Why is hell depicted as being below us, and heaven above us?

Question

Could this be argued as being purely a metaphore for being above or below a certain standard of conduct of behaviour as dictated by the church?

Dear John, we spell things differently in Australia so stop being so ignorant.

Good point, but since the church is aligned with the bible, could one not argue that the church and the bible is one?

Answer 1

I think the imagery is far more rooted in our psyche from an earlier time. It in my opinion has to do with daylight and how early man depended on it for protection. We are a visual species and rationalizing that we viewed the sky and sun and winged creatures as pleasant. In contrast, caves, darkness and burrowing creatures as mysterious and dangerous. We were the weakest in the dark at night and probably sought shelter. I think this innate tendency lent itself to imagery as it related to this subject. In addition, most but not all civilizations buried their dead. Adding to the imagery of the dead residing below us. Now imagine the horror of digging someone up and finding the state of decomposition for early man and the ignorance to what was scientifically happening to the corpse. A reasonable conclusion in that state of mind is that the body had undergone some conflict or battle, underground! So, it is not so far fetched to rationalize that with the evidence and innate understanding for this early man, the imagery was created as such.

Answer 2

This is because the words in the Bible translated as hell are Sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek. The literal meaning of those words is grave and sometimes pit but never a place of burning up. God is love. He would not punish us with anything more than death with no resurrection.

There is much more to it than this. This is a deep subject that requires much study. Anyhow, God says that the wages sin pays is death and the Bible says that the dead are conscious of nothing at all, and it says that at death all thoughts do perish.

Sometimes heaven is referring to governments since the governments are so high up over us all, and earth refers to the people on it in many scriptures.

When churches tell you that you will burn in hell for sins, they are wrong. The idea of hell came from the Greek story Dante's Inferno. They also tell people this so that they will be afraid and will contribute huge sums of money to the church to buy their way out of hell.

Anyhow, this is something that takes a great deal of study and I would suggest that you fill in the online form at the web site below and have someone help you with this question and so many more like they did, for free, with me and my wife many years ago.

Answer 3

May have something to do with the early Jewish description of three heavens. The first heaven was understood to be the sky above us in which birds fly. The second heaven was understood to be where the sun moon and stars exist. The third heaven (where God is) was viewed to be somewhere beyond the second heaven. Since all of these views of heaven were located upwards the opposite of heaven (that being hell) was probably just viewed as being in the opposite direction. We know though that heaven and hell do not actually exist in the physical realm but in the spiritual realm.

Answer 4

The sepulchre hell that jesus was resurrected out of on day three [ 3 ], was the same one he was place in John 19:38-42 Jesus placed in the tomb, cave, grave, burial and Acts 2:31-35; Jesus was resurrected out of it, but king David who had died 1037 before Jesus was born, was still in sepulchre hell. THE GRAVE is below.

The birds fly in the heavens, so they are above us. Gen,1:20

The bible says the earth abideth forever, and that there will be a new heavens and a new earth, or the perfection it had before Eden, there will be no Satan and fallen angels, no evil or wicked when all is made perfect, 2Pet.3:13;

Answer 5

This goes back to Hebrew cosmology. In the Hebrew system, the heavens were above the celestial dome, upon which hung the stars and sun and moon. Hell was a place called Sheol, which wasn't a place where the damned went, but where EVERYONE who died went; it was an underworld. Also, in the Apostles Creed, it says that Jesus "descended into hell." That's why heaven is above and heaven is below.

Answer 6

Scripture is very clear as to the location of heaven and hell.

Besides that, I find you metaphor interesting except of one thing. That is why would you think that it would be dictated by the "church" and not the Bible?

Answer 7

Because as the Bible describes Hell, it is the final resting place for man, which is the grave.
It is the hope of resurrection that is our salvation.

Heaven is God's home.
However, that can entail all we can or cannot not see above and around us.

I just can't find the verses now, but it is not simply metaphoric.

Answer 8

It was always advantageous for humans to look down on other humans rather than to have to look up. So Gods were seen as looking down from above, either from a mountaintop or somewhere in the sky. And fire and brimstone were known to shoot up from somewhere below, which was easily imagined to be a form of hell.

Answer 9

Metaphor...

Cordially,
John

Answer 10

I guess one reason is because the bible portrays it that way. The bible Hell is nothing more than man's common grave and we all die and usually are buried in the ground.