Is Hell a real place of eternal torment or does it symbolize the grave?

Question

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=3280619186

Answer 1

There is a real place called hell, where those go that wont accept Jesus and obey Him, that live in rebellion to God, and only do what the devil encourages them to do. Some may not know it is serving the devil, bit it is. God says we either serve Him or we serve the devil, and serving God is a choice.
THere you go.
There is a real heaven and a real hell. God talks about them, and I am pentacostal, and very much yes I believe in a hell, as God tells us all about it, but I belive a bit differently than most I study a lot on my own and I allow God to tell me truth. THe Bible says it means forever. Well, it is forver, they burn till they are burned up, accoridng to the amount of their sin, and then thats it. Its their forever. I do not belive the fire never ever goes out. first off that doesnt fit the character of God, and second off God tells of the fire becoming as ashes. If its ashes that God said one can walk on, it couldnt still be a huge fire burning. Correct? Ashes are there, as the fire burnt them UP. they are done and fire is out, but they are forever seperated from God, and life is no more. Thats not somehting I would take a risk on, but so many do. There is nothing on this earth worth going to hell for, absolutely nothing. and there is nothing we can do that would be worth losing out on Heaven for.
But, yes the fire does go out when that person is burnt up, and remember this is not Gods desire. We each are given a measure of faith to either run with or run away from. HE gives us a Bible that tells of the whole plan to go to heaven and to avoid hell. Either we learn this and obey Him or we dont.ITs all choice. But, we are all told of where we go if we dont believe in God or obey Him. God has a plan to end all sin and He will take those that are His to HEaven and have no more sin, sorrow pain. Only joy, love and everlasting peace, right there with God. so, when the ones wont stop rebelling against God, what is God to do? They have all heard what God sais about hell, its thruought the world, hey??? YES. So, what would God do, let them go to Heaven with us, brining all their STUFF right there to Heaven for the rest of us. More murders, lies, adultry, abortion, homosexuality.all of it??? Wouldnt be heaven long, huh? they would trash it just like they trash it here with self , self lusts, self desires, self motives, all of it.
SO< God tells us all way ahead of time what we must do before we die or before Jesus comes, and we all have an absolute equal CHOICE whether to deceide for God, or to ignore it all, do as we please, and end up in hell. We cant blame God for where we end up. IT is WE that make that choice ourselves. God loves us all and wants us all saved, thats why we have the Bible to tell us just what to do. but, few read it and even fewer obey the word of God.
So, going to hell is a choice made long in advanse. WE must keep praying for those tho that havent yet chosen Jesus, as some will change their mind before its too late. God loves them and so do we, even tho they hate us and mock us when we try to warn them.
But, because we love as Jesus loved, we keep living the truth and speaking it boldly without fear or compormise.
Jesus saves, Jesus heals and Jesus delivers and HE is coming soon. Choose Jesus soon , as He is coming very very soon

Answer 2

I refuse to form an opinion on what hell really is, but I know what it's not. Hell is not just the grave. That would imply that all of the unrepented sins, acts, and words against God were not avenged for. Justice is not served in the grave alone. The reason people started saying that hell is the grave is because in the Bible sometimes the word hell translates back into to grave. The word graves was proper to use for whoever wrote the Bible when referring to the dead because the dead have not been judged yet so they aren't even in hell. Anyway I don't know what hell is like. But telling people that it's just the grave is rather misleading, for those that do.

Answer 3

Hell is not the kingdom of Satan where he will reign over demons and all who are bad. nor is there anything in scripture to indicate that hell will be some sort of fellowship of sinners, where life will continue pretty much as it was on earth.

There are three Greek words translated, hell, in our english Bible:

1. The word " tartaros " is found only once in the Bible: " God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment " ( 2nd Peter 2:4 ).

2. The word hades is found ten times in the New Testament ( Matthew 11: 23; 16:18; Luke 10:15; 16:23; Acts 2:27, 31; Revelation 1:18, 6-8; 20:13-14 ). Hades is not the final destiny of those who die without accepting Christ, but rather a place of torment until they are resurrected to stand before God at the Great White Throne Judgement ( Revelation 20:13-15 ). Hades is a place of seperation from God and of no escape: " Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us " ( Luke 16:26 ).

3. The word " geenna " is translated hell twelve times ( matthew 5:22, 29-30; 10:28; 18:9; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; luke 12:5; James 3:6 ). Eleven of the twelve references are from the lips of Jesus Himself. Geenna refers to the vally of Hinnom, a place outside the southern wall of Jerusalem where children were once sacrificed to the god Molech ( 2nd Chronicles 33:1-6 ).
Geenna was also called the lake of fire: " Anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire " ( Revelation 20:15 ).

There will be no appeal after the passing of sentence at the Great White Throne Judgement. All who have rejected Christ will be present: " The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them...Then Death and Hades were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death " ( Revelation 20:13-14 ).

