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The
NDE and Hell
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Kevin Williams' research conclusions
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As with heaven,
there are various hell realms witnessed by near-death experiencers. We can
even see many manifestations of hell right here in the physical realm.
There are people in prison, in the Bahamas, in mental institutions,
universities, skid row, palaces, crack houses, all kinds of life
situations. While hell realms can be seen outside all around the world as a
manifestation of an inner hell within humans, hell realms in the spirit
world are an even greater manifestation of inner hell within humans. Near-death
accounts show that the hell realms in the spirit world are actually the
spiritual/mental manifestations of spiritual conditions that humans create
within themselves while on Earth.
 Between the Earth realm and the heavenly realms, there
exists two hellish realms known as (1) the earthbound realm and (2) the void. Both
of these realms can be considered hell because they are the two darker
levels. This web page will focus only on the earthbound realm. The earthbound
realm is a hellish dimension that overlaps the physical realm. It is a
dimension where souls who are bound by some strong earthly fixation, may
remain indefinitely until they are able to extract themselves from this
fixation. After death, most souls expand very quickly through the dark
hellish realms of the earthbound realm and the void, by means of the tunnel
and on to higher realms.
The following are the highlights concerning the
earthbound hell that will be described. It is a state of mind. It is having
earthly desires that can't be satisfied. It is caused by a lack of
spiritual development. It is caused by living a hellish life. It is neither
condemnation nor judgment. Its purpose is purification not punishment. The
ways to escape from the earthbound realm will be discussed and the reasons
why negativity must be removed in order to enter heaven. NDE examples of
the earthbound realm, including traditional hell, fire and brimstone NDEs,
will be presented. Religious descriptions of the earthbound realm and
scriptures suggesting universal salvation will be provided here. Even more Biblical
and NDE evidence of universal salvation can be found at the link
provided here.
Hell is a
State of Mind
Hell is a state of mind. When we die, we are bound by what we
think. (Angie
Fenimore)
Hell is a psychological condition which represents the hellish
inner thoughts and desires within some souls. In hell, souls become
uninhibited and their hellish condition is fully manifested. No demons are
there to inflict punishment. Each soul acts out their own anger and hatred
by warring and tormenting others. (Emanuel
Swedenborg)
The hell of hells is knowing you were our own devil. (Arthur
Yensen)
It is your mind which creates hell. (Dr. Timothy Leary)
Hell refers to levels of negative thought-forms that reside in
close proximity to the Earth realm. It is where we go to work out, or
remain within, our hang-ups, addictions, fears, guilt, angers, rage,
regrets, self-pity, arrogance, or whatever else blocks us from the power of
our own light. (Dr. PMH Atwater)
Hell is a level of consciousness which can be experienced in
or out of the body. (Arthur
Yensen
Hell is
Having Earthly Desires That Can't Be Satisfied
Hell is a place where everyone retains the physical desires
they were fixated on without a way to satisfy them. Hell is real hell for anyone
who lives only to satisfy their selfish desires. (Arthur Yensen)
One level of hell exists right here on Earth where an earthly
desire is craved but cannot be satisfied. (Dr. George Ritchie)
Hell contains people who have been alcoholics or drug addicts,
who find these cravings still with them after death. They stay near the
Earth to be near alcoholics or drug addicts who are still in the physical
body, in order to participate vicariously in the sensations which alcohol
and drugs give. They can be helped in the world beyond to clear their soul
bodies of these cravings so that they, too, may go on and progress.
However, this is a long and tedious process. (Margaret
Tweddell)
There is no geographic hell. We build our hells right here in
our own lives. (Harry
Hone)
The quality of life after death for a suicide is determined by
their motive for killing themselves. Those who kill themselves from drugs,
alcohol, or any other addiction, may become stuck in limbo trying in vain
to satisfy their addiction until eventually something frees them. Those
who, because of mental illness, confusion, or a terminal illness, take
their own life, are allowed many opportunities from God to grow in love
just as any other person would who had not committed suicide. (Dr. George Ritchie)
Earthbound souls linger around the living, usually to try to
satisfy a physical desire. (Betty
Bethards)
If an addiction isn't conquered before death, it could keep
your soul earthbound. (Ruth
Montgomery)
Your personality - your likes and dislikes, your hopes, your
fears - are still attached to you, although in a more nebulous
form that when you are on Earth in a physical body. (Margaret
Tweddell)
Hell is
Caused By a Lack of Spiritual Development
Hell is a lack of wisdom and not moving forward to progress.
