The Harrowing of Hell Religion News Service Relevant Bible verses Re: Following story :
Acts 2 : 24 God raised him [ Jesus ] to life again, setting him free from the pangs of death, because it should not be that death should keep him in its grip." alternative translation-- “whom God raised up, having loosed the sorrows of hell..... ----- 1 Peter 4:6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. ----- Matthew 12:40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ----- 1 Peter 4:6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. ----- Ephesians 4:8-10 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. --------------------------------- Religion News Service What did Jesus do on Holy Saturday? Daniel Burke | Apr 2, 2012 (RNS) Every Christian knows the story: Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. But what did he do on Saturday? That question has spurred centuries of debate, perplexed theologians as learned as St. Augustine and prodded some Protestants to advocate editing the Apostles' Creed, one of Christianity's oldest confessions of faith. Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and most mainline Protestant churches teach that Jesus descended to the realm of the dead on Holy Saturday to save righteous souls, such as the Hebrew patriarchs, who died before his crucifixion. The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls the descent “the last phase of Jesus’ messianic mission,’’ during which he “opened heaven’s gates for the just who had gone before him.” An ancient homily included in the Catholic readings for Holy Saturday says a “great silence” stilled the earth while Jesus searched for Adam, “our first father, as for a lost sheep.” Often called “the harrowing of hell,” the dramatic image of Jesus breaking down the doors of Hades has proved almost irresistible to artists, from the painter Hieronymus Bosch to the poet Dante to countless Eastern Orthodox iconographers. But some Protestants say there is scant scriptural evidence for the hellish detour, and that Jesus’ own words contradict it. On Good Friday, Jesus told the Good Thief crucified alongside him that “ today you will be with me in paradise,” according to Luke’s Gospel. “That’s the only clue we have as to what Jesus was doing between death and resurrection,” John Piper, a prominent evangelical author and pastor from Minnesota, has said. “I don’t think the thief went to hell and that hell is called paradise.” First-century Jews generally believed that all souls went to a dreary and silent underworld called Sheol after death. To emphasize that Jesus had truly died, and his resurrection was no trick of the tomb, the apostles likely would have insisted that he, too, had sojourned in Sheol, said Robert Krieg, a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame. “It helps bring home the point that Jesus’ resurrection was not a resuscitation,” Krieg said. Belief in the descent was widespread in the early church, said Martin Connell, a theology professor at the College of Saint Benedict/St. John's University in Minnesota. But the Bible divulges little about the interlude between Jesus’ death and resurrection. Churches that teach he descended to the realm of the dead most often cite 1 Peter 3:18-20. "Christ was put to death as a human, but made alive by the Spirit,” Peter writes. “And it was by the Spirit that he went to preach to the spirits in prison.” The incarcerated souls, Peter cryptically adds, were those who were “disobedient” during the time of Noah, the ark-maker. Augustine, one of the chief architects of Christian theology, argued that Peter’s passage is more allegory than history. That is, Jesus spoke “in spirit” through Noah to the Hebrews, not directly to them in hell. But even Augustine said the question of whom, exactly, Jesus preached to after his death, “disturbs me profoundly.” The descent might not have become doctrine if not for a fourth century bishop named Rufinus, who added that Jesus went “ad inferna” - to hell - in his commentary on the Apostles' Creed. The phrase stuck, and was officially added to the influential creed centuries later. But changing conceptions of hell only complicated the questions. As layers of limbo and purgatory were added to the afterlife, theologians like Thomas Aquinas labored to understand which realm Jesus visited, and whom he saved. Other Christian thinkers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin disagreed on whether Christ suffered in hell to fully atone for human sinfulness. That question, raised most recently by the late Swiss theologian Hans ur von Balthasar, stirred a fierce theological donnybrook in the Catholic journal First Things several years ago. Wayne Grudem, a former president of the Evangelical Theological Society, says the confusion and arguments could be ended by correcting the Apostles’ Creed “once and for all” and excising the line about the descent. “The single argument