Jump to content
IGNORED

3 days in Hell?


JesusFightClub

Recommended Posts

Many beliefs on Heaven and Hell are based on The Divine Comedy more than the Bible.

I always found that interesting. When I was trying to be a "good little fundie girl" as a young teen, I read the Bible for 30 minutes every day. I have read most of the Bible, and I never saw the Church version of heaven and hell there.

dusti

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 54
  • Created
  • Last Reply

In Eastern Orhtodox church, I was taught that before Jesus died on the Cross, everyone who ever died went to hell. So, that meant that Abraham, Adam, Eve, King David, etc etc were all hanging out in hell, waiting for Jesus to rescue them.

So then Jesus gets crucified, and the first one in heaven is the thief on the right who believed in Jesus. Meanwhile, Jesus goes down to hell and releases all the righteous people who have been stuck there for a couple thousand years, and they all enter heaven triumphantly.

The icon of the Resurrection which you can see here displays this: http://orthodoxwiki.org/Pascha - you can see the white "x" under Jesus' feet - that represents the gates of hell/death that he overcame by his resurrection. The old people on either side of Jesus are Adam and Eve, representing the possibility of eternal life for all of humanity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is what I learned about Jesus and the Resurrection:

Tav_Resurrection_icon1.gif

There's an icon very much like this on the wall in my church (which is Byzantine Catholic, cousins of the Orthodox, but we follow the Pope). Like others have said, I remember learning that Jesus went to hell (or maybe it was purgatory? I don't necessarily remember being taught it was explicitly hell), but the story that no one could get into Heaven, the gates were locked, and Jesus' dying is what opened the gates, he descended into hell/purgatory and freed the souls of those who were trapped there. Like liltwinstar wrote, I was also taught that the man and woman in this icon whose hands Jesus is holding were Adam and Eve. I don't remember explicitly being taught that these events took 3 days to complete, though. I don't recall who the other people in the icon are supposed to be - most likely Abraham, Moses, David, etc., since they all have the holy saint halos around their heads.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The fundie teaching is that salvation is possible through Jesus' sacrifice, meaning He paid for the world's sins. The penalty for sin is Hell, so it stands to reason that's where he spent the three days. I don't have any specific verses to back that up though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I grew up in an IFB church, and what we were taught is that at the time Jesus died, Hades and Paradise were in the same place (possibly the center of the earth), but separated by a divide so that no one could pass from one side to the other. The righteous were on the Paradise side waiting to be taken to heaven, and the unrighteous were on the Hades side, already in eternal torment. Much of this doctrine comes from the parable Jesus told in Luke 16 about the rich man who dies and goes to Hades and looks across the gulf and begs for a drop of water and gets told "no dice" since no one can go from one to the other. They claim it isn't just a parable because it doesn't follow the same format as Jesus's other parables and that it was therefore a true story and he just withheld the names to protect the still living. Then when Jesus died, he went down to Paradise, gathered up all the righteous, and took them to heaven along with the sacrifice of his own blood to lay at God's feet, leaving Hades solely for the unrighteous (for which they bastardized a verse from Isaiah chapter 5 that says in part "hell hath enlarged herself" or something like that). So the IFB teaching (in my experience) falls more along the lines of, yes he went to hell, but not hell in the way we normally think of hell and he wasn't tortured for our sins or anything like that. The cross covered it all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do they have any Biblical justification for that, or was it just pulled out someone's ass? I'm betting on the latter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

he let Satan chain him up and torture him for 3 days, and then KAPOW! he burst the chains, beat up Satan, and was resurrected.
So it really is "Jesus Christ, Super Star!" or should that be "Jesus Christ, Super Man!"??? :lol:

As for the Apostles' Creed, the Methodists leave out the "descended to the dead" line, so all we ever got taught was "...suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day he arose from the dead..." Never even knew there were other versions until years afterwards...and by then it didn't matter to me. As a child, I didn't think much about the creed or what it was really saying, because it was just something you and everyone else you knew recited every Sunday, like saying the Pledge of Allegiance every morning in school. Even in confirmation class, we just kind of accepted whatever the minister told us about anything. We were all just there because that's what you did at that age - we didn't have any little rebels charging the gates of Methodist beliefs. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Apostles Creed says:

He descended into hell.

On the third day he rose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.

So Catholics believe he went to hell during those three days, anyway. I think Dante mentions it in the Inferno too.

However, there is much more subtext to that portion of the creed than the connotative meaning of Hell today.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

632 The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was "raised from the dead" presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection. This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ's descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Saviour, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.

