Hell: What We Think We Know

2137 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Sin and its consequences

HELL, WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW

The subject of Hell is a subject that turns many people off to organized religion today. After all, who wants to spend their Sunday mornings listening to a preacher rant and rave about the “Hell fire and brimstone” of Hell or “burning in Hell” or if you don’t change your ways you will spend eternity in Hell. Most want to be entertained and walk out of church feeling all warm and fuzzy. Therefore, clergy mostly ignore the subject or gloss over it even though they believe Hell exists because of their extensive study of God’s word. After all, it is pretty horrible to think of someone being sent to Hell for eternity, but Hell is given more time in the Scriptures than Heaven. Hell is as difficult to describe as Heaven since none of us have been there or know anyone that has been there.
In our society, most of us don’t want to think about Hell. We want to believe that God is a loving God that forgives and shows mercy on sinners and saves them from an eternity in Hell. But in reality, Hell is real. None of us are exempt unless we have come to the Father through baptism and accepted Him as our Savior while agreeing to follow the path He has made for us and stay true to His word.
If you study the Bible, you will find that Hell is actually pretty complex but the study of Hell can be pretty fascinating. Most of the references from the Bible describe Hell as a pretty grim and miserable place that none of us would want to visit, let alone spend eternity in. All of us have our own preconceived notion as to what Hell may be like, but from Sunday School to modern day movies, we probably all think it is HOT….fiery….and pretty awful.
When I think of Hell I visualize it as a dark and fiery place. A place wher...

... middle of paper ...

...s allow us to think about things in different ways.
I find it fascinating that Hell is described as such a complex place with so many levels, circles, chambers and such. After researching the subject it is enough to make me reflect on my life and that in reality, Hell is a place of complete, unending separation from God. 2 Thessalonians 1:9. That is enough for me to strive harder to follow God’s word for my life. While we may not understand what Heaven is like, and we don’t know for sure what Hell is like, I’d rather take my chances with Heaven.

Work Cited
1.) Anderberg, Bengt Niklas. Dantes Inferno. Göteborg: Zinderman, 1961. Print

2.) Guys Life Application Study Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Pub., 2007. Print.

3.) "Hell Bible Versus." Bible Study Tools. Salem Web Network, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Does Hell Exist?

    529 Words  | 2 Pages

    What is Hell? According to the online Oxford Dictionary, “ A place regarded in various religions as a spiritual realm of evil and suffering, often traditionally depicted as a place of perpetual fire beneath the earth where the wicked are punished after death.” A horrible place to be. Have you ever see someone tortured? I hope not, it is a terrible thing. Imagine this scene: An individual, engulfed in flames. Screaming for help but no one can do anything about it. Skin boiling, shrieks of agony, truly a horrid scene. What crime could someone have done to deserve such a punishment. Let us use an illustration. A good father would punish his child when he has done something wrong. But a cruel father would torture him. Hell from this perspective is illogical.

    Read More

  • A Portrait of Hell: Vignettes from Various Mythologies regarding the Darker Side of Death

    1111 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...cape her judgment nor argument with her edicts will sway her. Hell is an absolute, and all the more forbidding because of it. Though the violence depicted in these myths varies, the overall story remains unchanged. Disobeying the laws and strictures set forth by the government and religious doctrines will exact a hefty price, perhaps eternally.

    Read More

  • The Screwtape Letter Analysis

    1725 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hell is like a government. The bureaucracy is, of course, run by their “Father Below” who is Satan (Lewis 6). In other words, the system is a dictatorship. Additionally, the demons in Hell think that they can only “advance at the expense of another” (Schultz 368). Hell was not the intention God had when He gave His people free will, but it was rather a side effect (Hill and Smith). Hell was a consequence for what Satan and his followers tried to do. God created Hell for everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46). In return, Satan and his followers have devoted themselves to corrupt societies so it is easier to tempt those societies (Schultz 368). This consequence had eternal effect on everyone including God and His angels (Hill and

    Read More

  • Personal Philosophy of a Christian Ministry

    1841 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hell will exist forever as place to hold Satan. The demons and those who choose him rather than Christ. But Heaven is the throne of God's glory and the reward for the righteous. We will receive our resurrection body and all pain of any kind will be gone for those in Heaven.

    Read More

  • A discussion of the Plan of Dante’s Inferno

    574 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first punishment that is interesting from Dante’s Inferno is for the prodigals. The prodigals were people who were greedy with money, and other things, and would just spend freely without care. Their punishment for this, was that they had to bang big rocks together for eternity. There are also other people in this circle of hell that are call avaricious. “They are divided into two groups-those who hoarded possessions and those who lavishly spent it” (Hudson) With the exception of the Vestibule and Limbo, upper hell is reserved for sins of incontinence like, sins that originate from unbalanced actions. “They are few demons here, though Minos does assign sinners to their place in hell when they come to the Vestibule. Most of these sins harmed nobody other than the sinner himself or herself.”(Wilkie) This punishment is interesting because of how it has to do with the crime it associates with. Because the people were so greedy, and were so eager to get rid of the money they had and spend it, they have to spend eternity sitting there patiently, with rocks that they cannot get rid of.

    Read More

  • Dante's Sense of Irony

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    The first thing you would notice is the overall irony of Hell itself. As mentioned, most people have a view that Hell is very chaotic and in disarray. However, In Canto IV we find out that Hell is actually very organized. The structure of it is in fact “a great funnel-shaped cave… with its bottom point at the Earth’s center. Around this great circular depression runs a series of ledges, each of which Dante calls a CIRCLE.” (Alighieri 25). Most pictures you see of hell show images of very distressed people and demons running around in turmoil. They are usually all over the place and no sense of organization is apparent. There is also a map of hell that Dante has drawn in order to give us a clearer image of what Hell supposedly looks like (Alighieri 26). Through this we find that Dante has applied his use irony into the very structure of Hell. We also see that the people we thought were myths actually exist – in Dante’s eyes. Scattered throughout the book, we see several mythological characters that have indeed descended into Hell. On...

