Is hell a literal place or state of being?

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St. Thomas Aquinas

It is probable, however, and more in keeping with the statements of holy men and the revelations made to many, that there is a twofold place of Purgatory. One, according to the common law; and thus the place of Purgatory is situated below and in proximity to hell, so that it is the same fire which torments the damned in hell and cleanses the just in Purgatory; although the damned being lower in merit, are to be consigned to a lower place.

THE COLLECTED WORKS OF SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

ALONG TIME AFTER THE LORD had already granted
me many of the favors I’ve mentioned and other very
lofty ones, while I was in prayer one day, I suddenly found that,
without knowing how, I had seemingly been put in hell. I
understood that the Lord wanted me to see the place the devils
had prepared there for me and which I merited because of my
sins. This experience took place within the shortest space of time,
but even were I to live for many years I think it would be im-
possible for me to forget it.** The entrance it seems to me was
similar to a very long and narrow alleyway, like an oven, low
and dark and confined; the floor seemed to me to consist of dirty,
muddy water emitting a foul stench and swarming with putrid
vermin. At the end of the alleyway a hole that looked like a small
cupboard was hollowed out in the wall; there I found I was placed
in a cramped condition.** All of this was delightful to see in com-
parison with what I felt there. What I have described can hard-
ly be exaggerated.

archive.org/stream/SantaTeresaDeAvilaWorksComplete/SaintTeresaOfAvilaCollectedWorksComplete_djvu.txt
 
Vonsalza said:
I don’t think anyone would really defend the notion of it being a physical location that you could somehow visit if you had a sufficiently fast multidimensional spaceship.

But to entertain the idea, if everyone alive today can be crammed into a cubic mile and everyone alive today number about 5% of all people that ever lived, 20 cubic miles is such a small percentage of the volume of Earth that hell could probably expand for eons to come.

Scary thought, no?
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When they all jump up and down together, it’s an earthquake. The severity depends of how coordinated they are. Practice makes perfect. 😃
 
As someone has said private revelation says its a place obviously not of our physical world.

Example - the first secret of Fatima was a vision of hell to the 3 children from our Holy Mother
Code: 
She [Our Lady of Fatima] opened Her hands once more, as She had done during the two previous months. The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw as it were a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls [of the damned] in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. (It must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons could be distinguished [from the souls of the damned] by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals.1 This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, Who had already prepared us by promising, in the first apparition, to take us to Heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror.2
Our Lady then explained to the children, “You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go.”

You would have to get past all the private revelations to say its a state of being regardless of what the Church teaches because we are allowed to believe these revelations are true. No we don’t have to believe private revelation so that’s your out on this one.
 
Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had** fallen from heaven to earth, and it was given the key to the pit of the abyss.**

Revelation 9:1

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven,** having the key to the Abyss **and holding in his hand a great chain.

Revelation 20:1

And he threw him into the Abyss, shut it, and sealed it over him, so that he could not deceive the nations until the thousand years were complete. After that, he must be released for a brief period of time.

Revelation 20:3

And the demons kept begging Jesus not to order them to** go into the abyss**.

Luke 8:31

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
Philippians 2:10

And I heard every creature in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever.”

Revelation 5:13
 
thistle said:
The Church does not define Hell as a place. It defines it as a state of being.

CCC 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.” 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. 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.”**

Here is a good Catholic Answers article about Hell.

catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/what-is-hell

One paragraph for easy reference:

"4. Is Hell a “Place” or a “State of Being?”

Hell is primarily a state of being, but inasmuch as the souls there will have bodies after the resurrection of the dead, they will have location as well. So, in that sense, we can say Hell is a “place.” In fact, we could say the same of heaven. But both heaven and hell are not “places” in the sense that the people there could “leave” and “return.” Inasmuch as these are states of being, “Heaven” and “Hell” are present wherever the saints and damned are."
.
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Then with regards to Heaven, where are Jesus and Mary’s bodies, if it’s a state of being?
 
Techno2000 said:
St. Thomas Aquinas

It is probable, however, and more in keeping with the statements of holy men and the revelations made to many, that there is a twofold place of Purgatory. One, according to the common law; and thus the place of Purgatory is situated below and in proximity to hell, so that it is the same fire which torments the damned in hell and cleanses the just in Purgatory; although the damned being lower in merit, are to be consigned to a lower place.

THE COLLECTED WORKS OF SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

ALONG TIME AFTER THE LORD had already granted
me many of the favors I’ve mentioned and other very
lofty ones, while I was in prayer one day, I suddenly found that,
without knowing how, I had seemingly been put in hell. I
understood that the Lord wanted me to see the place the devils
had prepared there for me and which I merited because of my
sins. This experience took place within the shortest space of time,
but even were I to live for many years I think it would be im-
possible for me to forget it.** The entrance it seems to me was
similar to a very long and narrow alleyway, like an oven, low
and dark and confined; the floor seemed to me to consist of dirty,
muddy water emitting a foul stench and swarming with putrid
vermin. At the end of the alleyway a hole that looked like a small
cupboard was hollowed out in the wall; there I found I was placed
in a cramped condition.** All of this was delightful to see in com-
parison with what I felt there. What I have described can hard-
ly be exaggerated.

archive.org/stream/SantaTeresaDeAvilaWorksComplete/SaintTeresaOfAvilaCollectedWorksComplete_djvu.txt
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Not what the Church teaches. Aquinas did not believe in the Immaculate Conception. We certainly do not have to believe and accept everything the Church Fathers opined on.
The only thing that counts is what the Church actually teaches.
 
thistle said:
Not what the Church teaches. Aquinas did not believe in the Immaculate Conception. We certainly do not have to believe and accept everything the Church Fathers opined on.
The only thing that counts is what the Church actually teaches.
Click to expand...
The Fathers and the Mystics are saying the samething as the Church does , just with a little more detail.

631 Jesus** "descended into the lower parts of the earth.** He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens."476 The Apostles’ Creed confesses in the same article Christ’s descent into hell and his Resurrection from the dead on the third day, because in his Passover it was precisely out of the depths of death that he made life spring forth:

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,**
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, dead, and buried:
He descended into hell;
The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;
The holy Catholic Church;
The Communion of Saints;
The Forgiveness of sins;
The Resurrection of the body,
And the Life everlasting.
Amen.**
 
Techno2000 said:
The Fathers and the Mystics are saying the samething as the Church does , just with a little more detail.

631 Jesus** "descended into the lower parts of the earth.** He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens."476 The Apostles’ Creed confesses in the same article Christ’s descent into hell and his Resurrection from the dead on the third day, because in his Passover it was precisely out of the depths of death that he made life spring forth:

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,**
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, dead, and buried:
He descended into hell;**
The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;
The holy Catholic Church;
The Communion of Saints;
The Forgiveness of sins;
The Resurrection of the body,
And the Life everlasting.
Amen.

Let me repeat this. The Church does NOT teach that Hell is located in or near or anywhere within the earth.

What you have bolded in red are simply expressions.

CCC 636 By the expression “He descended into hell”, the Apostles’ Creed confesses that Jesus did really die and through his death for us conquered death and the devil “who has the power of death”
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