in its favor seems to be that it has been around so long,” Grudem, a professor at Phoenix Seminary in Arizona, writes in his “ Systematic Theology,” a popular textbook in evangelical colleges. “But an old mistake is still a mistake." Grudem, like Piper, has said that he skips the phrase about Jesus’ descent when reciting the Apostles’ Creed. But the harrowing of hell remains a central tenet of Eastern Orthodox Christians, who place an icon depicting the descent at the front of their churches as Saturday night becomes Easter Sunday. It remains there, venerated and often kissed, for 40 days. “The icon that represents Easter for us is not the empty cross or tomb," said Peter Bouteneff, a theology professor at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, N.Y. “It’s Christ’s descent into Hades.” ================================================ Wikipedia ...In Japan, Ksitigarbha, known as Jizō, or Ojizō-sama as he is respectfully known, is one of the most loved of all Japanese divinities. His statues are a common sight, especially by roadsides and in graveyards. Traditionally, he is seen as the guardian of children, particularly children who died before their parents. Since the 1980s, he has been worshiped as the guardian of the souls of mizuko, the souls of stillborn, _miscarried_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miscarriage) or _aborted_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion) _fetuses_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetus) , in the ritual of _mizuko kuyō_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizuko_kuyo) ( lit. offering to water children). In Japanese mythology, it is said that the souls of children who die before their parents are unable to cross the mythical _Sanzu River_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanzu_River) on their way to the _afterlife_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterlife) because they have not had the chance to accumulate enough good deeds and because they have made the parents suffer. It is believed that Jizō saves these souls from having to pile stones eternally on the bank of the river as _penance_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penance) , by hiding them from _demons_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon) in his robe, and letting them hear mantras from the site : Japanese Buddhism In Buddhism, especially esoteric Buddhism, many beings who attained or renounced to Buddhahood are here to show us the way to Nirvana. Some of them, like Jizo Bosatsu, made two vows. One, to take responsibility for the instruction of all beings in the six worlds between the death of Shakyamuni Buddha (the historical Buddha) and the rise of Miroku Bosatsu (Buddha of the future).The other, not to achieve Buddhahood until all hells are emptied... You can find O-Jizo-san [images] (Ksitigarbha in Sanskrit) in cemeteries, gardens, on road-sides and of course temples all over Japan. He is the protector of travelers, children and all beings trapped in hell. The story goes, that the souls of children who die before their parents, are not capable of crossing the fabled Sanzu River (similar to the Styx river in Greek mythology) in the afterlife. This is because they have not had the time to accumulate enough good deeds (karma) and they have made their parents suffer. It is believed that Jizo saves these souls from the punishment of having to pile stones eternally on the bank of the river. O-Jizo-sama, is thus widely recognize as the saint patron of dead children, especially still-born and aborted children. ---------------------------------------------------------- BR comments -- Precedents and Parallels In very early Jizo tradition as it was known in India, and in common with one of the Jataka Tales ( which are the ultimate origin of Aesop ), Jizo is said to have been female. Later all depictions of Jizo and stories about him regard him as undeniably male, a development that is parallel to the story of Kuan Yin, in reverse, since Kuan Yin is earliest traditions is male and not until roughly 1000 years ago is she always a she --often under the spelling "Kwan Yin." Jizo was regarded as exclusively male from at least 500 AD and probably much earlier. Here is the story as told at the site : _Foundations of Buddhism / Ksitigarbha - Protector of Children_ (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=jizo%20in%20hell&source=web&cd=10&ved=0CGIQFjAJ &url=http://cubuddhism.pbworks.com/w/page/25013345/Ksitigarbha%20-%20Protect or%20of%20Children&ei=HGJ8T6O5I8XPiAK679HzDQ&usg=AFQjCNGSmspLUZz9X43_DfbyMDb 2ZhtjCQ) cubuddhism.pbworks.com “As A Sacred Girl” - In the Ksitigarbha Sutra the Buddha tells of Ksitigarbha as a Brahmin maiden, named Sacred Girl, who was deeply troubled when her mother died because of her slanderous conduct during her life. To try and save her from a bad rebirth or the “tortures of hell,” Ksitigarbha used whatever