What Hell Really Looks Like In The Bible

For 2,000 years, Christians have believed that there are two places (or three or more, depending on denomination) in which the souls of humans will spend part or all of eternity: Heaven, or Hell, or an intermediary place. And for most of those 2,000 years, what is meant by “Hell” has been anything but ambiguous, as “The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church” explains. The popular concept of Hell as being a place where sinners are separated from God to suffer for eternity is sometimes depicted as a sort of a massive torture chamber housed in another plane of existence, sometimes dark and cave-like, where those sent there are tortured in gruesome ways (not unlike the place depicted in the image above). Other accounts describe the place as a furnace, where the damned are tormented by eternal flames.

But is that how the Bible actually describes Hell? Not exactly, though there’s more to the story. In essence, the popular image of Hell is one that is based not on scripture directly, but on inference, mis-translation, and a conflation of superstition with actual teaching. This image also got a little help from some of the most influential epic poets in the canon of great international literature. Let’s take a look at what these various texts say about Hell and see how our present-day idea of the fiery place differs from that of the Bible. 

The Bible uses different words that are translated as 'Hell'

In the Bible, four words, two of which mean effectively the same thing, are translated into English as “Hell,” according to “The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church.”

The Hebrew word “Sheol” (the Old Testament was written largely in Hebrew) and the Greek word “Hades” (the New Testament was written in Greek) both describe the same thing: a place where the dead abide. The exact definition is one of interpretation, but generally these two words refer to a sort of plane of existence where the dead abide — or a realm under the Earth, or the underworld, in some interpretations. Note, however, that these words are neutral, and the places described by them are not places of eternal torment, but just places. Period.

Elsewhere in the New Testament, the word “Gehenna” is translated as “Hell.” In fact, “Gehenna,” or the Valley of Hinnom, was and is a real place, and you can visit it today. In New Testament times, it was a trash dump, in which garbage was burned. A leper colony was located nearby — a literal “Hell on Earth,” in a manner of speaking.

The fourth word translated as “Hell,” however, is considerably more ambiguous, and its use, combined with other references elsewhere in the New Testament, is largely where the classical idea of Hell as a place of eternal torment comes from.

Lakes of fire

The one word translated as “Hell” in English translations of the Bible, and which describes the place as one of eternal torment, occurs in the New Testament, in 2 Peter 2:4. The Greek word translated there, “Tartarus,” is actually a verb, and it is translated as “cast into Hell.” Furthermore, Greek superstition — the writers of the New Testament lived and wrote within Greek culture and were largely writing to people who understood it — held that Tartarus was a sub-level of Hades, in which those sent there were indeed consigned to eternal torment, according to Greek mythology website Theoi.

Elsewhere in the New Testament, Jesus and/or the writers describe the fate of the wicked in horrifying terms, such as being cast into a lake of fire (Revelation 21:8). In the “Hell” entry in “The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church,” the writer/editor notes that it’s entirely possible that the colorful — even perhaps hyperbolic — language of John the Elder, the writer of Revelation, and others, possibly understood too literally, contributed to the popular understanding of Hell.

Poetry's influence on the modern conception of Hell

Funnily enough, our modern conception of Hell as a physical place full of liquid fire actually originates not from 2,000-year-old canonical scripture, but from wildly popular epic poems written centuries after the authorship of the Bible. While the Hell of the Bible may often be ambiguous and difficult to vizualize, this was not the case for epic poets who came later. According to The New Yorker, Dante, in 14th-century Italy, and John Milton, in 17th-century England, did more to create the vivid and haunting (though now largely trite) imagery the word “Hell” conjures in the modern mind than the authors of the Bible. The nightmarish scenes of demons the color of blood oranges roasting the souls of sinners in red-hot coffins or boiling them in rivers of liquid fire come straight from the pages of Dante’s “Inferno” or Milton’s “Paradise Lost.” 

So imagery like “people smothered in a filth/ That out of human privies seemed to flow,” and “Floods and Whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,” come, not from the Bible, but from the works of Dante and Milton, respectively. Such scenes of extreme suffering served as a threat to sinners for centuries, but some modern clergy are calling for a different, more Biblical conception of Hell. On his blog Pursuing Veritas, Christian Pastor Jacob J. Prahlow writes that conceptualizing Hell based on the works of epic poets, rather than the Bible, “seems a bit out of place.” 

58 thoughts on “What Hell Really Looks Like In The Bible

  1. Ajfsqn says:

    order fenofibrate 200mg online cheap buy fenofibrate generic tricor 160mg tablet

  2. Sezbbc says:

    tadalafil cialis viagra 100mg for sale generic viagra 100mg

  3. Eytjst says:

    ketotifen 1 mg cheap buy generic sinequan online order tofranil 25mg

  4. Dxrgrj says:

    minoxidil where to buy free samples of ed pills best ed pills non prescription uk

  5. Zouogi says:

    buy acarbose cheap buy fulvicin sale order fulvicin

  6. Dcingu says:

    cheap aspirin 75mg buy aspirin zovirax generic

  7. Rzdyqj says:

    where can i buy dipyridamole buy dipyridamole pills for sale pravastatin for sale online

  8. Syvwgb says:

    melatonin 3 mg brand generic norethindrone 5mg buy danocrine pills

  9. Krqhxb says:

    where can i buy dydrogesterone order dapagliflozin 10 mg online cheap order jardiance online cheap

