In your opinion, what is it like to exist in hell?

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I am just curious, in your opinion what is it like for a soul to exist in hell? Is it like existing on earth where the soul is still with his/her family? What I am trying to ask is, in hell is it a physical place where there is fire or is it like living on earth where a soul can still do the same things he had done while on earth like working, eating, going to church, being with his family, sleeping, etc.
 
Have you read The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis?
His idea is that in hell people would be so preoccupied with their own ideas, burdens, things to do that they would just consume them for all eternity and they will never see God. For example, a person who was vain in life would not want to cross over into heaven because that would mean they would no longer be able to vain and they just couldn’t give that up. They would love their vanity more than God.
In my personal opinion, whenever I feel God pull out of my life, I get extremely lonely. I think hell is eternal loneliness.
 
I understand what you mean, but is hell like earth where the souls do things that people on earth do? For example, a woman who is in hell can still get pregnant and bear children? Another example is can someone in hell still go to church and talk to a priest to confess their sins? Sorry if my post may be confusing. Probably I am just afraid that I might end up in hell 😦
 
Once you are hell you are in hell forever. So there is no confessing of sins.
Its supposed to be a scary place, fire, tortue etc. The devil can do whatever he wants. Just like God can give you whatever gifts you desire when you are in heaven.
I doubt heaven/hell are like Earth… your souls go there, but in hell you are supposed to feel pain so I dont know how that happens…

scripturecatholic.com/hell.html
heres scripture that describes what hell is like…
 
Read “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Heaven” by Peter Kreeft.
 
mslizzie said:
I am just curious, in your opinion what is it like for a soul to exist in hell? Is it like existing on earth where the soul is still with his/her family? What I am trying to ask is, in hell is it a physical place where there is fire or is it like living on earth where a soul can still do the same things he had done while on earth like working, eating, going to church, being with his family, sleeping, etc.
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No mslizzie, I don’t think it would be like existing on earth and being with your family or going to Church. I think the term “hell on earth” is more like when you stay in the state of mortal sin and refuse to confess. I guess it is the absence of God, the total turning away from His love and mercy.

No love, no ability to love or receive love (God is love). We have the Sacraments that He instituted, He is present in all of His Sacraments, while we are here on earth we are able to avail ourselves to the grace He constantly offers us. We can go to Church, we can receive Him in Holy Communion, we can go to Confession, be Baptized, Confirmed, Holy Matrimony, Holy Orders, we can receive the Annointing of the Sick.

We can visit Him anytime by stopping by at Adoration or just going to Him in the tabernacle and being with Him. That won’t be happening in hell. Only here and in heaven, even in purgatory their is some sense of loss, but eventually all in purgatory will be in heaven for all eternity.

I don’t think hell will be anything like here on earth, even the worst of times here will probably be nothing compared to hell.

Some of the Saints had visions of hell and that is why they offered sacrifices for poor souls so that no one would have to ever experience what they saw in those visions, they were so terrifying to them.

Just remember that Jesus loves us all, look at what He did for love of us so that none of us would ever have to experience the pains of hell. He loves you and only wants good for you.

I was reading some things today that Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta said and here is the official website for her if you’d like to spend some time there. It is truly uplifting and so refreshing to read some of the things that the great Saints have said. They understood so well the love of God, even when they had their own “dark night of the soul” they just continued to love and trust in HIM.

www.motherteresa.org
(remember to turn your speakers on.)

Oh and by the way, some Saints that had visions of hell were the little children of Fatima, (Our Lady of Fatima), you could do a search on them and I am sure you could find their story too. God bless you and make His face to shine upon you. 🙂
 
Pure, absolute hatred of one’s self and hatred for God plus indescribable, never-ending torture completely devoid of any hope of remission.The penalty for Stalin who murdered maybe 20 million people is the same as that for a Catholic who deliberately ate a cheeseburger on a Friday. As we learned in grade school in the 40’s: God’s Justice trumps His Mercy. Roma locuta est; causa finita est.
 