Hell is not a place. (Cecil)
Hell is a spiritual condition we create by being away from God
until we choose to return to God. Hell is a spiritual condition that is
totally devoid of love. (Sandra Rogers)
Hell is the pain, anguish, hurt and anger that you have caused
others or who suffered as a result of your actions/words to others. Hell is
what you have created for yourself within your soul by turning your back on
unconditional love, compassion and peace. (Tina)
What people call hell is really a spiritual time-out condition
in which souls reflect and work out the things that blocked them from the
power of their own light. (Dr. PMH Atwater)
Concerning hell, heat is molecules in motion, while cold is
their lack of motion. Likewise, love is a fast vibration of the soul, while
hate is a slower vibration. Complete love would be God, while complete hate
would be death, leaving the soul extinct. (Arthur
Yensen)
Heaven and hell are spiritual states of being. They are
not static states but are states in which there can be growth and progress
toward ultimate wholeness of being. (Margaret
Tweddell)
The difference between life on Earth and life in the spirit is
that your spirit world corresponds to your inner nature. (Nora Spurgin)
As there are degrees of heaven or hell on Earth, so
there are degrees of heaven or hell in the spiritual world. (Margaret
Tweddell)
After death people gravitate into homogenous groups
according to the rate of their soul's vibrations much like throwing a small
pebble into a threshing machine. It goes into the box that fits its proper
size and weight. After death, we are sorted by the high or low vibrations
of our soul. Everyone goes where they fit in! High vibrations indicate
love and spiritual development, while low vibrations indicate debasement
and evil. All one has to do is to love so unselfishly that their
soul-vibrations rise high enough to fit into heaven. (Arthur
Yensen)
An extreme neglect of spiritual matters on Earth can result
in an earthbound condition. This is the condition people often associate
with ghosts. (Dr. Michael
Newton)
The quality of life after death for a suicide is determined by
their motive for killing themselves. Those who kill themselves in order to
hurt someone, get revenge, or who kill themselves out of hatred for someone
else, will haunt the living by being aware of every horrible consequence
their suicide had on others. Those who, because of mental illness,
confusion, or a terminal illness, take their own life, are allowed many
opportunities from God to grow in love just as any other person would who
had not committed suicide. (Dr.
George Ritchie)
People who have an orientation of hate, for instance,
find themselves unable to appreciate a realm of love and harmony.
Therefore, they continue in their state of bitterness and are 'closed' to
the glory which exists around them. (Margaret
Tweddell)
Those who have stunted their spiritual growth through
an undeveloped or misdirected lifestyle, have led a purely self-centered life
or have hurt other people, their spiritual environment will reflect
something of these realities. A self-centered life on Earth places one in
an area of the spirit world with like-minded people who have yet to learn
the value of unselfishness for the advancement of the soul. (Nora Spurgin)
The spiritual state of being you have on Earth is the
spiritual state you take with you to the world beyond when you die. There
is no sudden metamorphosis from an idle person into an active person, from
a nonreligious person into a religious person, from a money-centered person
into a God-centered person. This is not an automatic thing. (Margaret
Tweddell)
Environments distant from God are said to be dark, cold
and inhospitable. Indeed, they reflect the spirits of those dwelling there.
