What is Hell?

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simpleas

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Is Hell to be regarded as a place of fire, pain and suffering after death, or a separation from God eternally as in a place of complete emptiness?

Do we need a threat of hell to make us believe in God? Can we live a good moral life without a fear of hell waiting in the next eternal life?

Recently I’ve been reading how many people do not believe in a place such as hell, or that they do not need to be taught that they will go to hell unless they are good people. They can be good people, respecting others without this fear. They don’t understand that some people may in fact just be good, just in case God sends them into hell, and if there was no threat of hell, they would do just what they wanted.

Thanks.
 
The loss of of the Face of God, the knowledge of that loss, the true and eternal understanding of that loss, and absolute knowledge that the loss is without end - that there will never be hope to obtain the Grace of God.

I would rather be at the edges of infinity and have God smile at me one infinitesimal moment in time, to be the least upon the least in Heaven, than be in Hell.

As for there being a physical place… your body, joined with it’s soul at the final judgement, will have some physical place to be… be that in a fire-pit, a dung-pile, who knows for sure, there are private revelations ( for example: THE MESSAGE OF FATIMA (Vatican Site - click thru ) There are scriptural references ( Bible Verses About Hell (Protestant website; however, you can look the verses up in any Bible you want )
So rest assured, there will be a place for your corporal nature along with your spiritual nature to suffer.

As for those just going thru the motions… remember the readings a few Sundays ago about the King and the Wedding feast?
Gospel mt 22:1-14
Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and elders of the people
in parables, saying,
“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who gave a wedding feast for his son.
He dispatched his servants
to summon the invited guests to the feast,
but they refused to come.
A second time he sent other servants, saying,
‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet,
my calves and fattened cattle are killed,
and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’
Some ignored the invitation and went away,
one to his farm, another to his business.
The rest laid hold of his servants,
mistreated them, and killed them.
The king was enraged and sent his troops,
destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Then he said to his servants, 'The feast is ready,
but those who were invited were not worthy to come.
Go out, therefore, into the main roads
and invite to the feast whomever you find.’
The servants went out into the streets
and gathered all they found, bad and good alike,
and the hall was filled with guests.
But when the king came in to meet the guests,
he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.
The king said to him, ‘My friend, how is it
that you came in here without a wedding garment?’
But he was reduced to silence.
Then the king said to his attendants, 'Bind his hands and feet,
and cast him into the darkness outside,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’
Many are invited, but few are chosen.”
 
From the catechism:

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.
 
Hell is simply the eternal separation from God. This means separation from all goodness, all kindness, all grace, all happiness, all comfort, all good emotion, all reconciliation, all virtue, and all of everything good.

I just finished reading The Inferno by Dante Alighieri. Obviously, it is not a perfect rendering of Hell, but I think that it is very close to it; therefore, I would advise you to read it and get a better understanding of the torments of eternity without God in eternal pain and suffering that can never be cooled. If you do decide to get it, get the John Ciardi translation from Signet.

May God bless you and keep you safe!
 
simpleas said:
Is Hell to be regarded as a place of fire, pain and suffering after death, or a separation from God eternally as in a place of complete emptiness?
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In a way, both. There’s definitely torment, which if nothing else arises at least from the deprivation of God. Jesus talks of hell both as Gehenna and the fiery pit, and also as ‘the darkness outside’. I think it would be wrong to ignore either aspect.
Do we need a threat of hell to make us believe in God? Can we live a good moral life without a fear of hell waiting in the next eternal life?
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Quite probably. Way back in the OT people didn’t believe there was anything after death and they still lived moral lives. On the other hand I don’t see why you’d choose to live ignorant of a truth which you had good reason to believe. For a fair number of people though, the fear of hell does serve as a motivator to turn to God. I suppose it says a lot about God’s love that He’s willing to accept us even when we turn to Him only as a better alternative to hell.
Recently I’ve been reading how many people do not believe in a place such as hell, or that they do not need to be taught that they will go to hell unless they are good people. They can be good people, respecting others without this fear. They don’t understand that some people may in fact just be good, just in case God sends them into hell, and if there was no threat of hell, they would do just what they wanted.
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Thanks.
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I really don’t think any real good comes from not believing in hell, and the attitude of ‘I don’t need to believe in hell to be a good person’ tends to just be a way of being condescending towards Christians, in my experience. In any event, being ‘morally upright’ or simply ‘good’ is very different from being holy, and I think people forget that nowadays. If nothing else, people who start out trying to be holy as a means of avoiding hell often find that over time their motive changes to one of loving God, so that’s a good thing.
As an end to this rambling reply, may I suggest reading St. Faustina’s vision of hell? She noted, among other things, that the majority of souls there didn’t believe there was such a thing.
divinemercysunday.com/vision.htm
 
