A question about HELL?

Question

if hell is a place were all really bad people go and it is run by the devil the worst of all! So my question is why arent bad people celebrated for all the bad things they did. Cuz if they are punished for being bad wouldnt that make the devil a good guy

Answer 1

What Really Is Hell?

WHATEVER image the word “hell” brings to your mind, hell is generally thought of as a place of punishment for sin. Concerning sin and its effect, the Bible says: “Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.” (Romans 5:12) The Scriptures also state: “The wages sin pays is death.” (Romans 6:23) Since the punishment for sin is death, the fundamental question in determining the true nature of hell is: What happens to us when we die?

Does life of some kind, in some form, continue after death? What is hell, and what kind of people go there? Is there any hope for those in hell? The Bible gives truthful and satisfying answers to these questions.

Life After Death?

Does something inside us, like a soul or a spirit, survive the death of the body? Consider how the first man, Adam, came to have life. The Bible states: “Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life.” (Genesis 2:7) Though breathing sustained his life, putting “the breath of life” into his nostrils involved much more than simply blowing air into his lungs. It meant that God put into Adam’s lifeless body the spark of life—“the force of life,” which is active in all earthly creatures. (Genesis 6:17; 7:22) The Bible refers to this animating force as “spirit.” (James 2:26) That spirit can be compared to the electric current that activates a machine or an appliance and enables it to perform its function. Just as the current never takes on the features of the equipment it activates, the life-force does not take on any of the characteristics of the creatures it animates. It has no personality and no thinking ability.

What happens to the spirit when a person dies? Psalm 146:4 says: “His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish.” When a person dies, his impersonal spirit does not go on existing in another realm as a spirit creature. It “returns to the true God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7) This means that any hope of future life for that person now rests entirely with God.

The ancient Greek philosophers Socrates and Plato held that a soul inside a person survives death and never dies. What does the Bible teach about the soul? Adam “came to be a living soul,” says Genesis 2:7. He did not receive a soul; he was a soul—a whole person. The Scriptures speak of a soul’s doing work, craving food, being kidnapped, experiencing sleeplessness, and so forth. (Leviticus 23:30; Deuteronomy 12:20; 24:7; Psalm 119:28) Yes, man himself is a soul. When a person dies, that soul dies.—Ezekiel 18:4.

What, then, is the condition of the dead? When pronouncing sentence upon Adam, Jehovah stated: “Dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19) Where was Adam before God formed him from the dust of the ground and gave him life? Why, he simply did not exist! When he died, Adam returned to that state of complete absence of life. The condition of the dead is made clear at Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10, where we read: “The dead know nothing . . . In the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” (New International Version) Scripturally, death is a state of nonexistence. The dead have no awareness, no feelings, no thoughts.

Unending Torment or Common Grave?

Since the dead have no conscious existence, hell cannot be a fiery place of torment where the wicked suffer after death. What, then, is hell? Examining what happened to Jesus after he died helps to answer that question. The Bible writer Luke recounts: “Neither was [Jesus] forsaken in Hades [hell, King James Version] nor did his flesh see corruption.” (Acts 2:31) Where was the hell to which even Jesus went? The apostle Paul wrote: “I handed on to you . . . that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, yes, that he has been raised up the third day according to the Scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4) So Jesus was in hell, the grave, but he was not abandoned there, for he was raised up, or resurrected.

Consider also the case of the righteous man Job, who suffered much. Wishing to escape his plight, he pleaded: “Who will grant me this, that thou mayest protect me in hell [Sheol], and hide me till thy wrath pass?” (Job 14:13, Douay Version) How unreasonable to think that Job desired to go to a fiery-hot place for protection! To Job, “hell” was simply the grave, where his suffering would end. The Bible hell, then, is the common grave of mankind where good people as well as bad ones go.

Hellfire—All-Consuming?

Could it be that the fire of hell is symbolic of all-consuming, or thorough, destruction? Separating fire from Hades, or hell, the Scriptures say: “Death and Hades were hurled into the lake of fire.” “The lake” mentioned here is symbolic, since death and hell (Hades) that are thrown into it cannot literally be burned. “This [lake of fire] means the second death”—death from which there is no hope of coming back to life.—Revelation 20:14.

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.

Hell Emptied!

Revelation 20:13 states: “The sea gave up those dead in it, and death and Hades gave up those dead in them.” Yes, the Bible hell will be emptied. As Jesus promised, “the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear [Jesus’] voice and come out.” (John 5:28, 29) Although no longer presently existing in any form, millions of dead ones who are in Jehovah God’s memory will be resurrected, or brought back to life, in a restored earthly paradise.—Luke 23:43; Acts 24:15.

In the new world of God’s making, resurrected humans who comply with his righteous laws will never need to die again. (Isaiah 25:8) Jehovah “will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore.” In fact, “the former things [will] have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4) What a blessing is in store for those in hell—“the memorial tombs”! This blessing indeed is reason enough for us to take in more knowledge of Jehovah God and his Son, Jesus Christ.—John 17:3.

