Hell is Real, Let's Talk About It

Theology
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I know this is not a popular teaching anymore, even in some of our Churches, but it is the Truth. Hell is very real. Why is this not taught anymore? No Devil, then no Hell. No Devil, no Hell, no Sin. No Sin, no reason for a Savior. No Savior, no God. No Evil means no Good. No Hell, then no Heaven. No judgment for Sin, if there is no Sin. Simply, live as you will.

It always amazes me when someone tells me that they believe in Jesus and a Loving God, and yet they do not believe in the Devil or Hell. Then what exactly is Jesus “Saving” you from? Makes no sense, right? They do these things and teach these things out of fear. Fear of offending someone. Fear of being labeled this or that. Or simply fear of their own lifestyle.

Truth is, Hell is a very real place. Listen to this teaching from Jesus Himself. Matthew 25:31-46

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty, and you gave me drink, I was a stranger, and you welcomed me, I was naked, and you clothed me, I was sick, and you visited me, I was in prison, and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger, and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison, and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

So there are two resurrections. One into Glory, and one into Condemnation. We see this in John 5:28-29

“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”

Hell is a very real place. He never intended man to go there. He wants as many to be saved from that as possible.

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2nd Peter 3:9

Hell is real. God does not send you there. You choose to go there. Let’s talk about it.
Peter

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You didn’t leave much room for talk since you covered the basics… But sure, what would you like to talk about? O.o

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Primer if needed:

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I’ve heard hell being taught as separation from God, but the Bible says it is more than that. Hell is eternal punishment. It’s where the worm doesn’t die and gnashing of teeth. Eternity, whether in heaven or in hell is hard to comprehend. We were born into time, we live in time and life is experienced through time. No time at all is beyond our human grasp except as a concept. There’s also something that feels tedious about no time or an endless time. It just goes on and on and on? What could that possibly look like.

So hell is not just being separated from God but also being punished with no end in sight. I believe it because that’s what Jesus taught, but I can’t understand or grasp the full meaning. It was created for Satan and his angels and not for mankind. Yet, if mankind rejects the Lord, that’s where they go.

The best description we have is in the story of Lazarus and the rich man. Many believe this isn’t a proverb, but something true that happened. It’s the place of the dead and the dead are very much aware. A great chasm separates those who are dammed and those who are righteous and waiting for Jesus to pay for their sin. When Jesus was on the cross, he told the thief besides Him, “today you will be with me in paradise.” Many say this place of the dead or hades/sheol is where Jesus meant. The paradise part was Abraham’s bosom. It was this part of hades that Jesus took with Him when He ascended to heaven. This is what I’ve read, but the Bible isn’t clear to me on those 3 days before the resurrection.

The part I struggle with is the eternal part. That it goes on forever. Time, which was created by God, no longer exits and we call that eternity. I’m getting off track.

Jesus talked about not fearing those who can kill the body, but to fear those who can destroy the body and soul. That seems like a final thing and not a forever thing. At some point, death and hades are thrown into the lake of fire. This is called the second death. The first death is our physical one and that happens to all people. But after the resurrection of both the believer and unbeliever, the believer lives forever, but what is this ‘second death’ for the unbeliever?

So yes, I believe in hell and my understanding is limited.

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I’ve given that quite a bit of thought and I think there’s two ways to look at it. One is, there has to be time in Heaven because otherwise there would be no yesterday or tomorrows there and scripture makes those comments of yesterday and today and tomorrow. Scripture says one day to the Lord is like 1000 years to us. I did the math on that and it works out to. when you are 41 years old on the earth then you are one Hour old by God’s time standard. I’m 63 so I’m bouncing around 1 1/2 hours old to God! I’m a toddler still! The hardest part of being an eternal being is the first 100 years, lol.

Now our scientists figured out that the expansion of the universe is exactly at the rate of time for us. But God lives in a different universe in Heaven, the spiritual realm. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if God has Multiple universes, who knows how many He could have, and we have no clue how time between dimensions operate and affect how it is there?

Either way, scripture says there is no night in heaven. So I expect we will not need to sleep in Heaven. That will triple our day timewise! I like this plan, yes I will have the time!

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That’s how I also understand it. They call it Abrahams Bosom because (purportedly) when people used to die (pre-Christ) they would go to Abrahams Bosom and that’s because when they show up, Abraham meets them and hugs them.

I can hear Abraham on the Maury Show, Abraham…You ARE the Father! I can hear him saying that lol.

Before Jesus came those who died in Christ couldn’t go to heaven yet so waited there because the price had not been paid yet. After Jesus paid the price, I (surmise) that He went to Abraham’s Bosom and released the captives because the price has been paid now! So He took them all to Heaven and now, absent from the body, present with the Lord.

I’m guessing that the keepers of Hades took over the new real estate provided by Jesus freeing up the space, because hell is filling up very fast.

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“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28

Some more?

"And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:46

“And the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelation 20:10

"But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:8

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Matthew 25:41

I mean, we could do this all day. “Hell” appears about 13 to 14 times, almost exclusively in the New Testament. However, if you use the King James Version (KJV), it appears 54 times.

To understand why the numbers vary so much, we have to look at the specific words being translated: Sheol (Old Testament - Hebrew). Occurrences: 65 times. Meaning: The “place of the dead” or “the grave.” In the Old Testament, it wasn’t necessarily a place of fire or punishment; it was where everyone went when they died. The KJV translates this as “Hell” 31 times, whereas modern versions usually leave it as “Sheol” or “the grave.”

Gehenna (New Testament - Greek) Occurrences: 12 times.Meaning: This is the word Jesus used most often. It refers to the Valley of Hinnom, a physical place outside Jerusalem where garbage (and ancient sacrifices) were burned. Jesus used it as a vivid metaphor for final judgment. Almost all versions translate this as “Hell.”

Hades (New Testament - Greek) Occurrences: 10 times.Meaning: The Greek equivalent of “Sheol.” It generally refers to the temporary abode of the dead. The KJV calls this “Hell” every time, but modern versions usually translate it as “Hades.”

Tartarus (New Testament - Greek)Occurrences: 1 time (2 Peter 2:4) A specific Greek term for a “holding cell” or abyss for fallen angels.Translation: Frequently translated as “Hell” or “cast into darkness.” If you are looking at the linguistic history, the “problem” is that by using one word (“Hell”) for all four, the distinct meanings of “the grave” (Sheol) and “the lake of fire” (Gehenna) get blurred together. This does not mean it is not a real place.

Eternal conscious torment? This is the most common historical position. It holds that Hell is a place of unending suffering. This view relies on the Greek word aiōnios, which is often translated as “eternal” or “everlasting.” In passages like Matthew 25:46, the same word describes both “eternal punishment” and “eternal life,” leading many to conclude that if life is forever, the punishment must be as well. This perspective suggests that since God is an infinite being, a sin against Him warrants an infinite penalty.

Now this is one I hope JWs are right about. And a couple of others as well. Annihilationism (Conditional Immortality)This view argues that Hell destroys the person, meaning the “punishment” is permanent because the person ceases to exist, but the “punishing” (the act of suffering) is not forever. Proponents point to terms like “perish,” “consume,” and “destroy” used throughout the New Testament. They argue that the Greek word apollumi (to destroy) implies a loss of existence rather than ongoing torment.

This view suggests that immortality is a gift from God (“conditional”), and those who reject Him simply do not receive the gift of living forever in any capacity. Of course, that is a better way to view it that suffereing forever. But it is what it is.
Peter

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