The severity of suffering in hell

[JohnClay]

Hi my greatest fear is to be severely tortured for a long time - such as for a day or multiple days. Would hell for a typical unsaved person be unbearable? Or perhaps it is just the absence of God and not be particularly bad?

 

[SkyWriting]

Hi my greatest fear is to be severely tortured for a long time - such as for a day or multiple days. Would hell for a typical unsaved person be unbearable? Or perhaps it is just the absence of God and not be particularly bad?

You underestimate the joys of your eternal soul having no distractions for a million years of contemplation. Scripture says it is torment, but that's pretty mild.

Granted, time doesn't actually pass after this life, but it will seem like eternity. Except for the lack of fading memories.

If you ever had a drink, consider being extremely sober for a thousand years after you die. You'd likely prefer torture so you'd have someone to blame for your torment.

 

[JohnClay]

......If you ever had a drink, consider being extremely sober for a thousand years after you die. You'd likely prefer torture so you'd have someone to blame for your torment.

I'm pretty sure that for me there is nothing worse than unbearable torture... I might be capable of absolutely anything if it would help me avoid that. Though at the moment I'm not doing everything I can to avoid hell since I don't have a very strong belief that the threat of hell is real.

 

[Going_Nowhere]

JohnClay, you might find this interesting.

St. Faustina's Vision of Hell

 

[Mark Quayle]

Hi my greatest fear is to be severely tortured for a long time - such as for a day or multiple days. Would hell for a typical unsaved person be unbearable? Or perhaps it is just the absence of God and not be particularly bad?

It is said we will be even above the angels, in Heaven, being particularly made for God himself. Conversely, I tend to think that those in the Lake of Fire will no longer resemble what we think of as human, but will be wraiths, horrors worse than the devil and his demons. All redeeming qualities will be removed, God himself gone from them.

God is just, but thorough. He will give them exactly what they deserve, but no more than they deserve. The despair, anger, regret, agony and hopelessness will be only in keeping with their sin.

 

[JohnClay]

JohnClay, you might find this interesting.

St. Faustina's Vision of Hell

I wonder if that is about the present hell or a vision of the lake of fire? It says that Satan is there but I thought he was only going there after the end of the world...

 

[Original Happy Camper]

I wonder if that is about the present hell or a vision of the lake of fire? It says that Satan is there but I thought he was only going there after the end of the world...

Your knowledge (IMHO) of the reward for the evil doers is of pagan origin

Intertwined with beliefs about death and spiritism are the doctrines of hell and purgatory. These doctrines are of pagan origin, and were adopted into the Christian culture by the Roman Catholic Church fathers in the 1400s.

The doctrine that the wicked dead are tormented forever is inconsistent with the character of God, who demonstrated infinite love for us in the sacrifice of His Son. Unfortunately, many people have misunderstood these concepts and reject God as a result.

Hell and Purgatory

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

Hi my greatest fear is to be severely tortured for a long time - such as for a day or multiple days.?

sounds like my last work place. the torture lasted a month before i quit.

 

[Dave-W]

The doctrine that the wicked dead are tormented forever is inconsistent with the character of God,

Except it was our Lord in Matthew that repeatedly warned of hell where “their worm [soul] dies not and the smoke of their torment rises forever.”

It is eternal conscious torture.

 

[Goodhuman]

If you ask about gehenna, it is very evil. Fire forever without chance to repent for the sinner. It is all over, if human get there and he will never escape. Torment forever by the will of God.

 

[Norbert L]

Hi my greatest fear is to be severely tortured for a long time - such as for a day or multiple days. Would hell for a typical unsaved person be unbearable? Or perhaps it is just the absence of God and not be particularly bad?

You might want to consider 1 Corinthians 3:14-15.

In my view it's about whether or not the person can take bodily form again here on Earth versus those who can't. When you look at the variety of supernatural disembodied encounters after death from the most positive such as 1 Samuel 28:15 to the unclean spirits in the NT Mark 5:1-20 and use that as a measuring tool. I imagine some people will think they may not fair in a particularly bad manner, but given the state of mind of those unclean spirits after an unknown amount of millenia shows otherwise.

 

[Mountainmanbob]

Hi my greatest fear is to be severely tortured for a long time - such as for a day or multiple days. Would hell for a typical unsaved person be unbearable? Or perhaps it is just the absence of God and not be particularly bad?

Hell is real and should cause all to investigate Christ.

No couch time down there.
I hate that.

M-Bob

 

[BugandAbby]

The idea of an all torturous Hell is horrendous, but if one seeks Christ simply to avoid the road to perdition is that the right motive? Does that "count"?

 

[Mountainmanbob]

Jesus taught a lot about hell.
Must be for good reasons.
M

 

[Lazarus Short]

Your knowledge (IMHO) of the reward for the evil doers is of pagan origin

Intertwined with beliefs about death and spiritism are the doctrines of hell and purgatory. These doctrines are of pagan origin, and were adopted into the Christian culture by the Roman Catholic Church fathers in the 1400s.

The doctrine that the wicked dead are tormented forever is inconsistent with the character of God, who demonstrated infinite love for us in the sacrifice of His Son. Unfortunately, many people have misunderstood these concepts and reject God as a result.