(Nora
Spurgin)
We create our own hell within us while we live on Earth. After
death, we step into this hell. (Kevin Williams)
Hell is Caused By Living a Hellish Life
In the spirit world, everyone lives in the kind of a heaven or
hell that they have prepared for themselves while on Earth. (Arthur
Yensen)
People are in hell before they die. At death, we are gathered
together with those who think as we do. (Angie Fenimore)
The general rule of thumb is this: hellish life, hellish afterlife
- heavenly life, heavenly afterlife. Death will not change a hellish life
into a heavenly afterlife, nor does it change a heavenly life into a
hellish afterlife. (Dr. Melvin Morse)
Occasionally, the encounter with light is perceived as a
reflection of the fires of hell. (IANDS faq)
Physical desires can be carried over into the afterlife but
physical desires cannot be satisfied there. This can create a hellish
condition for those who have them. (Nora Spurgin)
Hell is Neither Condemnation Nor Judgment
There is no condemnation in hell, only the outworking of our
own misjudgments, mistakes, misalignments, or misappropriations. (Dr. PMH Atwater)
Those with too many negative thought patterns might flee the
light of God after death because they are too ashamed or too afraid to have
their inner thoughts and negative natures revealed to everyone. (Dr. George Ritchie)
I saw the reasons for all of my actions and understood why I
did what I had done. There was a place for all of my positive and negative
actions. There was no action that was necessarily wrong, but there were
actions I took that did not enhance positive growth. (David Oakford)
In hell, we have the opportunity to either revel in our folly
or come to grips with the reality of consequences - that every action
has a reaction, what is inflicted on another can be returned in kind. This
is not a punishment for our sins but a confrontation with any distortion of
our sense of values and priorities. (Dr. PMH Atwater)
Just knowing the bad mistakes you made through your
carelessness or your selfishness is a hell. You don't need a devil prodding
you with a fork. (Margaret
Tweddell)
God does not condemn anyone to hell and there is no eternal
damnation. We have the ability to condemn ourselves to the hell we create
within ourselves. (Kevin
Williams)
The God of love suffers for those in darkness,
ignorance and misery. (Nora Spurgin)
Many people believe that those who don't give verbal
assent to Jesus are cast headlong into eternal fire to burn forever. It
should be common sense to anyone that a God of love would never treat
people this way. As Jesus said, even an evil father knows how to give good
things to children. (Kevin
Williams)
How To Escape From the Earthbound Realm
While Benedict was in hell, he called out to the light and the
light opened up and formed a tunnel that insulated him from all that fear
and pain. (Mellen-Thomas
Benedict)
The way out of these hellish realms is to have a willingness
to see the light and seek love for others and God. (Angie Fenimore)
To escape the darkness, you must cry out to God. Then the
light will appear. (Rev.
Howard Storm)
From what may anyone be saved? Only from themselves! That is,
their individual hell. They dig it with their own desires. (Edgar Cayce)
The gates of hell are open. Those in hell will eventually join
up, link hands, and walk out of hell together. (Mellen-Thomas
Benedict)
We stay in hell for however long best serves our
development. We do not leave until we have changed our attitudes and
perceptions. (Dr.
PMH Atwater)
Souls in the hellish realms do not have the same powers to progress
and achieve joy that others with more light in the higher afterlife realms
have. Their progress is limited - a result of divine justice. However,
these souls can choose to grow if they wish. (RaNelle Wallace)
The living have auras of light surrounding their bodies. If
the aura becomes distorted through alcohol or drugs, an earthbound soul can
temporarily possess the body. (Dr. George Ritchie)
There are no permanent sinners. Even the saddest example of
humanity can become the greatest. (Harry Hone)
Accept the greater power around you and let go of the
Earth and its desires. (Margaret
Tweddell)
Based on a soul's desire and willingness, those in hell
are given an opportunity for an upward journey. (Nora Spurgin)
People on Earth are protected from earthbound
discarnates and any harm they may try to do against us when they focus on
the love within them. (Kevin
Williams)
To appreciate heaven well it is good for a man to have some
fifteen minutes of hell. (Will Carleton)
Negativity Must Be Removed to Enter Heaven
At this point, I could feel this group of beings eliminate or
pull from me the negative energy of my life in the physical world and fill
me with love beyond what I can describe. (Sherry Gideon)
After death, if a soul has been too bad, they go to a realm of
lower vibrations where their kind of thoughts can live. If they entered
heaven, they would be annihilated by the Master-Vibration of God. This is
because souls gravitate into groups according to the rate of their soul's
vibrations. If the percent of discord in a soul is small, it can be
eliminated by God; then the remaining good can live on in heaven.
However, if the percentage of bad were too high, this couldn't be done, and
the person would have to gravitate to a lower level and live with people of
his own kind. Birds of a feather, flock together. (Arthur
Yensen)
Since I had lived such a totally self-serving existence, I was
in a hellish state of indescribable agony and sorrow. I was in shear agony.