money she could to buy offerings to give to the Buddha and prayed to him to spare her mother’s soul. The Buddha told her to go home, sit and meditate if she truly wished to know where her mother was. Upon which, Sacred Girl was transported to hell only to find that her many efforts to save her mother gave her mother enough merit to be transported to heaven. Although relieved, Sacred Girl was deeply troubled and empathetic for those who were in hell. There, she vowed to dedicate the rest of her life to relieve beings of their suffering in their future lives. " In both cases, the Sutra in question and the Jataka Tales it seems reasonably clear that reference is to Ishtar, incarnate Goddess who once lived on Earth, at the time known as Inanna, the Sumerian version of her name. This is unsurprising inasmuch as the so-called "Acts of the Buddha," his life story, has numerous parallels to the Epic of Gilgamesh, in which Ishtar plays a major role. That is, there are strong correspondences between ancient Mesopotamian religion and Buddhism, as there are to Christian faith. ================================= Here is the Akkadian ( Semitic language, related directly to Hebrew ) version of the Descent story. You will note a number of striking parallels to the Harrowing of Hell story and related Christian tradition, such as 3 days in the land of the dead, resurrection of the incarnate savior ( or savioress, at least by way of analogy ), threat to open the gates of hell, substitutionary atonement, and so forth. In the case of Jizo there is some uncertainty about which came first, Christian or Buddhist tradition on the subject since , while Buddhism itself is 500 years older, not all of its stories were recorded that early and some only date to some time after Christ. Best guess is that the Jizo story, in the version known in India is BC, not AD, but there is some uncertainty. Not that case at all with respect to the Ishtar story which, in its original Sumerian version, is attested with certainty to some time prior to 2000 BC and records events ( or beliefs about events ) that took place in ca 2650 BC. The Akkadian language version was written in about 2300 BC ... The Descent of Ishtar To the land of no return, the land of darkness, Ishtar, the daughter of Sin directed her thought, Directed her thought, Ishtar, the daughter of Sin, To the house of shadows, the dwelling, of Irkalla, To the house without exit for him who enters therein, To the road, whence there is no turning, To the house without light for him who enters therein, The place where dust is their nourishment, clay their food.' They have no light, in darkness they dwell. Clothed like birds, with wings as garments, Over door and bolt, dust has gathered. Ishtar on arriving at the gate of the land of no return, To the gatekeeper thus addressed herself: "Gatekeeper, ho, open thy gate! Open thy gate that I may enter! If thou openest not the gate to let me enter, I will break the door, I will wrench the lock, I will smash the door-posts, I will force the doors. I will bring up the dead to eat the living. And the dead will outnumber the living." The gatekeeper opened his mouth and spoke, Spoke to the lady Ishtar: "Desist, O lady, do not destroy it. I will go and announce thy name to my queen Ereshkigal." The gatekeeper entered and spoke to Ereshkigal: "Ho! here is thy sister, Ishtar ... Hostility of the great powers ... When Ereshkigal heard this, As when one hews down a tamarisk she trembled, As when one cuts a reed, she shook: "What has moved her heart [seat of the intellect] what has stirred her liver [seat of the emotions]? Ho there, does this one wish to dwell with me? To eat clay as food, to drink dust as wine? I weep for the men who have left their wives. I weep for the wives torn from the embrace of their husbands; For the little ones cut off before their time. Go, gatekeeper, open thy gate for her, Deal with her according to the ancient decree." The gatekeeper went and opened his gate to her: Enter, O lady, let Cuthah greet thee. Let the palace of the land of no return rejoice at thy presence! He bade her enter the first gate, which he opened wide, and took the large crown off her head: "Why, O gatekeeper, dost thou remove the large crown off my head?" "Enter, O lady, such are the decrees of Ereshkigal." The second gate he bade her enter, opening it wide, and removed her earrings: "Why, O gatekeeper, dost thou remove my earrings?" "Enter, O lady, for such are the decrees of Ereshkigal." The third gate he bade her enter, opened it wide, and removed her necklace: "Why, O gatekeeper, dost thou remove my necklace? " "Enter, O lady, for such are the decrees of Ereshkigal." The fourth gate he bade her enter, opened it wide, and removed the ornaments of her breast: "Why, O gatekeeper, dost thou remove the ornaments of my breast? " "Enter, O lady, for such are the decrees of Ereshkigal." The fifth gate he bade her enter, opened