I Did Not Create You to Be Held a Prisoner in Hell

By Bishop Michael Warfel

One of my staff members asked a question last month about the use of the word “hell” in the Apostles Creed. He and his wife had been discussing the meaning of “hell” as used in the Creed. Their conversation led to a question wondering if it was more of the Old Testament understanding of “sheol” meaning “the place of the dead.” Jesus, as related in the Gospels, definitely had an understanding that there was a place for the unjust in which they would suffer eternal punishment.

As translated in the current version of the Roman Missal it states, “he (i.e., Jesus) descended into hell, and on the third day rose from the dead…” A good way to understand this is that Jesus shared in the fate of all humanity, his soul separating from his body. In other words, he really died, but his death was different from anyone else ever in history in that he overcame death by dying.

There is a beautiful excerpt from an ancient homily for Holy Saturday that helps to address confusion some have concerning the word “hell” as used in the Apostles Creed: “The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and He has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began… He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep… He has gone to free from sorrow the captives of Adam and Eve, He who is both God and the Son of Eve…”

Given that it is November, it is a good opportunity to address the notions heaven, purgatory and hell. These are central aspects of Catholic faith but not addressed all that often. First of all, what is heaven? It is life in a communion of saints gathered around the Lamb of God, i.e, Christ Jesus. God has created and redeemed us in Christ which is the destiny for which God has created all people without exception. While it is not likely that all people have responded to this invitation (we really do not know), we do know that some people are in heaven. This is what the process of canonization is all about. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states, “…this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed – is called heaven” (CCC #1024). I will be quick to recall that, while all have been destined for heaven, not all necessarily respond to this invitation, either fully or at all.

This is where purgatory and hell come into play when we die. There are plenty of people who reject the notion that God would put anyone into a permanent place of torment. I would agree with this. God does not put people into hell. If someone is in hell, they put themselves there by rejecting God and God’s invitation to a life of grace. As far as the existence of hell, it is a matter of Christian doctrine. The Catechism states: “To die in mortal sin (which is rejection of God) without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice (#CCC 1034).”

There are a couple of good reasons why the Church affirms its teaching on the existence of hell. First, it is certain from the Gospels that Jesus speaks of hell on a number of occasions. Jesus knew of the existence of hell! In Matthew’s Gospel, for instance, in the passage in which he describes a Last Judgment as separating sheep from goats, Jesus concludes by saying, “Depart from me, you cursed into the eternal fire (Mt 25:41).” The description is metaphor. Separation from God involves intense pain. Nothing could be worse or more painful than eternal separation from God as a result of having rejected living as God would have us live.

A second reason is concerned with free will. God has created human beings with the freedom and ability to make real choices in life. If it were not for human freedom, we would be little more than puppets on a string. We would not be responsible for anything we do either for good or for bad. God, however, creates us as free human beings so that we can respond to his invitation to salvation in Christ. It is only a free being that can respond in love to the One who has loved them into existence. In order to accept the gift of salvation in Christ and eternal life (i.e., heaven), we must be capable of rejecting the invitation. If human freedom did not exist, God would essentially be responsible for all evil behavior that people sometimes perform.

Speaking about the end times and hell is not a popular topic. By and large, people would rather hear about the love of God and believe that, no matter what, God is going to receive them into heaven. If we pay attention at all to Jesus’ preaching, such a view is hardly in accord with what Jesus taught in the New Testament.

The Scriptures speak to us about the need for moral readiness. We are asked to look at our behavior and lifestyles because one day we will have to account for how we have lived. We hope and trust in a merciful judgment (for God is all merciful). We also know that our judgment will be just, according to how we have or have not responded to the call of God in our lives. In essence, God will give us what we have chosen, either life with God or life without God. It is here, in this life, where we make this choice.

As I stated earlier, God’s vision for us is life with God and within a communion of saints. Recall the first question in the Baltimore Catechism, “Why did God make us?” The answer is “To know, love and serve God in this life and to be happy with God in the next.” God has created us for eternal life and we must respond to the invitation. The themes associated with the Second Coming of Christ and the end of the world are not intended to somehow make us afraid of God. Rather, they urge vigilance and readiness to assume the fullness of life for which we were created. If we do not enter into this fullness of life, it is not because of God but because we have rejected the invitation.

Our acceptance or rejection of God is not always so black and white. What about the many who, while not living as saintly a life as they might, nonetheless try to live a faithful life in Christ but on occasion, or even frequently, fall into sin? What about those who may not have been as responsive to God’s invitation to grace as they might have been which generally includes most of us? The teaching of the Church posits that such individual likely enters into a state of final purification through the merits of Christ. This state is called purgatory.

During a series of weekly audiences years ago, Pope St. John Paul II said that purgatory was not a “place” but “condition” of purification whereby Christ frees the “saved” person from their sinful imperfections. In his Encyclical Letter, Spes Salvi, Pope Benedict XVI, reflecting on 1 Corinthians 3:12-15, described purgatory as “the fire which both burns and saves.” He wrote, “… the touch of his heart (i.e., Christ’s) heals us through an undeniably painful transformation ‘as through fire.’ But it is a blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus totally of God (SS #47).”

Unfortunately, many yet hold a concept of purgatory that was popular in the Middle Ages, as a place where the dead are tortured for a good number of years to make up for their sins. The Church’s teaching on purgatory is far more positive. It is better to view it as process of healing and final purification, like walking out of a dark building to a bright sunny day. At first, it is painful to the eyes, but with time to adjust to the brightness of the sun’s rays, the pain goes away. And, as an element of our belief in the communion of saints, it is a key reason why we pray for the purification of the souls of the faithful departed.

As that ancient homily for Holy Saturday concluded, “I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead.”