What evidence is there for Hell beyond the Bible?

Question

For believers, what evidence would you provide for Hell apart from what is revealed in Sacred Scripture?

Answer 1

I would argue that natural human reason estalishes two things:

1. Human beings have an immortal soul
2. Justice demands retribution for sins which remain "unpunished’ in this life. This is accomplished in Hell or Purgatory after death

In the popular understandings of a wide variety of cultures, (and in just as wide a variety of philosophies) we consistently find accounts of something like a place or condition of punishment in the afterlife.

Believing there IS no afterlife is actually the UNreasonable view.

The fact that millions of people ask "why is there so much evil" affirms the fact of our natural desire for spiritual justice - a desire which Hell fulfills.

Answer 2

I would instead choose to ask what is the evidence for a fiery burning hell of torment IN the Bible?

Answer: There is none. Hell is the same as Sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek. It all means "the grave". If they are in the grave, are they in torment or perhaps bliss? The Bible says in Eccles. 9:5,10 the dead feel nothing, think nothing, work at nothing. If they are not capable of feeling pain or pleasure, where is the torture? No where.

I hear you now saying it is the soul that lives on. Maybe that feels the pain? Nope. Ezekiel 18:4 declares simply and forcefully, "the soul that is sinning, it itself will die." Any souls not sinning? Romans 5:12, "Through one man [Adam] sin entered the world and death through sin, thus death spread to all men." So if they don't die, they are not under Adam's sin. If they die, they are.

Answer 3

The ancient Egyptians believed in punishment in the afterlife, the Babylonians believed in a hell called Kurnugia, and the ancient Greeks and Romans believed in Hades. None constitute proof, but the Jews probably derived their concept of hell from the Babylonians, and that was passed on to Christianity through the Bible.

Answer 4

Honestly I will say kudos to those who have posted more than just, well "the bible is enough for me"... this is no help to you. Hell seems to be derived from many different cultures and societies among the human population. Take Satan for instance.. sometimes hes a goat, a serpent, a dragon, or just some insanely grotesque looking monster. Hell is sorta the same I guess. Some think Hell is here on earth, some think it is a fiery pit in the underworld, its all in how you "want" to percieve it I would say.. just like religion. There is no right or wrong religion.. My faith is in God, not religion. So I would suggest you place our thoughts where you want them to be on Hell, because there really is no "proof."

Answer 5

You wanna know something funny, get this...Hell as used as a term in the Bible doesn't mean fiery pit of torture and dispair where sinners will be cast for eternity. No really! Honest...I checked it out...Hell is the replacement word the first Bible translaters used for the word Sheol which means grave or literally "to be covered over." Yeah, no kidding...the evidence we have for "hell" beyond the Bible doesn't exist...the evidence we have for what will occur after the judgement is that when you light something on fire...it burns up and is gone. Poof! You see the Bible never says that people are immortal. Apart from God we are nothing..and sinners not covered by the Blood of the Lamb will be consumed in "an eternal fire" for an "ever lasting punishment". Which means that the sinner in question will die and never exist again. "Depart from me, I never knew you." You see only God is immortal, eternal...we are not. It is His Spirit that is within us the allows us to live, move and have our being. So, in fact, when you die...you are dead. It will not be until the final day when all are resurrected to judgment that some will see eteranl life and all the others will see eternal damnation...to be consumed, to parish, to die the second and final death...then death itself and hell (sheol) will be cast into the lake of fire with the rest of the garbage. Use the keyword search engine at http://www.biblegateway.com and you will see that except for mention in a parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (told for a specific purpose) there is never any eludation toward an after life...even the account of Saul and the Witch of Endor confirm this and so do David's psalms. The keywords from the King James version you might want to look up are these


Sleep
death
spirit
soul (spririt and soul are not the same thing soul means "being" and spirit is either refering to the Holy Spirit, evil influence or a persons "spirit or emotions")
destruction
perdition
pit
hades
hell
destroy
consume

Jesus referred to a place called Gahenna - being a reference to the waste dumps outside of the city of Jerusalem in the Valley of Hinnom, where all the rubbish was burned - carcasses among it, including those of condemned people - 'the damned'. The prodigious amount of trash from that great city meant that somewhere in Gahenna there was always a fire burning.However, the term is not used to describe the literal place but of one like it on the "day of Wrath" which will be the world minus those that have the mark of God and are "taken up" (the term rapture isn't in the Bible either). This is consistant througout the entirety of the Bible...I know cuz I've searched for the last 11 years. I was lied to as a child growing up in the church and it made me picture God as being this hugely cruel hate monger when in fact, after years of study...wow...so wrong. His whole plan is to eliminate suffering, death and the grave once and for all..so this is our chance to choose Him or ourselves. Eternal life without Knowledge or death..the consequence of knowledge. I choose life. So there is no evidence of "hell"...except for a depiction of a fabled place rendered by artists due to the writing of a long dead poet Dante Alirgieri who gave The Roman Catholic Church "Inferno" and like all other man made doctrine they sorta ran with it. This concludes this diatribish schpeal so I wish you a good day and Gods blessings. Love in Christ, ~J~

Answer 6

Well, my answer for this is TOTALLY out there, and not really evidence, actually, but EVP, in my book, proves there's an afterlife. Of course, it's extremely controversial and might even be a huge hoax, but... I consider it worthwhile.

Plus, there's the Underworld from Greek mythology. Sure, it has little or nothing to do with Christianity, but the old Greek stories were based on their beliefs, and to them, it wasn't entirely fictional, you know? It basically points at the same direction.
(BTW sorry for linking to wikipedia, yeah I know it's lame =P)

Answer 7

Daniel 12:2-3
Context

12:2 Many of those who sleep

in the dusty ground will awake –

some to everlasting life,

and others to shame and everlasting abhorrence. 1

12:3 But the wise will shine

like the brightness of the heavenly expanse.

And those bringing many to righteousness

will be like the stars forever and ever.

also there are many shows on jctv about people who have clinicaly dead for many minutes and been revived to tell thier stories

Answer 8

There have been several studies, made into film reports, on how everyone that tried to kill themselves, and died, but was brought back to life - said that they went strait to a Hell like environment. Just as the Bible says will happen to anyone that kills themselves.

Answer 9

There is absolutely none, hell was created out of the minds of men simply because of their superstitious fears, and back in the days of Jesus man had some pretty weird laws, and you must remember these people where still fresh out of the caves, they really had little knowledge about anything so fear of just about everything became their law.

Answer 10

Some believers make hell on earth a reality.