What was Jesus’ teaching on hell?
Regarding hell, C. S. Lewis once wrote, “There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this, if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and, specially, of Our Lord’s own words; it has always been held by Christendom; and it has the support of…
Is hell real? Is hell eternal?
It is interesting that a much higher percentage of people believe in the existence of heaven than believe in the existence of hell. According to the Bible, though, hell is just as real as heaven. The Bible explicitly teaches that hell is a real place to which the wicked/unbelieving are sent after death. We have…
How is eternity in hell a fair punishment for sin?
Many people are uncomfortable, to say the least, with the idea of an eternal hell. This discomfort, though, is often the result of an incomplete understanding of three things: the nature of God, the nature of man, and the nature of sin. Hell will never be an easy topic, but its fairness can be understood.…
What is Gehenna?
The word gehenna is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew ge-hinnom, meaning “Valley of [the sons of] Hinnom.” This valley south of Jerusalem was where some of the ancient Israelites “passed children through the fire” (sacrificed their children) to the Canaanite god Molech (2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6; Jeremiah 7:31; 19:2–6). The place is called “Tophet…
What is the difference between Sheol, Hades, Hell, the lake of fire, Paradise, and Abraham’s bosom?
The different terms used in the Bible for heaven and hell—sheol, hades, gehenna, the lake of fire, paradise, and Abraham’s bosom—are the subject of some debate and can be hard to keep straight. The word paradise is used as a synonym for heaven (2 Corinthians 12:3–4; Revelation 2:7). When Jesus was dying on the cross…
Do unbelievers immediately go to hell when they die?
Of all the topics found in the pages of Scriptures, none is so loathsome and dreadful as the subject of hell, yet we dare not be blinded by ignorance, repulsion, or unbelief, for hell is a frightening reality that ought not be dismissed on the grounds of fear or unpleasantness. Despite the objections of some,…
Are there different levels of punishment in hell?
The idea that there are different levels of punishment in hell is graphically portrayed in The Divine Comedy, written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and 1321. In that poem, the Roman poet Virgil guides Dante through the nine circles of hell. The circles are concentric, representing a gradual increase in wickedness, and culminating at the…
Is hell literally a place of fire and brimstone?
By raining down fire and brimstone upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, God not only demonstrated how He felt about overt sin, but He also launched an enduring metaphor. After the events of Genesis 19:24, the mere mention of fire, brimstone, or Sodom and Gomorrah conjures up images of God’s judgment. A “fire and…
Did God create hell?
Hell is a place of suffering originally prepared by God for the devil and his angels (Matthew 18:9; 25:41). The words Hades (Greek) and Sheol (Hebrew) are sometimes associated with hell. However, Hades/Sheol is simply the place or realm where the spirits of people go when they die (see Genesis 37:35). Hades/Sheol is not necessarily…