Is Hell worse for Some?

bathelter01 said:

Is hell worse for some?
If so, is it based upon the number of sins committed or the type of sin committed?
For example, if someone committed adultery all their lives vs someone who committed adultery once. Would one's punishment be worse then?

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Many people who went to hell say there are different levels depending on sin.
(Luke 12:46-48) explains that if you knew the Word and still decided to do wrong then your punishment would be greater.

I know people like to say it's better to have known love and lose it then to never have had it at all but that is not true according to the Gospels. (It's the other way around) (2 Peter 2:21)

bathelter01 said:

Is hell worse for some?
If so, is it based upon the number of sins committed or the type of sin committed?
For example, if someone committed adultery all their lives vs someone who committed adultery once. Would one's punishment be worse then?

Click to expand...

There are some hints in scripture to that effect. Three of the Gospels speak of "greater condemnation" for more serious offenses.

The wages of sin is death, not eternal life in some level of torment. Breaking the 'least' commandment is breaking them all.

I don't see why it wouldn't be hotter for some than it would be for others. The specific weight of punishment for this sin or that sin or frequency thereof is up to God.

Interesting question.

I accept that there is Scripture that addresses different levels of punishment for the unsaved, just as there are different rewards for the saved.

But, I always come back to the unambiguous wording around the final destination for all who die outside of Christ -- the lake of fire.


In all of the Scripture references to the lake of fire and everlasting fire (Matthew 25:41) there is no indication that there is a hierarchy of punishment. It's just "eternal torment day and night for ever and ever" for everyone from Satan himself to the least offensive "goat" in that Matthew passage.

It's important to note that nobody goes to hell (lake of fire) for his or her sins. That final end is reserved for those who have rejected Christ's sacrifice. And there is no gray area -- either one accepts it or rejects it, one is saved or not saved. And the final destinations for both are very clear.

bathelter01 said:

Is hell worse for some?
If so, is it based upon the number of sins committed or the type of sin committed?
For example, if someone committed adultery all their lives vs someone who committed adultery once. Would one's punishment be worse then?

Click to expand...

Even on the example that you've provided Matthew 5:28 makes it difficult to quantify who was the worse adulterer, since all sins begin in the heart.

However, I am also curious on what basis that you are understanding that more sin equals worse punishment.

bathelter01 said:

There's nothing necessarily Biblical that I've found about greater number of sin equating to greater punishment. I was curious if anyone else had heard or read anything about it. The only thing I've found about greater punishment is in regards to false teachers or those who lead others astray.
I think the thinking mostly came from seeing degrees of punishment for law breaking in our current world. Greater law breaking brings greater punishment. More offenses committed will often change the degree of punishment received. It's a human perspective that doesn't necessarily match heavenly realities, but a thought nonetheless.

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I asked because there is that phrase "there's a special place in hell for .." but I get the sense it is rooted in Dante, not the bible.

The flip side to this discussion is the question of rewards in heaven. It is obvious from scripture that some Christians will receive various and more rewards than others in heaven. Does that mean that those who do will be happier or somehow better off than those who don't? What troubles me is that I know some Christians whose chief focus in serving Christ is the rewards they are earning in heaven by doing so.

I'm Catholic and so I believe some saints are given particular graces, and in some cases, visions. Quite a number have had visions of hell, and they're all gloomy. I also can't find much evidence that one part of hell is worse than another - the whole thing seems terrible. If we go to hell we won't care where we are in the pecking order as it will be so hideous.

5 Saints Who Had Terrifying Visions of Hell | ChurchPOP

One thing that keeps coming through in visions of hell is tremendous heat. This also appears to be a feature of purgatory, which I believe in. I think we're kidding ourselves if we think we're all going to just waltz into heaven without undergoing some sort of purification. The same argument about pecking orders will apply here - we'll be too concerned with our own state of being to be worried about somebody else's position.

St. Paul didn't tell us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling for nothing. We've reduced that to bland euphemisms like OSAS, the elect etc.

He had visions of heaven at least as he made clear, and quite possibly the opposite.

However all souls in purgatory get to heaven eventually.

3 Sobering Visions of Purgatory from the Saints

As a counterpoint, Sr. Faustina also had a vision of heaven, but once again we're not given sufficient detail to know if there are different levels. If we get to heaven we won't care where we are in the pecking order, as it will be so incredibly beautiful.

"Inconceivable Beauties": The Secrets of Heaven Revealed to St. Faustina | ChurchPOP

bathelter01 said:

Is hell worse for some?
If so, is it based upon the number of sins committed or the type of sin committed?
For example, if someone committed adultery all their lives vs someone who committed adultery once. Would one's punishment be worse then?

Click to expand...

I have understood that hell is a place where soul and body are destroyed. Same is with all who go there, even if they would not have done as many wrong things.

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matt. 10:28

Bob Crowley said:

I'm Catholic and so I believe some saints are given particular graces, and in some cases, visions. Quite a number have had visions of hell, and they're all gloomy. I also can't find much evidence that one part of hell is worse than another - the whole thing seems terrible. If we go to hell we won't care where we are in the pecking order as it will be so hideous.