Richard735 said:
Pure, absolute hatred of one’s self and hatred for God plus indescribable, never-ending torture completely devoid of any hope of remission.The penalty for Stalin who murdered maybe 20 million people is the same as that for a Catholic who deliberately ate a cheeseburger on a Friday. As we learned in grade school in the 40’s: God’s Justice trumps His Mercy. Roma locuta est; causa finita est.
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don’t know why you would say something like that in response to a genuine question. Anyways, it’s not true. God’s mercy is greater than His justice and this was always the Church teaching. People in hell are those who die in mortal sin without repentance; they have turned away from God’s mercy themselves. We’re also taught there are levels in hell, some are worse than others, not everyone gets the same punishment.
 
Mslizzie, no I don’t think hell is like earth. It’s a completely different ‘way’ of being. Even if a person sees their family in hell, it would only be because the family is also there…but they’d only be filled with hatred for them. Hell might be a physical place with fire, we don’t know for sure, but even if it’s not it’s still very different from earth. There is no love or goodness at all, because these things have their origin of God, and He is absent in hell. A person would not be able to receive the Sacraments; the Blessed Sacrament is not present there, there is no church. A person would not be able to love God or choose to do anything for Him, or anything good at all…they wouldn’t want to… Hope that helps 🙂 God bless you. :hug1:
 
mslizzie said:
I am just curious, in your opinion what is it like for a soul to exist in hell? Is it like existing on earth where the soul is still with his/her family? What I am trying to ask is, in hell is it a physical place where there is fire or is it like living on earth where a soul can still do the same things he had done while on earth like working, eating, going to church, being with his family, sleeping, etc.
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Mslizzie, I know why you are asking because of past conversations we’ve had. I’m not sure what hell is like except there is no hope there. You will not be fooled into thinking you are still on earth. There is judgement before one is damned. Don’t let despair and the devil let you think you are already judged and damned, because you still have hope in prayer in Jesus Christ. Can I suggest you spend some time before our Lord in adoration at a nearby chapel. This is not a staging area for hell, but a hope in eternal life with Christ. We are the Church militant, one with the body of Christ. Keep your hope alive. Tim
 
You feel that hell would be like earth but just eternal, you know sort of bearable. I don’t know what there will be in hell but I can guess as to what there will NOT be in hell.

NO Unity.
No love.
No friends.
No laughter.
No light.
No music.
No-----

There wont be any thing in Hell.
 
TOP said:
Mslizzie, I know why you are asking because of past conversations we’ve had. I’m not sure what hell is like except there is no hope there. You will not be fooled into thinking you are still on earth. There is judgement before one is damned. Don’t let despair and the devil let you think you are already judged and damned, because you still have hope in prayer in Jesus Christ. Can I suggest you spend some time before our Lord in adoration at a nearby chapel. This is not a staging area for hell, but a hope in eternal life with Christ. We are the Church militant, one with the body of Christ. Keep your hope alive. Tim
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👍 that is true, and I also recommend spending some time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. He is only present in Heaven and on earth, not in hell. And when a person dies, they’re judged by God, they meet Him. God bless
 
In my opinion, hell is HELL.

One time a priest included the following in one of his talks about the afterlife:

There was a very successful businessman who loved playing golf every Wednesday and Saturday. He neglected his family because the connections he made at the golf course were more important.
One day as he was playing golf he had a heart attack and died. He immediately entered the most beautiful and challenging golf course he had ever seen. Beautiful clubs were waiting for him. No other golfers were around so he had the whole course to himself. Joyfully he picked up the clubs and started playing. To his delight he hit a hole in one on his first shot. He then continued playing and each time he stroked he made a hole in one. This went on for over an hour when he suddenly realized he was all alone and nobody saw his fabulous shots. He looked up to where he figured God would be and said, “God! Thank you for the wonderful golf course but I am tired of it and would like to move on. Show me more of heaven.” God’s only response was, “Heaven??? Who said this was heaven!”
 
onetruechurch said:
In my opinion, hell is HELL.

