Is Hell Real?

WHAT EXACTLY IS HELL

I can remember in Sunday school as a child, learning of this place called hell that is filled with fire and occupied by the Devil, a red individual with horns and a barbed tail. We were even given coloring books with these images. And, we were taught that this is where all bad people would go. I have always struggled, even beyond childhood, with believing that our God would create a place where people would suffer for eternity.

Starting even as a child, when asking others how this could be, the predominate answer was and is, we cannot understand God’s ways and he can do whatever he feels is fair. I do believe our God is fair but he is a loving God and I cannot come to the conclusion that there is an eternal hell where any of his creation would suffer forever and ever at his hands.

So why does it seem the majority of Christians believe that the unsaved and billions of people who lived and died without ever hearing Jesus’ name will spend eternity experiencing unimaginable torment?  

Some scholars believe that the modern concept of hell is based mostly from a work of fiction, The Divine Comedy, which was composed more than 700 years ago by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri. Dante’s poem consists of three parts: hell, purgatory and paradise. His vivid description in the poem tells of souls writhing in agony for eternity. These depictions have been credited with being the inspiration for the larger body of Western art and literature.

Now let’s look at what the Bible says about hell:

The actual definition of the English word hell means a covered or hidden place, though over time it has become known generally as a place of eternal punishment. The important definitions of this word come from the original Hebrew and Greek languages and their usage. 

The Old Testament or Hebrew word Sheol (Strong’s #H7585) was translated to the English words hell, pit or grave 65 times. The definition of Sheol appears to be basically a place where the dead go, a grave or a pit. There did not appear to be a belief of an eternal burning hell in the Old Testament days.

The New Testament (Greek) words translated hell in the Bible are Hades (Strong’s # G86), Gehenna (Strong’s #G1067) and Tartarus (Strong’s #G5020). 

Tartarus appears only once in the Greek manuscripts to describe the holding place for the fallen angles.

Hades comes from Greek mythology as a place for the dead. The instances where hades is used, the meanings appear to be a grave, the side of the great chasm (gulf) mentioned in Luke 16, the condition of being spiritually dead, or the lake of fire which is used for some after judgment at the end of the Lords day. Many of theses instances are “cast into hell” which is similar to “cast into the lake of fire”.

Gehenna at the time of Christ was a place outside of Jerusalem that was used as a garbage dump. The Gehenna location was considered cursed because it is in the Valley of Hinnom where some kings of Judah once sacrificed their children by fire. There was no other acceptable usage for this location at that time. Some non biblical writings describe the activities of the workers there that received all unwanted items from the city, placed them in heaps and then transferred them into fires that burned continuously day and night. It was an around the clock task. This is comparable to the undesirable side of the “great chasm”in Luke 16 because in Gehenna unwanted things were reserved for burning and in Luke 16 some souls are held on the other side of the chasm, reserved for judgment, and potentially the lake of fire.

Jesus used hades in Luke 16 beginning in verse 19 telling a parable concerning the after death condition of two different individuals. Lazarus, a poor but an apparent righteous man, was taken to “Abraham’s bosom ”. This surely means the desirable side of Paradise. The apparent unscrupulously rich man “was buried”, where he was “in torments”. We are later told he is in “torment in this flame”. This place is described in verse 26 as having a “great chasm” that prevents inhabitants from crossing from one side to the other but well within site of each other.

Torment can mean physical or mental anguish but it does not carry the same weight as physical torture. I can’t image being in this place, present with the Lord and seeing others and possibly loved ones being tortured in an actual fire on the other side. Everyone leaves the physical body and is then in an incorruptible body at death (1 Corinthians 15:53) where there is likely no longer a physical pain so I feel this individual was in torment (anguish) for the future judgment he faced and potentially the lake of fire.

Remember that 1 Corinthians teaches that we are born mortal, not immortal. It is through our faith and Jesus’ death and resurrection that we can “put on immortality” by his saving grace. So those that do not experience eternal life thru Christ will have never been immortal. The second death and their destruction will end their chance for immortality.

Psalms 37:20 says “ but the wicked shall perish, And shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.” Consume, Strong’s #H3615 means basically, cease to be, perish, destroy, etc. Being consumed away is not remaining in a fire for eternity.

Hebrews 12:29 says “For our God is a consuming fire” As Bill Cosby once said, “I brought you into this world, I can take you out.”

Revelation 20:14 says “And death and hell (hades) were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” Our physical bodies die the first death and our spiritual bodies and souls are subject to the second death in the lake of fire. This is the eternal separation from God, who is a consuming fire. The consuming fire will warm us but consume some. There will be no coming back from the lake of fire. It will be an eternal death after which there will be no more death or graves (hell).

Matthew10:28 says “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna).” Destroy, (Strong’s #G575) means destroy fully, perish or lose. Man can kill your body, God can destroy your soul in the lake of fire. 

Jeremiah 19:5 says “They have also built up the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:”burning his children never came into God’s mind.

John 3:16 says: "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Notice John’s claim that Jesus died so that you and I would not perish. He said “should not perish” not “should not go to hell”. Eternal life is a gift of salvation, not something we inherently have as human souls.

1 Corinthians 15:55 says: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” Death and the grave  (hades) will be eliminated. Each will have no victory.

My conclusion: Our God is a loving God that created us to be his family. He is also patient, longsuffering, hopeful that we all will choose him and eternal life. He has given us all this earth age to pass thru innocently and will later give us the thousand year Lords Day to learn and teach. There are some, Satan and at least a few others that would be disruptive in the eternal Heaven, so for his and our benefit, he, the consuming fire, will simply eliminate them and all evil forever in the Lake of Fire.