While most religions portray hell as a horrible place, the Bible explicitly states that it is not a place, it is a state. While in heaven, we have access to God’s kingdom, those who do not maintain their faith in Him will remain in hell.
In fact, the Bible instructs us to stay away from God’s kingdom if we have sinned because He has put an end to death and His kingdom has arrived. Since we cannot rejoin God’s family once we are caught up in the Kingdom of God, staying away from God’s kingdom is an integral part of our repentance.
This article will discuss what the Bible says about hell and how bad it really is.
Contents:
The number of hells
There are a few different numbers for places where people go after they die. A handful of these locations are considered to be the home of the devil, and he will pay attention there when he comes looking for people.
At the same levels of severity, there are also numbers for good and bad people. People at these levels don’t necessarily spend eternity in the same place, but they do have an opinion about where they would like to be punished.
The number one place that evil people say they want to be is in hell. Everyone else doesn’t agree, but those who say it get what they want in that place. People at the top of the scale don’t have any desires other than being in hell, so that is why there are two hells.
The number one place that good people say they want to be is in heaven, but they don’t get what they want because of who they are. The number two place is just as bad as the number one, and that is why there are two hells.
Who goes to hell
After spending time in heaven, many people find that hell is a real place with really, really bad people running the show.
This is not the impression that God gives out when He tells us about hell in the Bible. In fact, when we look at the Bible and think about what it says about hell, we are wrong!
The Bible tells us that there is a place called hell and it says that people who go to hell will spend eternity in eternal punishment. However, it does not say that these people will spend a very long time in this place!
In fact, when we look at how long people have been punished for their sins in this world system, they must be happy with less time on earth! Many of them have said that they would rather spend a little time in heaven than endure all of god’s wrath on earth.
The punishment of sin is always ending up in one of three places: Earthly life is one of them.
Is heaven or hell more popular?
Evangelical Christians and Muslims consider heaven and hell more popular than God, Jesus, and the Bible say they should be. Most people do not think about hell in everyday life, so people consider it less popular than God, Jesus, and the Bible.
This is a good thing! We should focus our energy on making God, Jesus, and the Bible more popular. If people don’t think about hell too much, then we can use that as an opportunity to teach them about God, Jesus, and the Bible.
Is heaven or hell more biblical? The answer is no! Both concepts are made up by humans to make us feel better when we die. Neither concept explains what happens after we die or why we were put on this earth in the first place!
But if we can understand what heaven and hell really are like on an emotional level, then maybe we can apply this knowledge to our lives on this earth.
What does the Bible say about hell?
The Bible doesn’t have a specific doctrine of hell, but what it says about hell and sin does apply to everyone – both in the afterlife and during this life.
The most common thing the Bible says about sin is that it is a very wrong thing to do. There are many places in the Bible where God tells us to stop doing good things, or He warns us about the consequences of sin.
Due to this, many things like hell are seen as a judgment from God for people who have committed sins.
The punishment for sin is either eternal separation from God, or an eternal place where people can be thrown into fire (or any other type of burning) for that sin.
This type of punishment is not something that can be avoided with good deeds or repentance, but something that happens after the fact means that it will affect those who are judged on it.
This may be why the Bible never talks about hell as place where people go before they die, but rather as a judgment after they die.
The torments of hell
In the Bible, there is a place called hell. It’s not a fun place to be, and it doesn’t hold anyone for long if they don’t repent.
Hell is a place where people who sin really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, go. It is not a thing you can come back from – no return tickets! They cannot get out of hell except by the will of God or by someone else’s prayer.
The Bible describes what kind of people go to hell and what kinds of things they are lonely and forgotten in. We can all learn something important about ourselves and those around us if we look at what we are guilty of doing to them and whether or not we think we are going to heaven or just plain upending our faith in us.
The duration of hell
Most religions offer some manner of forgiveness for sins, but not in the case of extreme ones. Only the very, very worst sins are forgiven and even then only until the next round of sins.
The duration of hell is a fact! In fact, it is a very long time that people believe in hell, since it is such a terrible place.
This has changed over the years as more people discovered how evil they were and wanted to at least know that they were going to be punished for it. Now, many churches have hell as a real place where people can go to be punished for their bad deeds.
The truth is that no one goes to hell, but people are afraid there and they believe things are going to last a long time so they will get what they deserve.
Does everyone go to the same place?
No, the concept of a hell doesn’t exist in the New Testament. Most Christians believe that after death, people go to a place called heaven, but not everyone. There are some beliefs about hells and places where people go after death, but no specific place called hell.
Some believe that there is a place where people who have done bad things but have made up since that time they were punished. This is why some places use photographs or computer-generated images of what looks like hell.
There are also places where people have done bad things and don’t deserve to be punished at all. These are called undeclared Hells and these are found throughout the world.
Does the New Testament mention anyplace like an eternal punishment known as hell? Not exactly, no. However, it does talk about places that threaten people with eternal punishment such as heaven and hell.
Who goes to hell?
The key question when discussing hell in the context of the Bible is who doesn’t God want to save? Who is not a soul He wants to keep around?
Verse after verse describe people going to hell, including in the New Testament, and denomination after denomination list people as being in hell. This makes it clear that this label is not meant lightly!
It also demonstrates just how wrong what is described as heaven in the modern world is. Many people believe because they are religious that they will eventually reach a better place, but this cannot be true when what we call heaven is like what we see above!
The only way to know if a person has been saved or not is by their behavior while being saved.