Deliverance from Hell

Mrs. Eddy states in Science and Health: “To cause suffering as the result of sin, is the means of destroying sin.” Many religions misunderstand this concept and teach that God causes suffering to bring about His purpose on earth. Mrs. Eddy clears up this misconception. God doesn’t know sin or suffering! He did not create them; therefore He does not know them, or cause them. We create our own suffering by believing in a power other than God. And we stop suffering when we stop giving power to a false god.

We all worship something — either the true God or some false god (a movie star, a politician, a parent, a child, a pill — the list could be very long). In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the two ended up with a “great gulf” between them, with Lazarus in heaven and the rich man in hell. The great gulf between the rich man and Lazarus is the same great gulf that exists between those who worship God and those who serve mammon — material wealth or possessions. There is no connection, no middle ground. It is impossible to serve both.

Mrs. Eddy states in Science and Health: “Are thoughts divine or human? That is the important question.” Herein lies the clue to salvation. Hell is not a location or a state from which there is no escape. God did not create it. Hell is a self-imposed state of agony which results from deliberately disobeying divine demands. Think of Jonah. He ended up in the “belly” of hell because he ran from God’s command.

The only way out is to change thought — by changing what we give power to. The rich man still believed in the power of his material possessions. He still believed in a material power that was finite — not enough to go around, so he had to hold on to it rather than share it, for fear of losing it. But it was that belief that created the gulf and put him in hell. “He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.” All he had to do was to repent (change his thinking), acknowledge an infinite, all-loving God whose good needs to be shared in order to be enjoyed, and he could remove himself from the hell he had created for himself. “If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.” There is no other way out of hell — but there is a way out!