Is hell being a fiery, burning, and painful place metaphorical?

Question

Isn't it literally the "absence of God?" With that said, then wouldn't the absence of God just be the absence of life? Why would people who didn't believe in God in the first place even care?

Answer 1

In theory, it's a place of eternal pain and torture; both in the physical sense, and the psychological sense.

Hence; though there may not be fire, persay, Christianity does tell of such a place as pain and torment.

It's not so much the absence of God alone, but the absence of God AND the presence of Satan.

People that don't believe in "God" in the first place actually don't tend to care..

Answer 2

If you study the Hebrew and Greek renderings of the word Hell and then study the words everlasting and eternal in conjunction with that you can't come up with anything other than Hell is a fiery, burning and painful place. The bad news is that Hell is not the final destination of those who reject Christ as their Saviour. Death and Hell shall be cast into the Lake of Fire and everyone not listed in the Book of Life will be cast in as well. Read Revelation 20:11-15 for the whole story.

Hell being the absence of God simply means that people who are there cannot experience God's presence and won't until the day of judgment. God still sutains life in every place in the universe.

People who don't believe in God in the first place don't care because they are "spiritually blind and decieved by Satan."
That is the status of everyone who has never been delivered through the blood of Christ. Some will believe before they die and some will refuse to believe to their own peril.

Answer 3

There are many descriptions of hell in the bible. Some talk about it being empty, others describe it as a fiery place, others describe it as a garbage dump.

Claiming that the descriptions of Hades that Jesus spoke about are metaphorical, is a nicer way to view him. But doesn't really fit in with the whole story.

The funny thing about the bible is that there are a million ways to interpret scripture, so it cannot be reliable for salvation. If a fiery hell is metaphor, then why not the story of Jesus and Heaven, and eternal life?

In reality they are probably all metaphors for early man's inability to explain the universe around him.

I no longer believe in God, but care about the doctrines surrounding hell, because it is extremely harmful to people. The acceptance of eternal torture is bad for society and eats away at humanity.

Answer 4

I have never seen Hell, so I don't know whether it exists or not!
Many say that God is omnipresent, he is present everywhere every time, earth has many painful, fiery, burning places, many people suffer a lot, that means God should also be present in that painful places. Wise people say that god became pleasure and pain, good and evil, man and woman.

Answer 5

Absence of God from life would be painful; but there's not indication that Jesus didn't mean anything less than literal firey hell.

Answer 6

It is not a metaphor. It is a literal place of eternal torment, suffering, pain, burning, guilt, lonlieness, fear, and darkness.

The only way to be saved and go to heaven and not eternal hell is by believing that Jesus, who is God, died for our sins on the cross and rose again (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

Answer 7

O.K This will be hard for some to understand....
First.... Hell is real....But it is a place for our judgement.
We will go there for a short time..To be judged.
after that we die....Plain and simple.. look it up in ancient hebrew studies...
Second......GOD is about Love and Free Will.
It is your choice whether u do or don't.too many people judge others when they r the ones to get jugded... I AM A BELIEVER...

Answer 8

Not believing in God in no way means not caring.
One can care for others, lead a good life and be a shining example to others and still not believe in God.
It's a belief, not saved or condemned.

Answer 9

I actually asked God to show me what hell was like and I believe He did.
It was absolutely hell! In every since of the word.

First it was completely dark like outer space dark.
In fact it was like what I would imagine being stuck out in space would be like but with NO stars, no light, nothing!
And it was HOT! Insane heat. I kept trying to move but I could feel my body, I could feel pain though. If you ever had major surgery then you might know what it's like to be completely numb, yet still have the sensation of agony.
I wanted to get out of there at any cost, but I was positively stuck!
I tried crying out for help, but no voice, not even the sensation of vocal chords.
Then, just as I thought I would go crazy from shear panic; just out in front of me something from my past flashed in front of my eyes, as if it was a play on a stage. It was a scene of something I had done that I was very ashamed of, and I tried to yell out (with no success) and get someone's attention, but just as quickly as the image appeared it disappeared, and I was left feeling not only horrible because of where I was but now I'm
dealing with the feeling of shame of knowing that I can never undo what I have done in the past.

I can't tell you how grateful I was to realize that it had all been a dream.
Now, for those who want to keep believing that something this could ONLY be a dream; gee I wish I was as naive as you

Answer 10

Its real the bible talks about the rich man and Lazarus and the rich man was in flames and asked if someone could just dip the tip of their finger in cool water and touch his tongue because he was in torment. The bible also talks about hell being tossed into the lake of fire where the fire burns forever and the person in it never dies.