The reality of hell in the afterlife

[timboo]

I have only recently started reading the bible properly. I started in John, read through to Revelation, and am now in Matthew. there is a great deal of reference to the afterlife, judgement and the separation of souls into those destined for eternal life, or hell. Hell is usually described as 'a lake of fire', 'a burning furnace', 'the darkness' or some other variation. heaven is not described in great detail.
I would like to know what people imagine when they think of hell- is it a physical place of torment and pain or something else? Christians i have spoken to have skirted around this issue, including my sister, who introduced me to religion. it is a frightening prospect even for someone who has a strong faith.

[puritan lad]

Hell is a real place, and you are right. It is scary, and it's a sobering truth that needs to be preached.

I've tried to give a short, comprehensive view here

The Lost Doctrine of Eternal Hell

I would also recommend William G.T. Shedd's The Doctrine of Endless Punishment and Jonathan Edwards on Heaven and Hell by John Gerstner. Both are excellent.

[Turgonian]

It's a scary place alright. Some have described it as a 'separation from God', but that isn't very biblical. It is probably more correct to describe it as a place where people spend eternity running away from God.

And no, I don't believe it is a place where people burn (literally) or wallow in brimstone. A rather short article I recommend is Honor and Pain. If you're not afraid of longer articles, look at the $64,000 question. It doesn't only deal with Hell; search for 'Dante-debunking' and start reading there.

[Sadasius]

Hell is a real place, and you are right. It is scary, and it's a sobering truth that needs to be preached.

I've tried to give a short, comprehensive view here

The Lost Doctrine of Eternal Hell

I would also recommend William G.T. Shedd's The Doctrine of Endless Punishment and Jonathan Edwards on Heaven and Hell by John Gerstner. Both are excellent.

All of these are a farce and it is very shameful a tool of fear is used to promote a religion. Can any of you prove that hell exists? Of course not! I get a kick out of Christianity, Islam and other faiths that promote this area of the single creator mentality. It is the most brilliant scam ever and people cannot come back from the dead to get their money back now can they? How many wars are created out of such beliefs and how many people died as well needlessly out of the righteousness born from this mentality? One is too many but yet when you look over history you will see millions and millions that have died because of people like you insighting fear to establish faith. When does the stupidity end?

[FFC]

Hell is a real place, and you are right. It is scary, and it's a sobering truth that needs to be preached.

I've tried to give a short, comprehensive view here

The Lost Doctrine of Eternal Hell

I would also recommend William G.T. Shedd's The Doctrine of Endless Punishment and Jonathan Edwards on Heaven and Hell by John Gerstner. Both are excellent.

All of these are a farce and it is very shameful a tool of fear is used to promote a religion. Can any of you prove that hell exists? Of course not! I get a kick out of Christianity, Islam and other faiths that promote this area of the single creator mentality. It is the most brilliant scam ever and people cannot come back from the dead to get their money back now can they? How many wars are created out of such beliefs and how many people died as well needlessly out of the righteousness born from this mentality? One is too many but yet when you look over history you will see millions and millions that have died because of people like you insighting fear to establish faith. When does the stupidity end?

Please enlighten us, Sadasius, what do you believe?

[puritan lad]

Sadasius,

Jesus Christ taught the reality of Hell. Unless you can prove Him wrong, I'll go with what He said. I think that He was a little smarter than you.