No matter how excruciating or how literal the fire of hell may or may not be, the thrist of a lost soul for the Living Water will be more painful...Hell, essentially and basically, is banishment from the presence of God for deliberately rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Matthew 11:23
Matthew 16:18
Luke 10:15
Luke 12:5
Acts 2:17,31

God be with you

Answer 4

God has said come reason with me, and this is done in a spiritual sense. If hell were real, then there would be no need for a savior, Christ, because nothing would matter. People would just go where ever and God would not care because obviously God would want some people to go to hell since He created it for His ideas. Hhmm...
Perfect love casts out fear (in John somewhere). This perfect love would then be hell's destruction.
God is infinite and He is One. It would stand to reason then that within the mind of the Lord, is a place where His love is absent, and this would make Him less than infinite, and then this gives place to the notion that there is actually another god beside Him, but you read in Isaiah that there is none beside Him.
Hell is here on earth and/or hereafter, just as long as one believes in evil and does evil, which breaks the first commandment. Heaven is also here or hereafter, a state of consciousness where evil has been cast down forever, which is the great battle. There are many who sleep here on earth and don't realize no one will fight this battle for them, so they should concentrate on waking to the fact that they have a lot of work to do before heaven will appear to them.
It is the human belief system that can lead one down paths to make things realities that God never created.
Just as you overcome evil and temptation, you likewise overcome hell with heaven. When you overcome all that is unlike good and pure, where is the need for hell?

Answer 5

I see a lot of the answers here say, "According to the Bible" then they proceed to put some info down that is not from the Bible.
Hell as a place of eternal torment does not exist and is not biblical. It is one of Satan's lies to make God look like Satan really is...a sadistic dictator.
According to the Bible (I had to say it), in the Old Testament, sheol in Hebrew and in the New Testament, hades in Greek...the abode of the dead...the grave.
Psalms 89:48 says that all the dead go into this place, both the righteous and the wicked. Jacob said, "I shall go down in the grave [sheol]" Gen 37:35. In Numbers 16:30, the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the wicked Korah and his company that had tried to take over.
Sheol receives the whole person at death. When Christ died, He went into the grave or hades, but at the Resurrection His soul left the grave according to Acts 2:27, 31. When David thanked God for healing, he testified that his soul was saved from sheol in Psalms 30:3.
Time and time again, the Bible teaches that the grave is not a place of consciousness. Since death is a sleep, the dead will remain in a state of unconsciousness and decay, in the grave until the resurrection, when hades gives up its dead. (Revelation 20:13).
Although the body returns to dust, the spirit or "life-force" returns to God. Solomon said that at death the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it (Eccl. 12:7) This is true for both the righteous and the wicked. The Hebrew and Greek terminology for the life force or spirit refers to an energy or spark of life, not an intelligent entity capable of conscious existence apart from the body.
Solomon explained that man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: as one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath/spirit or life force; man has no advantage over the animal....All go to the same place; all come from dust and back into dust. Eccl 3:19-21.
Judgment day will come--those who have freely chosen not to accept Him; those who have deceived millions with falsehoods regarding God; Satan and his fallen angels will all be granted their wish to be eternally separated from God...no more life force for them. They will be consumed with this corrupt world. We will return to a New Earth and live together with Him...Oh what a day that will be! Sadly, the unrepentant sinner will never have to be faced with Christians "cramming religion down their throats" as many have said on this forum.

Answer 6

It's a real place! If God meant to say "the grave" he would have simply said it in those words! Hell means torment, whether with flames or without, being completely disconnected from God is torture.

Answer 7

Hello and hell is used in two ways, first and the most is the place of the grave, second the place of burning but i want you to notice that the term your using is a misunderstanding, the eternal part of hell is NOT the fire but the "effects" of hell, in Rev.20:14 and 21:8 the bible speaks of the second death, find out more free bible lessons www.itiswritten.com God bless.

Answer 8

I believe Hell is any unconfessed sin that you take with your spirit after you die. This sin will forever become entangled in your soul, in a place separated from the kingdom of God. Only surrender and repentance to Jesus - making us holy, cleansing us of deep rooted, hidden sin under His blood before our own physical death - may we be able to escape the wasteland of Hell.

Hebrews 12:14
Romans 6:22
2 Corinthians 7:1

Answer 9

Hell is an actual place of torment!!! If you are not saved and covered by the blood of jesus christ then he will send you to hell!!! It may not necessarily mean an actual eternal torment but that if you are not one of God's people then he will basically burn you with his firey wrath!!! Just read the holy bible King James version cause it's the best!!!!!

Answer 10

According to the Bible, hell is most definitely real! The punishment of the wicked in hell is as never-ending as the bliss of the righteous in Heaven. The punishment of the wicked dead in hell is described throughout Scripture as "everlasting fire" (Matthew 25:41), "unquenchable fire" (Matthew 3:12), "shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:2), a place where "their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:44-49), a place of "torments" and "flame" (Luke 16:23,24), "everlasting destruction" (2 Thessalonians 1:9), a place of torment with "fire and brimstone" where "the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever" (Revelation 14:10,11), and a "lake of fire and brimstone" where the wicked are "tormented day and night forever and ever" (Revelation 20:10). Jesus Himself indicates that the punishment in hell itself is everlasting - not merely the smoke and flames (Matthew 25:46).