I still remember being on my knees while this blinding light broke and
crushed my false-ego. This breaking process was extremely painful. (Daniel Rosenblit)
Negative thoughts cannot be expressed in the heavenly realms -
only positive ones. (Ned
Dougherty)
God is the Master-Vibration who neutralizes all negative
thoughts so that you think only the good thoughts, such as love, freedom
and happiness. (Arthur
Yensen)
God's love looks at all of us throughout the eyes of eternity.
God's overriding desire is to purify the darkness of our souls,
irrespective of the suffering God has to put us through to achieve that end.
However, it will greatly minimize our suffering if we learn to accept
instead of fighting against our situation in life. (Daniel Rosenblit)
There are earthbound spirits of low vibrations, whom we may regard
as devils because they annoy us through mental telepathy. These demons tune
in on us through our low vibrations of hate, fear and greed. They can be
tuned out with unselfish love, or if necessary be chased away by the
stronger spirit of Jesus Christ. (Arthur
Yensen)
The only thing that burns in hell is the part of you
that won't let go of your life: your memories, your attachments. They burn them
all away, but they're not punishing you, they're freeing your soul. (Meister Eckhart)
The purpose of religion is not so much to get us into
heaven, or to keep us out of hell, but to put a little bit of heaven into
us, and take the hell out of us. (E. Stanley Jones)
NDE Examples of the Earthbound Realm
The following are summaries of the NDE accounts of those who experienced
this earthbound region for themselves.
David Oakford saw dark souls who were earthbound and who
refused to go to the light. They prey on the energies of the living in an
attempt to prevent the evolution of their spirit. David learned that we
protected from these dark ones as long as we chose to focus on the love
within us. David noticed that the dark ones did not even try to affect him.
They just gave him nasty looks and went away. David was told that whenever
he sees one, he was to tell them to go to the light. The light is a
porthole to the place all souls go if they choose to go. David learned that
higher beings know where to go and what to do to help an earthbound soul so
they may advance themselves if they so choose to do so. (David Oakford)
Josiane saw faces rushing toward her with incredible speed.
They would race toward her face, expanding and then dissolving. Face after
face washed over her and she is terrified. She drifted along and was unable
to keep her eyes open. She wondered who these people were. She
recognized some of them as people she knew who had died. The whole room was
filled with spirits and they would hover near her and look into her eyes.
She tried to push them away and she fought them. This experience seemed to
go on forever. She identified these people as restless spirits. Their faces
were twisted with pain and they seemed lost. She was frightened to see them
around her. Suddenly, spirits with glowing faces appeared to her. They
reflect a gentle and powerful light which reminded her of pictures of
beautiful angels. (Josiane
Antonette)
While in the earthbound realm, Howard Pittman watched living
people going about their daily pursuit and completely unaware that they
were being stalked by beings from the spirit world. Pittman refers to this
earthbound realm as the first heaven. He was totally flabbergasted as he
watched in horror demons in all shapes and forms moving at will among the
humans. Pittman was shown an employee's lounge on Earth where a young man
and young woman were talking and laughing. Between them was a grotesque
demon who was unseen by the two. Pittman learned that this was a demon of lust.
Pittman watched in astonishment as the demon entered the body of the young
man. Pittman was told that the demon made himself desirable to the young
man and he accepted by his own free will to violate his space. (Rev. Howard Pittman)
Emanuel Swedenborg's description of the first stage
after death is a remarkable description of the earthbound realm:
After death, there are various states that souls must pass through before
arriving in heaven or hell. The first state involves their more outward
aspects and the second [the void]
involves their more inward aspects. The first state after death is very
much like their state in the physical world, since at that point they are
similarly involved in outward matters. This is why some souls are unaware
that they are dead. (Emanuel
Swedenborg)
Dr. George Ritchie's NDE: Jesus took Ritchie to
a large city on Earth where he observed earthbound souls stalking the
living for one reason or another. One earthbound soul begged in vain for a
cigarette. A young man who committed suicide begged his parents in vain for
forgiveness. In a house, Ritchie was shown the soul of a boy following a
living teenage girl and begging for forgiveness despite the fact that the
girl was completely unaware of the boy's presence. Jesus told Ritchie that
the boy committed suicide and was chained to every consequence of his act.