it wide, and removed the girdle of her body studded with birthstones. "Why, O gatekeeper, dost thou remove the girdle of my body, studded with birth-stones?" "Enter, O lady, for such are the decrees of Ereshkigal." The sixth gate, he bade her enter, opened it wide, and removed the spangles off her hands and feet. "Why, O gatekeeper, dost thou remove the spangles off my hands and feet?" "Enter, O lady, for thus are the decrees of Ereiihkigal." The seventh gate he bade her enter, opened it wide, and removed her loin-cloth. "Why, O gatekeeper, dost thou remove my loin-cloth ?" "Enter, O lady, for such are the decrees of Ereshkigal." Now when Ishtar had gone down into the land of no return, Ereshkigal saw her and was angered at her presence. Ishtar, without reflection, threw herself at her [in a rage]. Ereshkigal opened her mouth and spoke, To Namtar, her messenger, she addressed herself: "Go Namtar, imprison her in my palace. Send against her sixty disease, to punish Ishtar. Eye-disease against her eyes, Disease of the side against her side, Foot-disease against her foot, Heart-disease against her heart, Head-disease against her head, Against her whole being, against her entire body." After the lady Ishtar had gone down into the land of no return, The bull did not mount the cow, the ass approached not the she-ass, To the maid in the street, no man drew near The man slept in his apartment, The maid slept by herself. [The second half of the poem, the reverse of the tablet, continues is follows:] The countenance of Papsukal, the messenger of the great gods, fell, his face was troubled. In mourning garb he was clothed, in soiled garments clad. Shamash [the sun-god] went to Sin [the moon-god], his father, weeping, In the presence of Ea, the King, he went with flowing tears. "Ishtar has descended into the earth and has not come up. The bull does not mount the cow, the ass does not approach the she-ass. The man does not approach the maid in the street, The man sleeps in his apartment, The maid sleeps by herself." Ea, in the wisdom of his heart, formed a being, He formed Asu-shu-namir the eunuch. Go, Asu-shu-namir, to the land of no return direct thy face! The seven gates of the land without return be opened before thee, May Eresbkigal at sight of thee rejoice! After her heart has been assuaged, her liver quieted, Invoke against her the name of the great gods, Raise thy head direct thy attention to the khalziku skin. "Come, lady, let them give me the khalziku skin, that I may drink water out of it." When Ereshkigal heard this, she struck her side, bit her finger, Thou hast expressed a wish that can not be granted. Go, Asu-sbu-iaamir, I curse thee with a great curse, The sweepings of the gutters of the city be thy food, The drains of the city be thy drink, The shadow of the wall be thy abode, The thresholds be thy dwelling-place; Drunkard and sot strike thy cheek!" Ereshkigal opened her mouth and spoke, To Namtar, her messenger, she addressed herself. "Go, Namtar, knock at the strong palace, Strike the threshold of precious stones, Bring out the Anunnaki, seat them on golden thrones. Sprinkle Ishtar with the waters of life and take her out of my presence. Namtar went, knocked at the strong palace, Tapped on the threshold of precious stones. He brought out the Anunnaki and placed them on golden thrones, He sprinkled Ishtar with the waters of life and took hold of her. Through the first gate he led her out and returned to her her loin-cloth. Through the second gate he led her out and returned to her the spangles of her hands and feet Through the third gate he led her out and returned to her the girdle of her body, studded with birth-stones. Through the fourth gate he led her out and returned to her the ornaments of her breast. Through the fifth gate he led her out and returned to her her necklace. Through the sixth gate he led her out and returned her earrings. Through the seventh gate he led her out and returned to her the large crown for her head. [The following lines are in the form of an address -apparently to some one who has sought release for a dear one from the portals of the lower world.] "If she (Ishtar) will not grant thee her release, To Tammuz, the lover of her youth, Pour out pure waters, pour out fine oil; With a festival garment deck him that he may play on the flute of lapis lazuli, That the votaries may cheer his liver. [his spirit] Belili [sister of Tammuz] had gathered the treasure, With precious stones filled her bosom. When Belili heard the lament of her brother, she dropped her treasure, She scattered the precious stones before her, "Oh, my only brother, do not let me perish On the day when Tammuz plays for me on the flute of lapis lazuli, playing it for me with the porphyry ring. Together with him, play ye for me, ye weepers and lamenting women! That the dead may rise up and inhale the incense." -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
