Is Hell
real?
Matthew
10:28
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather be afraid of Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna). http://www.logosapostolic.org/greek_word_studies/1067_geenna_hell.htm
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather be afraid of Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna). http://www.logosapostolic.org/greek_word_studies/1067_geenna_hell.htm
There have been many depictions of hell throughout the ages.
There is different imagery
of hell in the Bible, other religious works, arts and secular literary works
but the underlying theme seems to be unending pain and torment as if one were
on fire but cannot die or escape. The condemned can see the redeemed from far
off but a chasm separates the two.
Here is some imagery Jesus used to give us an insight to the
suffering of hell.
Luke 16:19-31
Amplified Bible (AMP)
19 There was a certain rich man who
[habitually] clothed himself in purple and fine linen and [a]reveled and feasted and
made merry in splendor every day.
20 And at his gate there [b]was [carelessly] dropped down and
left a certain [c]utterly destitute man named Lazarus,
[reduced to begging alms and] covered with [[d]ulcerated] sores.
21 He [eagerly] desired to be satisfied
with what fell from the rich man’s table; moreover, the dogs even came and
licked his sores.
22 And it occurred that the man [reduced
to] begging died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man
also died and was buried.
23 And in Hades (the realm of the dead),
being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus
in his bosom.
24 And he cried
out and said, Father Abraham, have pity and mercy on me and send Lazarus
to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish
in this flame.
25 But Abraham said, Child, remember that
you in your lifetime fully received [what is due you in] comforts and
delights, and Lazarus in like manner the discomforts and distresses; but
now he is comforted here and you are in anguish.
26 And besides
all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those
who want to pass from this [place] to you may not be able, and no one may pass
from there to us.
27 And [the man] said, Then, father, I
beseech you to send him to my father’s house—
28 For I have five brothers—so that he
may give [solemn] testimony and warn them, lest they too come into this
place of torment.
29 But Abraham said, They have Moses and
the Prophets; let them hear and
listen to them.
30 But he answered, No, father Abraham,
but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent ([e]change their minds for the better and
heartily amend their ways, with abhorrence of their past sins).
31 He said to him, If they do not hear and
listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded and
convinced and believe [even] if someone should rise from the dead.
Personally, I believe Hell might be a place where whatever
state of heart and mind you were in when you died…you remain in. In other words
if you have an unquenchable desire for sex…that need is left unmet for eternity
while the desire burns red-hot. If you have a heart of hate and revenge…you
hate forever with unsatisfied revenge. If money for pleasures was all that
mattered to you a polar opposite may be in store. Whatever attachment you place
in front of God in this life becomes your eternal torment. Not only are you now
separated from God and His family but you have an unsatisfied soul that lives
on.
SPURGEON ON HELL
Their eyes
are galled, and their hearts are pained with the thought that it is "for
ever." Oh! if I could tell you to-night that hell would one day be burned
out, and that those who were lost might be saved, there would be a jubilee in hell
at the very thought of it. But it cannot be—it is "for ever"
they are "cast into utter darkness."
But I want to get over
this as quickly as I can; for who can bear to talk thus to his
fellow-creatures? What is it that the lost are doing? They are "weeping
and gnashing their teeth." Do you gnash you teeth now? You would not do it
except you were in pain and agony. Well, in hell there is always gnashing of
teeth. And do you know why? There is one gnashing his teeth at his companion,
and mutters, "I was led into hell by you; you led me astray, you taught me
to drink the first time." And the other gnashes his teeth and says,
"What if I did? You made me worse than I should have been in after times."
There is a child who looks at her mother, and says, "Mother, you trained
me up to vice." And the mother gnashes her teeth again at the child, and
says, "I have no pity for you, for you excelled me in it, and led me into
deeper sin." Fathers gnash their teeth at their sons, and sons at their
fathers. And, methinks, if there are any who will have to gnash their teeth
more than others, it will be seducers, when they see those whom they have led
from the paths of virtue, and hear them saying, "Ah! we are glad you are
in hell with us, you deserve it, for you led us here." Have any of you,
to-night, upon your consciences the fact that you have led others to the pit?
O, may sovereign grace forgive you. "We have gone astray like lost
sheep," said David. Now a lost sheep never goes astray alone, if it is one
of a flock. I lately read of a sheep that leaped over the parapet of a bridge,
and was followed by every one of the flock. So, if one man goes astray, he
leads others with him. Some of you will have to account for others' sins when you
get to hell, as well as your own. Oh, what "weeping and gnashing of
teeth" there will be in that pit! --Charles Spurgeon http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0039.htm
But I want to get over
this as quickly as I can; for who can bear to talk thus to his
fellow-creatures? What is it that the lost are doing? They are "weeping
and gnashing their teeth." Do you gnash you teeth now? You would not do it
except you were in pain and agony. Well, in hell there is always gnashing of
teeth. And do you know why? There is one gnashing his teeth at his companion,
and mutters, "I was led into hell by you; you led me astray, you taught me
to drink the first time." And the other gnashes his teeth and says,
"What if I did? You made me worse than I should have been in after times."
There is a child who looks at her mother, and says, "Mother, you trained
me up to vice." And the mother gnashes her teeth again at the child, and
says, "I have no pity for you, for you excelled me in it, and led me into
deeper sin." Fathers gnash their teeth at their sons, and sons at their
fathers. And, methinks, if there are any who will have to gnash their teeth
more than others, it will be seducers, when they see those whom they have led
from the paths of virtue, and hear them saying, "Ah! we are glad you are
in hell with us, you deserve it, for you led us here." Have any of you,
to-night, upon your consciences the fact that you have led others to the pit?
O, may sovereign grace forgive you. "We have gone astray like lost
sheep," said David. Now a lost sheep never goes astray alone, if it is one
of a flock. I lately read of a sheep that leaped over the parapet of a bridge,
and was followed by every one of the flock. So, if one man goes astray, he
leads others with him. Some of you will have to account for others' sins when you
get to hell, as well as your own. Oh, what "weeping and gnashing of
teeth" there will be in that pit! --Charles Spurgeon http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0039.htm
“Son, 'he said,' ye
cannot in your present state understand eternity...That is what mortals
misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, "No future bliss can
make up for it," not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work
backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure
they say "Let me have but this and I'll take the consequences":
little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and
contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death.
The good man's past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered
sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man's past already conforms to
his badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why...the Blessed
will say "We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven, : and the Lost,
"We were always in Hell." And both will speak truly.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
― C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
“There are only two
kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done,"
and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that
are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No
soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who
seek find. Those who knock it is opened. ”
― C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
― C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
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