Heaven, Hell, and the Human Soul
Questions Concerning the Nature of Eternal Things, Pt. 1 of 2
ABSTRACT: For as long as anyone can remember, the promise of an eternal Heaven, the threat of an eternal Hell, and the doctrine of the eternal human soul have been heralded from virtually every sacred space. To believe otherwise is not only unthinkable but heretical as well, if one claims to believe The Bible. Oddly enough, though, when one simply takes the time to fully examine the Scriptures, one is irrevocably thunderstruck by the inconsistency of believing in said eternal nature of Heaven, Hell, and the human soul. But mind you, I’m not suggesting here that the Godhead itself isn’t eternal in every sense of what that word implies. Instead, what I will be questioning is whether Heaven, Hell, and the human soul bear any intrinsic resemblance to the Godhead Who created them…
AS SOMEONE WHO CONSIDERS himself firmly committed to the message of The Bible, I’ve been just as firmly committed to what I would call a common-sense approach to truth in general. As a result, my take on biblical exegesis has been a constant source of consternation and puzzlement to anyone I interact with regarding the message and meaning of Scripture. What’s more, this self-avowed, common-sense approach to The Bible has not only affected my views about its message and meaning, but it’s also sensitized me to the way others perceive that message and meaning.
Case in point is how certain individuals have no problem with the high moral standard contained in The Bible yet still can’t get past the way that God Himself seems to contradict His own standard of morality. In this case, I’m referring to what I believe is the greatest inconsistency in the scriptural record, which is to say, the doctrine of an eternal Hell. To this day, regardless of my faith in many of the most traditional views of The Bible, I’ve always been baffled and disturbed by this obvious inconsistency. Admittedly, though, this inconsistency was not something that occurred to me on my own. One of America’s greatest satirical minds first brought it to my attention. His name was George Carlin, and his words continue to reverberate in my mind to this day:
Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ‘til the end of time… But He loves you…
A stinging indictment, no doubt, and just as doubtlessly one that many Christians might insist is invalid because George Carlin is certainly no theologian. But I’d quickly add that even Jesus set a precedent for such a criticism, when in the gospel record He commended the unjust steward, “because the children of this world are in many ways wiser than the children of light.” (Luke 16:8)
Now, just to set the record straight right from the start, I’d also add that I have no problem with the idea of a heavenly Father Who watches our every move, and Who’s given us His Ten Commandments. However, as a lifelong Paulinist, I’m not the least bit concerned that God will send anyone to Hell for failing to live up to His standard as set forth on those two tablets of stone. What I am concerned about is the insistence by so many well-intentioned Christian voices that it’s The Bible that demands there’s a “special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ‘til the end of time.”
But really, who could blame anyone for thinking otherwise, considering the heated debate down through the ages about what The Bible supposedly says about the “eternal” nature of Hell. In all honesty, it’s enough to make one’s head spin. Now certainly, we, as Christians, do affirm that God’s ways are not man’s ways, and yes, that means that, just as certainly, many of the great mysteries of God are difficult to fathom at first glance. Still this doesn’t mean that, as we learn more about an aspect of God’s ways, we can’t expect to find His ways are consistent with the total character of God as revealed in The Bible, especially in regard to His judgments in Christ. That’s why we must never fear challenging a traditional interpretation of Scripture when the acceptance of that interpretation can only be accomplished through an act of self-lobotomy, where we short-circuit our own God-given common sense.
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Heaven, Hell, and the Human Soul: Questions Concerning the Nature of Eternal Things
“Thought-provoking… Profound… A divine invitation to explore, question, and ultimately grow…”
To hear Price’s essay review of Heaven, Hell, and the Human Soul, CLICK HERE.
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That said, consider the following pronouncements, which were all espoused by some of the so-called greatest minds of Christendom; but consider them all with one simple proviso. Consider them in light of both your own common sense and your understanding of the total character of God.
