{"id":11564,"date":"2016-04-17T12:04:04","date_gmt":"2016-04-17T16:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/?page_id=11564"},"modified":"2016-04-17T12:04:04","modified_gmt":"2016-04-17T16:04:04","slug":"hell","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/spiritual-glossary\/hell\/","title":{"rendered":"Hell"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pg-11564-0\"  class=\"panel-grid\" ><div class=\"panel-grid-core\"><div id=\"pgc-11564-0-0\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell \" ><div class=\"panel-widget-style\" ><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1170\" height=\"878\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/n2mIYIw4XdY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><div id=\"pgc-11564-0-1\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell \" ><div class=\"panel-widget-style\" ><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aIi1UUznNJo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div id=\"pg-11564-1\"  class=\"panel-grid\" ><div class=\"panel-grid-core\"><div id=\"pgc-11564-1-0\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell \" ><div class=\"panel-widget-style\" ><div class=\"textwidget\"><h4><span style=\"color: #993300;\">The idea of hell - quite popular in more punitive ages - has <\/span><\/h4>\n<p>become somewhat controversial in modern times. Why, people ask, would a loving God want to punish anyone? What's the point of making people suffer? So a number of people - including many who are devoutly religious - have rejected the idea altogether.<\/p>\n<p>That argument, however, hinges on one key assumption: That hell is a punishment, and that anyone who goes there will be miserable.<\/p>\n<p>Another reason people question hell is because it seems rather arbitrary. Most religious systems teach that only their own believers can reach heaven and live in paradise; those who believe the \"wrong\" things will go to hell and be punished. So people might be good, caring, loving and devoted in life, but end up miserable in hell because they rejected \"the truth.\"<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/spiritual-glossary\/swedenborg\/\">Swedenborg<\/a>\u2019s take on hell (and on <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/spiritual-glossary\/heaven\/\">heaven<\/a>) is quite different. It stems from the idea that we are what we <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/love\/\">love<\/a>: that our deepest <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/the-will\/\">affections and feelings<\/a> determine our true character, not what we\u2019ve done or even the <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/the-understanding\/\">thoughts<\/a>\u00a0and ideas\u00a0we have.<\/p>\n<p>After we die, Swedenborg says, our affections come to the surface so that everyone can see them, and then we are in a sense free to associate with anyone we want to. It also says that we go through a sort of purification process: If we are essentially <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/spiritual-glossary\/good\/\">good<\/a> people, our <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/spiritual-glossary\/temptation\/\">temptations<\/a> and urges toward <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/spiritual-glossary\/evil\/\">evil<\/a> will be removed so we can live in <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/spiritual-glossary\/internal\/\">internal<\/a> peace. If we are essentially evil people, any lingering urge for good is removed - which might sound devastating, but actually allows us to be who we truly are in peace, without internal conflict.<\/p>\n<p>As this process becomes complete, we naturally we find people with similar <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/spiritual-glossary\/affection\/\">affections<\/a> so we can live together and share the things we love.<\/p>\n<p>Heaven, then, is simply a <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/spiritual-glossary\/state-spiritual-state\/\">state<\/a> where <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/good\/\">good<\/a> people can share their lives with other good people. Even better, they share their lives with others who love the same specific good things, and can work on those good things together.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hell, on the flip side, is simply a place where nasty, <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/spiritual-glossary\/love-of-self\/\">selfish<\/a> people congregate with others of a like mind. They can plot and plan, vie for power, steal, lie, cheat and otherwise pursue all their dark goals. Swedenborg says people in hell generally have engrossing fantasy lives in which they imagine they are getting what they desire.<\/p>\n<p>This does not mean they are all fulfilled. Since the Lord is <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/spiritual-glossary\/life\/\">life itself<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/spiritual-glossary\/human\/\">humanity<\/a> itself, those who are good (and thus <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/spiritual-glossary\/reception\/\">receptive<\/a>\u00a0of life the Lord) are as fully alive and as fully human as they can be; those who are evil (rejecting life from the Lord) are barely alive and barely human. People in hell might feel happy, alive, <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/spiritual-glossary\/free-will\/\">free<\/a> and human, but they have no concept of what those things can actually be.<\/p>\n<p>They also face frustrations. Swedenborg says that\u00a0since they\u2019re all evil, they all want to hurt and dominate each other, so it\u2019s a rather endless struggle. And since <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/the-lord\/\">the Lord<\/a> prevents them from really hurting each other, they never get full satisfaction. But that torture from within is the only torture there is; the Lord has no desire to and no reason to punish them; they punish themselves. In fact, he still loves them and wishes for them to be as happy as they can be, considering what they have chosen to become.<\/p>\n<p>So why, you might wonder, don't the evil people (\"evil spirits\" is the common term in Swedenborg) go attack people in heaven? Seems like they would be easy targets.<\/p>\n<p>The answer Swedenborg offers is that the sphere of heaven is so bright and warm and loving that the evil spirits - dark and cold as they are on the inside - cannot stand it, cannot even come near it, and will flee back to hell if they try to approach it.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For more, please see the entry on \"<a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/spiritual-glossary\/heaven-and-hell\/\">heaven and hell<\/a>.\"<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div id=\"pgc-11564-1-1\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell \" ><div class=\"panel-widget-style\" ><p style=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2015\/04\/emanuel-swedenborg.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"\" \/><\/p><\/div><div class=\"panel-widget-style\" ><div class=\"textwidget\"><h4><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Who (or What) is Swedenborg?<\/span><\/h4>\n<p>The ideas on this site are based on the works of <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/emanuel-swedenborg\/\">Emanuel Swedenborg<\/a>, an 18<sup>th<\/sup>-century Swedish scientist and theologian. Swedenborg claimed that his religious writings, the sole focus of the last three decades of his life, were done at the behest of <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/the-lord\/\">the Lord<\/a> himself, and constituted a revelation for a successor to the <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/christianity-and-swedenborg\/\">Christian<\/a> Church.<\/p>\n<p>In keeping with Swedenborg\u2019s own statements, modern believers downplay his role as author, attributing the ideas to the Lord instead. For this reason they generally refer to Swedenborg\u2019s theological works as \u201cthe Writings,\u201d and some resist the label \u201cSwedenborgian\u201d as placing emphasis on the man rather than the message.<\/p>\n<p>Since \u201cthe Writings\u201d would be an unfamiliar term to new readers, we have elected to use the name \u201cSwedenborg\u201d as a label for those theological works, much as we might use \u201cIsaiah\u201d or \u201cMatthew\u201d to refer to books of <a href=\"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/the-bible\/\">the Bible<\/a>. The intent, however, is not to attribute the ideas to Swedenborg, any more than we would attribute the divinity of the Bible to Isaiah the man or Matthew the man.<\/p>\n<p>So when you read \u201caccording to Swedenborg\u201d on this site, it\u2019s really shorthand for \u201caccording to the theological works from the Lord through Swedenborg.\u201d When you read \u201cSwedenborg says,\u201d it\u2019s really shorthand for \u201cthe theological works of Swedenborg say.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The idea of hell &#8211; quite popular in more punitive ages &#8211; has become somewhat controversial in modern times. Why, people ask, would a loving God want to punish anyone? What&#8217;s the point of making people suffer? So a number of people &#8211; including many who are devoutly religious &#8211; have rejected the idea altogether. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/spiritual-glossary\/hell\/\"  class=\"more-link themebutton2\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"parent":10647,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-article.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11564","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-spiritual-glossary","blog-style1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11564\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}