THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 19, 1995 TAG: 9508180616
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Issues of Faith
SOURCE: Betsy Mathews Wright
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
YOU READERS just won't let go of it.
I'm talking about hell. I thought this issue was a done deal. All talked out. But the calls, letters and faxes keep coming.
So here we go again. Here are some more thoughts on hell.
From Clara Evelyn Cummings of Virginia Beach: ``Regarding hell, consider what the Apostle John said, that God is love. Therefore, `without love' is the basis for hell. Jesus said it is a gulf between those who love God and those who love self. He pictures those goats among the sheep being cast into outer darkness. Jesus is pictured as Light. Those in darkness spiritually can never know the Love of God or the Light of the World. We are told that each human has a free will to choose, so no one can blame God for their eternal destiny.''
From Rabbi Israel Bornstein of B'nai Israel Congregation in Norfolk: ``The concept of heaven and hell is as old as the Bible and Judaism . . . We can scripturally trace the idea back in more concrete terms in the book of Daniel (12:2), approximately 500 B.C.E.: `Many of them that sleep, and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence.'
``Maimonides (8th Chapter of Repentence) indicates that the way we live and think is what we become as souls. The essence of the soul is its active reason that seeks reunification with G-d (Columnist's Note: Orthodox and Conservative Jews do not spell out the word ``God,'' for reasons of respect and awe.) from whence it came. We reward and punish ourselves. If we ennoble, spiritualize and sublimate ourselves, we automatically reconnect with G-d. If we debase the soul, it will, under its own weight, detach and distance itself from G-d . . .
``According to Orthodox Jewish belief, the soul is judged for a maximum of 12 months, even for the wicked. Hence the tradition of Kaddish prayers being recited for the departed by their relatives within that period. The rare exceptions are those who have so perverted their souls that they have self-destroyed and committed spiritual and moral suicide. There is nothing left to reconnect with G-d and they cease to exist.''
From Justice Allah Saviour of Norfolk: `` `People, religions differ on the concept of hell.' This is very true! Just as they differ on who and where God (god) is. . . . The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that he or she, without knowledge of self and others, is in hell, a living hell . . . Hell, Mrs. Wright, is what millions of original stock (the Black race) women, men and children live in now . . . Time is running out for you and those of my people who continually lie and deceive.''
From Virginia Hutchinson of Virginia Beach: ``There was this wonderful monk in the Order of the Holy Cross, which is an Episcopal order, who came to this area a number of times. Often in his seminars, he would tell simple stories very much like Jesus. Someone asked him his definition of hell and with that he told us the story of the Prodigal Son. The elder brother in the story, of course, was so bitter and so lacking of understanding of his brother and what had happened to him. When the monk got through telling this story, and he told it very beautifully and very vividly in simple language, he said that the elder brother's attitude was the example of real hell. This stuck with me all these years. The bitterness and resentments that we carry, it seems to me, is really our own hell, and in that case, the brother was experiencing it.''
From Dennis Buchholz pastor of Holy Communion Lutheran Church in Portsmouth: ``The one part you wrote about, `The more Christianity grew, the more complex and horrible grew hell.' Historically, I think that's not true. I have a Ph.D. in Religion and I wrote my dissertation on an ancient document called `The Apocalypse of Peter,' which I believe was the book that came closest to making it into the New Testament without actually doing so. Anyway, this `Apocalypse of Peter' has vivid descriptions of punishments in hell and they're pretty detailed. They're quite early. They probably came into Christianity from the Greek mystery religions, but in any case, it's not true that hell grew more and more complex and more and more horrible. It was there very early. I date `The Apocalypse of Peter' about 130 A.D.'' by CNB