Is the only reason we love God so that we won’t go to hell?
If so, then we really don’t love God.
Is the only reason we love our children so that they don’t put us in a nursing home one day? :eek:
This is faulty thinking.
We place ourselves in hell, by our own choice(s). God never created one soul in order to condemn it. He desires eternal life for every person. People who say there is no hell are attempting to justify lifestyles that Jesus would not desire for us. “If I just say it isn’t so, then it isn’t”.
🤷
Nope.
 
pianistclare said:
Is the only reason we love God so that we won’t go to hell?
If so, then we really don’t love God.
Is the only reason we love our children so that they don’t put us in a nursing home one day? :eek:
This is faulty thinking.
We place ourselves in hell, by our own choice(s). God never created one soul in order to condemn it. He desires eternal life for every person. People who say there is no hell are attempting to justify lifestyles that Jesus would not desire for us. “If I just say it isn’t so, then it isn’t”.
🤷
Nope.
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You wrote, “We place ourselves in hell, by our own choice(s). God never created one soul in order to condemn it. He desires eternal life for every person.”

If “God never created one soul in order to condemn it” or for that matter for that soul to condemn itself, than maybe God has come up with a Plan that is, ultimately, for ALL to be with God in God’s Kingdom since God “desires eternal life for every person”.

Since it is written that it is “God’s Will that All be saved” and it is also written that God-Incarnate taught us to pray “…Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done…” when asked to teach us how to pray by the Apostles, maybe the least that those who believe that Jesus is Who He Is, is to pray for “God’s Will to be done”, any thoughts from you, pianistclare or anyone else who may happen to read this?
 
Tom_Baum said:
You wrote, “We place ourselves in hell, by our own choice(s). God never created one soul in order to condemn it. He desires eternal life for every person.”

If “God never created one soul in order to condemn it” or for that matter for that soul to condemn itself, than maybe God has come up with a Plan that is, ultimately, for ALL to be with God in God’s Kingdom since God “desires eternal life for every person”.

Since it is written that it is “God’s Will that All be saved” and it is also written that God-Incarnate taught us to pray “…Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done…” when asked to teach us how to pray by the Apostles, maybe the least that those who believe that Jesus is Who He Is, is to pray for “God’s Will to be done”, any thoughts from you, pianistclare or anyone else who may happen to read this?
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Sounds like we’re on the same page. Follow God’s plan fro us, and continue to aspire to sainthood. Right?
 
simpleas said:
Is Hell to be regarded as a place of fire, pain and suffering after death, or a separation from God eternally as in a place of complete emptiness?

Do we need a threat of hell to make us believe in God? Can we live a good moral life without a fear of hell waiting in the next eternal life?

Recently I’ve been reading how many people do not believe in a place such as hell, or that they do not need to be taught that they will go to hell unless they are good people. They can be good people, respecting others without this fear. They don’t understand that some people may in fact just be good, just in case God sends them into hell, and if there was no threat of hell, they would do just what they wanted.

Thanks.
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Eternal death. Eternal punishment. No happiness. The worst suffering is the loss of God (the source of all happiness behind all the earthly gifts).
St Faustina had a vision of hell, as did Catherine Emmerich, St John Bosco, St Theresa of Avila,
Do google the above saints visions of hell.
 
Even if Hell were no more than the town in Michigan (which freezes over each year!:)), we as human beings are designed for our LORD’s everlasting embrace.

But we can miss it by our actions.

And that is the loss that we think of as “Hell.”

ICXC NIKA
 
GEddie said:
Even if Hell were no more than the town in Michigan (which freezes over each year!:)), we as human beings are designed for our LORD’s everlasting embrace.

But we can miss it by our actions.

And that is the loss that we think of as “Hell.”

ICXC NIKA
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👍 Best answer!
 
Richard_White said:
Hell is simply the eternal separation from God. This means separation from all goodness, all kindness, all grace, all happiness, all comfort, all good emotion, all reconciliation, all virtue, and all of everything good.

I just finished reading The Inferno by Dante Alighieri. Obviously, it is not a perfect rendering of Hell, but I think that it is very close to it; therefore, I would advise you to read it and get a better understanding of the torments of eternity without God in eternal pain and suffering that can never be cooled. If you do decide to get it, get the John Ciardi translation from Signet.

May God bless you and keep you safe!
Click to expand...
Some would say they have or are experiencing some of the above while here on earth. No need to wait until death to experience hell. In fact death would be to them a release of torment.

I don’t think I’d read a book that expresses what eternal punishment would be like :eek:
 
GEddie said:
Even if Hell were no more than the town in Michigan (which freezes over each year!:)), we as human beings are designed for our LORD’s everlasting embrace.

