Population of Hell

[NewsTheMan]

Hi hi,

I’m interested in any Philosophy Papers on Hell, specifically on the population of Hell. I know of Cardinal Dulles’ paper, but can’t seem to find anything else. I ask because I am writing an essay on this topic for my semester essay (last essay as an undergrad in philosophy - yay!).
So if anyone knows of any papers, has any, please let me know

Thanks

 

[SeanTom]

Hi hi,

I’m interested in any Philosophy Papers on Hell, specifically on the population of Hell. I know of Cardinal Dulles’ paper, but can’t seem to find anything else. I ask because I am writing an essay on this topic for my semester essay (last essay as an undergrad in philosophy - yay!).
So if anyone knows of any papers, has any, please let me know

Thanks

I can’t even guess how many people may be in Hell, and I don’t think anyone can answer that question except Jesus Himself. But to me, it isn’t important to know how many people are in Hell, as long as I am not counted as one of them. But here is some other info on Hell that is interesting:

Hell is terrible place

People don’t like to hear about Hell. But if Jesus is not your Lord and Savior, you are on your way to Hell. Some of you will be upset at this bad news. You think that this is all gloom and doom. Tell me this…if your house were on fire, would you want someone to let you know? Of course you would. You’d probably thank them for telling you. Well, I’d like to tell you that there is a fiery Hell.

Hell may not be a politically correct topic these days, but many people will be entering Hell if they don’t see and accept God in their lives. Hell is a real place despite the fact that people, being funny, laugh and say that they want to go there. They simply don’t understand how terrible hell is. Just because you’ve never seen hell doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. We have a searing, accurate description of what hell is like in God’s word. (We’ll get to some scriptures in a minute) Hell is awful and if you don’t believe in Jesus, you’d better get with it or else Hell is going to be your eternal destination.

Satan WILL NOT always cause havoc. His doom is already foretold, “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)
Did you know that if you do not belong to Jesus then you belong to Satan? There is no in between. You don’t have to be a card carrying Satanist to serve Satan. You don’t have to be a murderer, drunkard or drug addict, either. All you have to do is ignore Jesus. If you don’t have Jesus today, you are deceived and Hell bound–you are a child of Hell, a child of the devil.

How many times have I heard someone say, “A loving God wouldn’t put His creatures in Hell.” Well I have news for you, friend, God doesn’t put anyone in Hell–their sins put them there. Know ye not that Hell was not created for man? Hell was created for the devil and his angels–
“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, PREPARED FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS” (Matthew 25:41)

Men go to Hell because they choose the devil’s way and reject the Lord Jesus. God is holy and will not allow any sin in His kingdom. As a result, when people die with mortal sins on their soul, which haven’t been forgiven, they are forever banished from the presence of God to a place called Hell–and it isn’t pretty. Incidentally, Satan won’t be ruling in the lake of fire. He’ll be screaming and hollering just like everybody else. The devil, and his followers, shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)

Think about this…God, out of profound love for you–a vile sinner who has transgressed His commandments–let His own beautiful, dear Son be sacrificed for YOUR sins! Jesus wasn’t a sinner. He didn’t sin one time. He didn’t die for Himself. He died for you. To save YOU. That’s why He is called the Saviour. Because He SAVES people from Hell! If you reject His sacrifice and trod it underfoot it should not be too hard for you to understand that the same God, who sacrificed His beloved Son, will allow you to be expeditiously cast you into hell and the lake of fire. NOTHING unclean will ever enter God’s Heaven-and all unregenerate people are unclean. “Come now, and let us set things right says the Lord: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow: though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool.” (Isaiah 1:18).