I tell you the groans of the damned in Hell are the deep bass of the universal anthem of praise that shall ascend to the throne of my God forever and ever…
That the saints may enjoy their beatitude and grace of God more abundantly, they are permitted to see the punishment of the damned in Hell…
He fashioned Hell for the inquisitive…
To the unbelieving and despisers, who do not obey the truth but are obedient to unrighteousness … there shall be anger and wrath, tribulation and anguish, and at the last, everlasting fire shall possess such men…
He shall come from Heaven with glory, accompanied by His angelic host, and He shall raise the bodies of all men who have lived … and shall send those of the wicked, endued with eternal sensibility, into everlasting fire with the wicked devils…
Of course, the tragic irony of such bold declarations is that they’re all made on behalf of a God Who they claim loved the world so much that He sacrificed His only Son for the sins responsible for condemning sinners to eternal damnation.
So, I ask you, all those who claim to believe in a loving, merciful God: Does the idea of an eternal Hell, brimming with unspeakable agony and horror forever and ever, jibe with the over-all biblical view of that loving, merciful God? What does your common sense tell you? What does your understanding of the total character of God tell you?
Now, in challenging the traditional view in this way, I want next to address the most obvious objection to this challenge, again, in the name of common sense and in light of the total character of God. That objection comes in the form of the following question: In objecting to the “eternal” nature of Hell, am I denying the doctrine of Hell altogether, as it appears in The Bible? After all, that is the typical response when anyone questions the validity of the biblical record, is it not? As though anyone who dares question a time-honored biblical doctrine must be some sort of weak-kneed liberal, a backslidden agnostic, or worse still, a downright atheist. But let me assure you, this certainly is not the case.
I believe there’s a Hell, just as wholeheartedly as I believe there’s a Heaven, and I do so because, as I’ve already stated, I’m so firmly committed to the message contained in The Bible. In no way, shape, or form, then, is the following treatise an attempt to dismiss or undermine the existence of Hell as a place reserved for the judgment of the wicked. Clearly, anyone who looks to God as a source of justice in a Universe overrun on every side by evil forces cannot help but concede the need for such a place. What I am challenging, though, is whether the Scriptures are the genuine source for a view of the kind of Hell with which we’re presently confronted. In short, what I’m specifically challenging is the so-called “eternal” nature of this place that The Bible calls Hell, or, as it appears in the Greek language, Hades. And in doing so, I assure you that I will in no way diminish the integrity of God’s righteousness in the slightest. To the contrary, it is the very righteousness of God that I believe is being undermined, when narrow-minded critics of Scripture run roughshod over the biblical record, and all thanks to those individuals who claim to cherish The Bible but in fact are mindlessly cherishing ideas that never originated in Scripture in the first place.
So, to anyone who has ever scratched their head and wondered how the same loving, merciful God characterized in Scripture can be the same God Who is said to be the author of the eternal torment and suffering endured in Hell, I offer the following alternative. But, mind you, this alternative will not—I repeat, not—consist of a rejection of Holy Scripture but, rather, will be one that unabashedly digs into the biblical record to restore what has, in fact, always been there all along, hidden in plain sight.
ALONG WITH THE ETERNAL NATURE of the Godhead itself there stands the eternal nature of Heaven, Hell, and the human soul, which together represent the four great pillars upon which the whole edifice of Christian theology rests. For as long as anyone can remember, the promise of an eternal Heaven, the threat of an eternal Hell, and the doctrine of the eternal human soul have been heralded from virtually every sacred space. To believe otherwise is not only unthinkable but heretical as well, if one claims to believe The Bible.
Oddly enough, though, when one simply takes the time to examine the Scriptures, one is irrevocably thunderstruck by the inconsistency of believing in said eternal nature of Heaven, Hell, and the human soul. After all, if Christian theology is supposed to be based on the written record of The Bible, shouldn’t all so-called “Christian thinking” flow from the written record that describes these pillars of the faith? One would certainly hope so. Yet despite such an obvious assumption, centuries of church tradition have effectively thwarted all attempts at such a critical examination of Scripture. That’s because, if there’s one thing that human beings hold in common, it’s our ability to see and hear anything that contradicts our worldview and then turn it into exactly what we want to see and hear, regardless of the mounting weight of evidence that contradicts it. Let me demonstrate what I mean by that.
Just ask a hundred Bible-believing Christians: Is Heaven eternal? And ninety-nine of them will almost certainly tell you the same thing. Of course Heaven is eternal; what a perfectly silly question to ask. If you believe The Bible, how can you not believe in the eternal nature of Heaven? To which I would then have to ask them about certain inconsistencies that have bothered me ever since I first started to take note of them.
