HELL

The Cleansing Pit

I am not afraid to solemnly testify that the mind of God is love; the heart of God is love; the intent of God is love. It is not irrelevant to say that love is a double edged sword; a fire that moves this way and moves that way. It is a fire that can empower and uplift what is useful, it is a fire that can consume and tear down what is useless.

Nonetheless, God's intent does not ever change; his purpose does not ever change; his will does not ever change, even though these things can express themselves in any number of ways. Like a child who cries when candy is taken away by the mother, our perception of God's ways are not always a testament of his intent but of our own limited understanding.

Now has the time come for our understanding to stretch, now has the time come for us to dive deeper, now has the time come to investigate the depth of God's love all the way down to hell. David said:

'If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.' Psalms 139:8

Hmm, for so long many of us have been taught of a coward God who hides up in the skies whilst everything below is given over to the power of Satan. Yet here we see David declaring boldly that not even hell is void of the presence of God.

Time and time again we have reiterated with love that the Bible was not written in english, neither was it written by English people. The difference in psychology between the modern western mind and the ancient hebrew mystical mind is like sand and water.

This is not saying that one is bad and the other is good, this is saying that they are different and ought to be approached differently. If one approaches a traditional Chinese man with a traditional African mindset, surely all manners of misinterpretations will be born now won't it?

The problem will always be approaching 'person A' from the mindset of 'person B'. When such is the case, all manner of misinterpretations come into existence. The Bible is one of the biggest victims of this and the way the medieval Europeans translated the Bible was more a reflection of the state of their hearts and approach to the world, than it was a reflection of God.

A simple example is the word 'punish', which we see everywhere in the english Bible. Punishment, being the idea of inflicting harm on a person in order to make them suffer for doing something wrong.

Friends, what if I told you in this very moment that such a concept does not exist anywhere in the original Hebrew context of the Bible? Such reasoning is completely antagonistic to the mindset of God and for those of us who have read the previous posts on 'The Adversary' and 'The Wrath of God', this write up will be easier to assimilate. If we have not done so, I suggest that we do so for a richer context of the present discussion.

The hebrew word 'paqad', commonly translated as 'punish', actually means 'to attend to'; 'to take care of'; 'to visit'; 'to uplift'; 'to be concerned for' a person.

Below are three examples of the usage of the word 'paqad'. One is in reference to when God was blessing Sarah with a child; another was when Joseph promised his people that God will deliver them from Egypt; and finally, and most popularly, when people transgressed and it was written that God 'punished' them:

'And the Lord visited (PAQAD) Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. ' Genesis 21:1

'Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely take care of (PAQAD) you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” ' Genesis 50:25

'Then I will punish (PAQAD) their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes.' Psalms 89:32

The questions to now ask ourselves: "what relates 'the rod' of correction with taking care of someone?". "How can a rod, which we mistakenly interpret to be a BAD and EVIL thing, take care of a person?".

In the Hebrew mind, there is no difference between God blessing someone with a child, rescuing them from spiritual slavery or God disciplining them through a hard circumstance that 'they themselves caused'. To the hebrew mind, all three speak of the care of God; the concern of God; the help of God.

The intent does not change, even if the approach does. This is why the same word used to represent the chastening of God, is the same used for God showing concern for or uplifiting a person.

In that place of taking care of us, a 'breaking down' of unproductive elements within us must first happen before a building up can commence. As a matter of fact, the breaking down is part of the building up. Is it possible to renovate a faulty structure without tearing away some parts? Certainly not. God, being the master builder, knows exactly how to carry out his work of renovation upon us.

As we discussed in the previous post, sin is its own reward and though in one way we can say that God visits us, takes care of us, by making us face the consequences of our own making, in another way we can say that we are the ones who create the very discomfort that comes unto us. No one plants a mango seed and expects an apple tree.

As shown in the Bible, the rod is a symbol of how God corrects those whom he loves. When one reads the bible, especially Jeremiah, Ezekiel & Isaiah, we see time and time again that BEFORE the rod strikes, the people must have done something to hurt their own selves and environment; to hurt God. AFTER the rod strikes, we see that the people realize the error of their ways and turn back onto God; unto love.

'And the Lord will strike Egypt, He will strike and heal it; they will return to the Lord , and He will be entreated by them and heal them.' Isaiah 19:22

Identifying whether something is beneficial or not is evidenced in the intent and the outcome. If the INTENT of God's rod is the healing and repentance of a people, and the OUTCOME is EXACTLY THAT, how then can the rod be looked at as a bad thing? Remember what David said:

'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.' Psalms 23:4

Indeed, to those who are after the father's heart, the rod of correction is seen as a comforter; a blessing. For how can a student who seeks to improve not rejoice when his errors are corrected and replaced with something more profitable? To those who are against the father's heart, against themselves, against their neighbors, the rod of God is seen as a might evil; a GREAT DOOM.

Perspective....

In the previous post we discussed how God and man are not really separate from one another, when the Bible says "they sinned against God", we observe that man himself is the recipient of this "sin against God". Crimes against God are not separate from crimes against our own selves because God and man are halves of a coin; even though it is not yet realized.

Worshipping God is not separate from how we treat the least person in the room. If I sing the most beautiful psalm with the voice of an angel, yet forgiveness and mercy is something I refuse to give to anyone who has offended me, I am not a worshipper of God.

It is not possible to live our lives in service to God without living it in service to our neighbors. When we do otherwise, God corrects us for our sake, for the sake of all those around us and for his sake. Why? Because none of these things are separate from one another.

God is not a tyrant, neither is he an imperialistic slave master who forces people to do what he wants and breaks their heads if they don't. No, every instruction God has ever given to man is for man's own sake and benefit; for man's improvement and upliftment. Suffering comes as a result of we neglecting what is good for us, not because God is wicked.

If a doctor says "My child, come, it is profitable for you to reduce your sugar intake, your blood sugars are high. If you don't reduce it, you will cause an imbalance in your body, you will sin against your body and suffering will be the outcome". If I hear this doctor's counsel, yet continue to consume excess sugar, if diabetes comes upon me will I say that the doctor has punished me? Certainly not and so is it with God.

Now let us begin investigating this subject of hell and the lake of fire. Click here for the second half of this post.