Is Hell real? Part 2

Where is Hell? Do souls really burn forever?

The thought of"Hell" has made many a person a legalistic Christian. That is, they serve God from fear of punishment rather than an intelligent appreciation of His unfathomable love. Hell is said to be a place of torture for disembodied souls. Let us candidly examine this claim by the word of God.

What causes death? The bible makes it clear that "For the wages of sin is death; …" (Romans 6:23) and further "… when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." (James 1: 16). Again, "… as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" (Romans 5:12)

Our lord and Saviour has redeemed humanity by His infinite sacrifice on the cross of calvary giving our world a second chance at life. Scripture says "In him was life; and the life was the light of men." (John 1:4) "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3: 16)

It is clear that sin causes death and the "gift of God" is life. But what about the doctrine of hell? Does our all wise and everloving God burn His creatures who exercise their choice against Him. Is this the character of our God?

Let us examine the words for hell in the bible. "[Heb. she'ôl; [1]Gr. hadēs and geenna; the Greek verb tartaroō, "to cast (down) to hell," occurs once (2 Pe 2:4).] The word "hades' refers a place of death and the greek "geenna" refers to a place of punishment. Since our English word hell refers to a place of disembodied spirited being tormented in fire there is some confusion that occurs.

"Everlasting fire" and "eternal fire" are also used by some to establish the never-ending nature of the flames of hell. We have already seen that the words translated hell simply mean the grave and "geenna" is a place of punishment, let us look closer at the words translated 'everlasting" and "eternal" they are "olam "in the old testament and "anionios."

The scripture says "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." (Jude 7) Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by "olam" or eternal fire but that fire turned"...the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;" (2Peter 2:6)

Moreover, the fire destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah rather quickly. "For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her."(Lamentations 4:6)  


In fact, the same eternal or everlasting fire will destroy the wicked, ""For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts."(Malachi 4:1-3.) "But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away." (Psalms 37:20)

The wicked will be as though they had never been. "For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been." (Obadiah 16) "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise ye the Lord." (Psalm 104:35.)

The second death is the final destruction of unrepentant sinners. "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."( Rev. 21:7,8)

The gift of God is eternal life and conversely sin when it is finished produces eternal death. "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23)


 Therefore, from our study the bible makes it clear that these words are used to describe the length of time that lasts as long as the subject lasts.

In our next study we will examine the use of "geenna."