Does Hell exist?

[zach_dunn]

This question came to my mind due to a thread in a different section of the forum and something I remember reading here a long time ago. This question is principally aimed at any Christian who believes that a literal hell does not exist and that really everyone is going to heaven, or, in the case of JWs, every one (who is going to “hell”, that is) is annihilated. I am asking those of you who believe this to provide evidence for your beliefs and I’m encouraging charitable debate. I would really like to know how someone would justify such a belief, thank you!

 

[Rence]

Well, I’m not sure how you can justify not believing in Hell. The proof is not only in the Scriptures, but in the Catechism of the CC.

So, Jesus taught about Hell, as in these verses, and I don’t think he can be more clear:

Matthew 5:22
But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council. And whosoever shall say, Thou Fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Matthew 5:29
And if thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into hell.

Matthew 5:30
And if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into hell.

Matthew 10:28
And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Matthew 11:23
And thou Capharnaum, shalt thou be exalted up to heaven? thou shalt go down even unto hell. For if in Sodom had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in thee, perhaps it had remained unto this day.

Matthew 16:18
And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Matthew 18:9
And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee having one eye to enter into life, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

Matthew 23:15
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of hell twofold more than yourselves.

Matthew 23:33
You serpents, generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of hell?

Mark 9:42
And if thy hand scandalize thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life, maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into unquenchable fire:

Mark 9:44
And if thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off. It is better for thee to enter lame into life everlasting, than having two feet, to be cast into the hell of unquenchable fire:

Mark 9:46
And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out. It is better for thee with one eye to enter into the kingdom of God, than having two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire:

Luke 10:15
And thou, Capharnaum, which art exalted unto heaven, thou shalt be thrust down to hell.

Luke 12:5
But I will shew you whom you shall fear: fear ye him, who after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say to you, fear him.

Luke 16:22
And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man also died: and he was buried in hell.

Acts Of Apostles 2:24
Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the sorrows of hell, as it was impossible that he should be holden by it.

Acts Of Apostles 2:27
Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.

Acts Of Apostles 2:31
Foreseeing this, he spoke of the resurrection of Christ. For neither was he left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption.

James 3:6
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by hell.

2 Peter 2:4
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them, drawn down by infernal ropes to the lower hell, unto torments, to be reserved unto judgment:

Apocalypse 1:18
And alive, and was dead, and behold I am living for ever and ever, and have the keys of death and of hell.

Apocalypse 6:8
And behold a pale horse, and he that sat upon him, his name was Death, and hell followed him. And power was given to him over the four parts of the earth, to kill with sword, with famine, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

Apocalypse 20:13
And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up their dead that were in them; and they were judged every one according to their works.

Apocalypse 20:14
And hell and death were cast into the pool of fire. This is the second death.

And here’s what the Church teaches about Hell in the Catechism:

 

[Rence]

IV. HELL

1033 We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: “He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”**612 Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren.613 To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called “hell.” **

**1034 Jesus often speaks of “Gehenna” of “the unquenchable fire” reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost.614 Jesus solemnly proclaims that he "will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire,"615 and that he will pronounce the condemnation: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!"616 **

**1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire."617 The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs. **

1036 The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion: "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few."618

Since we know neither the day nor the hour, we should follow the advice of the Lord and watch constantly so that, when the single course of our earthly life is completed, we may merit to enter with him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the blessed, and not, like the wicked and slothful servants, be ordered to depart into the eternal fire, into the outer darkness where "men will weep and gnash their teeth."619

**1037 God predestines no one to go to hell;620 for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want “any to perish, but all to come to repentance”:621 **

I’m sure it’s comforting to think that there is no Hell, because then we don’t have to be accountable for our sins because “nothing will happen” if there is nothing after death. But think of the implications when we read the Scriptures and the Catechism.

 

[firstmode]

THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER

The terminus post quem — the point after which the Apocalypse of Peter was written — is revealed by its use of 4 Esdras, which was written about 100 A.D.; it is used in Chapter 3 of the Apocalypse.[3] The intellectually simple Apocalypse of Peter, with its Hellenistic Greek overtones, belongs to the same genre as the Clementine literature that was popular in Alexandria. Like the Clementine literature, the Apocalypse of Peter was written for a popular audience and had a wide readership. The Muratorian fragment, the earliest existing list of canonic sacred writings of the New Testament, which is assigned on internal evidence to the last quarter of the second century (i.e. ca 175-200), gives a list of works read in the Christian churches that is similar to the modern accepted canon; however, it also includes the Apocalypse of Peter. The Muratorian fragment states: “the Apocalypses also of John and Peter only do we receive, which some among us would not have read in church.” The Muratorian fragment is ambiguous whether both books of Revelations were meant as not received, or just Peter’s.

The Apocalypse of Peter is framed as a discourse of the Risen Christ to his faithful, offering a vision first of heaven, and then of hell, granted to Peter. In the form of a nekyia[4] it goes into elaborate detail about the punishment in hell for each type of crime, later to be depicted by Hieronymus Bosch, and the pleasures given in heaven for each virtue. In heaven, in the vision,

People have pure milky white skin, curly hair, and are generally beautiful

The earth blooms with everlasting flowers and spices

People wear shiny clothes made of light, like the angels

Everyone sings in choral prayer

**The punishments in the vision each closely correspond to the past sinful actions in a version of the Jewish notion of lex talionis, an “eye for an eye”, that the punishment may fit the crime.[5] Some of the punishments in hell according to the vision include:

Blasphemers are hung by the tongue.

Women who “adorn” themselves for the purpose of adultery, are hung by the hair over a bubbling mire. The men that had adulterous relationships with them are hung by their feet, with their heads in the mire, next to them).

Murderers and those that give consent to murder are set in a pit of creeping things that torment them.

Men who take on the role of women in a sexual way, and lesbians, are “driven” up a great cliff by punishing angels, and are “cast off” to the bottom. Then they are forced up it, over and over again, ceaselessly, to their doom.

Women who have abortions are set in a lake formed from the blood and gore from all the other punishments, up to their necks. They are also tormented by the spirits of their unborn children, who shoot a “flash of fire” into their eyes.

Incidently, those unborn children are “delivered to a care-taking” angel by whom they are educated, and “made to grow up.”

Those who lend money and demand “usury upon usury” stand up to their knees in a lake of foul matter and blood.

“The Revelation of Peter shows remarkable kinship in ideas with the Second Epistle of Peter. It also presents notable parallels to the Sibylline Oracles[6] while its influence has been conjectured, almost with certainty, in the Acts of Perpetua and the visions narrated in the Acts of Thomas and the History of Barlaam and Josaphat. It certainly was one of the sources from which the writer of the Vision of Paul drew. And directly or indirectly it may be regarded as the parent of all the mediaeval visions of the other world.”[7]
The Gospel parables of the budding fig tree and the barren fig tree, partly selected from the parousia of Matthew 24,[8] appear only in the Ethiopic version (ch. 2). The two parables are joined, and the setting “in the summer” has been transferred to “the end of the world”, in a detailed allegory in which the tree becomes Israel and the flourishing shoots, Jews who have adopted Jesus as Messiah and achieve martyrdom.**

 

[zach_dunn]

Thanks for the answers you guys, I’m still wondering if anyone on this forum actually believes there is not a hell.