  10. Pjvoal says:

    buy fludrocortisone 100 mcg order loperamide 2 mg generic buy generic imodium

  11. Vorwzs says:

    order prasugrel 10 mg for sale prasugrel 10 mg canada detrol order online

  12. Omiehw says:

    monograph price buy pletal 100mg for sale buy cilostazol no prescription

  13. Adcaau says:

    order ferrous 100mg sotalol 40mg without prescription buy betapace 40 mg online cheap

  14. Gkyxtu says:

    pyridostigmine 60 mg drug order mestinon 60mg generic buy rizatriptan online cheap

  15. Ujmaax says:

    enalapril 10mg ca how to get bicalutamide without a prescription lactulose uk

  16. Oumnyv says:

    buy generic premarin online cheap generic sildenafil sildenafil 25mg for sale

  17. Bekmpm says:

    buy omeprazole paypal order montelukast order metoprolol sale

  18. Pxyhsk says:

    purchase telmisartan online buy plaquenil 200mg online order molnupiravir 200mg pills

  19. Sdmadd says:

    buy generic cialis usa viagra sales sildenafil 100mg ca

  20. Qedsps says:

    cenforce 50mg generic buy generic aralen buy chloroquine sale

  21. Njvnvo says:

    order modafinil 200mg for sale buy deltasone 20mg generic order deltasone 20mg sale

  22. Cwmulz says:

    purchase famotidine pills famotidine 20mg cheap purchase tacrolimus generic

  23. Cwgdpv says:

    order generic astelin 10 ml azelastine 10ml over the counter order avapro generic

  24. Yxxdjh says:

    buy generic esomeprazole over the counter purchase topiramate for sale topiramate 100mg canada

  25. Eavxuy says:

    order allopurinol for sale crestor 20mg cost purchase rosuvastatin generic

  26. Ekqhbp says:

    sumatriptan 50mg tablet imitrex 25mg canada cheap avodart

  27. Smoyas says:

    buspirone oral ezetimibe 10mg sale buy cordarone without a prescription

  28. Xhrtaf says:

    buy ranitidine 150mg pills order ranitidine 300mg buy celebrex medication

  29. Nuumtu says:

    domperidone drug order motilium online cheap purchase tetracycline online

  30. Tpolwe says:

    generic flomax 0.4mg simvastatin generic order zocor without prescription

  31. Qxjewe says:

    aldactone brand proscar 5mg us order proscar pills

  32. Zeeyix says:

    cheap essay writer academic writing pay for assignments

  33. Yodzvi says:

    diflucan pills diflucan 200mg without prescription generic cipro

  34. Cqppov says:

    buy generic aurogra 50mg sildenafil pills 50mg estradiol uk

  35. Tllmlx says:

    flagyl order online buy bactrim 960mg sale buy keflex 125mg pill

  36. Bbiyzw says:

    buy lamotrigine online cheap order minipress 2mg online cheap buy mebendazole 100mg pills

  37. Cxcjgp says:

    order cleocin 150mg for sale erythromycin over the counter order sildenafil 50mg without prescription

  38. Iilrcv says:

    buy tretinoin without a prescription purchase stendra generic avana 200mg cost

  39. Jlwtzg says:

    order generic tamoxifen 10mg where can i buy nolvadex buy cheap budesonide

  40. Akpmsz says:

    tadacip 20mg cost buy generic tadacip over the counter cheap indomethacin

  41. Bvuhuo says:

    order ceftin 250mg pills buy generic ceftin over the counter order robaxin for sale

  42. Dihshf says:

    where to buy trazodone without a prescription buy trazodone tablets clindamycin us

  43. Ksdepl says:

    terbinafine 250mg pills free slots casino games money games

  44. Nllebs says:

    order aspirin 75 mg online slots free online free spins casino

  45. Spucip says:

    write research paper for me essays to buy buy cefixime 200mg generic

  46. Aheloe says:

    academicwriting essays done for you play poker online for real money

  47. Onktkn says:

    amoxicillin 500mg cost order arimidex 1mg without prescription buy generic clarithromycin for sale

  48. Djxizx says:

    calcitriol tablet order fenofibrate 200mg pills order generic tricor 200mg

  49. Ljqppt says:

    cause of pimples in adults buy acne pills buy trileptal 600mg online cheap

  50. Jpnime says:

    buy generic minocycline 100mg requip medication order ropinirole for sale

  51. Tqyvbe says:

    purchase alfuzosin without prescription medication options for heartburn best prescription heartburn medicine

  52. Wsuhvm says:

    purchase letrozole generic cheap femara 2.5mg buy aripiprazole 20mg online

  53. Aqsfyw says:

    quit smoking pills zyban online doctors for pain medication pain pills no prior prescription

  54. Huwkim says:

    purchase medroxyprogesterone without prescription biltricide drug hydrochlorothiazide 25mg uk

  55. Ocgctq says:

    prescription medication for shingles relief does valtrex work after outbreak new diabetic medicines list

  56. Uquozo says:

    order periactin purchase luvox buy nizoral generic

  57. Wmbnkp says:

    best antifungal supplements antifungal tablets list best generic blood pressure medication

  58. Gzbkak says:

    cheap duloxetine duloxetine 20mg without prescription purchase modafinil online

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

pictellme.com