Ananda wrote:"The implication is that the householder can never reach nibana, but he/she will forever remain in samsara"
NO! NO! NO!
One can touch Nibbana at any time dependent on past kamma fading away and present intention striving on in the 8 fold path.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ekGfIFRRU0
Past kamma fades away in a similar way habits are broken!
The Self .
Vacchagotta was a monk . When Gautama said he will go to hell-- for making love to his wife ---Vacchagotta would have found this sentence puzzling.Vacchagota may have remembered what nibbana is in reference to atta.
"The words of Nyanatiloka bring up a very important point often asked about Nibbàna: In the absence of a soul, who or what is it that enters Nibbàna? This is a difficult subject.
From what has been said so far in this lecture, we can certainly say that there is no atta or self which realizes Nibbàna. What realizes Nibbàna is insight-wisdom, Vipassanà-panna. It is not the property of a personal or universal self, but is rather a power developed through meditative penetration of phenomena.
Thus Nibbàna, the Absolute Noble Truth, the extinction of all continuity and becoming, the “Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed”. Reality is affirmed without reference to atta"
NO INNER CORE, by Sayadaw U Sãlànanda
What is hell in reference to atta?