Then Ritchie
saw group of drunken sailors in a bar with earthbound alcoholics trying in
vain to get a drink. Ritchie is horrified when he witnessed a sailor pass
out and an earthbound alcoholic quickly possess his body.
Jesus and
Ritchie then viewed a realm that was jammed with hordes of angry,
frustrated, and miserable earthbound souls who were locked in fights to the
death. Yet, nobody could be injured. Ritchie realized that this was hell
where souls are enslaved to habits of destructive thought-patterns. He also
witnessed frustrated souls attempting to perform sexual acts. He saw souls
arguing over religion or politics and trying to kill those who disagreed
with them. Whatever anyone thought was instantly apparent to everyone
there. Most of the thoughts he heard were thoughts such as, "I told
you so!" and "I always knew!" and "Didn't I warn
you!"
Ritchie
became aware that Jesus did not condemn them and that he had only love for
them. The only thing that kept each soul from leaving this realm was that
they all shared the same kind of thoughts. This created a bond where soul
of similar feathers can flock together. Ritchie wonders if these souls had
fled the light that showed up the darkness of their souls. Jesus then takes
Ritchie away from there. (Dr.
George Ritchie)
Ruth Montgomery: This is an example of a person
who is so sure that there is no God and no hereafter that he treats others
badly while on Earth and he feels no moral obligation to lend a helping
hand or to be a decent citizen.
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When he
makes the transition he is angry and tempestuous as he finds himself in a
situation of his own making, surrounded by other greedy souls who, because
they are in like situation, welcome him gleefully to the hell that they
have created for themselves. He tries to break out of the fiendish group,
but they surround him. He is utterly miserable, for he now begins to see
the folly of his ways but does not know how to avert his fate. He is left
there until his own remorse for sinful ways begins to penetrate his being
and he acknowledges to himself that he wasted a lifetime, a rare
privilege, by thinking only of himself.
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After he
reaches full repentance he is then able to free himself of the
unrepentant creatures around him, and for a long time thereafter he
searches his own soul to review the past mistakes. This is sometimes a
long, drawn-out process because he will have to make his way alone. Only he
is able to assess his wrongs and seek forgiveness, although there are
many here willing to lend a hand whenever he reaches out to them for it. (Ruth
Montgomery)
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Ruth Montgomery: People who die as an alcoholic
may hover around people on Earth who drink too much, lusting after the
pleasures of alcoholism yet unable to break the bond of habit which bound
them to their physical bodies. The same with heavy smokers or drug users,
there or here, or the sex maniacs who take advantage of others to appease
the bodily craving for intercourse.
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This is a
very important lesson which we learn on this side. To escape the
perpetual cycle of rebirth into physical form, we must erase the ties,
the shackles which bind us to satiation of the physical body. So try to
lick the bad habits while on Earth. It is easier by far than to come
unloose from them on Earth. Those who neither drink nor smoke nor use
drugs nor lust after sex will be free of those shackles on the other
side. It is easier while in physical form to break those shackles than it
is to undo them on the other side, where no temptations are put in our
way. Thus, there is no reward for behaving correctly here in spirit,
because there is nothing to tempt us otherwise. The hard school is in the
physical one, and there it is there that we must meet and overcome the
temptations. (Ruth
Montgomery)
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A friend of mine who had recently taken his life came
through and did not know how to go into the light. I kept telling him
to go forward to the light, but he was afraid of judgment. He couldn't
forgive himself. Also, he was having a problem with the fact that after he
had taken his own life, his spirit obviously lingered around the scene of
the act. He could not overcome the memory of his father's discovering
him, and that was haunting him emotionally to a tremendous degree in the
next dimension. What he and many of us don't understand is that there is
judgment there, but it is not done by God on a throne. Judgment rests
basically with yourself. It can take eons of time as we understand it
before they go into the light. It depends on the person. (George
Anderson)
The Traditional Hellfire and Brimstone NDEs
Why do some people have NDEs that resembles the fire and
brimstone hell of the Bible while other people describe a different kind of
hell? The quick answer is that there are many kinds of hells and many kinds
of heavens. A person's situation in life and after death is based upon many
factors including: perception, perspective, cultural and religious
background, spirituality or lack thereof, and education. If you examine
enough hellish NDEs that resemble the traditional hellfire and brimstone,
you will notice that they mostly occur to fundamentalist Christians. Life
after death often means "getting what you expect", that is, if
you believe heaven is a place where you float on a cloud and play a harp,
you just might get that when you die. And only when you realize that this
kind of heaven is a fanatasy-to-be-abandoned will you find reality
different. In other words, reality is what you make it. This applies on
Earth as it is in heaven. If we believe that such a hell exists, it
actually does exist - in our own minds. And since the afterlife is the
realm of the mind and spirit, these hellish conditions actually exist
merely by creating them in our own mind. This is why it is critical that we
be careful what we put in our minds and what we build there. For more
information about the differences between NDEs visit my NDE Differences page.