    Read More

  • Connotation In Sinners

    423 Words  | 1 Pages

    Hell is what he is referring to when the author says firey pit. He describes hell as the lowest,

    Read More

  • Weather In Dante's Inferno Analysis

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    What does hell look like? This question has survived throughout the millennia because people hold no clear answer to it. Various depictions of hell have been created, but one of the most incredibly vivid interpretations comes from Dante Alighieri’s epic three-part poem, The Divine Comedy. Dante’s journey through hell in Inferno (the first book of his epic) is well attributed to the different levels of torture people experience in accordance to their sins. One aspect that is often overlooked, however, is how the weather described within his poem affects the impact of each sin. In fact, weather such as hurricane-like wind, putrid rain, and flaming snow vigorously enhanced the nature of their corresponding sins portrayed in Dante’s Inferno.

    Read More

  • Analysis of A Divine Revelation of Hell by Mary Baxter

    333 Words  | 1 Pages

    pits, different cells in hell and there is a heart of hell. As Mary and JESUS went through hell their were people there who are begging god to let them in heaven and god says no because judgement has been set. He said there has been many people their way to introduce them to god and they refused. Souls are in hell begging for repentance and the answer is no because they had their chance and they turned their backs on god. Some souls even were at one time of another saved and they were going through something to make them stronger in the word and they though god was being unfair to them and blamed god for the mistake; therefore turning their backs on god. There are many false prophets in hell. As god walks through and stop to talk to these prophets they beg and pled for forgiveness and when god says judgement has been set they began to curse god and talk to him in the manner where they are really disrespecting god.

    Read More

  • Juxtaposition In Dante's Inferno

    1536 Words  | 4 Pages

    Fire and brimstone, flames engulfing people, and the endless cries from the souls that are suffering are all things that are commonly associated with hell. It’s not thought of as some place of just punishment, but filled with pain and torment. The question raised is whether or not it is actually full of fire and heat, or is it something different. When we read about hell in Dante’s Inferno, he describes the place not only full of fire, but also of ice, wind, and rain. All of the elements sit on different levels that have been thoughtfully laid out by Dante himself. Carol Forman speaks of how Dante set up his hell, “Hell is structured around Dante’s concept of sin.

    Read More

  • Death in Different Religions

    1654 Words  | 4 Pages

    Christians ultimately believe in two places to go after death, Heaven where eternity is spent in a state that is beautiful beyond our ability to conceive, or Hell, where eternity is spent with Satan and his demons. All are tormented and tortured, in isolation from God, without any hope of mercy or relief (Robinson).

    Read More

  • Dante's Divine Comedy - Close Reading of Canto V of the Inferno

    917 Words  | 2 Pages

    The geography for each circle of Hell's misery is distinctly arranged to coincide with the sin of the sinners contained within. In Canto V, we are taken to the prison of those souls who were unable to master their own desires. These are those who "betrayed reason to their appetite" (1033), allowing the lust of flesh and carnal things overcome their God-given human reasoning. It is here that we see a dark and deafening Hell, full with the roar of the anguish of the condemned dead. Dante sees a great whirling storm of souls that are forever tossed and battered on their "hellish flight of storm and counterstorm" (1033). It is conveyed to us that each soul's path in the whirling cyclone is all but steady, blown about in a constantly changing torment with no direction or destination...

    Read More

  • Analysis of Dante's Inferno

    758 Words  | 2 Pages

    Despite the obvious flaws of Dante himself, he does give a clear vision of how punishments will be taken forth in the afterlife. He gives reason to fear and respect the law of God lest eternal punishment be your only promise in the afterlife. These punishments are as relevant as can be, so he offers a very vivid picture of hell. The men that he puts in hell give it a realistic twist, enhancing the fear that is felt upon reading this work

    Read More

  • Divine Justice In Dante's Inferno

    1203 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Dante’s Inferno sinners are in Hell because they committed a grave crime and did not seek repentance for their crime. Dante categorizes sinners in hell based on the severity of their crimes and how unrepentant they are. Dante explains, “Without repentance, none can be absolved. None can repent before a sin is done. No reasoning could be more fraudulent (27.124-127)!” In this

    Read More

  • Life After Death

    1114 Words  | 3 Pages

    One way in which death can be viewed comes across the Catholic religion. The Catholic believers look life after death in a prospective of three different worlds, such as Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise according to the deeds committed during life. If a person during his or her lifetime committed any sins, this person’s next world will be the Hell. The traditional view in which people refer to hell can be found in the book written by Dante Alighieri, “La Divina Commedia”. The book states that the formation of Hell was given by the crash of Lucifer (the angel that wanted to be better than God) from the sky onto the earth. Crashing on the Earth in Jerusalem, his head formed an upside down cone inside the Earth. This is where is located the Hell. In the Hell, people pay for their sins with different penitences (12-13). For instance, a person that committed homicide will freeze in a lake frozen by the breath of Satan (XXXIV canto). If a person during his or her life commits any sins but asks for forgiveness, then he or she will go to the Purgatory. The purgatory is represented by an island with a mountain (23). One source states that “Purgatory is very similar to Hell; the main difference is that one will eventually be released from torture. The souls that go in the Purgatory are tortured with fire. These souls remain in purgatory until they become sufficiently purified to enter heaven”(2). For example, if a soul in the purgatory asks for forgiveness and pays the punition with some tests, the soul will be released and moved immediately to Heaven (2).

    Read More

More about Hell: What We Think We Know

Open Document