As most of you know, we're in the middle of a series called 'Neglected' where I've taken suggestions from CRCC members on what topics the church as a whole tends to neglect. Last Sunday's topic was Hell. In my preparation for my sermon, I had to laugh because so many of the resources I looked at repeated a familiar refrain, which went something like this: "Most Christians will never hear a sermon on the subject of hell." I found it humorous given that I knew I was going to be talking on the subject. As I promised at the close of yesterday's service (podcast site) you can find additional thoughts posted below. As I mentioned in the message, Jesus 'favorite' word for hell - that is, his most often used term - was gehenna, which has an interesting history:

Sulfur fires were part of life for those who lived in the Jerusalem of Bible times. Southwest of the city was the Valley of Hinnom, an area that had a long history of desecration. The steep gorge was once used to burn children in sacrifice to the Ammonite god Molech (2 Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31; 32:35). Jeremiah denounced such practices by saying that Hinnom Valley would become the valley of God's judgment, a place of slaughter (Jeremiah 7:32; 19:5-7). As the years passed, a sense of foreboding hung over the valley. People began to burn their garbage and offal there, using sulfure, the flammable substance we now use in matches and in gunpowder. Eventually, the Hebrew name ge-hinnon (canyon of Hinnom) evolved into geenna (gehenna), the familiar greek word for hell (Matthew 5:22, 29; 10:28; 18:9; 23:33; Mark 9:43,45; Luke 12:5). Thus, when the Jews talked about punishment in the next life, what better image could they use than the smoldering valley they called gehenna? (William Crocket in Four Views on Hell)

All tallied, gehenna is used in the New Testament 12 times, 11 of which occur in the synoptics. Beyond this, he described hell as "the outer darkness" (e.g., Matthew 8:12) and with descriptive terms like "unquenchable fire" (Matthew 25:41), the place "where their worm does not die" (Mark 9:43-45), and as a place where there "will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (e.g., Matthew 8:12). Interestingly, most scholars do not associate sheol (used 66 times in the Old Testament) or hades (used 10 times in the New Testament) with hell.

Sheol as conceived in the Old Testament differs from the later doctrine of Hell in that it is the place where all the dead are gathered indiscriminately, both the good and the bad, the saints and the sinners. To die means to be joined to those who have gone before. When a Jew dies he is “gathered unto his people” (cf. Gn 25:8, 17; 35:29; 49:29; etc.) ... In the New Testament, 'Sheol' is tranlated into the Greek 'Hades'. (Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Baker encyclopedia of the Bible.)

The passage from which we worked most was Mark 9:43-48 where I believe Jesus point to be this: "Do whatever it takes to resolve unresolved sin, because unresolved sin will separate you from God." His use of the language of hell (gehenna) cannot be missed. It is a horrible place to "go into" - it is worse than you can imagine - because you are separated from God there. And why is there such a separation? It is not because God desires some to perish (2 Peter 3:9), rather, it is because of sin at its root, which is hostility toward God, a heart hardened toward him, not given to him or accepting his salvation, grace, and lead (Romans 3:9-12; 8:5-8). In such a case, what is there left to do? Jesus responds, seeing better than any the pain and suffering of a life apart from God, by choosing to give his life to bring us back to our Father (Philippians 2:4-11; 1 Timothy 1:15). Jesus deals with sin not only through a transaction of justice, a clearing of the record books through a sacrifice for pasts sins, but also by calling us to give up our life and give it to him (Luke 9:23-25). By accepting him as Savior and Lord, our sins and the root of sin are both dealt with: He cleanses us from our sinful ways (1 John 1:9) and heals us of our enmity toward God so that we become his children (John 1:11-12; 2 Corinthians 5:17). I know by looking at my own thoughts and feelings about the fact that Jesus speaks of hell that this subject is a tough one for us to grapple with. In light of that, I would like to open up a discussion with you CRCCers. So if you have a question or comment on this post of the message I gave on Sunday, post it here and we'll begin.