by Val

I thought I should share my concept of Hell from the Bible because some may think I hold an angry God doctrine, which I don't. Not that people are not ok to believe that way, I just don't believe that God gets pleasure out of torturing people with fire and lava in Hell.

Without getting into all the definitions of words or names of Hell, such as, "Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, Tartaro, Abyss, etc.. Or that the Bible teaches it is a place of eternal torment, a place of fire and brimstone. Most know this anyway. There are many other definitions of Hell today not supported by the Bible. Without getting into all of that, there are some basics that many overlook.

First of all, Hell is a good arrangement; just  like I think our earthly prisons are good. You just have to have a place to put criminals, or there can never be any hope of order or peace. This is the way I see Hell from the Bible. It is needed, just as our jail system deters rebellion and preserves order in the world, Hell serves the same purpose in God's universe. A universe filled with demons and Lawless people.

Why do some people not believe in Hell? I didn't believe once myself. But my reasons were wrong for not believing. Most people hate the thought of accountability for things they do in this life, or in the next. They want to keep doing the things they are doing happily. If you were to go down to the local jail house and ask some prisoners if when they were committing their crimes, "weren't you worried about going to jail?", many of them will admit they thought they would get away with it "one more time." They forced this thought. They wanted to keep doing the things they were doing, so they put jail far from their minds on purpose. Surely they never thought they would be living in prison.  Many choose to doubt Hell for this same reason. But God has a prison for eternal souls, and His prison is called Hell.

Does God send people to Hell? Well, just the same could be asked of the earthly criminal who goes to prison, and the answer would have to be yes, and no. Every criminal knows the consequences of breaking the law even if they put it out of their mind, so it could be said they send themselves to prison with full knowledge, even though the judge gives the sentence. I don't think the judge takes pleasure in condemning people though..., who knows. Maybe the crime deserved the pleasure of sentencing. But God is love, and I don't think He takes pleasure in sending people to Hell. Jesus did say however, for us to fear God that He would not send us there:

"I say unto you my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: Fear Him, which after He hath killed has power to cast into Hell; yes, I say unto you, Fear Him." LUKE 12:4-5

“The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Matt 13: 49-50

“They shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb… and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest.” Revelation 14:10-11

“And all those whose names were not found written in the Lamb’s Book of Life were cast into the lake of fire.”
Revelation 20:15

“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” Revelation 20:10

Some Christians [believe it or not] do not like our name "Godscare". Anything with the fear of God in it is wrong to them. They need to have a talk with Jesus. The name really means "God's care" just the same. We also have Christians who think it's wrong to preach to sinners about Hell. Well, Jesus preached about Hell... and I think if you really love people, you will warn them about what God has said about the final judgment of Hell.

The tortures in Hell that are described in the Bible are the pains of being burned in fires. There is fire down there, and God's angels throw people there, but there are many torments as well from men and fallen angels already condemned there. What this means is that the people there are evil and they torture and inflict others who go there.

I read someone's opinion of Hell once and they metaphorized the fire and brimstone into something that is not at all fire and brimstone. They just couldn't conceive of God torturing people so they changed the meaning of fire and brimstone into something "spiritual" that was not fire and brimstone. What they need to realize is that there are demons and murderous people there one should be worried about. Would you want to spend the night in the same room here on earth with rapists, murderers, and hell bent canibals? Didn't think so. How about perverts, gangsters, racists, liars and thieves mixed in? And in hell, the Bible says they cannot escape their sin. It eats them up like a worm that does not die. Which means they cannot stop doing those things enough even in a place of torment.

There is no need to metaphor Hell, because in a world without God, people create Hell. God's wrath is displayed in that He sends sinners there, to a place of fire; But recall the holocaust, where thousands of men, women and children were burned, shot, and murdered in every way imaginable, and the bodies were piled up and burned or thrown into mass graves. Or in North Korea where Christians were tied up and crushed by steam rollers in anti-Christian demonstrations. Or in Africa where militants burn their captives at the stake, hacking off arms and legs and womens breasts so they can't feed their babies, and  every other form of terrible torture imaginable. Men do these things right here today in God's plain sight.

The earth would become Hell if God lifted His grace from here. The scripture states that we [Gods people] are the salt of the earth, which means that without God's family and His Word being here, earth would become Hell as well (Matt 24:21-22) A place of war and torment, with destruction everywhere, and nothing but men’s lusts fueling every thought. Imagine the worst serial killers mind, and that’s what can happen to the mind that loses every grace of God. Nothing can satisfy a mind that has lost every grace of God. Hell is filled with murderers, cannibalistic murderers; rapists and hateful evildoers of every kind imaginable.

Just as God allows men to war, torture and kill in crusades of massacre, He allows the same in Hell, only there, it may be without restraints on the torment, and no grace. Demons show no mercy. They are there to be tormented as well, and they surely blame it on the humans. So basically, God throws sinners there and then leaves hell to it's own.

There is no love in Hell. There is no peace in Hell. There is nothing but insanity and violence. In a place where demons and mankind thrash about, and God leaves them to their demise. I imagine that Hell is a place of the most extreme forms of torture and pain that can be invented by the demented mind. And the torture goes on without regulations, without jail keepers or prison guards. It is a place of utter chaos; a place of endless prayers that are never heard.

I was watching tv one night and heard a soldier from the Iraq war say in a interview, "this place is Hell". Then I saw visuals of our soldiers being burned in fires.

The fires of Hell must be the will of man. Men do these things to each other. The history books are filled with illustrations of men being burned at the stake at the hands of other men. I believe Hells fires are created by God for the murderous wills of evil man. There is a scripture about Hell that still grabs me:

"Hell from beneath is moved for you to meet you at your coming: it stirs up the dead for you." Isaiah 14:9
 

The inhabitants of Hell await new comers. Notice it is not God that stirs up the dead, it is the prisoners of Hell itself. I think of our earthly prisons and how they do the same thing there. Everyone howling and cackling at the new comers as they show up. Fresh meat, and the plotting and the planning begins. Most prisons have enough order to minimize the evil done to new comers. There is still law and order and even God's grace in prisons. Imagine a place where there is no order at all. Nothing but chaos.

Do not go to Hell...

We've all broken God's Laws and deserve to be imprisoned. Everyone has lied, stolen, blasphemed, etc... As in any court of justice, you either do the time, or pay the fine... Jesus paid the sinners fine on the cross. He took our punishment to Himself and died for us, in our place. If we repent of sin and put our trust in Him, the fine is paid for us on the day of Judgment. Something only a God of love would do. So that all who come to the Father through Christ would have a perfect record... "sentence paid in full!"

 

He is the ONLY Lord and Savior.




 

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