Real Hell

Dear Victorious,

A group of my friends and I are having a debate about hell. Some believe that hell is simply the absence of God. Others think it's an actual place, like heaven, a destination where people actually go. How should we think about about hell?

Matt C. - Rockville, MD

Dear Matt,

The Bible says that hell is a real place to which the wicked and unbelieving are sent after death. (The Bible doesn't differentiate much between the wicked and the unbelieving.) Since God is infinite and eternal, the punishment for sin, must also be infinite and eternal. Hell is this infinite and eternal death which we earn with our (unforgiven) sin.

The punishment in hell is described as “eternal fire” (Matthew 25:41), “unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12), “shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2), a place of “torment” and “fire” (Luke 16:23-24), “everlasting destruction” (2 Thessalonians 1:9), a place where “the smoke of torment rises forever and ever” (Revelation 14:10-11) and a “lake of burning sulfur” where the wicked are “tormented day and night forever and ever" (Revelation 20:10).

Those in hell will know that hell is real. Where this reality is may be difficult to comprehend because it exists outside of human dimensions, such as time and space. This is also where heaven is located.

Surveys and polls have for years reported that more Christians believe in heaven than in hell. I think this is because of our firm desire to believe that God is only good and loving - and our desire to deny that God could be angry or destructive.

Let's face it, the information that we have about heaven is about equal to the information we have about hell. Yet for someone reason we seem better able to grasp the concept of heaven than the concept of hell. Perhaps the better debate to have amongst your friends is to why that is. I suspect the answer to that question would be far more relevant than the precise location of either heaven or hell.