The sentence that you quote ;”he descended into hell” is obviously absurd. But if we are going to apply logic and common sense to christian doctrine and catholic teaching there will be many many more such insurmountable problems. Better to simply not ask the questions in order to maintain your faith.
I disagree. Question with boldness. Ask God what you are struggling with understanding. He wants us to ask questions. The Apostles themselves had many questions. Questions that appear to us (who have the benefit of hindsight) as dumb.
If you think “Jesus descending into hell” is obviously absurd, maybe you do not have a proper understanding of what this verse is referring to. Are you interpreting to mean Hell, as in the place where those who are/will be damned go? If yes, this is not what that verse is referring to.
I can see what you’re saying, but there are so many other words that could’ve been used, why use Hell? What was wrong with “descended to the dead” which is what has been said for a long time. Why choose “Hell” specifically?
I’m telling you guys…you need to question this stuff instead of just shoving it aside, because this is how evil operates. It starts off with subtlety and basically grows from there. Most people would be like “Oh…they don’t really mean hell.” Then why choose that as a way to describe a holding place for the dead? “He descended to the dead” was good enough, why change it? For what reason?
Most people would say “Oh it’s just a retranslation, they don’t literally mean hell.” But, as you can see, all it takes is for one word to change and it changes the entire meaning of what concept they were trying to get across. This is why you shouldn’t constantly retranslate The Bible, cause it changes the meaning.