633 Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, "hell" - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God. Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into "Abraham's bosom": "It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Saviour in Abraham's bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell." Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.

Basically, Catholic theology teaches that heaven was shut off from mankind as a result the sin of Adam, Original sin. Until Jesus, men who died righteously were kept in a part of the afterlife deprived of the vision of God. After Jesus' crucifixion and atonement for the sins of men, he went to this place to free these souls and offer them their place in the afterlife now in God's presence, the "Beatific Vision."

This is clearly different than the contemporary meaning of the Hell of damnation that most people are familiar with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

debrand said:

What is up with some Christians trying to remake Jesus into the image of a badass, Rambo type man? It's like they can't stand their own founder's gentleness so they have to remake him. Is preserving their image of traditional American manhood more important than actually following Jesus?

WORD!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought that Hell is only barely mentioned in the Bible, and am I right never by any of the common names we currently use, Hell, Hades? I mean Hell is devrived from the Norse Goddess of the underworld and the dead (those who did not die in battle or honorably that is), Hel. Just like Hades is also a Greek God of the Underworld and dead. I thought, please correct me if I am wrong, my knowledge of the Bible is slimmer then my knowledge of Mythology, that "Hell" is not even specifically named as underground in the Bible, but added later.

And yes, Dante has heavily influenced our modern version of Christian "Hell".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Eastern Orhtodox church, I was taught that before Jesus died on the Cross, everyone who ever died went to hell. So, that meant that Abraham, Adam, Eve, King David, etc etc were all hanging out in hell, waiting for Jesus to rescue them.

So then Jesus gets crucified, and the first one in heaven is the thief on the right who believed in Jesus. Meanwhile, Jesus goes down to hell and releases all the righteous people who have been stuck there for a couple thousand years, and they all enter heaven triumphantly.

The icon of the Resurrection which you can see here displays this: http://orthodoxwiki.org/Pascha - you can see the white "x" under Jesus' feet - that represents the gates of hell/death that he overcame by his resurrection. The old people on either side of Jesus are Adam and Eve, representing the possibility of eternal life for all of humanity.

Jew here! I always was told that christians believed that after he died he went to purgatory where the patriarchs were waiting. Since the "only way to the father" was through jesus, they had to chill out and wait. I was also told that before Jesus god wasnt interested in having humans chillin with him in heaven and that it was only through jesus that god allowed them in. I never heard anything about "hell", mostly because there is no jewish concept of a place of torment, only a place without god.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Eastern Orhtodox church, I was taught that before Jesus died on the Cross, everyone who ever died went to hell. So, that meant that Abraham, Adam, Eve, King David, etc etc were all hanging out in hell, waiting for Jesus to rescue them.

So then Jesus gets crucified, and the first one in heaven is the thief on the right who believed in Jesus. Meanwhile, Jesus goes down to hell and releases all the righteous people who have been stuck there for a couple thousand years, and they all enter heaven triumphantly.

The icon of the Resurrection which you can see here displays this: http://orthodoxwiki.org/Pascha - you can see the white "x" under Jesus' feet - that represents the gates of hell/death that he overcame by his resurrection. The old people on either side of Jesus are Adam and Eve, representing the possibility of eternal life for all of humanity.

As a Jew I was taught that christians believed that jesus went to a form of purgatory or holding place where the great patriarchs and good believers were. Since the "only way to the father" was through him, jesus went down and picked them up. Prior to jesus, god wasnt interested in having all those humans running amok in heaven, but since jesus atoned for mankind they were permitted entrance. Jews dont really have a concept of fire/torment/painful hell, just a place without god which is a bad thing within itself. In one version of the story abraham and moses accept jesus as god...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Eastern Orhtodox church, I was taught that before Jesus died on the Cross, everyone who ever died went to hell. So, that meant that Abraham, Adam, Eve, King David, etc etc were all hanging out in hell, waiting for Jesus to rescue them.

So then Jesus gets crucified, and the first one in heaven is the thief on the right who believed in Jesus. Meanwhile, Jesus goes down to hell and releases all the righteous people who have been stuck there for a couple thousand years, and they all enter heaven triumphantly.

The icon of the Resurrection which you can see here displays this: http://orthodoxwiki.org/Pascha - you can see the white "x" under Jesus' feet - that represents the gates of hell/death that he overcame by his resurrection. The old people on either side of Jesus are Adam and Eve, representing the possibility of eternal life for all of humanity.