The wicked are forever subject to the fury and the wrath of God in hell. They consciously suffer shame and contempt and the assaults of an accusing conscience -- along with the fiery wrath of an offended deity -- for all of eternity. Even those in hell will acknowledge the perfect justice of God (Psalms 76:10). Those who are in the very real hell will know that their punishment is just and that they alone are to blame (Deuteronomy 32:3-5). Yes, hell is real. Yes, hell is a place of torment and punishment that lasts forever and ever, with no end! Praise God that through Jesus, we can escape this eternal fate (John 3:16,18,36).

Answer 11

--SIMPLE BREAKDOWN of where the word hell comes from & what it is & is not:

*** it-1 pp. 1086-1087 Hell ***

--A word used in the King James Version (as well as in the Catholic Douay Version and most older translations) to translate the Hebrew she’ohl′ and the Greek hai′des. In the King James Version the word “hell” is rendered from she’ohl′ 31 times and from hai′des 10 times. This version is not consistent, however, since she’ohl′ is also translated 31 times “grave” and 3 times “pit.” In the Douay Version she’ohl′ is rendered “hell” 64 times, “pit” once, and “death” once.
--In 1885, with the publication of the complete English Revised Version, the original word she’ohl′ was in many places transliterated into the English text of the Hebrew Scriptures, though, in most occurrences, “grave” and “pit” were used, and “hell” is found some 14 times. This was a point on which the American committee disagreed with the British revisers, and so, when producing the American Standard Version (1901) they transliterated she’ohl′ in all 65 of its appearances. Both versions transliterated hai′des in the Christian Greek Scriptures in all ten of its occurrences, though the Greek word Ge′en·na (English, “Gehenna”) is rendered “hell” throughout, as is true of many other modern translations.
--Concerning this use of “hell” to translate these original words from the Hebrew and Greek, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (1981, Vol. 2, p. 187) says: “HADES . . . It corresponds to ‘Sheol’ in the O.T. [Old Testament]. In the A.V. of the O.T. [Old Testament] and N.T. [New Testament], it has been unhappily rendered ‘Hell.’”
--Collier’s Encyclopedia (1986, Vol. 12, p. 28) says concerning “Hell”: “First it stands for the Hebrew Sheol of the Old Testament and the Greek Hades of the Septuagint and New Testament. Since Sheol in Old Testament times referred simply to the abode of the dead and suggested no moral distinctions, the word ‘hell,’ as understood today, is not a happy translation.”
--It is, in fact, because of the way that the word “hell” is understood today that it is such an unsatisfactory translation of these original Bible words. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, unabridged, under “Hell” says: “fr[om] . . . helan to conceal.” The word “hell” thus originally conveyed no thought of heat or torment but simply of a ‘covered over or concealed place.’ In the old English dialect the expression “helling potatoes” meant, not to roast them, but simply to place the potatoes in the ground or in a cellar.
--The meaning given today to the word “hell” is that portrayed in Dante’s Divine Comedy and Milton’s Paradise Lost, which meaning is completely foreign to the original definition of the word. The idea of a “hell” of fiery torment, however, dates back long before Dante or Milton. The Grolier Universal Encyclopedia (1971, Vol. 9, p. 205) under “Hell” says: “Hindus and Buddhists regard hell as a place of spiritual cleansing and final restoration. Islamic tradition considers it as a place of everlasting punishment.” The idea of suffering after death is found among the pagan religious teachings of ancient peoples in Babylon and Egypt. Babylonian and Assyrian beliefs depicted the “nether world . . . as a place full of horrors, . . . presided over by gods and demons of great strength and fierceness.” Although ancient Egyptian religious texts do not teach that the burning of any individual victim would go on forever, they do portray the “Other World” as featuring “pits of fire” for “the damned.”—The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, by Morris Jastrow, Jr., 1898, p. 581; The Book of the Dead, with introduction by E. Wallis Budge, 1960, pp. 135, 144, 149, 151, 153, 161, 200.
--“Hellfire” has been a basic teaching in Christendom for many centuries. It is understandable why The Encyclopedia Americana (1956, Vol. XIV, p. 81) said: “Much confusion and misunderstanding has been caused through the early translators of the Bible persistently rendering the Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hades and Gehenna by the word hell. The simple transliteration of these words by the translators of the revised editions of the Bible has not sufficed to appreciably clear up this confusion and misconception.” Nevertheless, such transliteration and consistent rendering does enable the Bible student to make an accurate comparison of the texts in which these original words appear and, with open mind, thereby to arrive at a correct understanding of their true significance.—See GEHENNA; GRAVE; HADES; SHEOL; TARTARUS.