(Kevin Williams)
After an attempted suicide, John
Bunyan (1628-1688) was given an extended guided tour of hell containing
all the traditional images of fire, brimstone, devils, tormentors, etc.
Bunyan, an English author and preacher imprisoned for his faith, is best
known for his fictional work, The
Pilgrim's Progress. (John Bunyan)
Rev. Kenneth Hagin descended into a pit until a
darkness totally surrounded him. The farther down he went, the darker and
hotter it became until he could see the fingers of flames playing on the
dark walls of the pit. In front of him, beyond the entrance into hell, he
saw giant, orange flames. He was pulled toward hell like a magnet pulls
metal. He was aware of some kind of creature at his right side, which he
didn't dare look at, that escorted him toward the entrance to hell. When he
did, a powerful voice spoke which caused everything to shake. Kenneth then
floated back up through the darkness to the top of the pit. (Rev. Kenneth Hagin)
Don Brubaker travels through a tunnel while a large,
eerie red eye peers at him which he realizes to be his own. While in the
tunnel, he is stricken with panic and believes he is in hell. A voice,
which he identifies to be God's, tells him not to fear. He has been chosen
to write about what he is experiencing. He is told he must testify about
the reality of hell. Afterward, he is drawn into a vast, flaming oven
filled with other people. They laugh as they realize the flames are not
painful. Suddenly, he is alone in the dark with God communicating to him.
In an instant, he is aware of everyone in his life whom he was ever angry
with. Afterward, he floats in a glorious deep blue sky. Christ appears
shining a tremendous amount of light. Christ gives Don a choice of staying
or returning to the physical world. Thoughts of his family cause him to
choose to return. Before he returns, Don is taken back in time to witness
the crucifixion of Christ. (Don Brubaker)
Other hell, fire, and brimstone NDEs: Sarah and George Lennox
Religious Descriptions of the Earthbound Realm
Buddhism: The deceased eventually enters a realm of hungry ghosts
were the deceased have huge stomachs and throats the size of pinholes.
Because of this, they wander around in a constant state of unsatisfied
ravenous desire. Eventually, the unliberated deceased encounters the Lord
of Death for judgment. The Lord of Death holds up before him the Mirror of
Karma where every good and evil act is vividly reflected. Now demons
approach and begin to inflict torments and punishments upon the deceased
for their evil deeds. Even here the deceased can attain liberation by
recognizing this. The deceased who is still not liberated after the Judgment
will now be drawn remorselessly toward reincarnation. At some point,
liberation is no longer possible and the deceased are instructed on how to
choose the best womb for a favorable reincarnation. (Buddhism)
Be not fond of the dull smoke-colored light from hell. (Tibetan Book
of the Dead)
Hinduism: Each of the dimensions of the Great Mandala of the
Cosmos represents a quality of energy, or light. Each dimension of this
Mandala, which moves out from the central Whiteness, are infinite numbers
of possible worlds and various kinds of embodiment. The dimension which we
live in now is on the outskirts of this Great Mandala. Dimensions even
farther away from the center may be called "hells" where there is
less awareness, less possibilities, than the dimension we live in now. (Hinduism)
Islam: Muslim theologians, particularly those of the Asharite school,
believed that if a believer entered hell, God could forgive his sins or
nonconformities and remove him, either immediately or after a certain
period during which imperfections had been burned away. The basis for this
doctrine is the Hadith: "He shall make men come out of hell after they
have been burned and reduced to cinders." In addition to this
purgatory of suffering, there is another Muslim limbo - al-A'raf (the
"heights" or "ramparts"), described in a chapter of the
Koran by that name - in which those souls reside that do not merit
damnation yet are unable to enter paradise. (Muslim)
Judaism: In rabbinical thought, the model for heaven was Eden.