God does not want you in Hell! Jesus came to save you from that horrible place! Don’t lie and say God puts people in Hell! Get right with Jesus and you won’t go there! Look at these scriptures:
As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, but rather in the wicked man’s conversation, that he may live. Turn from your evil ways.(Ezekiel 33:11)
The Lord is…patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.(II Peter 3:9)

The Bible says that God loves you so much that the Creator of this universe (Jesus the Christ) came to “taste death” for every man. He is God come in the flesh to destroy the power of death and Hell–He holds the keys. If you say yes to Jesus, Hell won’t be your final destination. If you say no to Jesus, Hell will be your eternal home. There is no way of getting out and no comfort–Hell is everlasting.
2

 

[tonyrey]

Hi hi,

I’m interested in any Philosophy Papers on Hell, specifically on the population of Hell. I know of Cardinal Dulles’ paper, but can’t seem to find anything else. I ask because I am writing an essay on this topic for my semester essay (last essay as an undergrad in philosophy - yay!).
So if anyone knows of any papers, has any, please let me know

Thanks

There have been several threads about Hell. You are welcome to ask any questions you may have…

 

[NewsTheMan]

There have been several threads about Hell. You are welcome to ask any questions you may have…

Question (as in OP): I’m interested in any Philosophy Papers on Hell, specifically on the population of Hell, do you know of any?

 

[Charlemagne_II]

I don’t know how we can know anything very certain about the population of hell. I suspect it is very large, but whether it is larger than the population of heaven is unknowable. If man has followed the path of the angels, fully a third of the race have gone to hell with Satan, while two thirds have gone to heaven (or heaven and purgatory together, which means heaven in the end). My not-so-educated guess would be that the population of purgatory is larger than the population of heaven and hell put together. As for myself, I would be ever so grateful to be the very last soul to exit purgatory at the final judgment!

 

[tonyrey]

Question (as in OP): I’m interested in any Philosophy Papers on Hell, specifically on the population of Hell, do you know of any?

I have never come across any - which is not surprising because it depends on the decisions of individuals with free will. If we are realistic we have to admit that any attempt to establish statistics about the afterlife is doomed to failure.

 

[Charlemagne_II]

This source may help you. Good luck with your paper.

richleebruce.com/hell.html

 

[5tunate]

I’ve read the following essay on the population of hell several times now, so it must be true:

Dr. Schambaugh, of the University of Oklahoma School of Chemical Engineering, Final Exam question for May of 1997. Dr. Schambaugh is known for asking questions such as, “why do airplanes fly?” on his final exams. His one and only final exam question in May 1997 for his Momentum, Heat and Mass Transfer II class was: “Is hell exothermic or endothermic? Support your answer with proof.”

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle’s Law or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

"First, We postulate that if souls exist, then they must have some mass. If they do, then a mole of souls can also have a mass. So, at what rate are souls moving into hell and at what rate are souls leaving? I think we can safely assume that once a soul gets to hell, it will not leave.

Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for souls entering hell, let’s look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, then you will go to hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and souls go to hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change in volume in hell. Boyle’s Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in hell to stay the same, the ratio of the mass of souls and volume needs to stay constant. Two options exist:

If hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter hell, then the temperature and pressure in hell will increase until all hell breaks loose.
If hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until hell freezes over.
So which is it? If we accept the quote given to me by Theresa Manyan during Freshman year, “that it will be a cold night in hell before I sleep with you” and take into account the fact that I still have NOT succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then Option 2 cannot be true…Thus, hell is exothermic."

The student, Tim Graham, got the only A.

 

[slywakka250]

I have never come across any - which is not surprising because it depends on the decisions of individuals with free will.

The population of hell is NOT merely the summation of the radically free choices of each individual person. If this were the whole story, then the population of hell would be utterly random from God’s perspective, as God would have to relinquish control of the outcome, leaving open the possibility that not one single person choose to escape hell.

God did not do this.

In ADDITION to the population of hell being chooses by individuals with free will, it is ALSO determined by God. God does this by perhaps choosing to create a certain number of people who he knows will freely choose heaven, and a certain number of people who he knows will freely choose hell. This doesn’t need negate our free will, but God *Necessarily *must predetermine the population of hell.

If we are realistic we have to admit that any attempt to establish statistics about the afterlife is doomed to failure.

This being the case that God determines the final populations, reasoning about God’s nature, and about free will, might lead us to some initial speculation on the population of hell I’d think???