As a Jew I was taught that christians believed that jesus went to a form of purgatory or holding place where the great patriarchs and good believers were. Since the "only way to the father" was through him, jesus went down and picked them up. Prior to jesus, god wasnt interested in having all those humans running amok in heaven, but since jesus atoned for mankind they were permitted entrance. Jews dont really have a concept of fire/torment/painful hell, just a place without god which is a bad thing within itself. In one version of the story abraham and moses accept jesus as god...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In SBC church we never really gave much thought to where Jesus went for three days when he died on the cross. Just that he was dead for three days. It does make a lot of sense that he went to the dwelling of the dead. More on that at the end.

My first instinct was to come here and talk about the prophets and such. Abraham, Moses, etc. I don't understand why they would have to wait for Jesus resurrection to go to Heaven. Jesus saves the people under the New Covenant. (A.k.a. Testament). The people in the Old Testament were under Jewish Law, a.k.a. the Old Covenant. So if they followed Jewish Law they don't need to be waiting on Jesus to be with God.

But then it got me thinking, I only know Old Testament from a Christian (strange combination of SBC and Catholic..never been Catholic but all the theology is available online and without it I would never have learned much of what SBCers believe...loooooong story) perspective. What is the Jewish perspective on the Messiah? (Yes, I know, it's not Jesus and that's not what I meant.) Will you be separated from God upon death until the Messiah arrives? What, exactly, if any, affect will the coming of the Messiah have on any Jews who are dead? What is the Jewish perspective of the afterlife? I assume there is one to some extent, as if when you're dead, there is nothing, there seems little incentive to follow the 613 + a kajillion other laws. Also I know the Jews have special days of prayer for their dead a certain period of time after someones death. So it seems there is an afterlife of some sort.

I hope I contributed something because I feel like I was asking a bunch of questions. I just asked my stepdad (who is an ordained but not practicing SBC pastor) where Jesus was during the three days he was dead. He says "some people, based on certain scriptures say that He was in hell. some people think he was in Heaven." He didn't seem to be much up for giving his opinion one way or the other. I mentioned that based on scripture it did seem that He was in hell for those days, and if you go upon the Jewish concept of hell that didn't seem far-fetched. He then mentioned that we don't know where those who are in sin (a.k.a. people from the Old Testament times who weren't righteous like Abraham and co.) are now because Hell as the concept of a torturous fiery pit wont exist until the stuff from Revelation goes down. So we don't know where the dead hang out currently and that there are a lot of unanswered questions about existence after death between death and the events in Revelation. (Souls who are headed to Heaven don't go there until Revelation happens either). Obviously there is a waiting place of some sort for the souls, no matter where they are 'headed'. I assume the concept of "Sheol" mentioned in some of the previous links (I guess that answers my question on the Jewish concept of Hell) works pretty well as a waiting place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Clearly, Jesus had to go to Hell for three days because Mary never beat him with 1/4 inch plumbing line.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Am I going to hell for laughing at that?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guys I went to 14 years of Catholic school and I have never heard this "three days in Hell" thing before.

Our creed just said "Was crucified, died, and was buried. And on the third day he rose again..."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Am I going to hell for laughing at that?

Nah -- we're not mocking Jesus or Mary, we're mocking Michael Pearl.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, I had never heard any of this. Grew up Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) and now attend an Episcopal church. The current day Episcopal creed (based on the original Nicene) says:

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again

in accordance with the Scriptures;

he ascended into heaven

The original 325 AD creed supposedly said:

was made man, suffered and rose again the third day, ascended into heaven,

I don't know where the descended into hell thing came from. I learn so much from FJ- thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK- this interested me, so I did some more digging. The Nicene creed is used during the usual service in the Episcopal church and used to be used in the Church of Scotland according to my mother (I don't remember using it). The Apostle's creed is used in the Episcopal church during baptisms and says

He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again.

The Creed of Saint Athanasius which isn't used in the Episcopal church as far as I can tell says

Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell,

rose again the third day from the dead.

Still don't know the scriptural reference for the descent to hell though. Like the Rambo-Jesus analogy...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guys I went to 14 years of Catholic school and I have never heard this "three days in Hell" thing before.

Our creed just said "Was crucified, died, and was buried. And on the third day he rose again..."

I think that's because we Catholics mostly say the Nicene Creed (which doesn't mention hell) instead of the Apostles Creed (which does mention hell). I think we only say the Apostles Creed once or twice a year as opposed to the weekly Nicene Creed. I also grew up not knowing this. It wasn't until my mid 20s in bible study group that this came up. Boy, was I surprised.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How DID parents train their children properly before indoor plumbing was invented? Maybe THAT'S where all the admonitions about dressing modestly came from - so no one could see the marks? :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.




×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.