The rabbinic word for hell, Gehenna, is taken from the name of a valley of
fire where children were said to be sacrificed as burnt offerings to Baal
and Moloch (Semitic deities). Jewish legend paints hell with all of the
vividness that medieval Christians did, even associating particular
tortures with particular sins. (Judaism)
Gnosticism: Christian Gnostics viewed living on Earth as a kind of hell.
Gnosticism saw human beings as trapped in a cycle of reincarnation and
believed that even suicide could not release one from bondage to the flesh.
In marked contrast with orthodox Christian belief, bodily resurrection was
not viewed as part of the scheme of redemption. Rather, only the
destruction of the body and of all Satan's visible creation - which is hell
- was adequate to ensure salvation of the soul and its ascent to heaven. (Gnosticism)
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Christianity: Scriptures showing souls do not stay in hell forever:
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[Jesus]
went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long
ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was
being built. (1
Peter 3:18-20)
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That
servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not
do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one
who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be
beaten with few blows. (Luke
12:47-48)
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Settle
matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it
while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the
judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may
be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get
out until you have paid the last penny. (Matt.
5:22-26)
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It should be difficult for any Christian to honestly
conceive of a God of infinite love and mercy to permit even one soul to
be tortured forever in hell. It is common sense that a few minutes
in hell is enough for even the hardest of sinners to change their mind
and repent. And what kind of God would create someone knowing that he
will ultimately throw that person in hell to be tortured forever? It
should be obvious that it would be better for God to not even create such
a person. If an evil father treats his children better than this, how
much more so God? Jesus stated:
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Which
of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks
for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father
in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! (Matt.
7:9-11)
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The
Purpose for Hell is Purification Not Punishment
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The early Church developed the concept of purgatory based on
particular passages of scripture.
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(1)
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According
to St. Isidore of
Seville the Church taught that in the next life: "Some sins will be forgiven and purged away by a certain
purifying fire." (Deord. creatur., c.
xiv, n. 6)
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(2)
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St. Augustine also
argued: "Some sinners are not forgiven
either in this world or in the next, would not be truly said unless there
were other [sinners] who, though not forgiven in this world, are forgiven
in the world to come" (De Civ.
Dei, XXI, xxiv).
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(3)
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The same
interpretation is given by Gregory the Great
(Dial., IV, xxxix); St.
Bede (commentary on this text); St. Bernard (Sermo
lxvi in Cantic., n.11) and other eminent theological writers.
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(4)
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Origen,
the first great Church father, taught that purgatory is the true
description of hell. He believed if people depart this life with lighter
faults, they are condemned to fire which burns away the lighter
materials, preparing their souls for the kingdom of God, where nothing
defiled may enter. He wrote:
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"For
if on the foundation of Christ you have built not only gold and silver
and precious stones; but also wood and hay and stubble, what do you
expect when the soul shall be separated from the body? Would you enter
into heaven with your wood and hay and stubble and thus defile the
kingdom of God; or on account of these hindrances would you remain
without and receive no reward for your gold and silver and precious
stones? Neither is this just. It remains then that you be committed to
the fire which will burn the light materials; for our God to those who
can comprehend heavenly things is called a cleansing fire. But this fire
consumes not the creature, but what the creature has himself built,
wood, and hay and stubble. It is manifest that the fire destroys the
wood of our transgressions and then returns to us the reward of our
great works." (P. G., XIII, col.
445, 448).
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Origen
based this statement on the following Bible verse:
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It
will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each
man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.
If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but
only as one escaping through the flames.
(1
Cor. 3:11-15)
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In the Council
of Lyons, in 1274 A.D., it was stated that after death the soul goes
promptly either to heaven or to hell. On the Day of Judgment, all will
stand before the tribunal of Christ with their bodies to render account
of what they have done.