But we can miss it by our actions.

And that is the loss that we think of as “Hell.”

ICXC NIKA
Click to expand...
So you are talking about hell on earth? By our actions we can be suffering separation from Gods grace, but never his love?
 
If hell is the absence of God, then I’ve been in hell the moment I was born.

I don’t take the idea of hell seriously.

It was simply a tool used by the Church to scare their followers into obedience.

After all, without the Church there is no salvation.

How perfectly convenient, don’t ya think? 😃
 
987mk said:
If hell is the absence of God, then I’ve been in hell the moment I was born.

I don’t take the idea of hell seriously.

It was simply a tool used by the Church to scare their followers into obedience.

After all, without the Church there is no salvation.

How perfectly convenient, don’t ya think? 😃
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Here’s my thought:

What if you’re wrong? There’s not an OOPS big enough.
😃

Jesus didn’t “scare” anybody.
He taught, He warned, He sometimes admonished.
He also promised eternal life.
Nobody in the human hierarchy of the church came up with that. We’re simply holding up what Christ taught.
Rules give freedom, not constrain, ask any person who survived their teenage years.
If you want God in your life, just invite him in. Maybe things have been bad because He’s never had a place in it? 🤷
Don’t take my word for it…there’s lots of good reading on the subject.
Peace.
 
Why would hell be eternal. Christ promised eternal life to the righteous, why would sinners get anything eternal? The wages of sin is death…
Maybe eternal punishment of burning in hell is more of a man made teaching rather than Gods, because man always has to punish someone for some wrong doing.

Also wasn’t Plato teaching about Hell before Jesus’ teachings?
 
987mk said:
If hell is the absence of God, then I’ve been in hell the moment I was born.

I don’t take the idea of hell seriously.

It was simply a tool used by the Church to scare their followers into obedience.

After all, without the Church there is no salvation.

How perfectly convenient, don’t ya think? 😃
Click to expand...
:hmmm:
 
simpleas said:
Why would hell be eternal. Christ promised eternal life to the righteous, why would sinners get anything eternal? The wages of sin is death…
Maybe eternal punishment of burning in hell is more of a man made teaching rather than Gods, because man always has to punish someone for some wrong doing.

Also wasn’t Plato teaching about Hell before Jesus’ teachings?
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Well yes, the wages of sin is death, and as a result of sinning we ALL die, since we’re all sinners. God however made humans with immortal souls, and He doesn’t go back on that. Same reason the Church doesn’t allow divorce I believe, God won’t unmake something He’s made.
Besides, the concept of an eternity for sinners is well founded in scripture, not ‘man-made’. It’s in the OT: “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” (Daniel 12:2) And in the NT: “it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.” (Mk 9:48)

Anyway, how does Plato teaching something beforehand invalidate what Jesus said? Something’s not wrong because someone else thought of it beforehand.
 
Trekker47 said:
Well yes, the wages of sin is death, and as a result of sinning we ALL die, since we’re all sinners. God however made humans with immortal souls, and He doesn’t go back on that. Same reason the Church doesn’t allow divorce I believe, God won’t unmake something He’s made.
Besides, the concept of an eternity for sinners is well founded in scripture, not ‘man-made’. It’s in the OT: “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” (Daniel 12:2) And in the NT: “it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.” (Mk 9:48)

Anyway, how does Plato teaching something beforehand invalidate what Jesus said? Something’s not wrong because someone else thought of it beforehand.
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It was from the below that made me think :

At the end of the 2nd century Christianity had begun to blend Greek philosophy —human speculative reasoning, with the teachings of God’s Word. Such words and phrases as ‘continuance of being’, ‘perpetual existence’, ‘incapable of dissolution’ and ‘incorruptible’ began to appear in so-called Christian writings. These had come straight from Plato, the Greek philosopher, all those years before Jesus. Other phrases used were ‘the soul to remain by itself immortal’, and ‘an immortal nature’. It was taught that this is how God made us. But this idea derives from philosophy, not divine inspiration. There are no such words in the Bible. It was Athenagorus, a Christian, but whose teachings, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, were strongly tinged with Platonism, who had introduced the teaching of an immortal soul into Christianity. In this way, he paved the way for the logical introduction of eternal torment for immortal, but sinful, souls. This was a hundred years and more after the time of the apostles, and came straight from popular philosophy. The apostles had consistently taught that death is a sleep, to be followed by resurrection. The early church leaders – Clement, Ignatius, Hermas, Polycarp, and others who also believed that death is a sleep, taught that the wicked are destroyed forever by fire – their punishment was to be annihilation. These leaders did not teach of an immortal soul to be tortured by fire in hell for eternity.

I know nothing, that is why I’m asking here.

Thanks.
 
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