What Hell Is Really Like?
and no, I have not been there.
There are two sayings of Jesus in the Bible that if I could remove them, I would. One of them is today’s verse. If your hand sins against you cut it off, etc. Now obviously, Jesus speaks hyperbolically. Therefore, it should never be taken literally, but we want to understand what it really means.
Notice, then when Jesus talks about sin, he can be vague. When he says to walk the narrow road and to stay off the wide road. He never tells us what those on the wide road are doing that will lead them to perdition. He just says don’t be on that road.
The same in today’s verse, he says to avoid sin so graphically to drive home the point to do all you can not to sin. However, he does not describe sin.
We need to look at Church teaching to understand what Jesus means
We want to look at Church teaching to have a deeper understanding of what sin is.
First, we can describe sins easily. They are destructive actions based on self-centeredness. So, lying is a sin, stealing is a sin, murder is a sin, etc. They are all about rejecting others’ dignity to protect ourselves.
But let us get to a deeper definition of sin. First of all, the sin mentioned here obviously is a mortal sin. So, we are not talking about going 56 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour zone. We are talking about a serious sin obviously, judging by its result.
The Catechism explains that committing such a sin draws one away from the fount of charity and closes one off from God.
Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God's law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him. CCC 1855
What is wrong with sin?
So, a mortal sin is essentially a selfish act that turns you away from God. It is doing something that is grossly uncharitable against the commandment to love God and/or neighbor. It also hardens that person; such a person becomes selfish and self-centered. I said before the greatest source of evil is the attitude: my world, my way.
Stealing, perjury or lying, bullying, assault, murder, etc. These sins are not done by charitable people. This is where we must look more closely. What makes the sin a sin, it is an act against the virtue of charity. It is an act against the command to love God and neighbor. It is a serious act. It is a clear choice to break from your relationship to God.
Now, Jesus says to avoid it at all costs, and he uses hyperbolic language to tell you how serious it is. However, what he is actually saying is to avoid all you can from entering Gehenna.
Immediately, people think of going to Hell where eternal punishment waits. So now we have this terror that enters into people’s hearts that they might commit a mortal sin, and God will cast them into Hell. That is not how it works.
Hell—a world without charity
Hell is not a punishment for committing a sin. Hell is a place for those who choose a path void of the charity that comes from God. So, what is this Hell? It is a place filled with those who reject God and the goodness and charity he is. They create their own hell by living in a world without charity.
So now let us understand what charity is. It is the glue that keeps society together. Without charity, society cannot function. The other day, I was driving down Arsenal Street and there was a truck in front of me with the company named emblazoned on the side. The driver completely blew through a left turn red arrow. I am not going to give you the name of the company, so I will come up with synonymous name. It was synonymous with Better than Everyone Else Construction Company. I am thinking, “Well, that fits. No wonder he went through the traffic light. He thinks he is better than everyone else, literally.” That is the attitude in Hell. You cannot build a society with that attitude.
Charity means to do for others what you believe you can do for them. If you hire a man to do a job and he does a good job for the right price, that is because of charity. That is the glue that keeps a society going. If you lose charity, the person doing the job will try to cheat you for his advantage and you will try to cheat him for your advantage. When you build a society like that you have pure chaos and pure Hell.
Evil is the privation of the good
St. Augustine taught that evil is the privation of the good. Charity is the good, so Hell is a place where no one has charity. It is place of pure selfishness. Who created it, those who go there seeking what is best for them at the detriment of everyone else. It is a world filled with the definition of selfishness.
So, should you avoid this at all costs? Obviously.
How? Seek Christ as the source of all that is good and live in that goodness. Live connected to the fountain of love and charity to help you become more loving and charitable. Doing all you can to avoid the root of selfishness growing in your life.
That is the point of today’s Gospel.
You see the music world is in disarray. Now keep in mind that we believe that all people are innocent until proven guilty. That said, if you heard about these “parties” they allegedly had would you not say that this is precisely what Jesus is warning against in the Gospel today.
The greatest sin in the Bible is idolatry and what do those party look like. The celebrity gods of Mount Olympus using humanity for their own pleasure.
Look at everything falling apart. Why because what was allegedly at the bottom of this: Sin, selfishness, exploitation, domination, slavery, and yes, idolatry. That is what Jesus is teaching is the fruit of sin and he would say to you avoid it at all costs.
Many years ago, there was a man who used to stand in Harvard Square. Dressed in all black with a black top hat, he would hold a sign that simply said: “Love-in Today.” I shudder to think what was going on in his house because that guy was one scary looking guy. People needed to avoid him at all costs.
Jesus is saying something similar. Do everything you can to avoid that path that leads you to a place that is so horrible it is beyond your imagination all caused by living in a world where God and his goodness are not welcome.
Fr. Robert J Carr is pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Allston, MA
The parish podcast is at https://catholicaudiomedia.com