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NDEs
Support Universal Salvation
What all people seek, what sustains them, is love, the light
told me. What distorts people is a lack of love. The revelations coming
from the light seemed to go on and on, then I asked the light, "Does
this mean that humankind will be saved?" Then, like a trumpet blast
with a shower of spiraling lights, the Great Light spoke, saying,
"Remember this and never forget; you save, redeem and heal yourself.
You always have. You always will. You were created with the power to do so
from before the beginning of the world. In that instant I realized even
more. I realized that WE HAVE ALREADY BEEN SAVED, and we saved ourselves
because we were designed to self-correct like the rest of God's universe. (Mellen-Thomas
Benedict)
Life is a cycle of improvements and humans are not
perfect yet. Most people have this secret revealed to them when they die. (Dr. Frank Oski)
All souls were created in the beginning and are finding
their way back to God. (Edgar Cayce)
We are immortal and indestructible. We have always been
alive, we always will be, and there is no way in this world that we can
ever be lost. It is impossible for anyone to fall into a crack in the
universe somewhere and never be heard from again. We are utterly safe and
we have always been forever and ever. (Jayne Smith)
From the light we have
come, and to the light we all shall return. (Josiane Antonette)
It is God's love for us that sends us on our journey
and it is our love for God that allows us to return to God's loving arms
again. (David Goines)
A central aspect of our eternal existence is continued
spiritual growth through love and service. We can spend what seems like an
eternity before incarnating in the flesh. During that period in the spirit
world, soul growth can be attained there as well. (Nora Spurgin)
It (reincarnation) is a universal process, and prevails
not only in the human kingdom but also throughout the whole of nature.
Whenever we find a living form, the consciousness of that form is also
evolving, using temporarily for that purpose the physical form in order
that it may gain physical experience. In each incarnation we have a
different physical body, a different name, and may have different souls
acting as parents, but these changes do not in the slightest imperil our
individuality ... Reincarnation is not an endless process, and when we have
learned the lessons taught in the World-School we return no more to
physical incarnation unless we come back of our own accord to act as
Teachers of humanity or as Helpers in the glorious plan of evolution. (Amber
Wells)
Without physical bodies, feelings of hate and fear are
intensified as souls [in hell] vainly try to hide from their enemies. Their
only hope is to reincarnate. Then unfortunately when they do, they may
forget all about their torment in hell and again lead lives of greed and
tyranny. This miserable cycle can continue forever unless they find
salvation in one of their lifetimes. Such people really need a savior,
since they are not able to help themselves. I'm sure Christ incarnated to
help them because he said, "I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance." (Arthur
Yensen)
Scriptures
Supporting Universal Salvation
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(1)
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The Son
himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that
God may be all in all. (1
Cor. 15:28)
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(2)
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God our
Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge
of the truth. (1
Tim. 2:3-4)
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(3)
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But I, when
I am lifted up from the Earth, will draw all men to myself. (John
12:32)
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(4)
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For as in
Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (1
Cor. 15:22)
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(5)
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And all mankind
will see God's salvation. (Luke
3:6)
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(6)
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[God] is
patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to
come to repentance. (2
Peter 3:9)
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(7)
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For this we labor and strive, that we have put our hope in
the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of
those who believe. (1
Tim. 4:10)
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(8)
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And he made
known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which
he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have
reached their fulfillment -- to bring all things in heaven and on
Earth together under one head, even Christ. (Eph.
1:9-10)
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Because
God wills everyone saved and because nobody can thwart his will, then the
only logical conclusion is that all will be saved.
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(9)
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No plan of yours can be thwarted. (Job
42:2)
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(10)
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[Christ] is
the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for
the sins of the whole world. (1
John 2:2)
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(11)
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For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all
men. (Titus
2:11)
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(12)
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But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the
angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so
that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Heb.
2:9)
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(13)
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And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son
to be the Savior of the world. (1
John 4:14)
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(14)
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For there
is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself as a ransom for all men -- the testimony given in
its proper time. (1
Tim. 2:5-6)
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(15)
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And he died for all, that those who live should no
longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised
again. (2
Cor. 5:15)
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"To
appreciate heaven well it is good for a man to have some fifteen
minutes of hell." - Will Carleton
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