But, mind you, when I introduce the following inconsistencies, I’m not at all suggesting that the Godhead itself is to be lumped into this investigation of the “eternal” nature of such things. That’s because I’m entirely convinced, based on the testimony of both Scripture and Nature, that God is eternal in every sense of what that word implies. What I will be questioning, however, is whether any of those other so-called “pillars” of the faith, namely, Heaven, Hell, and the human soul, bear any intrinsic resemblance to the Godhead Who created them.
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To hear Kent and Zen Garcia talk about correcting biblical misconceptions, from June 23rd, 2021, CLICK BELOW.
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Now, returning to our question concerning the eternal nature of Heaven: Of course, ninety-nine out of a hundred Christians will almost certainly insist that Heaven is eternal, and just as certainly they will all insist that it is The Bible itself that supplies us with the answer to this all-important question. But here’s the peculiar problem with such thinking. I could just as easily ask those same ninety-nine Bible-believing Christians if they believe everything that the Scriptures have to say, and when they claim they do, just imagine the look on their stunned faces when I ask them: But didn’t Jesus Himself say:
Heaven and Earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away…
I mean, something that’s eternal can’t pass away, can it? Something that’s eternal goes on and on and on; worlds without end, right?
Of course, those defenders of the faith might then point to the various biblical commentators throughout history who have all handled this passage with kid gloves, and who all saw this verse strictly in terms of the stark contrast between the eternal permanence of the words of Jesus and the earthly nature of the physical universe created by those words. Undaunted, however, I then politely remind them that this isn’t the only place in The Bible where it speaks of Heaven in terms of its “non-eternal” quality. Both Isaiah in The Old Testament, and Peter and John in The New Testament speak of Heaven as being a place of finite duration. First, Isaiah has God saying:
Lift your eyes to the Heavens, and look at the Earth below, because the Heavens will vanish like smoke, the Earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will perish like gnats. But My salvation will last forever, and My righteousness will never fail…
Then, several chapters later, Isaiah has God saying:
Look and see, for I’ll create a new Heaven and a new Earth. And the things that were before will no longer be remembered…
And finally, one chapter later, Isaiah continued:
“For just as the new Heavens and the new Earth that I’ll make will endure,” declares the Lord, “so your children and your name will endure…”
Add to that what Peter and John said. Peter, who undoubtedly recalled the words of Isaiah, declared:
The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the Heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the Earth and its works will be burned up… But we, according to God’s promise, are looking forward to new Heavens and a new Earth, in which righteousness prevails…
And finally, like great bookends of prophetic time, John the Revelator saw the fulfillment of what both Isaiah and Peter spoke of:
Then I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth, because the first Heaven and the first Earth had passed away, and there was no more sea…
Based on so many scriptural references, then, clearly, only the most narrow-minded Christian thinkers would ever cling to the assumption that The Bible is the source for our belief that Heaven is eternal by nature.
So if The Bible isn’t the source for such a belief, then why has the so-called “eternal” nature of Heaven become such a hallowed institution of thought in the first place? And more importantly, what’s so wrong with believing that Heaven is eternal?
Am I trying to say there’s no basis for the biblical concept of an afterlife?
To which I’d first reply to the third question: Absolutely not. Of course I believe in an afterlife. I could hardly call myself a Christian if I didn’t. But I do so in strict accordance to how I believe Scripture portrays that afterlife. I believe in the promise of Jesus as conveyed in The New Testament:
And Jesus said, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though they die…”
Elsewhere, John had Jesus say:
Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This bread came down from Heaven, but unlike your forefathers, who ate the manna and died, whoever eats this bread will live forever…
So, having made clear that I do believe in the eternal nature of God and Jesus and the afterlife that can be attained in a mystical kinship with Them, facilitated by the Holy Spirit, again I ask: Why do most Christians assume Heaven itself is eternal, and more importantly, what’s so wrong with believing it’s eternal?
En route to explaining the origins of such a belief, I’ll first tell you that, as I see it, the most troublesome thing about believing Heaven is eternal by nature is that it lends itself so readily to believing that both Hell and the human soul are just as eternal as Heaven.
To which you’d probably reply, “Whoa, whoa, son; now you’re really meddling with sacred territory. Bad enough you undermine our supposed biblical foundation for the eternal nature of Heaven and Hell. What are you saying now?
