Can any one define Hell?

Question

Based on the four words it is translated from?
OT- Hebrew -Sheol- "World of the Dead" always in the Old Testament
NT- Greek -Hades- " Unseen place of departed souls" 10 times New testament
NT- Greek -Geenna- "Place of everlasting punishment" 12 times New Testament
NT- Tartaroo-"Eternal incarceration or deep Abyss " one time second Peter 2:4

Answer 1

Hell- The state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed, reserved for those who refuse by their own free choice to believe and be converted from sin, even to the end of their lives.

"1034 Jesus often speaks of "Gehenna" of "the unquenchable fire" reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost. Jesus solemnly proclaims that he "will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire," and that he will pronounce the condemnation: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!"

1037 God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want "any to perish, but all to come to repentance" <2 Pet 3:9>:

Father, accept this offering
from your whole family.
Grant us your peace in this life,
save us from final damnation,
and count us among those you have chosen.

Answer 2

'The Happy Guy' posted an extremely rude comment- I am sorry that he said that to you. It was uncalled for, infantile, and inappropriate.

Anyway, the original language that the Bible was written in is Greek. Greek is a very 'rich' language, as compared to English. We have one word for 'love', but the Greeks have several. There is phileo- type love, agape love, storge love, etc. It's kind of paradoxical, because English has so many words, yet lacks that sort of depth and clarity sometimes. Often, words have more than one meaning.

I think that the term "Gehenna" is associated with Hell, because of the burning pits in the vale of Gehenna, in ancient Israel. It was a place of burning rubbish that burned day and night- that may be where the idea of a hell of fire and brimstone comes from.

Some people disbelieve in God and in hell on the premise that you can't physically see God or hell. But there are many many things in existence which we cannot see- atoms, neutrinos, UV radiation, the wind, electricity, etc.

Besides, if I were to use that same line of logic, I could say that the country of Iran doesn't exist- or that Italy doesn't exist, because I have never actually physically been there to see it. Out of sight is out of mind.

But heaven and hell are real, even though narrow minded people deny that they are. I believe that those two "places" are quite different from how we think they are. We are looking at them from a human perspective. Hell is a terrible place, and I would not want to be there- but it's probably more like being in a cold, damp smelling, dark basement with no exit, than how most people imagine it. Maybe there are fires there. But in any event, it's a horrible place. And, like a black hole, there is no way out. Your cries fall upon deaf ears.

I would encourage all of you who disbelieve that hell exists to wake up. Sooner or later, you will have to face the music.

Answer 3

Very simply put, it is eternal damnation, fire and brimstone, knashing of teeth, earth when Jesus comes again to take us to Heaven. People in hell will be able to see the people in Heaven, but those in Heaven can't see into hell. People in hell will tell a mountain to fall on top of them to ease their pain, the mountain will fall on them, but the pain will never go away. It's where you end up when you spend your life disobeying and denying God.



I also want to add a note for: Brenda's World
Your statements are the most uneducated, unfounded and total ignorance I have hever seen. Only someone who has no knowledge what-so-ever would actually believe something so rediculous as that. You need to stop blaming on religion and start seeing the true picture: people make their own decisions. You really should go to school and get some kind of an education. Our country is founded on trusting in God, He will not be outlawed. That is absurd. So are the thoughts you wrote. Did you come up with that or did you get that from a cult leader?

Answer 4

I think that you are going to get all kinds of answers, mine is probably not an exception.

It's where everything else isn't. The Spirit of God will not dwell there.
God might be willing to enter in for now, but not later, as according to what I've read. It changed after the Resurrection. There were many that were awaiting the time of Redemption there. Once propitiation was accomplished, they were released.

Now those that are not redeemed go there. Apparently some do not have to, but decide to because they have seen the Righteousness of the Lord, and realize that they have lost the ability to be redeemed.

Answer 5

You're living in Hell because religion is really just evil in disguise.

Religion is responsible for the majority of wars, conflict and murder of innocent life since humanity began. There is considerable evidence to classify religion as evil, and talk of religion (Gods etc) should be banned. Because the records prove over and over again throughout humanity that religion is clearly responsible for crimes against humanity, taking part in any religious activity should also be outlawed and made a criminal offence.

