Picasso's Guernica - an image of war, hell on earth.
There is often confusion of afterlife (an individual's destiny after our bodies die) with end time (when life on earth ends for all living beings.) The scriptural images of "Judgement Day" in the end time get mixed up with beliefs about the pearly gates and St Peter. There is no scriptural foundation for the belief that we are judged immediately after our last breath and sent to either heaven or hell, this is a belief that evolved later, as early Christians struggled to understand the waiting period between personal death and the second coming of Christ.
Take a look at these two passages:
Daniel 12:1-4
‘At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. But you, Daniel, keep the words secret and the book sealed until the time of the end.
Revelation 20:7-15
When the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, in order to gather them for battle; they are as numerous as the sands of the sea. They marched up over the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from heaven and consumed them. And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Most apocalyptic literature found in the Bible was written during the period 165 BCE through the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 70 CE, to about the end of the first century (Revelation) - from the persecution of the late Persians, Greeks and Romans, occupying Israel and Palestine.
Views on apocalyptic literature (in the broadest generalization) depend on your appraoch –
Conservative Christians generally believe that Daniel was captured by the Babylonians circa 605 BCE, spent the rest of his life in Babylon, and wrote the book circa 540 BCE. In this way, Daniel's prophecy is seen as being fulfilled and trustworthy. As we approached the year 2000 CE, many sermons by conservative Christians interpreted the book of Daniel as predicting the end of the world as we know it in the very near future. This book is one of the most important books in the Hebrew Scriptures to Evangelical Christians, next to Genesis.
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Liberal Christians generally believe the book was written around 160 BCE. It was based on stories probably transmitted orally from the time of the Babylonian exile until the 2nd century BCE. The 4 beasts in Daniel's dream refer to 4 ancient civilizations: Babylonian, Median, Persian, Seleucid (Macedonian)
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Since the book was written after the rise of the final empire, the author had the advantage of hindsight; the book is a history of past events, not prophecy of the future. The goal of the author is to say: therefore we must live faithfully even in times of trouble…
HELL is what happens when apocalyptic imagery gets amalgamated with our ideas about afterlife AND atonement theory, which is a good lead in to chapters 5 and 6.
Chapter 5: Hell in the Present Tense
Wright quotes Marcus Borg Paul’s justification is not about who is going to Heaven or Hell: “Here, as in much else, preoccupation with the afterlife has profoundly distorted Christianity.” Wright suggests that all the talk about “Future Hell” prevents us from dealing with Present Hell/s
“Once we admit that Hell is a present reality, we can work with God to change our society, our world and ourselves so that the exit gates of Hell are opened and we can start to live as God intended.” P. 93
Hell in the present time can be seen as a “social/corporate issue”:
p. 94 “Those who worship a God of justice must recognize that God has built into our social structure natural consequences for selfishness and greed and injustice… Take seriously the biblical message that our failure to love justice and to show compassion will have dire consequences for us and for the society in which we live.”
The opposite to HELL on earth is not heaven, but SHALOM, a harmony brought about by peace, justice, compassion and faithfulness.
Social/Corporate hell needs a corporate solution, by individuals who have awoken to the grip of that greater power, whether they are victim, survivor or oppressor, and who then draw others into the movement for change.
p. 99 Wright speaks about self-fulfilling prophecies, when our values are distorted, so our personal sense of being in right relationship is distorted, setting us apart from God; oftentimes, putting us in Hell. There can also be an almost supernatural sense of being “in the grip of a power beyond our control”. This is a state referred to in groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, who work in addictions, where the alcohol or drug takes on personal power over the individual.
The role of confession in regaining right relationship. Confession in worship should be a reality check of our true priorities, not a checklist of how we think we have been unpleasing to God, which only increases our feelings of unworthiness, and despair about change. Instead worship should lead us to trust in that greater power (as in the Assurance of Forgiveness.)
Seeing “sin” as our alienation from God which leads to wrong action, not wrong action leading to alienation by God.
Chapter 6: Heaven as Past, Present and Future
Many times the motivation to become Christian is seen as being for the rewards of heaven: “If I didn’t believe that there was an everlasting life, this life wouldn’t be worth living.”
Is heaven more meaningful to Christians if we believe others are not going there? A more exclusive club?
Wright speaks of heaven as being a blending of past, present, and future.
Heaven begins with our roots deep in the past, where Creation is evolutionary and we are partners in it. What seemed like a resolution of suffering or evil 3000 years ago may not be the resolution now. God's creation is always unfolding, always in the present moment (even the end time – Jesus said over and over "the kingdom is near.")
In the present moment, we speak about entering into the true nature of God through living out servanthood (Jesus) with every choice we make.
So the hope of resurrection, or realized eschatology, means that eternal life begins now.
Heaven is also about the universal appeal of our belief in life’s continuation, just not in earthly form, but in life that continues after our last breath.
p. 129 “Our trust is based on the reasonable confidence that the God who called this world and us from non-being into being can also call us from death to life.”
Closing Prayer: If Darwin Prayed by Bruce Sanguin
Archetypes of Evolution, p. 116
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