What is Hell?

[ALoveDivine]

I know there is room within the church for different conceptions of Hell. What we all agree on is that those who die in unrepentant grave sin experience it, that it is forever, and that it is tormenting. Beyond this though, how do you all view it?

Personally I resonate with the eastern view of Hell as a state of being. In this view heaven and hell are the same thing, being in the presence of God. For the soul united to God by grace, this presence is experienced as eternal bliss and joy. For the soul spiritually dead and separated from God by sin, this same presence is experienced as eternal torment. This is the most common Eastern Orthodox perspective and, as I understand, is common to eastern Catholics as well.

There is also the more literal midevil notion of physical torture and fire and brimstone and what not, but I find that view problematic for a number of reasons. Then there is the popular view in the West of Hell as a nebulous "separation from God" which I also have some real problems with.

How do you all understand this difficult subject?

 

[football5680]

I am fine with either view. God's justice is perfect and I wouldn't have any objections to what he does with the unbelievers.

 

[puppii]

I'm terrible sometimes I hope my dad's in Hell!!!

 

[saintandrew4life]

where there worm deith not, and thefire is not quenched. Mark 9:44

 

[Colin]

I am at one with Hans Urs von Balthasar , and his writing " Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved? With a Short Discourse on Hell " .
http://www.wordonfire.org/resources/blog/remembering-hans-urs-von-balthasars-important-book/4620/

I hope......and I hope that Hell will be empty .

 

[Martinius]

I know there is room within the church for different conceptions of Hell. What we all agree on is that those who die in unrepentant grave sin experience it, that it is forever, and that it is tormenting.

It is not correct to assume "we all agree" on the aspects of hell that you list. You will not find even among fellow Catholics (priests and theologians included) total agreement on these items. There are different conceptions simply because we have only sketchy clues about hell and no definitive answers. It will likely be much different than what any of us mortals can imagine. I hope never to find out.

 

[Rhamiel]

I am fine with either view. God's justice is perfect and I wouldn't have any objections to what he does with the unbelievers.

pretty much this

I find the Eastern Orthodox view interesting
but I notice in the Bible, Jesus uses several analogies that do not support this when speaking in Parable
now parables are just that, they are analogies so they do not line up 100%
but I do feel uncomfortable just ignoring these

Matthew 25 has the parables of the wise and foolish virgins, and the parable of the talents
both of these analogies had the foolish people being cast out
then latter in the same chapter our Lord speaks even more clearly about Judging the Nations,
Matthew 25:41
“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels

in Luke 12, Jesus talks about those being cast into Gahanna

I understand the idea behind the EO interpretation on this
and I do not find such a view heretical
but there is as much (if not more) evidence in Scripture and from the Early Church Fathers (and the Doctors of the Church in general) that support the idea that hell is separation from God and not the pain of being in His presence

also, I think describing the idea of torture in hell as only a "medieval" construct is slightly misleading
yes, this view was popular in the middle ages
but the idea predates the middle ages, to call it medieval undermines the pedigree of the teaching

 

[RileyG]

The Catholic Church teaches that hell is state of being separated from God. It is an eternal state. It also teaches that hell is FREELY chosen. It is my personal opinion, that there very few are damned. (I can hope).

As far as "the fires of hell" some theologians believe they are literal while others believe they are metaphorical to explain the psychic and emotional pain of being separated from God. BUT we do not know if they are FIRE AND BRIMESTONE or not.

 

[gordonhooker]

A state of being separated from God.

 

[RileyG]

A state of being separated from God.

This is EXACTLY what the Church teaches.

That being said, the Church teaches there are TWO chief punishments of hell.
The first is
1) The pain of loss: Endless remorse, hatred of God, knowing their condition will never get better, seeing the devils and demons for what they REALLY are
2) The Pain of the senses: All five of our senses: touch, see, smell, hear, taste, are inflamed in hell.

 

[FlyingTurtle]

I always figured hell was a place I don't wanna be. Good enough?