Answer 2

First, the place of Hell, which is real, will be cast into the lake of fire, which was made for the devil and his angels. It was never made as a place for man, but that is precisely where the unsaved will end up.
It is NOT run by the devil. He doesn't want to be there- no one does.
It is a place of everlasting torment...to get an idea of what this could be like, just look up at the sun. Same thing- it's literally a lake of fire.

Answer 3

Why would bad people be celebrated on Earth? Only God is the perfect judge and knows where our loved ones go when they die--

Hell is a place of unimaginable and eternal suffering. The devil is not a good guy; he works his evil here on Earth to try to get people to turn away from God, and complete his evil biddings. Resisting temptation is the difficult part, of course, but the devil hopes that all will follow is vile ways so he can torture them for eternity in Hell.

Answer 4

What you're saying is, "Why would the Devil punish and torture the bad guys, seeing as how he's supposed to be a bad guy himself?" Correct?

That's an interesting take on this whole Hell concept, and one I'd never considered. Using your logic, there would be no reason for him to punish anyone. Instead, you'd think he'd welcome those cast down with open arms.

Answer 5

No..if the devil succeeds at making people bad, it makes him seem more real to know he exists.
When I see murders on TV, sometimes their eyes are black, and have no emotion. To me that's the devil.
It doesn't make him a good guy. And I would never give him any credit, even a little bit. He wants us to trust him, but he is a coward, and encourages us to believe he's better than God is! The devil is a lier!

Answer 6

Hell is not a place for bad people. It's a place that people who don't believe in Jesus go to, because of the fall of Satan and the fact that he was so arrogant as to challenge God. Anyone who doesn't believe in the son, also challenges God and rejects his son's diety. Hell is a place that all of us would go to if not for Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. Jesus took away sin, therefore we are made rightous thru his blood. If Jesus did not die for our sins, than we all would not be able to come into contact with God in heaven. We would all fall under the wages of sin is death category. That is why Jesus is so crucial in our lives now, so that we may live again forever and ever in heaven with God. There is no way and no truth and no life but through Jesus Christ.

Answer 7

What the eternity in hell spells out to me is that it is a place where all of the sinners in the world go to parrish forever and not just in the firey pits but, pure hell is remembering all the times that you had a chance to repent and be saved instead of being in hell and while you burn you remember all the chances you could have done things different and didn't, remember all the times you yelled and shouldn't have, remember the pure freedom of doing what you wanted and instead of saving yourself you decided to have the fun in which you so desired and because of that you will be in there burning forever and remember all the times that you had a chance to go to heaven now that is hard to swallow, yes we are all sinners even the children of God are still sinners that is why we pray and ask for forgivness everyday he knows that we are not perfect.Even the most violent of sinners can be saved that is why Christians are the way they are because we do care if you go to heaven or hell even if you don't realize it but, that is the reason, we want to share the joys of heaven not keep it to ourselves, Well we should all share the wonderful joys of heaven and yes still preach on the downfalls of hell I mean which do you want for your self Heaven or Hell, not just for yourself but, for your friends and family????I CHOOSE HEAVEN all the way. Just my opinion about the whole heaven and hell perspective Thanks. Any child of God who study the word knows that heaven and hell are real and if you don't believe that then you might as well not believe in God, because hell is in the Bible just like God is and if you don't believe in the devil and hell then you must not believe in God either. I believe in both for they are real.

Answer 8

No But let me tell you something hell is a place where all the unsaved people will go. The people that are saved will go to heaven. Nobody deserves celebration for all the bad things that they do.

Answer 9

Dear One, There is no hell. There is no devil. There is a lower Astral plain, but all of it is an illusion. God loves us and no one is going to some terrible doom. Many people will disagree and bless you dear ones, but we will all see what is real eventually. Go read The Disappearance Of The Universe by Gary R. Renard. Go on line to sites for A Course In Miracles.

I have been on a spiritual path for over thirty years and studied everything and it's brother. I respect everyone's beliefs but when I see someone like yourself I see someone who needs answers now. Check it all out and see what you think. Read carefully with an open mind.

Good luck in your studies.

Answer 10

You have seen the problem. Congradulations.

What is hell? The word in Hebrew is sheohl and in Greek, hades. The word means grave, mankind's common grave. Is it a place of firey torture? For it to be torture, the dead must feel. Do they? Eccles. 9: 5-6, 10 says they do NOT! The dead are as asleep with no thoughts or feelings.

The question for you is, who will you believe? The only authority we have, the Bible; or the theories of men?

Answer 11

Well, Hell isn't for bad people. It's for good people who aren't Christian, Muslim, or whatever religion you are speaking from. Most religions that have a concept of hell, say you can avoid it by being faithful. Romans chapter 3 says it doesn't matter how good or bad you are, any faithful Christian goes to heaven, no matter how bad a life he lived. Same goes for the Qu'ran, though I can't cite the chapter. So in that sense, the Devil's not a good guy, he's a jerk who is burning Gandhi for being a Hindu.