Jesus' decent into Hell

Originally posted by Ice Cold
These are some emails my Mom and I exchanged. She posed a good question, and I would be interested in hearing other peoples input on this. Easter is coming soon. Thanks in advance.

I have wanted to ask you for sometime now and I always forget.
Why did Jesus descend into hell for 3 days and what did He do there???????
Love you Mom


I am not sure if on there was and He went to hell to reclaim those people who may have followed Him Love mom

In traditional Christian theology, Christ's "descent into Hell" was essentially about "opening the gates of Heaven" and "preaching the Good News" to those righteous people (like the Jewish Patriarchs and Prophets) who had died before His Passion and were in the limbus patronum.

In theologian Alyssa Pitstick's words:

The traditional doctrine of Christ’s descent into hell can be summarized by four points:

1. The sinless human soul of Christ, united to his divine person, descended only to the realm of the dead reserved for the souls of holy individuals, called the limbo of the fathers. Hell, as any abode of the dead other than heaven, has progressively lost the breadth of meaning it once had, and much confusion about Christ’s descent is due to this fact of linguistic history. Historically, hell could refer to any or all of the following: the hell of eternal punishment, purgatory, the limbo of the fathers, or the limbo of the children. ... Catholic teaching has consistently and unambiguously held that Christ descended in soul only to the limbo of the fathers. For the sake of those who are squeamish of talking about separated souls being in places, we may say just as well that Christ’s soul joined the company of other holy souls.

2. He then liberated the just from the limbo of the fathers, conferring on them the glory of heaven. Having accomplished mankind’s redemption in the blood of his cross, Christ distributed the first fruit of his sacrifice.

3. In doing so, his power and authority were made known to all the dead, both good and evil, and to the demons.

4. Because Christ descended in his sinless soul as the all-holy redeemer, his descent was glorious in a way similar to his resurrection, and he did not suffer in hell.[1]

In the 20th century, Hans Urs von Balthasar argued that Christ's descent into 'Hell' included the place of eternal damnation ("Sheol" ) as well and that Christ took all our sins (and their consequence) on to Himself.

Check out the link below for a fascinating debate between two theologians on the subject.

______________________________________________________

[1] http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=5422

Originally posted by scottishinnz
How can any manifestation of God not have complete control of everything at all times, if he's omnipotent?

What took an omnipotent being 3 days to do it anyway?

Nothing. It didn't take three days -- three days was just the right number of days for God to wait before returning.

Originally posted by lucifershammer
In traditional Christian theology, Christ's "descent into Hell" was essentially about "opening the gates of Heaven" and "preaching the Good News" to those righteous people (like the Jewish Patriarchs and Prophets) who had died before His Passion and were in the limbus patronum.

In theologian Alyssa Pitstick's words:
[quote]The traditional d ...[text shortened]... ____________________

[1] http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=5422

Thank you for your informative post. I was in hopes that you would post on this topic. Thank you again Sir.

Originally posted by Ice Cold
Thank you for your informative post. I was in hopes that you would post on this topic. Thank you again Sir.

You're welcome! 😛

Originally posted by lucifershammer
Nothing. It didn't take three days -- three days was just the right number of days for God to wait before returning.

Secret decoder ring time.

mr lucifer sir... how exactly do you know all this do u have a degree in theology or are u a priest, i was just curious. but i totally and uterly agree with your statement, it was very enlighting, you should do speechs or talks with youth i know i sure learned somethin

Originally posted by KingMe1701
mr lucifer sir... how exactly do you know all this do u have a degree in theology or are u a priest, i was just curious. but i totally and uterly agree with your statement, it was very enlighting, you should do speechs or talks with youth i know i sure learned somethin

Neither. I just read a bit.

Originally posted by scottishinnz
Secret decoder ring time.

Nope. You're-not-God time. Live with it.

Originally posted by lucifershammer
Nope. You're-not-God time. Live with it.

Ah, so it comes down to a "we don't know so don't ask questions"

Originally posted by scottishinnz
Ah, so it comes down to a "we don't know so don't ask questions"

Especially don't ask questions about other figures who descended into underworlds for three days.

"Another mythological motif which must surely arrest our attention at this time of year is that of the descent of the God or Goddess into the Underworld. Perhaps we see this most clearly in the Christian tradition. Beginning with his death on the cross on Good Friday, it is said that Jesus 'descended into Hell' for the three days that his body lay entombed. But on the third day (that is, Easter Sunday), his body and soul rejoined, he arose from the dead and ascended into heaven. By a strange 'coincidence', most ancient Pagan religions speak of the Goddess descending into the Underworld, also for a period of three days." http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos049.htm

Originally posted by scottishinnz
Ah, so it comes down to a "we don't know so don't ask questions"

No, it comes down "we're not Lords and Masters of the Universe so we don't know everything".

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
Especially don't ask questions about other figures who descended into underworlds for three days.

"Another mythological motif which must surely arrest our attention at this time of year is that of the descent of the God or Goddess into the Underworld. Perhaps we see this most clearly in the Christian tradition. Beginning with his death on the cross Underworld, also for a period of three days." http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos049.htm

For the Christian, that wouldn't be 'coincidence' at all - it would be a prefiguring of Christ's own Resurrection.

That aside, your source does not actually provide any historical evidence to back that rather grandiose claim ("most ancient Pagan religions" ) or name the Goddesses involved. Care to do the honours?

Originally posted by lucifershammer
For the Christian, that wouldn't be 'coincidence' at all - it would be a prefiguring of Christ's own Resurrection.

I doubt that you can back that up with theology. I think many Christians would consider it 'coincidence'.

Originally posted by twhitehead
I doubt that you can back that up with theology. I think many Christians would consider it 'coincidence'.

I can't speak for what "many Christians" would think.

In any case, here's the theology:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typology_%28theology%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostra_aetate#Summary_of_the_Final_Text_of_Nostra_Aetate

Originally posted by lucifershammer
I can't speak for what "many Christians" would think.

In any case, here's the theology:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typology_%28theology%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostra_aetate#Summary_of_the_Final_Text_of_Nostra_Aetate

I did have a look but they are a bit too deep for me. Just to clarify:
Do they say that all myths are a reflection (prefiguration) of a Christian
belief or just the specific one about a goddess descending into hell?
Does that mean that every Norse myth for example is a prefiguration of something and if not how do we tell which are and which aren't?