Hell and Purgatory

Agreed. My own digging into the subject has reached the conclusion that "hell" was originally a word meaning much the same as the Hebrew "sheol" or the Greek "hades," but has been combined with the concept of the "eternal soul," also a pagan concept, to produce the idea of Eternal Conscious Torment. "Hell" is supported by bad translation and fictions such as the epic poetry of Dante and Milton.

 

[Mountainmanbob]

The Uncomfortable Subject Jesus Addressed More than Anyone Else

Some months ago, R. C. Sproul was asked which doctrine he struggles with most. He replied: “Hell.”

It’s comforting to know a theological giant like Sproul still wrestles with something I’ve struggled with my whole Christian life.

The doctrine of hell is uncomfortable for most of us. However, our understanding of hell shapes our view of the gospel, God’s holiness, and our depravity. If we don’t accept the reality of hell, we won’t rightly understand the glory of the gospel.

Reality of Hell
A friend once challenged me to show her where Jesus talks about hell in the Gospels. Even a cursory read-through shows Jesus talked about it plenty. In fact, Jesus talked about hell more than any other person in the Bible.

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Hell = no place to play with.
M-Bob

 

[Pavel Mosko]

Hi my greatest fear is to be severely tortured for a long time - such as for a day or multiple days. Would hell for a typical unsaved person be unbearable? Or perhaps it is just the absence of God and not be particularly bad?

This is an interesting perspective if you haven't read it. On the concept of Hell, I'm a fence rider seeing that both the Eastern and Western concepts of Christianity are possibilities.


The River of Fire - Kalomiros - Glory to God for All Things

 

[aiki]

Hi my greatest fear is to be severely tortured for a long time - such as for a day or multiple days. Would hell for a typical unsaved person be unbearable? Or perhaps it is just the absence of God and not be particularly bad?

The Bible never says a person will be tortured in hell, only tormented. I think this distinction is an important one. The image many folk have of hell is that of a Gary Larson cartoon where the lost are all crowded together under the cruel, mocking power of demons who delight in torturing them in various bizarre and cruel ways. But this isn't the hell described in Scripture. Gehenna, the Lake of Fire, is the punishment reserved by God for the devil and his demons. They will not be ruling in hell but suffering; they won't be playing cards, or darts, or drinking sulphurous booze and singing raunchy songs in hell, but wandering alone in the darkness and endless flames of hell forever, tormented by their own evil nature and the utter separation from all others they must endure for eternity. And so will the unrepentant sinner who dies without having embraced the love and grace of God extended to them in Christ, the Saviour. What torment they experience is not caused by others, but by having to endure themselves, alone, without God, in a place of unending darkness, terrible heat, corruption and personal anguish. There will be none of the comforts, joys and blessings of this life in hell; none of the rewards and pleasures of meaningful labor; none of the delights of love, romance and intimate friendship; none of the endeavours that might impart gratification and fulfillment to a person. Hell is the irretrievable, permanent loss, not of being, but of well-being. Whether it is bearable or not, the unrepentant sinner will not have the choice but to endure it.

 

[Lazarus Short]

The Uncomfortable Subject Jesus Addressed More than Anyone Else

Some months ago, R. C. Sproul was asked which doctrine he struggles with most. He replied: “Hell.”

It’s comforting to know a theological giant like Sproul still wrestles with something I’ve struggled with my whole Christian life.

The doctrine of hell is uncomfortable for most of us. However, our understanding of hell shapes our view of the gospel, God’s holiness, and our depravity. If we don’t accept the reality of hell, we won’t rightly understand the glory of the gospel.

Reality of Hell
A friend once challenged me to show her where Jesus talks about hell in the Gospels. Even a cursory read-through shows Jesus talked about it plenty. In fact, Jesus talked about hell more than any other person in the Bible. I

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Hell = no place to play with.
M-Bob

I have seen the assertion that Jesus said more about Hell than anything else. Well, it sounds absurd on the face of it, but it might fly with people who do not read their Bibles. Well I have a hand counter and a Strong’s Concordance, so I started counting the red lines for “Heaven,” “Heavenly,” “Heaven’s” and “Heavens.” I found a total of 104 mentions by Jesus. Now for “Hell,” I found 16, so the assertion above is a total fail, just comparing Hell with Heaven, and not even bringing in all else that He said on other subjects.

 

[Deus Vult!]

Hi my greatest fear is to be severely tortured for a long time - such as for a day or multiple days. Would hell for a typical unsaved person be unbearable? Or perhaps it is just the absence of God and not be particularly bad?

"Would hell for a typical unsaved person be unbearable"- Hell is for all the "unsaved" hence the word implies it. And yes the pain of Hell words cannot possibly fully express. Look at this:
1 Corinthians 2:9
"9 But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”"

Now that you have read that interchange the word "love" for "hate" in the second to the last word of the verse. That is a pretty good way to describe both Heaven and Hell by thinking about the implication of the words love and hate in this verse.
The Lord Jesus describes the reality of hell in many passages and in different ways, but He is trying to describe color to a blind person.
Read this one passage:

Mark 9:43-50
43 "If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.
45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.
47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,
48 where
“‘the worms that eat them do not die,
and the fire is not quenched.’