The world would be a much happier and peaceful place if religion ceased to exist. Although there are some decent religious believers and preachers, they are unwittingly spreading evil around our world, and that they should simply keep their beliefs and thoughts to themselves in the best interests of humanity, or suffer the consequences for their actions.

People should consider that the world would be like Heaven if religion ceased to exist, but all the believers and preachers have turned the planet into Hell.

Answer 6

Hell is.......Different for each person. It's not a fiery pit where everyone is undead and sits around worshipping Satan all day. For me, Hell is a room with no doors or windows. Through a speaker in the ceiling all you can hear is Elvis Costello songs playing repeatedly but translated in Aramaic. My hell is being trapped in this room with William Shatner, David Caruso, and Martha Stewart. There you go.....Hell is different for each of us.

Answer 7

Accordingly -
The Hebrew word Sheol occurs 65 times in the Hebrew Scriptures and is rendered "hell," "grave," and "pit" in the King James Version. (according to original translations).

Basically Sheol is the Hebrew word for common grave.

Many religions teach that the wicked will go to a fiery hell and be tormented forever.
Is this teaching logical and Scriptural?

The human life span is limited to 70 or 80 years. Even if someone was guilty of extreme wickedness all his life, would everlasting torment be a just punishment? No. It would be grossly unjust to torment a man forever for the sins that he committed in a short lifetime.

Only God can reveal what happens after people die, and he has done so in his written Word, the Bible.

This is what the Bible says: "As the [beast] dies, so the [man] dies; and they all have but one spirit . . . All are going to one place. They have all come to be from the dust, and they are all returning to the dust." (Ecclesiastes 3:19, 20) There is no mention here of a fiery hell. Humans return to dust—to nonexistence—when they die.

In order to be tormented, a person has to be conscious. Are the dead conscious? Once again, the Bible gives the answer: "The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten." (Ecclesiastes 9:5) It is impossible for the dead, who are "conscious of nothing at all," to experience agony anywhere.

Gehenna -
The lake of fire has a meaning similar to that of "the fiery Gehenna [hell fire, King James Version]" that Jesus spoke of. (Matthew 5:22; Mark 9:47, 48)

Gehenna occurs 12 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures, and it refers to the valley of Hinnom, outside the walls of Jerusalem.

When Jesus was on earth, this valley was used as a garbage dump, "where the dead bodies of criminals, and the carcasses of animals, and every other kind of filth was cast." (Smith's Dictionary of the Bible) The fires were kept burning by adding sulfur to burn up the refuse.

Jesus used that valley as a proper symbol of everlasting destruction.

As does Gehenna, the lake of fire symbolizes eternal destruction.

Death and Hades are "hurled into" it in that they will be done away with when mankind is freed from sin and the condemnation of death. Willful, unrepentant sinners will also have their "portion" in that lake. (Revelation 21:8) They too will be annihilated forever.

On the other hand, those in God's memory who are in hell—the common grave of mankind—have a marvelous future.

Tartarus -
this is reserved for Angels - not humans...it is a "Condition" in which they exist...A place of spiritual darkness, as for those angels who were cast out of God's Kingdom in Heaven.
Revelation 12:7
And war broke out in heaven: Mi´cha·el and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels battled 8 but it did not prevail, neither was a place found for them any longer in heaven. 9 So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him.

Certainly if God did not hold back from punishing the angels that sinned, but, by throwing them into Tar´ta·rus, delivered them to pits of dense darkness to be reserved for judgment;

Answer 8

A way for people to envision others who don't adhere to their social norms being punished for all eternity by the same god they describe as merciful and loving. A logical fallacy of the highest order.

Answer 9

Aplace of torment, a place of utter darkness, of unquenchable thirst, a place where there is gnashing of teeth, a place of misery and pain, a place where you will know and recognize your sins and see those who went to Paradise enjoying the peace and joy and rest. In Revelation it says hell and death will be thrown in the lake of fire, along with the devil, the anti Christ and the false prophet so it won't ever go away.

Answer 10

Windsor, Ontario