add that this suffering will really be more intense, ‘worse’ than that of the literal fire believed by others. The whole race, we are told, was started on the broad road for this eternal torment by Father Adam’s disobedience, and in consequence of that we are all born in sin, shapen in iniquity. Those who ever get to Heaven will get there because of Divine mercy and aid extended them to overcome the world, the flesh and the Adversary.
Oh no, the God of the Bible could never do such a thing, could never be so cruel, could never be so unjust. On the contrary, His holy Word tells us that:
“Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face” (Ps. 89:14), and:
“For God so loved the world [Adam’s world, the world He created], that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him [in due time, during “the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began”] should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16; Acts 3:21). Ask yourself this:
Since Jesus died on the cross — “the just for the unjust” (1 Pet. 3:18) — and thus: “by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Heb. 2:9) and thus: “gave himself a ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:6); and since for this reason the Apostle Paul also declares: “Therefore as by the offence of one [Adam] judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one [Christ] the free gift [God’s Plan of Salvation of which the last part of it is “the times of restitution of all things”] came upon all men unto justification of life” (Rom. 5:18); and also: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22):
How can the churches of Christendom teach and preach such a horrible and terrible — even blasphemous — doctrine of ETERNAL TORMENT IN HELL? How can they make this man-made invention one of their main doctrines?
Surely, for a God of justice and righteousness to put the vast majority of the human race into such a horrible place is impossible!
Surely, to attribute such a horrible and terrible action to an all-wise and an all-loving God is indeed: blasphemy!
What conclusion must be drawn from this? This:
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To trust in God’s holy Word, yes! but to trust the teachings, preachings and doctrines of Christianity, no!
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To believe and hope in an after-life according to the Scriptures, yes! but to believe in an after-life according to Christendom’s doctrines, no!
Ah yes, how simple the Scriptural declaration in Is. 8:20: “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (in the Scriptures light is a symbolic expression of truth, therefore: There is no truth in them!). In fact, the Scriptures also declare this: “Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail [hard-hitting truth] shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters [the mass of general truth] shall overflow the hiding place [viz, all the errors which cover up the real truth]. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it” (Is. 28:17–18; all this, it must he pointed out, does not refer to the people of Christendom, but to the system of Christendom: all its parts will be destroyed, to be no more!).
Furthermore, for all those responsible for the upholding (teaching and preaching) of these terrible things, the following Scriptures are given and are applicable to them:
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“The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering … will by no means clear the guilty” (Ex. 34:6–7).
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“Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall he forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the holy Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come” (Matth. 12:31–32).
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“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Rev. 22:18–19).