Opinion: What the hell?

Apparently, I look like a sinner. I guess that’s easy to do when you dress like an English major.

Who knew that wearing bright colors could be so damnable? Not me. Until last week, that is, when Brother Jed made his annual stop at the Ballantine clock.

On my way to class, I was individually approached and specifically stopped by one of his associates who asked if I was a child of God. Before I could even answer, he told me I was headed to Hell.

Hell? I thought I was on my way to literary theory — although I can see how those two could be confused. How could he be so sure of my final destination?

The truth is, I don’t often think about Hell. And you probably don’t either.

Why would we? We all seem to be convinced we aren’t going there. In fact, only one-half of 1 percent of Americans expect they’ll go to Hell after they die.

Maybe that’s why we don’t talk about it. It seems irrelevant. Or maybe the whole “lake of fire” thing has us a little freaked out?

Regardless, I’m now soundly convinced that our silence about Hell has created disaster. Because when it comes to understanding the eternal fate of unsaved souls, Americans seem to be confused and divided.

Here’s the situation: about four out of 10 people believe Hell is “a state of eternal separation from God’s presence.” About one-third said it is “an actual place of torment and suffering where people’s souls go after death.” And the rest think it’s living without their iPhone.

Despite this division, there seems to be a pretty strong consensus that it’s a bad place to be. Indeed, Jesus said it will be filled with “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

And while scholars debate what exactly will cause such frustration —  whether those in Hell will be burning in flames or incredibly lonely, etc. — they strongly agree that no one there will much like it.

Which leads many to ask how a good God could allow people to go there in the first place. Why would a benevolent God let the people he loves suffer such an awful eternity?

This dilemma, which people in religious studies call the “problem of Hell,” has been raised repeatedly and consistently by theologians, who struggle to reconcile God’s mercy with his justice.

While some have found those attributes irreconcilable, many modern theologians have used concepts like choice and free will to bridge the gap. Most famously, C.S. Lewis insisted that Hell is a natural result of decisions made in the present life. In fact, he was so bold as to assert that “the doors of Hell are locked on the inside.”

To him, anyone in Hell was a “successful rebel.” Because those there wanted nothing to do with God while they were alive, they would get exactly what they wanted in death: a place where God is not.

Which is slightly more frightening than literary theory. But only slightly.


E-mail: tycherne@indiana.edu