 

[RileyG]

I always figured hell was a place I don't wanna be. Good enough?

I hope you do not go there.

That being said, the Catholic Church teaches that hell is not a "place". It's a state of being.

 

[FlyingTurtle]

I hope you do not go there.

That being said, the Catholic Church teaches that hell is not a "place". It's a state of being.

Learn something new every day. I still kinda think it's a place, or at least place-y, since Lazarus in the parable was able to look at the rich man and to see someone would require a space for someone to exist in to be seen. But then again, who knows how this afterlife stuff works. Hopefully I'll never find out how it works.

 

[LivingWordUnity]

The Catholic Church teaches that hell is state of being separated from God. It is an eternal state. It also teaches that hell is FREELY chosen. It is my personal opinion, that there very few are damned. (I can hope).

As far as "the fires of hell" some theologians believe they are literal while others believe they are metaphorical to explain the psychic and emotional pain of being separated from God. BUT we do not know if they are FIRE AND BRIMESTONE or not.

Judging from how strong the rebellion against God is going—the rise of atheisim, satanism, and "nontheistic Christianity"—and judging from Jesus saying in Matt 7:13-14, "Enter by the narrowgate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few," I believe that there are more people in Hell than there are in Heaven. But this is because we have a choice, and there are many don't want to go to Heaven. Nowadays, a lot of people even say openly that they want to go to Hell or that they wouldn't want to serve God in Heaven. And if someone never wants to go to Heaven the only place for them is Hell.

 

[FlyingTurtle]

"Nontheistic Christianity"? Is that a thing?? How does that even work??? Are they buddhist?

 

[LivingWordUnity]

"Nontheistic Christianity"? Is that a thing?? How does that even work??? Are they buddhist?

They are the false brethren, the ones who reject God but who still want "the kingdom."

 

[FlyingTurtle]

They are the false brethren, the ones who reject God but who still want "the kingdom."

Huh. I still don't get it. Being a Christian and rejecting God is totally nonsensical.

 

[LivingWordUnity]

Huh. I still don't get it. Being a Christian and rejecting God is totally nonsensical.

Heresy, by its nature, is nonsensical.

 

[MikeK]

Judging from how strong the rebellion against God is going—the rise of atheisim, satanism, and "nontheistic Christianity"—and judging from Jesus saying in Matt 7:13-14, "Enter by the narrowgate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few," I believe that there are more people in Hell than there are in Heaven. But this is because we have a choice, and there are many don't want to go to Heaven. Nowadays, a lot of people even say openly that they want to go to Hell or that they wouldn't want to serve God in Heaven. And if someone never wants to go to Heaven the only place for them is Hell.

There have been plenty of theologians and Saints who share your view, that heaven will be far more sparsely populated than hell. Indeed, there have been many that opined that those who have been given the Truths of Christ's Church have a far more difficult path to salvation than the non-believer. The question that immediately comes to mind then is why God, who could have made man any way He pleased, created this race knowing that their souls were eternal and that most of those sould would be suffering in eternity for crimes committed against Him in their finite Earthly lives. We are told that we were made to worship Him and serve Him, yet if your point of view is correct, most of us won't and most of us will fall far short and suffer perpetually. I wonder why He made us this way.

 

[LivingWordUnity]

There have been plenty of theologians and Saints who share your view, that heaven will be far more sparsely populated than hell. Indeed, there have been many that opined that those who have been given the Truths of Christ's Church have a far more difficult path to salvation than the non-believer. The question that immediately comes to mind then is why God, who could have made man any way He pleased, created this race knowing that their souls were eternal and that most of those sould would be suffering in eternity for crimes committed against Him in their finite Earthly lives. We are told that we were made to worship Him and serve Him, yet if your point of view is correct, most of us won't and most of us will fall far short and suffer perpetually. I wonder why He made us this way.

I said that the ones who will be in Hell are the ones who don't want to serve God in Heaven. I didn't say that anyone who sins is going to Hell. So you are not understanding what I said. Do you care what Jesus said about it?