To Hell With Shame || Guilt V. Shame #5

Welcome to ‘Guilt v. Shame,’ a series that delves into the most prevalent themes in sermons, Bible studies, and other religious teachings. We will explore the meanings of these concepts, how they were interpreted by the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek audiences, and how our modern interpretations compare. This series is designed to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of guilt and shame in the Bible and their integral role in your Christian journey.

Throughout this series, we will delve into the biblical concept of guilt in the first three parts and shift our focus to shame in the remaining four parts. To ensure a comprehensive understanding, I will draw upon scriptures from both the Old and New Testaments. This approach allows us to explore these concepts through the lens of Bible narratives, making the study relevant to all Christians. I aim to help you develop a biblical understanding of guilt and shame and show you how they are integral to your Christian journey.

As we venture into the final four parts of this series, let’s unravel the essence of shame. Shame, as my concordance reveals, is a state or feeling of degrading disgrace or disrepute. It can also be described as something that invites censure and reproach. These terms may seem unfamiliar-disgrace, disrepute, censure, and reproach. They’re not part of our everyday vocabulary. Let’s decipher these words and then construct a standard definition we’ll use throughout this series.

• Disgrace – a loss of reputation or respect due to dishonorable action.
• Disrepute – the state of being held in low esteem by the public.
• Censure – expressing severe disapproval of someone or something.
• Reproach – express disappointment in or displeasure with a person who is blameworthy or in need of an amendment.

Shame is experiencing a loss of reputation or respect because of something someone committed that was considered dishonorable. Shame is being held in low self-esteem by the community around you. Shame is something that brings severe disapproval by something or someone. Shame is an expressed disappointment or displeasure with someone who has done something blameworthy or needs to change.

Let’s start with a Proverb that might hit home for some of us.

Proverbs 28:7

7            Young people who obey the law are wise; those with wild friends bring shame to their parents.

Kids who follow the rules are wise. Kids who hang out with wild people bring shame to their parents. It’s simple but also a tough pill to swallow at times. It’s hard for kids today to make friends due to social media comparisons, current trends, and the fear of expressing one’s true self. We are very judgmental creatures; unfortunately, today’s kids feed off of that. Kids see us adults be judgmental towards each other, and they pick up on that. They learn from us by watching our behavior and mimicking it. It’s led to some harmful behavior that I’ve seen kids participate in. It’s easy to take this verse and bash it into the kids’ brains, but this should always cause us to reflect on ourselves to see if we’re living up to this standard. If we think we’re exempt from this, why would we think our kids would follow it. We are to be an example to those around us about how to love and live Christlike, including our kids and those around us that we mentor.

We often shame those as well for doing something with those “wild” groups of people. There’s no grace or forgiveness found in that. We look down upon them, criticize them, and scold them, but we rarely stop and understand why they did what they did and how they can learn from it. It’s easy to see someone do something that we wouldn’t do or consider “dishonorable/disgraceful/wrong” and make them enemies. We’ll gossip about them to people in our social circles, who then share it with their friends, and the butterfly effect of bullying continues. Again, we should be willing to listen, lovingly correct (if needed), and move past the transgressions to become loving brothers and sisters of Christ.

We can live with shame until we get to our grave.

Daniel 12:2

2            Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace.

Daniel is referring to the resurrection of the righteous and the wicked, although each’s eternal destiny will be quite different. Up to this point in time, teaching about the resurrection wasn’t common. Every Israelite believed that one day, they would be included in the restoration of the new Kingdom. This reference to a physical resurrection of the saved and the lost was a sharp departure from common belief.

The idea that the people who were saved and the people who did not have different outcomes in their resurrections was new to Daniel’s audience. Before then, shame wouldn’t separate people from their eternal lives. Everyone was going to the same place of eternal salvation. The concept of “Hell,” as we know it today, didn’t exist to them in their time. At least, it didn’t exist as a separation of eternities. Everyone was going to heaven to see their final judgment from God himself. God has the final judgment, not us. Why would we shame someone then? God doesn’t shame. He forgives and forgets. There will be times when that doesn’t seem doable. I believe that we don’t have to like the person who mistreated us, abused us, or harmed us. Yet, ALL people are deserving of respect. Because they are human, they deserve respect. Because they are God’s children, they deserve love.

Isaiah 26:19

19          But those who die in the Lord will live; their bodies will rise again.

Some people believe that there’s no life after death. Others believe that there is, but it’s not a physical life. Isaiah says that our bodies will rise again.

1 Corinthians 15:50-53

50          What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.

51          But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!

52          It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever.

53          For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immoral bodies.

The resurrection will not be like life as we know it. It’ll be a quick transition from our physical to our eternal lives. The transition will happen in an instant. There are no stipulations about who is going to heaven and who isn’t. There are no requirements about who is allowed to go. All people will go to heaven. (There’s more to the story, though. Understand who can enter the Kingdom of Heaven and who will be sent away. I need to study this more to get a better understanding of this. Still, I know that saying ‘everyone will go to heaven’ is not telling the whole story.)

Matthew 25:46

46          “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”

Eternal punishment takes place in Hell, the place of punishment after death for all those who refuse to repent. In the original languages of the Bible, three words are used in connection with eternal punishment:

• SHEOL – the Hebrew word for “the grave.” It refers to the place of the dead, generally thought of as “under the earth.”
• HADES – the Greek word for “Sheol.” It refers to the underworld or the realm of the dead.
• GEHENNA – a place named after the valley of Ben-Hinnom near Jerusalem where children were sacrificed by fire to the pagan gods. This is the place of eternal fire prepared for the devil, his angels, and all the unbelievers. This is the final and eternal state of the wicked after the resurrection and the Last Judgment.

Gehenna imagery is how we typically picture Hell in today’s culture. It’s mentioned in-depth in Jeremiah 7:31 and 19:2-6. From what I’ve researched, Gehenna has been transliterated over a couple of languages to mean “Hell.” I’ll have to study these three places in the Bible later this year.

John 5:28-29

28          “Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son,

29          and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise and experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment.

Those who have rebelled against Jesus (that is, those who have shamed him) will be resurrected also. They will hear God’s judgment against them and will be sentenced to eternity apart from him. Some of us who want to be successful on earth ignore God and see our timely demise as the end of the road. Jesus doesn’t allow unbelievers to experience death as the end of everything. Still, we must devote ourselves to him now or stand before him on Judgment Day.

I know this strayed away from focusing on shame, but the concept remains the same. God doesn’t want us to go out and intentionally shame his name by doing sinful actions. God wants us to commit our lives to him today and avoid our sinful desires. That’s the whole reason for the sacrifice of Christ. It doesn’t matter what we did in the past. What matters is today’s decision to live in a way that honors God.

Until next time, stay blessed!