5 Saints Who Had Terrifying Visions of Hell | ChurchPOP

One thing that keeps coming through in visions of hell is tremendous heat. This also appears to be a feature of purgatory, which I believe in. I think we're kidding ourselves if we think we're all going to just waltz into heaven without undergoing some sort of purification. The same argument about pecking orders will apply here - we'll be too concerned with our own state of being to be worried about somebody else's position.

St. Paul didn't tell us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling for nothing. We've reduced that to bland euphemisms like OSAS, the elect etc.

He had visions of heaven at least as he made clear, and quite possibly the opposite.

However all souls in purgatory get to heaven eventually.

3 Sobering Visions of Purgatory from the Saints

As a counterpoint, Sr. Faustina also had a vision of heaven, but once again we're not given sufficient detail to know if there are different levels. If we get to heaven we won't care where we are in the pecking order, as it will be so incredibly beautiful.

"Inconceivable Beauties": The Secrets of Heaven Revealed to St. Faustina | ChurchPOP

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I sometimes tease my Catholic friends about the "fullness of salvation" that the RCC claims for itself above all other Christian bodies. It seems to me to be a strange sort of salvation that requires the believer to spend time enduring punishment in Purgatory in order to gain a front row seat in heaven.

Thus, it is hardly surprising that someone like Dante would develop the concepts of differences both in hell and in heaven into a very realistic scenario.

No I don't think so. I think the level of consequences for sin are paid for here on earth, so longer jail time for worse crimes and such. But hellfire and torment, which leads to the ultimate eternal punishment (which I believe is death and complete destruction, prior to a torment of burning to death) is the same for all the wicked.

nvm

sea5763 said:

The Bible says repeatedly that each will be judged according to their deeds. I think your deeds matter.

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The bible says each will be JUDGED according their deeds not punished according to their deeds. Hell is the same for everyone, there are not varying degrees of punishment and the bible does not say that. There are in this life, a murderer will be in jail a lot longer than a thief. But hell is the same for everyone. For every sin is a transgression of the law no matter how big or small, therefore everyone who is not in Christ will equally have the punishment of hell.

nvm

nvm

sea5763 said:

So you think in Heaven that the thief on the cross that got into Heaven will have the exact same afterlife as all of the apostles?

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Why are you changing the topic to heaven when we were discussing hell? /: Heaven and hell are not the same place... bible speaks about rewards in heaven, not hell. The bible does not speak of degrees of punishment in hell.

No the thief on the cross will not have the same rewards as the apostles in heaven but we were talking about HELL not heaven. You switched to talking about heaven for some odd reason as if they are the same place.

bathelter01 said:

Is hell worse for some?
If so, is it based upon the number of sins committed or the type of sin committed?
For example, if someone committed adultery all their lives vs someone who committed adultery once. Would one's punishment be worse then?

Click to expand...

I do not believe the point of Hell is to be a place of active punishment(s) and torture; yes Hell is agony and torturous, but not because there are people in bubbling pits of oil or being pitchforked in the rear by red-hoofed devils.

St. John the Divine describes the lake of fire and brimstone as "the second death", where even Death and Hades are themselves cast into. The concept of "second death" is as abstract as it is peculiar, but if we see it as being in contrast to God's intended designs for all creation, as we see in words of the Prophets and also echoed by John in his Apocalypse, a renewal, healing, and restoring of all things and a life everlasting completely free from death, sorrow, pain, and sin then we might have a better idea of what "second death" entails. That is, fundamentally, Hell is not that. It is not the joyous renewal of all life and creation in the sharing of God for eternity. Something which by comparison to the fullness of life can only be described as a kind of death beyond death itself.

St. Isaac of Nineveh, a 7th century Christian theologian from what is today modern Iraq, makes the argument that since God is omnipresent and omnibenevolent then there can be no place where God is not, and there can be no escaping His all-encompassing love. We should remember the Psalmist even says, "If I make my bed in She'ol, you are there", for there is no escaping the Divine Presence, for God is everywhere. Hell, therefore, is not the absence of God's presence, it is not the absence of His love, it is as much fully saturated with the presence and love of God as can be. The critical difference is that, for the wicked and unredeemed, this experience is pure agony; for having sinned against God and neighbor their entire lives they must now endure the One who is pure Love Himself, and this is a torment far more agonizing than all possible punishments conceivable. As it is like here on earth that the betrayal of a close friend brings a remorse far worse than any punishment, or to use a more familiar analogy, it is far worse to hear your parent say, "I'm disappointed" than to simply be angry.

So, I think, in that sense, yes Hell might very well be worse for some than others; in that one's grief, sorrow, and guilt over what they have done will be far more intense than for others. But we must remember that nobody is in Hell by accident, or by God being petty or capricious, there is none in Hell except those who willingly and intentionally go there.

-CryptoLutheran