Christians- A Question About Hell?

Question

FIRST- I don't want to offend and I don't want anyone to write anything inflammatory in response to my question.

QUESTION-
I recently went to a Protestant Non-Denomenational church with a friend of mine. I'm not a Christian, but I've read about the religion and read some of the Bible. Anyway, I realized during the sermon that the people in this particular church believe that hell is a real physical place with real physical tortures that a person suffers for all of eternity.

I always thought that hell was more metaphorical in the Christian faith- like living in the darkness of not having knowledge of self and God and love. But now it turns out that these people believe it to be a real place.

How common is that amoung Christians nowadays (not in the past)? How many of you believe in a literal heaven/hell and how many believe it is more interpretative or metaphorical?

Also, what is heaven like? Do you think that you will keep your own personality or merge with God?

Answer 1

I'm a Christian and I don't believe that there is a literal hell here on earth. The Bible does not say anything about a literal hell. I'll give you an explanation. In Matthew 17:27 it says:
"For I, the Son of Mankind, shall come with my angels in the glory of my Father and judge EACH person according to his deeds."

Both the wicked and the righteous are included in this scripture. The Lord will pronounce this at His second coming. At Christ's coming He will separate the two classes of people--those who are saved and those who are lost.

Read the parable that Christ gave concerning the sower and the seed. Christ outlines the fate of the wicked and the reward of the righteous in detail. This is in Matthew 13:24-43.

Matthew 13:40: "Just as in this story the thistles are separated and burned, so shall it be at the end of the world."

This makes it clear that the wicked are not burning now. It is after His coming that the angels are sent forth to gather the wicked ones into bundles to be burned.

Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."(TLB)
This text does not say that the sinner will live forever in torment. Life and death are contrasted here, showing that the wicked will cease to live while those who have accepted eternal life will continue to live forever.

Matthew 10:28: "Don't fear that you might be killed. They may kill your body, but they cannot take away your eternal life. God is the only One who has power over eternal life and death."(TCW)
Many people believe that the soul, or the individual, cannot be destroyed, but the Bible says, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4).

There are 3 more scriptures on how the Bible describes the utter destruction of the wicked.

Psalm 145:20: "He carefully watches over all those who love Him, but He will not save the wicked from the final consequences of their sins." (TCW)

Psalm 37:20: "But the wicked will perish as a field of dry grass set on fire. They will turn into smoke and vanish."

Psalm 21:9: "At the time of your appearing your presence will be like a burning fire. Your enemies will be devoured by flames and consumed forever." (TCW)

All these scriptures show that after the wicked have passed judgment they will be destroyed permanently. They will not be thrown into a hole and stay there forever. They will be destroyed. In that last scripture it's talking about enemies of God that will be destroyed.

So it's either heaven or death. We don't know who will go to heaven or be destroyed. The person we think will go to heaven probably won't be there when we arrive. Or the person who seems to be the most likely to end up being destroyed might ask the Lord into his life on his/her deathbed and end up being in heaven with us. We just don't know. Only God knows.

God isn't floating around in space. :) There is a literal Heaven and He is there.

Answer 2

Hell is not a literal place. How can an all loving God create a place of eternal punishment? You do not exist after death. The idea of the immortal soul came from the pagans. They bible even states that Jesus went to hell. The bible never mentions that all righteous people go to heaven. Some will have to wait in death for the resurrection. After the resurrection, man will live on a paradise earth, not heaven. The word Sheol means 'the grave' not a place of punishment. Rev. 20:13,14 KJ: "The sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire." (So the dead will be deliverd from hell. Notice also that hell is not the same as the lake of fire but will be cast into the lake of fire.) This scripture proves that hell is not a place of eternal punishment because it says that hell is going to be destroyed.

Answer 3

You need to realize all of this is pure speculation with absolutely no basis in any sort of facts.

Originally the Hell was pictured and taught as being nothing more then the grave / the underworld. Then during the dark ages it was imagined to be a cold place since it was far from God and the devil was blue not red. Then in more modern times the images of hell with flames and torture came in and the devil switched from being blue to being red.
There has been a movement away from the idea of torture & towards one one distance from God or just seperation. This is NOT however the mainstream Christian idea. TURN OR BURN is still a major theme of the religion.
WHY? Fear is an effective tool of motivation!

What the religion is after is control not reality!

As for heaven who knows. What a Heaven would be like differs from person to person. Poets and artists haven't spent to much time on Heaven. Not as much fun to imagine bliss and no challenge. Far more fun to imagine all the cruel and sadistic ways those that were different then you will be tortured because they were different from you.

To me it shows a truely sick nature to Christians. That they would actually enjoy the idea of someone being tortured. Also that they could love a God that created a place for torture to occur forever!
It is not about justice only sadistic vengence!
But remember GOD IS LOVE!

Yea right!
Smoke another one!

Answer 4

Hell is never a metaphorical term in the Christian faith! it's not a physical place, as it's not made of matter, but it is a place (made of something we have no knowledge of).

Heaven, I tend not to imagine. But I know you CANNOT merge with God. The Scriptures say we will have new bodies and our own places. Since our souls are in-tact, we probably have the same or very similar personailities (even with talents, abilities, skills I suppose) with the exception of not having a sinful nature. besides, God wouldn't want us to be bored on the new Earth.

Answer 5

Hell, you don't want to go there.. Hell is a literal place, but this physical body won't go there. You have also a spiritual body and that is what will go there. You will feel the burning but your body won't be consumed.. then when the judgment comes all of those in hell will go to the lake of fire.
Heaven on the other hand is where a christian goes when he dies, but later all those in heaven will come to earth and even the New Jerusalem which is now in heaven will come to earth. Christians are now merging with God and becoming like him. We will be ourselves, but we will be like God in the way children are like their parents.

Answer 6

Hell in the Bible
The word “hell” is used 54 times in the Bible. It is translated from several different words with various meanings, as indicated below:

In the Old Testament:


31 times from the Hebrew “Sheol,” which means
“the grave”

In the New Testament:

10 times from the Greek “Hades,” which means
“the grave”
12 times from the Greek “Gehenna,” which means
“a place of burning”
1 time from the Greek “Tartarus,” which means
“a place of darkness”

Answer 7

A majority of Christians believe in a literal Hell. I hope for their sake that it is not true because then they would be accepting a great evil for their salvation. Would you worship a God that created a place of eternal punishment? You should never separate your conscience from your religion, saying "well that's just the way it is..."

Answer 8

Good question...

Hell is a real place like America or Africa
Heaven is the place where we have communion with God (not union)
We (the soul) will retain our personality even after reaching heaven which is most unlikely of Hindueism/Buddiesm and paganism

Answer 9

I personally think of it more as a means to an end. God loves the aroma of burning flesh. It is pleasing to him, so he purposely misleads people by allowing other people to pray to false gods, including Jesus, so that when they die he can cast them into hell for not obeying his first and second commandments.

But this is all purely speculation on how the story would be told if it were written from god's point of view, instead of bronze age middle-eastern peasant view.

Answer 10

Hell is a real (spiritual-invisible) place in the Parallel Universe that undergirds Our Universe.
It is located in the middle of the Earth.

Heaven is a Planet.
Earth is a copy (spin-off) of Planet Heaven.

You will keep your Personality all through out Eternity.
Ditto..........