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Hell
Hell is a place where God sends dead people who do not believe in Jesus. Hell is a place for Satan and the angels who did not want to obey God. Hell is talked about as a place of fire, darkness, and sadness. Scholars think this is a place where those who do not believe in Jesus are separated from God and punished forever.
See: Satan (The Devil); Angel
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The Greek word (γέννα/g1067) is normally translated “hell.” This Greek word was the name of a place near Jerusalem where people burned trash and dead bodies. In the Old Testament, children were sacrificed to false gods in this place (see: 2 Chronicles 28:3). Because of its uses, this place came to symbolize the punishment that the wicked people would receive after they died.
The Old Testament does not say much about punishment after death. Jesus says the same thing as Isaiah 66:24 to talk about hell. It is a place where “their worm does not die, and the fire is not put out” (see: Mark 9:48). Daniel 12:2 says that some people will come back to life and have shame forever. Most of what is known about hell comes from what Jesus taught in the Gospels. He taught several things about hell.
- Hell was made for Satan and his angels (see: Matthew 25:41).
- It is a place where God sends those whom he judges (see: Matthew 23:33).
- It is a place where people and things are separated from God (see: Matthew 7:23; 25:41).
- It is a place of fire that never ends (see: Matthew 5:22; 25:41; see also: James 3:6).
- It is a dark place of sadness and torment (see: Matthew 8:12; 13:42; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30).
He also taught that the only person anyone needed to fear was the person who could send them to hell (see: Matthew 5:29; Luke 12:5). That is, a person should only fear God.
Hell is also called the lake of fire (see: Revelation 19:20; 20:10, 14, 15; 21:8).
Other words that are used to talk about something similar to “hell” are “Tartarus” (see: 2 Peter 2:4), the “abyss” or “bottomless pit” (see: Luke 8:31; Revelation 20:3), and “Hades” (see: Revelation 20:14).
Christians believe different things about what hell is like and what happens there. However, many scholars think that people who go there will stay there forever. These scholars think the people are separated from God and they suffer horrible things forever.
See: Sacrifice; Symbol; Fear of God; Abyss (Bottomless Pit); Hades (Sheol); Die (Death)