You mean to tell us you don’t believe the Scriptures teach that humans possess an immortal soul, either? But didn’t you just point out that The Bible states that anyone who places their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will receive eternal life as a result?”
To which I’d reply, without reservation: “That’s exactly what Scripture teaches, and because that’s what it teaches, then I have no doubt it’s true.”
Said Jesus:
For God so loved the world that whoever believes in Me won’t perish but will have eternal life…
Whoever hears My word and believes Him Who sent Me has eternal life. He doesn’t come into judgment but has passed from death to life…
For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I’ll raise them up on the last day…
So, as you can imagine, I’m not arguing that those who place their faith in Jesus Christ don’t receive eternal life, as God has clearly promised this to be so. What I’m arguing with is whether human beings, in and of themselves, possess an immortal soul simply by virtue of being born. What I’m arguing with is the typical assumption that all humans, godly or ungodly, believers or unbelievers, sinners or saints, possess immortal souls as a matter of course. This doesn’t mean I’m questioning the existence of the human soul. I’m just saying: If you think The Bible is the source for equating the human soul with that of an immortal soul, you’re going to have a very difficult time proving it.
What The Bible is the source of, certainly, is the idea that God did create Adam and Eve with immortal souls, the original nature of which they forfeited when they disobeyed God’s order to avoid eating from the Tree of Knowledge.
This doesn’t mean that God removed the soulful quality of life from them because they were expelled from the Garden of Eden. It just means that the day they ate, the immortal nature of their souls became qualitatively different. No longer immortal, they became mortal. No longer possessing immortal souls, they possessed mortal souls.
Consequently, the descendants of Adam and Eve have never possessed immortal souls as so many have assumed simply because The Bible speaks of eternal life. The idea that humans possess immortal souls just because the Scriptures teach that believers in Christ have eternal life simply doesn’t compute. It’s rhetorical nonsense.
And just as nonsensical as is the notion of the immortality of the human soul, subsequent to the Fall of Adam, is the notion of the immortality of anything other than the Godhead, which quite naturally includes … you guessed it … Heaven.
Again, before you write me off as a heretic and an unbeliever, remember: The Bible speaks of more than one Heaven. It’s said that Paul was caught up to the Third Heaven, (Second Corinthians 12:2) whereas in The Secrets of Enoch, also known as The Second Book of Enoch, it’s said that Enoch traveled upward until he reached the Tenth Heaven, where he encountered the Face of God. (The Secrets of Enoch 22:1-3) According to Enoch, the same individual whom Jude described in his New Testament letter, the Eternal God resides in this highest level of Heaven. (Jude 1:14)
The reason all this is important is because just as there’s so much confusion regarding the biblical doctrine of the nature of the human soul, there’s similar confusion regarding the nature of Heaven, or more specifically, in light of the preceding, Heavens, as in, plural. So, just as The Bible isn’t diminished because it can be shown that it doesn’t teach the immortal nature of the soul apart from the life-restoring act of God in Christ, the same can be said regarding the Heavens above, which are no less in need of the restorative power that only comes from the direct presence of God.
According to this view, then, the Heavens—a realm of existence originally synonymous with the God Who created it—is in fact no more divine than is the human soul subsequent to the Fall of Adam.
That said, the time has finally come that these great pillars of Christendom should no longer be seen as being pillars themselves, apart from the indwelling presence of God that sustains them. And thus, it should no longer come as any surprise that Heaven, just like Earth, can pass away and be replaced by a new Heaven.
In this way, what becomes apparent is, the Heavens themselves bear more than a little resemblance to that of the humans who are destined, by the grace of God, to inhabit it, as is revealed in the words of Jesus, Who said:
I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in them, it is they who bear much fruit, because apart from Me you can do nothing…
Seen in this context, the notion of the so-called “immortal” soul of human beings, apart from the abiding presence of God, is reduced to the sham that it is, and so, too, the assumed “eternal” nature of Heaven. Then, we’re finally able to see that what constitutes the reality of our deepest hopes and dreams isn’t a place of eternity where we all yearn to go someday; it’s the very heart of the Eternal God. Then and only then, there and only there, will we really know what it means to be … in Heaven.
