Is Hell a Real Place?

Before we answer this question lets look at a general historical overview of the topic. Hang on to your hat because this kind of topic can't be discussed without using some big words you may not be used to. Christian views on Hell vary, but in general traditionally agree that hell is a place or a state in which the souls of the unsaved suffer the consequences of sin. Different Hebrew and Greek words are translated as "hell" in most English-language Bibles. They include: •"Sheol" in the Hebrew Bible, and "Hades" in the New Testament. Many modern versions, such as the New International Version, translate Sheol as "grave" and simply transliterate "Hades". It is generally agreed that both sheol and hades do not typically refer to the place of eternal punishment, but to the grave, the temporary abode of the dead, the underworld. •"Gehenna" in the New Testament, where it is described as a place where both soul and body could be destroyed (Matthew 10:28) in "unquenchable fire" (Mark 9:43). The word is translated as either "hell" or "hell fire" in English versions. •The Greek verb "ταρταρῶ (tartarō)", which occurs once in the New Testament (in 2 Peter 2:4). It is almost always translated by a phrase such as "thrown down to hell". Exceptionally, the 2004 Holman Christian Standard Bible uses the word "Tartarus" and explains: "Tartarus is a Greek name for a subterranean place of divine punishment lower than Hades." Hell is generally defined as the eternal fate of unrepentant sinners after this life. Hell's character is inferred from biblical teaching, which has often been understood literally. Souls are said to pass into Hell by God's irrevocable judgment. In ancient Jewish belief, the dead were consigned to Sheol or the grave, to which all were sent indiscriminately (cf. Genesis 37:35; Numbers 16:30-33; Psalm 86:13; Ecclesiastes 9:10). Sheol was thought of as a place situated below the ground (cf. Ezek. 31:15), a place of darkness, silence and forgetfulness (cf. Job 10:21). By the third to second century BC, the idea had grown to encompass separate divisions in sheol for the righteous and wicked (cf. the Book of Enoch), and by the time of Jesus, some Jews had come to believe that those in Sheol awaited the Resurrection of the dead either in comfort (in the bosom of Abraham) or in torment. By at least the late rabbinical period, Gehenna was viewed as the place of ultimate punishment, exemplified by the rabbinical statement "the best of physicians are destined to Gehenna." (M. Kiddushin 4:14). The theological concept of hell, or eternal damnation, is expressed differently in Eastern and Western Christianity. The Eastern Orthodox church teaches that Heaven and Hell are being in God's presence which is being with God and seeing God, and that there no such place as where God is not, nor is Hell taught in the East as separation from God.[31] One expression of the Eastern teaching is that hell and heaven are being in God's presence, as this presence is punishment and paradise depending on the person's spiritual state in that presence. For one who hates God, to be in the presence of God eternally would be the gravest suffering. In Roman Catholicism The Catechism of the Catholic Church (which, when published in 1992, Pope John Paul II declared to be "a sure norm for teaching the faith",), defines hell as a state involving definitive self-exclusion from communion with God. The varying Protestant views of "hell", both in relation to Hades (i.e., the abode of the dead) and Gehenna (i.e., the destination of the wicked), are largely a function of the varying Protestant views on the intermediate state between death and resurrection; and different views on the immortality of the soul or the alternative, the mortality of the soul. For example John Calvin, who believed in conscious existence after death, had a very different concept of hell (Hades and Gehenna) to Martin Luther who held that death was sleep. In most Protestant traditions, Hell is the place created by God for the punishment of the devil and fallen angels (cf. Matthew 25:41), and those whose names are not written in the book of life (cf. Revelation 20:15). It is the final destiny of every person who does not receive salvation, where they will be punished for their sins. People will be consigned to Hell after the last judgment. One historic Protestant view of Hell, called the eternal torment view is expressed in the Westminster Confession (1646): "but the wicked, who know not God, and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast into eternal torments, and punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." (Chapter XXXIII, Of the Last Judgment) The majority of Protestants have held that hell will be a place of unending conscious torment, both physical and spiritual, although some recent writers such as Anglo-Catholic C. S. Lewis and J.P. Moreland have cast hell in terms of "eternal separation" from God. Certain biblical texts have led some theologians to the conclusion that punishment in hell, though eternal and irrevocable, will be proportional to the deeds of each soul (e.g. Matthew 10:15, Luke 12:46-48. A minority of Protestants believe in the doctrine of conditional immortality, which teaches that those sent to Hell will not experience eternal conscious punishment, but instead will be extinguished or annihilated after a period of "limited conscious punishment". Prominent evangelical theologians who have adopted conditionalist beliefs include John Wenham, Edward Fudge, Clark Pinnock and John Stott. Now that we have looked at a general historical overview about hell let us now get back to the question is hell a real place? Simple answer is yes. Hell is a real place. In case you confused and need clarity here is what our Waxahachie Bible Church doctrinal statement says about hell. This is what we believe about hell: We believe that God created a great number of angels; that the greatest angel become proud and rebelled and is called Satan; that with the other angels who rebelled with him, called demons, he is seeking to destroy the kingdom of God. We believe that Satan was defeated at the cross and will be condemned to everlasting punishment at the end of the age. Revelations 12:3-9, Isaiah 14:12-17, Ezek. 28:11-19, Eph. 6:11-12, Col. 2:15, Rev. 20:10. We believe that God created the universe and created man in His own image; that all men have sinned in the transgression of Adam as well as in personal experience; that they are dead in sin, and, apart from the grace of God, are totally lost and on their way to everlasting separation from God in “the lake of fire.” Genesis 1:26, Romans 5:15-19, Eph. 2:1-3, Romans 6:23, Rev. 20:14-15. We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, the everlasting blessedness of the saved in glory and the everlasting punishment of the lost. Dan. 12:2, John 5:28 -29, Luke 16:19 -26, Phil. 1:23, Rev. 20:10 -15.