神從來不曾創造地獄。
拒絕去愛與被愛，就是地獄。
那什麼又是地獄之火呢？………….
難道神會如此殘酷、狠毒地製造恐怖地獄給祂的受造物嗎？不，這是嚴重的誤解。神的自有永有之光，是東正教的基本教導，在西方卻被人們誤解為地獄之火。
“因為我們的神是烈火”(希伯來書12：29)。神用愛溫暖我們，但如果我們拒絕這愛，就會感受到這愛如同熊熊烈火。就像當我們被拒絕、當沒人愛我們，或 者當我們心中充滿恨意時，也會有同樣感受。當聖經提及「火」或類似字眼，意思是指不義之人或魔鬼感受到神的愛如烈火。聖經也記載神如火顯現：“耶和華的使 者從荊棘叢裡的火燄中向摩西顯現。摩西觀看，看見荊棘被火燒著，卻沒有燒毀。”(出埃及記3：2)。“耶和華在他們前面行，日間用雲柱領他們的路，夜間用 火柱光照他們，使他們日夜都可以行走。”(出埃及記13:21)。
也請記得這段經文：“求你把我放在你心上如印記，把我帶在你臂上如戳印；因為愛情像死亡一般的堅強；嫉妒如陰間一般的堅穩；它的烈燄是火的烈燄，是非常猛烈的火燄。”(雅歌8：6)。
～李亮神父
God did not created hell. Hell is to reject the love of God.
What is the fire of the hell? Is God so bad, so vicious to create a terrible place for his creatures? It is basic teaching of the orthodox church that the uncreated light of god is what people misunderstand as fire of the hell.
“For our God is a consuming fire.”(Heb. 12:29). This means that God by His love warms us but rejecting it, tastes like fire. The same we feel when we are rejected, when nobody loves us. Or when we hate. When bible mentions about the fire etc.. means that the bad people, or the devil tastes the love of God as fire. God appears as fire in bible. “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.”(Ex. 3:2). “And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night.” (Ex. 13:21).
Remember this:
“Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.”(Song 8:6).
~Fr. Jonah
