COLUMN: All roads lead to heaven and hell
This week, I want to discuss the ideas of salvation, damnation and the afterlife within a religious framework. What do these terms mean, and how did our contemporary understanding of them develop? The following is a brief summary of what I have discovered and pondered regarding these topics.
Separate realms in the world to come – one for good people and one for bad – have often existed within the commonly held beliefs of respective religions. In the polytheistic beliefs of ancient Greeks, the souls of men went to the underworld of Hades upon death. Those who had led good lives in their mortal existence entered into a paradisaical region of Hades known as Elysium. Those deemed wicked would be sentenced to dwell in Tartarus, a hellish region of torture and depravity. Contemporary individuals are familiar with similar realms now referred to as “Heaven” and “Hell,” and like their Greek predecessors understand one to be the destination of “good” people and the other a destination for “bad.” While the common religious man understands the purpose of these two realms, one finds a wide spectrum of belief regarding who enters into each of these realms, and even whether such realms exist.
Religions commonly referred to as fundamental, due to their strict belief sets, often construct a narrow path for salvation within their established doctrine. Often times, one must believe a certain set of principles and may be required to live in accordance with a certain lifestyle to avoid damnation. Within such religious ideologies, salvation becomes a lottery of sorts. Those of us lucky enough to have waded through the sea of differing ideologies and established belief in the one deemed correct receive the prize.
Those who die holding a differing religious ideology, and even those who understandably leave religion alone due to the confusion that comes with seeking truth, become the victims of damnation.
More middle-of-the-road religions may believe in heaven and hell, or some place of reward contrasted by a place of punishment, but have less clearly defined beliefs about who ends up where. They may believe everyone enters into a similar afterlife and hell is a state of mind resulting from the regret carried over from mortal life.
Universalist religions tend to believe that god loves all and wishes damnation upon no person. Theirs is the god described in 1 Timothy 2:4, “who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (NIV).” Like Judaism, Universalist ideology tends to be less concerned with self-interested avoidances of hellfire and more interested in connecting with something bigger than the individual. Such religions often believe there is no hell or damnation.
Traditional Judaism, in which both Christianity and Islam are rooted, was much more concerned with covenants or temporal duties to God and fellow men than the afterlife. In fact, there is no official agreed-upon doctrine regarding the afterlife other than the acknowledgment that there is one. The closest idea to hell found in Judaism is that of Gehinnom or Sheo’l. This was a place in which the souls of the wicked were purified for up to 12 months. Even this unofficial idea of post-mortal punishment ends up being a temporary stay, much different than the eternal hellfire and brimstone which came about in later centuries. Official Jewish doctrine states that all nations have a place in the world to come.
Modern religions seem to be outgrowing traditional concepts of hell. Religions such as Judaism and Roman Catholicism have less clearly-defined stances on what exactly hell is and who goes there. Mormonism, the dominant faith of our community, teaches that all but those who deny the Holy Spirit will achieve some degree of eternal glory. In other words, you have to know – in a knowing sort of way, not in a testimony meeting sort of way – that God does indeed exist, and then deny him.
It is hard to believe in a god who would damn one of his creations to an eternity of suffering. Such a god is undeserving of the love and reverence so many give unto Him. This god is definitely not the loving God I learned about in Sunday school. Anyone who has experienced a doctrinal debate or taken the time to investigate different religious ideologies has likely found that it is difficult to find truth out there. Each has their beacons of truth as well as their black marks. Perhaps our primary concern should be how our faith moves us, acting as more of a guide than an insurance policy with which we bash the competitors. This is, of course, a brief look into the subject fit into the allotted column space. I would love to hear from those of you interested in expanding upon the issue, or simply presenting a different perspective.
Cam Davis is a senior studying political science and religious studies. He can be reached at cam.davis@aggiemail.usu.edu.