Do Mormons believe in a place called "hell"? A place of fire and brimstone where the devil and his demons reside? What did Christ mean when he said that "the gates of hell shall not prevail" (Matthew 16:18)? I think understanding what Christ meant by that can help us understand the rhetorical strategies Johnathan Edwards used in his sermon "Hellfire and Damnation to the Sinful."
|  From: Die Blog, Die |
Edwards uses very visual language to describe a place called "hell". Not only does he describe this place, using words like "the fire", "a great furnace of wrath", and "a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath", but he also uses very visual language to describe the character of God. Perhaps the most visually active part of his sermon is his when he describes the relationship between man and God with a comparison to a wrathful man holding a spider or loathsome insect over a fire. This visual style of speech draws specifically on the human emotional response.
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Considering the origin of the word “hell”, we can make some conjectures about its true meaning and nature. “Hell” comes from the Greek word “Hades” which is the underworld. Not just the wicked go there but all the dead. Now, there may be many interpretations of what Hades is like but considering quickly who goes to Hades according to the Greeks we realize that there is only one qualification: to die. Thinking about Greek culture, there was only one type of person who never dies: Gods. As a Mormon, this seems very similar to my understanding of what hell is. It is only a place where the gods don’t go (assuming that those who return to God can also become like Him).
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In
the image to the left, we can see that Christ has broken down the gate letting
the saints out of the pit. The gate of hell is not an entrance to hell but
literally a gate keeping hell out of heaven. So when Christ gave the keys to
Peter, they keys to the pearly gates, He also gave him the keys to the gates of
hell – in order to let us out of hell, that is.
Edwards' Sermon is based solely on pathos (emotional response) and in no way based on logos (logic or literally the "words").
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From: MYSTAGOGY | |
Very thought provoking, especially the part when you talk about the gates of hell. I had never seen it from this perspective.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting and sharing!
I think it's interesting to think of the gates of hell as something that keeps people out instead of in. It's a much more hope-filled outlook than I feel many of the Lutheran and Catholic interpretations of the time seemed. I like the idea of our actions (or failure to act) keeping us out, and not so much an angry God punishing us. Points for free will!
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