Easter Saturday: Jesus Descends into Hell

On Holy Saturday, Jesus descended into Hell to bring light to those who needed it most.

Growing up as a Christian who went to four Catholic schools and attended church every Sunday, I was privileged to experience this religion from a very early age. Christianity played a huge role in my early life and I believe that these teachings helped shape my morality today. 

I have many different beliefs and my early experiences with Christianity taught me to respect that everyone has the right to believe in what they want. No one should ever be forced to believe in anything. This was what Jesus believed and it is the essence of what Christianity really is.

When anyone 'Bible bashes' at me or anyone else, demanding they believe in the same as them or chastising them for being different, I just shake my head. They've missed the point.

The first book I read was A Children's Book of Bible Stories so I had memorised all the Old and New Testament stories when I was a child. My favourite hymn was "Here I Am, Lord" and my favourite verse was "Go in through the narrow gate, for the gate to Hell is wide and there are many who enter it. But the gate to Heaven is small and few find it."

One thing we did not learn about was Holy Saturday and Jesus' descent into Hell to help the souls of the damned. I only learned about this many years later. But it is an essential part of Easter and carries a valuable lesson. 

The people who need the light the most are those in the most darkness. The ones who suffer the most are the ones whose hearts have been closed or corrupted. But everyone can return to the light. That is salvation, it is the absorption of the darkness into the light, and one of Jesus' most important teachings. 

It cannot come from cruel judgement, rigid rules or condemnation, but from empathy, kindness and forgiveness. It is not a Christian message, which is restricted by its label, but a message for all humankind, which has no labels. 

All human beings have the capacity for light or dark. All human beings forge the path of their choosing. Everyone has a choice for who they want to be. The true God sees your heart and believes in you, even when you don't believe in yourself, even when others only see the worst. Happy Easter.