The Church says the saints are in heaven. That’s a start I think. I’m not sure how many Catholic saints there are in relation to how many people have lived on earth, but this observation would certainly lead you to speculate that the population of hell is less than about 99.9999900 %??

The odds are slightly better than this I assume, but maybe not by much??

Personally I can’t bear the thought of even ONE person in hell, including Satan.

 

[NewsTheMan]

I have uploaded my essay - I will be grateful for any critique. Note - this is a rough draft and I have yet to go over it again, but my professor wanted drafts in today

[If you plagiarise (lurkers, members) you will be caught - even the drafts go online for my own plagiarism and for the rest of the world to not copy me! - Just saying!]

 

[GratefulFred]

News to the Man Essay on Hell

I have not read Talbott, Walls or Sider. But I thought your essay was readable and presented excellent support for a populated Hell.

What level of education and type of school is this paper for?

 

[saumlens]

If roughly thirty percent of the worlds population is Christian, than a mere seventy percent would suffer the eternal torments of Hell.

Dermatal

 

[NewsTheMan]

News to the Man Essay on Hell

I have not read Talbott, Walls or Sider. But I thought your essay was readable and presented excellent support for a populated Hell.

What level of education and type of school is this paper for?

Cool thanks very much Yeah - sorry, its an ‘academic’ paper so I have to speak about these guys.

I’m just finishing my undergraduate, and I just finished a course in Christian Philosophy of Religion, so that was my ‘term’ essay for last year of undergraduate Philosophy

 

[tonyrey]

The population of hell is NOT merely the summation of the radically free choices of each individual person. If this were the whole story, then the population of hell would be utterly random from God’s perspective, as God would have to relinquish control of the outcome, leaving open the possibility that not one single person choose to escape hell.
God did not do this.

 

[Charlemagne_II]

*Could you bear the thought of one person in heaven who wilfully rejects God? *

Good answer.

 

[PrairieDawn]

What if…and this is just a what if…hell is eternal because God is willing to wait as long as it takes for each person to turn around?

Yeah, I know, bad theology. I’m just full of bad theology, but it’s honest error…I’m not trying to be a pain, and I can only hope that God finds spiritual toddlers entertaining.

 

[tonyrey]

What if…and this is just a what if…hell is eternal because God is willing to wait as long as it takes for each person to turn around?

Yeah, I know, bad theology. I’m just full of bad theology, but it’s honest error…I’m not trying to be a pain, and I can only hope that God finds spiritual toddlers entertaining.

I don’t see why it’s bad theology- unless some one can explain why God is unwilling to wait!. We are all spiritual toddlers…

 

[challam2010]

I keep posting and re-posting this same reply on each innane thread on hell that comes up, so if it seems like deja vu to you, it probably is.

The Catholic Church has never, ever, not one time, deemed ONE human soul to be in hell, unlike its declarations that prophets, apostles, martyrs and other saints do stand in the presence of God (heaven).

There is no way of knowing if even one soul has been consigned to hell, and to speculate on a “population” is just an exercise in typing.

I’m not disagreeing that a belief in hell is part of Church doctrine – I’m saying there is no record of any Magisterial or other document placing one human soul there.

 

[tonyrey]

I keep posting and re-posting this same reply on each innane thread on hell that comes up, so if it seems like deja vu to you, it probably is.

The Catholic Church has never, ever, not one time, deemed ONE human soul to be in hell, unlike its declarations that prophets, apostles, martyrs and other saints do stand in the presence of God (heaven).

There is no way of knowing if even one soul has been consigned to hell, and to speculate on a “population” is just an exercise in typing.

I’m not disagreeing that a belief in hell is part of Church doctrine – I’m saying there is no record of any Magisterial or other document placing one human soul there.

The disproportion of posts about hell - as opposed to heaven - is revealing… Why does evil fascinate people so much?

 

[PrairieDawn]

Is it because we’re willing to trust God to get heaven right, so we don’t worry about it’s nature, but we feel deeply conflicted about the relationship between grace and Hell?