[nickcarraway]

People think a red devil with horns and a pitchfork is a Christian concept. It's just an artistic representation meant to convey the horror or fear.

Sandro Botticelli

Eugène Delacroix

[Beowulf9]

The Devil is supposed to be the ruler of Hell, forever.

The Devil is supposed to be destroyed forever.

Both can’t be right.

God is a just judge, punishing and torturing forever is not just, it’s not even the principal of indemnity. It’s more like a killer who delights in this, like the devil. It has the ring of a myth. To attribute this to God suggests they don’t know Him, imho.

[Red Badger]

[frank ballenger]

Confusing use of “Hell” when Christ went there after His Resurrection:

When the Apostles’ Creed states that Jesus “descended into hell,” Catholics teach that He did not go to the place of the damned. Instead, He descended into a realm of the dead often referred to as the Limbo of the Fathers or Abraham’s Bosom.

“This specific realm differed completely from the eternal Hell of punishment in several ways:

Before Jesus opened the gates of Heaven through His death and resurrection, no human soul could enter into the direct presence of God.

The righteous souls from the Old Testament (like Adam, Eve, Moses, David, and the prophets) were held in this peaceful waiting place, free from torment but separated from the Beatific Vision.

Jesus did not go there to suffer or be punished. According to Catholic tradition (detailed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church), His descent was a triumphant victory. He brought the Good News of salvation to the righteous dead and broke the bonds of death.”

—Catholic.com

Note: I am not a Catholic myself.

[Jim W N]

Right from the Bible.

There are some who went there and came back to describe its horror.

Again, Christ is the answer.

[jonrick46]

There shouldn’t be an eternal burning in hell fires for indulging in the pleasures of life. The 10 Commandments do not speak against them. Love God and honor his commandments.

[Eli Kopter]

Great article. I have stared in the Gates of Hell, which turns our to be Caesarea Phillipi, whic is a Temple built to the God Pan. This is located at the flood Waters at Panias, which is where the snowmelt creates a mighty river. The Temple has been excavated, but when the NT quotes the “Gates of Hell”, this is where they were standing. This site is about 50 miles north of Caperneum, whis is from the Hebrew e Kefar Nahum, or City of Nahum. he Hinom Valley wraps around the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, all the way to the west of the Old City, and is where a millenia of trash was thrown over the edge into. So the trash was constantly burning, so this is the Fires of Hell people were thrown into that Fante referred to. In essence, I have stood on the edge of the burning pit, and stared into the gates of hell.

[Flaming Conservative]

Jesus was very clear that Hell is a place of torment. And sin He is God, He would know.

[P8riot]

Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:22, "to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire."

and again in Mark 9:47-48, "And if your eye causes you to sin, 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, where ‘their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched."

[Salman]

There's a big difference between Hell as mentioned in the New Testament, and all the various bits of folklore about it in historical Christendom.

In truth, the New Testament does not go into any great detail, because that's not really the point now is it?

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Dante and Virgil in Hell by Gustave Courtois (Circle of traitors)

[Hebrews 11:6]

“God is love” and loves every human, even the majority who reject Him and want nothing to do with Him. He permits their choice and allows them to separate themselves from Him eternally. God remains concerned for their eternal welfare in His absence, and He knows that without His protection they will be surrounded by, and prey to, the vilest of people. So, He creates a self-protecting mechanism that limits their suffering to just what they have earned, perhaps like this:

Around each person in Hell God installs a sphere of suffering—fire, if you will—commensurate with how evil their heart has become. Hitler gets roaring flames, while your silly Aunt Minnie’s are Minnieature by comparison. God’s purposes are both restraint and punishment. The evil in their hearts causes them to lash out at their neighbors, only to lunge into their own flames, which are just large enough to prevent them from reaching their target. Thus, the denizens of Hell suffer only for their own evil, while being protected from their neighbors’ evil even in God’s absence.

God, being God, may have other ways that conform to the Bible’s narrative. This is merely a suggestion of one way He might achieve His purposes.