Hell is not real?

Question

I know some people who claim to be Christians also claim Hell is not a real place. What does the following verse refer to then?

Revelation 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

JR - ok so what does this verse means? Seems clear to me that anyone who is not saved burns forever.

JR - your comments make no sense at all. This verse talks of a future judgment. Does this gehenna even exist anymore?

JR - give me chapter and verse on Job. I don't see him praying to go to Hell. As to Jesus it says He went to preach to the spirits there. Seems clear to me.

Answer 1

I don't know what Bible they have been reading if they think that Hell is not a real place.
Hell is described as a bottomless pit (Luke 8:31, Revelation 9:1), and a lake of fire, burning with sulfur, where the inhabitants will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Revelation 20:10). In hell, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, indicating intense grief and anger (Matthew 13:42). It is a place “where the worm never dies and the fire never goes out” (Mark 9:48). God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but desires them to turn from their wicked ways so that they can live (Ezekiel 33:11). But He will not force us into submission; if we choose to reject Him, He has little choice but to give us what we want – to live apart from Him.

Answer 2

Wrong..

Everyone who claims to be a Christian do believe Sheol/Hades are real.. Its just that the burning in Hades/Sheol is what the Bible doesn't teach.

Gehenna, is the Lake of Fire and it is not the same as Sheol or Hades.

Revelation 20:14
Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.

If they were all the same place, then Hades/Sheol wouldn't be thrown into the Lake of Fire.

If Hades was a place just for the wicked.. Then why did Job prayed to go there, and why did Jesus go there after his death?


UPDATE:
Gehenna (Lake of Fire) was just a city dump. the dump that was disposed of in the Lake of Fire was destroyed.
Notice what Matthew says about Gehenna. So basically, Jesus used Gehenna to represent the fate of the wicked.

Matthew 18:9
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

As you can see, things are "destroyed" in the Lake of Fire.

Update: Answer my question. Why did Job pray to go there, and why did Jesus go there after his death?


Update:
Revelation 20:15 is referring to those who have been judge after the 1000 year reign of Christ in Heaven.

Read Revelation Chapter 20 in context.

Those who are seated are given the authority to judge.

Revelation 20:4
4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge.

The second death has no power of them, but it has power of the ones that are being judged.

Revelation 20:6
The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

Satan will be released from his prison.

Revelation 20:7
When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison

Satan will mislead once again after the 1000 years is over

Revelation 20:8
and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore.

Those who were mislead after the 1000 year reign was thrown into the Lake of Fire with Satan.

Revelation 20:10
And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Hades gives up the dead, and the ones that were in them are judged.

Revelation 20:13
The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.

Death and Hades are thrown into the Lake of Fire

Revelation 20:14
14Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death

If anyone is not found in the book of life at this point, they are thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:15
If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.





Update:
Jesus was preaching to the spirits in Tartarus, and that is not where humans go. He was preaching to these spirits AFTER he was resurrected.

Acts 2:25-27
"For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; Moreover my flesh also shall dwell in hope: Because thou wilt not LEAVE MY SOUL UNTO HADES, Neither wilt thou give thy Holy One to see corruption.

Job 14:13-14 "Oh that thou wouldest hide me in SHEOL, That thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, That thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and REMEMBER ME! If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare would I wait, TILL MY RELEASE SHOULD COME."

Answer 3

Only God's elect whose names are written in the Book of Life, will escape the lake of fire. Rejecting gospel results in eternal condemnation.

Punishment by fire is prominent in both Biblical ( La 1:13 ) and nonbiblical Jewish writings ( 1 Enoch 5:41 )

Answer 4

How can one profess to be a Christian and say that hell does not exist? That would be like saying you are a Christian and not believing the Bible to be the absolute truth from God.

Answer 5

Hell is real.

Answer 6

Hell is real, don't let Satan deceive you.