Is the hell physical or mental?

[hazcompat]

Revelation 14:11The smoke of the fire that torments them will rise forever and ever, and there will be no relief day or night for those who worship the beast or its image or accept the mark of its name.”

Peace

 

[hazcompat]

Matthew 25:41* Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels…,

Prepared?

Peace

 

[ricchetto]

Ok. according to Mark and Matthew Jesus talk about hell.
Now can you explain me how those who born before Jesus could avoid the hell considering that the church say that only through Christ you can be saved?

 

[hazcompat]

Matthew 22:29* Jesus said to them in reply, “You are misled because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God. 30At the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven. 31And concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you* by God, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

Matthew 27:50* But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit. 51 And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.* The earth quaked, rocks were split, 52 tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. 53And coming forth from their tombs after his resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

From an Ancient Sermon for Holy Saturday:
Something strange is happening –there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear. He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated. For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden. See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree. I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you. Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

Peace

 

[Doxiemom]

Look, i am not an expert in understanding everything that is written in the Gospels however as far as i can understand i never read that Jesus ever talk about hell as an eternal punishment.
Not only that but no priest that i inquired has been able to explain me in a rational way how those who born before Jesus or those who never heard about him could be saved.
There is no point in changing argument and refer to other biblical references.
If you do not know just say so.
What’s the point in trying to mix everything up?

I will try to clarify you because I can understand how this idea will torment you. Thinking that innocent people, born long before Christ, are suffering the fires of hell, simply because they were born in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I hope we can agree that there is “evil” and “good”, a “right” and a “wrong”. Without that there will never be an explanation for you.

ya know, God was smart enough to save these folks.He loved them all, they were all part of His precious creation. But what to do until His Son would give up His Life so that all would have everlasting life with Him??

A place was created called hell, yes, but also a place called paradise. A great gulf separated these places. This was so that none could cross over to the other place. Paradise was created for the righteous, a safe place to be until Jesus would open the gates of heaven. Why? Because heaven had been sullied by Lucifer. Only His Blood would cleanse Heaven. Part of the plan of salvation.

There have been since the beginning people of the Light and people of the dark. It is by our nature to seek Light; Light is knowledge, goodness, light, rainbows and butterflies and sunshine(ok, I added a few to the description) , The dark, is just the opposite. Call it the realm of the devil, evil, demons, destructive forces, negative. Most of us shudder and walk away from the dark nearly most of the time. Some will embrace it. Completely.

hose who sought the Light, even in their ignorance, those who were not under any covenant with God, when they died were placed in paradise. Until the Day when they were gathered up and went into heaven.

After Jesus led these righteous out of Paradise, the great gulf between hell and it was closed over.Only hell exisited.

A person chooses the Dark. Welcomes the Dark. And it is the person who choses Hell. for it was not created for man but for all of the fallen angels.

If a person truly never was offered Christ(you have been offered Him) God in His most Powerful and Mysterious Ways will be Just.He did it for those of old. And He does not change.

 

[ricchetto]

Doxiemom:

when they died were placed in paradise. Until the Day when they were gathered up and went into heaven.

Ok. thanks for your explanation but now tell me what is the difference between paradise and heaven?
I thought it would be the same thing.

 

[concretecamper]

Ok. according to Mark and Matthew Jesus talk about hell.
Now can you explain me how those who born before Jesus could avoid the hell considering that the church say that only through Christ you can be saved?

God is eternal therefore He exists outside of time. Christ’s sacrifice therefore can be applied to the past, present, or future. In the creed we say Jesus descended into hell. Some have explained that Jesus descended not into the eternal punishment hell but the netherworld to proclaim the good news to those who lived before Jesus. I know I Am missing a lot about this teaching so please research it…or maybe someone else can chime in.

 

[hazcompat]

632 The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was “raised from the dead” presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection.478 This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ’s descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.479

633 Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, “hell” - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God.480 Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into “Abraham’s bosom”:481 "It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell."482 Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.483

634 "The gospel was preached even to the dead."484 The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfillment. This is the last phase of Jesus’ messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ’s redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption.

635 Christ went down into the depths of death so that "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live."485 Jesus, “the Author of life”, by dying destroyed "him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and [delivered] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage."486 Henceforth the risen Christ holds “the keys of Death and Hades”, so that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth."487

scborromeo.org/ccc/p122a5p1.htm#631

Peace

 

[Doxiemom]

Ok. thanks for your explanation but now tell me what is the difference between paradise and heaven?
I thought it would be the same thing.

First do not confuse the garden of Eden with paradise because sometimes it is called that.

I am confident you are familiar with the concept of a “hell”, which is a real place ( at least as far as I am concerned). Man was never meant to be in there, as it was for Satan and his buddies. However, after the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, (man was to live forever), death entered into the world. Until the time that Jesus could die willingly the gates of heaven were closed. So what God did was to make a place called paradise that sat right next to hell. This was the place for all who are called righteous-good people from Adam on down the line.

The difference is that Paradise was a safe place for these souls. It was a waiting place until the appointed time for Jesus to come to literally take all these souls up into heaven to be with His Father.

It is often said that Jesus died and descended into Hell. Said because hell and paradise sat across from each other. The great gulf between the two allowed each to see the other side but this gulf prevented those in hell to be able to cross over.

Paridise was sealed off after Jesus went into there to take the souls Home. It was no longer a necessary place.

I hoped I helped. I know these stories sound fantastical. But, once you accept that there is a Creator that always existed and is all powerful, anything and everything is possible and He choses the Way and the Time. Understand, God sees everything at once and all occurs at once, it is we who must drag ourselves, in this age,through the burden of time until wonderful eternity and all is as heaven again on earth, as it was meant to be.

 

[ffg]

I think it will be quite painful, How will pain be delivered? I don’t know.

But probably not a place in which to strive.