The Christian Hair Splitting Industry


Doing this blog for over a decade has brought me into contact with what seems to me to be a bizarre practice. it is arguing about the most unimportant issues imaginable. I don't if anyone has written a book or published a list of the most ridiculous issues brought up for discussion and how much time and money has been spent discussing them. I came across an example today. It is about these four words in the Apostle's Creed, "He descended into hell."

The link author is listed as student in a religious university and the post sounds like a term paper written in such a place. The paper gives the various groups that do and do not include the phrase and the conditions of the Middle Ages when it appears. Then there is discussion of what various writers have presented as the literal meaning of the four words. It turns out there is so much literature about the four words it has a commonly used title, "Descent." There is what is called the Orthodox view of Decent and a Neo-Decent group.

Since no one knows who wrote the words there is no source of what precisely might have been intended. We can join those who speculate. There is perhaps every week thousands of sermons and articles which begin with, "What this means is....." and launch into what or why the four words are there. Various characters in Bible stories did not sin, God, Mary and as I understand it Jesus. So, if Jesus did not sin why did he visit hell? Could it be he went to hell to poke fun at those who sinned ever though he warned them? God got even with sinners during Noah's time by killing them. Maybe son like father, Jesus told sinners in hell they should have listened.

In the link some speculate hell meant "underground." Others scoff at this. There seems no end to different explanations. If the four words were meant to provide employment and a livelihood to lots of people it served its purpose well. Time does not expire in the game of hair splitting about words in the Bible so we can expect there will still be "scholars" making a living arguing about these four words for centuries to come.

Comments

  1. Matt NoahNovember 3, 2024 at 11:40 AM

    He (Jesus ) descended into Hell.

    Some may find this difficult to understand. But this phrase is easily understood even if one only uses the Internet to search for the meaning.

    Heaven has existed longer than Hell. Hell came into being when Lucifer rejected God and his teachings. Lucifer and the other angels who rejected God were cast into a new place, Hell. There is no specific date this happened except to say it happened before the first human was born or created.

    Prior to the death and possibly, the Resurrection and Ascent into Heaven of Jesus Christ, all people were in Hell. However, there were two distinct sections of Hell; one for the eternally damned and one for those salvation in Heaven would happen upon the Resurrection or Ascent into Heaven of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to earth for many reasons, but one was to open the gates of Heaven for past sinners in Hell who were deemed saved.

    I don't know if those people went straight to Heaven or if they were sent to Purgatory for a time before going to Heaven.

    Whereas those who died before Christ's Resurrection were in Hell until redeemed by Christ's Resurrection went to Purgatory or Heaven, they were eternally saved by Christ and would leave Hell for a better place. Ultimately, they would be in Heaven.

    I hope to skip Purgatory and go straight to Heaven. I have a feeling I will be in Purgatory.

    So, yes, Jesus Christ descended into Hell and preached at the very least the souls of the righteous would be released from Hell by Easter.

    As for what is Hell, one can read about it in the Bible and also from the Fatima children who described it after being shown it by Christ. Hell is not a good place. According to both the Bible and the Fatima children, Hell is where the children saw "a sea of fire" with demons and human souls shrieking "in pain and despair."

    So, yes, Jesus descended into Hell some time after his death. We don't know long he stayed there. We do know he preached redemption to those who were saved and would be released in a matter of 2 days.

    https://www.catholic.com/qa/what-he-descended-into-hell-means

    https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column/53709/what-does-it-mean-that-jesus-descended-into-hell

    https://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.php?ID=195102#:~:text=The%20first%20secret%20involved%20a,out%22%20during%20the%20frightening%20revelation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jon LindgrenNovember 4, 2024 at 7:06 AM

      Thanks for the comment, Matt. As one who does not believe but is interested in many points of view, this reminds me of the tales about Greek Gods. They had complicated back stories, lives with women, affairs and so on. The Catholic tale of Jesus in hell has complicated back stories also that came from who knows where.

      Delete

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