One time a priest included the following in one of his talks about the afterlife:

There was a very successful businessman who loved playing golf every Wednesday and Saturday. He neglected his family because the connections he made at the golf course were more important.
One day as he was playing golf he had a heart attack and died. He immediately entered the most beautiful and challenging golf course he had ever seen. Beautiful clubs were waiting for him. No other golfers were around so he had the whole course to himself. Joyfully he picked up the clubs and started playing. To his delight he hit a hole in one on his first shot. He then continued playing and each time he stroked he made a hole in one. This went on for over an hour when he suddenly realized he was all alone and nobody saw his fabulous shots. He looked up to where he figured God would be and said, “God! Thank you for the wonderful golf course but I am tired of it and would like to move on. Show me more of heaven.” God’s only response was, “Heaven??? Who said this was heaven!”
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could have been purgatory 😉

(and I’m sure souls in purgatory also realize they’re not on earth, they understand they’re going a process or purification to go to Heaven)
 
there’s a book, i think by st alphonsus ligori, “what will hell be like?” very solid
 
Thanks everyone for your replies. One of the reasons why I felt that I was already in hell was because I have dreamt about it a few months ago. I have dreamt that someone had told me that I was already in that place. I know dreams are not reliable but it definitely affected my way of thinking. Another is, I went through a period in the past where I had visual hallucinations that were actually very frightening and demonic. At that time, I was not praying at all and I didn’t have a relationship with God. I was only going to church for the heck of it but it was not wholeheartedly.

But I reached the point where I had been enlightened and decided to seek the Sacrament of Reconciliation where I was able to confess my sins. That made me feel relieved and closer to the Lord.

But there are still times when the enemy is attacking me spiritually even in my dreams. There are nights when I am afraid to go to sleep because of fear of having another nightmare.

Praying the rosary daily is what I am doing to strengthen me and decrease my fears and anxieties aside from taking my medications for depression.

To the ones who had assured me that I am not in hell, thank you. It gave me a lot of hope.
 
I believe Hell will be being frozen in eternal blackness and hatred, sharing in the death of Satan as those in Heaven share in the life of Christ.
St. Augustine said “God became man that man might become God”
I believe, in Hell, we become Satan, like as in inverse of Augustine’s statement.
 
While in this present life we have souls and bodies. You cannot be in Heaven or Purgatory or Hell since these are spiritual places only at this time. Separation of soul and body is what we call death in this life. Then you are purely spiritual and then go to Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory. We are reunited with our bodies at the end of the time; this is not the end of time yet.

Some have received visions of at least Purgatory and Hell but they are not there in the sense that God has announced a sentence on them; they are merely visiting.

The following is related in the book “The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, Heaven” by O.S.F.C. Fr. Martin von Cochem which has Imprimatur:

-St. Bridget says if all the world was burning, it still wouldn’t compare to the heat of the flames in Hell.
-St. Augustine says most fearful fire on earth is, in comparison with the fire of Hell, like a painting of a fire compared to a real fire.
-St. Bonaventure says the smell, stench, of one person in Hell would, if on Earth, kill anyone near enough to smell it.
-St. Catherine of Siena declared she would rather walk through a flaming fire than gaze for one instant at the devil.
-St. Thomas Aquinas says every soul in Hell will know every other soul in Hell’s sins
-the damned in Hell never behold the likeness of God; this is a punishment worse than all others but humans cannot reason why; when we are spirits we will then yearn to see this supreme Good.
-once the soul separates from the body the only source of happiness is God, possession of God.

What is it like to exist in Hell? Everything on this Earth are mere symbols: The greatest joy on this earth would not compare to Heaven and the most excruciating pain on this earth cannot compare to Hell. To get the closest to feeling what it is like to exist in Hell while you are but still on this earth you must subject yourself to the most painful thing on this earth you can think of. i suppose it can vary from person to person. But i have found this as the most painful experience on Earth:

Find a solid structure next to level ground. Brace your back straight against the wall but bend your knees so the insides of your knees are forming right angles or nearly so and your feet should be planted a few feet in front of the wall. Essentially, it is like you are sitting on a stool with your back leaning on the wall, except there is no stool there. Some weight from the back bracing against the wall relieves you but the rest must be borne by the legs, the quads in particular. After a few minutes the quads begin to burn.

The body can only take so much pain before it passes out. To avoid this, go ahead and stand up a little bit more so your knees are about 135 degrees. What you are doing is putting more of the burden on your back at this point. After a while in this position you may feel your thighs burning but not as bad as before. Then you might want to go back down again to 90 degree angles at the knees.

And continue to adjust accordingly to maintain the burning of the thighs but not so much as to pass out. Stay like this for all of eternity. Can’t do it due to the physical and mental anguish? Then do it for 1 hour. Still cannot do it? If you cannot undergo this small torment how do you plan to cope with Hell or even Purgatory where the suffering is far greater?
 
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