What is Hell Like?

When I was growing up, I heard angry adults curse others using this statement: Go to Hell! I heard adults telling others that so-and-so were going to Hell. I heard it preached from the pulpit even - those who leave our group are going to Hell. Scary.

I don’t recall anyone ever saying these three words to me (though I've been told that people said those words about me). And I don’t believe I’ve ever uttered these words to anyone else. But, if I am mistaken about this, I am deeply and utterly sorry for having said it.

Now that I’m “out in the world” there are many more ways people – most of whom do not even believe in Hell – curse each other. I’m sure you can imagine the expletives, so I will not bother repeating them. But the worst thing a person can say, in my opinion, to another is “Go to Hell.” It’s unthinkable. I do not want to go to Hell, and I do not want anyone else to go either.

I am terrified of Hell. It's a terrible place, the worst place any of us can imagine is better than Hell. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Where is Hell?

Do you wonder where Hell is? Scripture implies that Hell is located at the center of the Earth:

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Matthew 12:40

What is Hell Like?

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.

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:10-15

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And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 13:50

Hell is eternal suffering and punishment. No rest. No relief. The worst kinds of pain inflicted upon you day and night for all of eternity. Terrible.

It has become a popular theory to say that Hell is not real. That our lives on this Earth are already “hell.” Many folks will say “how can a loving God and Father inflict this on his creation?” It just can’t be real. But, I believe that it is real. I believe that souls are eternal and each person makes a choice of how they will spend eternity by the choices they make.

Here is what some of my friends think about Hell:

        “It’s whatever you hate the most. If you hate annoying conversations, that’s your eternal destiny.”

“Being separated from your family and those you love.”

“Utter despair, fear, and darkness because it is complete separation from God. No cliches... No pitchfork or scales. Just utter despair and fear because of complete absence of hope and joy.”

“Reliving mistakes, forever, without being able to change them.”

“Unquenchable heat, thirst, pain, anguish...”


"The absence of God"

“Realization of missed opportunities and wrongs you have done others.”

“Permanent death of the soul and no memory of that soul with the living. Everyone wants to believe they will always exist but no life exists apart from the sustaining power of the creator.”

“When I think about Hell, I picture the scene from the movie “What Dreams May Come” with Robin Williams”

“I think of Dante’s Inferno”

“After I hide from God for my sins and let the rocks fall on me then stood before God ashamed and broken, then It would be dark and cold filled with demons that Lear at me while I toil burning and in pain filling the ever burning fire"

I asked my old schoolmate, Chad Smith, to create a scene of Hell, from a description of my worst nightmares – eternal torment, the lake of fire, skin melting off, demons and Satan. Here is what he came up with:

Illustration by Chad Smith who Tweets at @MrNoodle

It’s too easy to dismiss Hell as not real. It’s not a pleasant thing to think about billions of souls in eternal torment. But, if Jesus is real and God is real, then Hell is too. I think people who don't believe in Hell or who have never feared Hell cannot fully appreciate the gift of Jesus' sacrifice for our salvation.

Recommended reading: A Divine Revelation of Hell by Mary K Baxter 

Recommended listening: Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God a podcast of the preacher Mark Dever delivering John Edwards’s famous 1741 sermon.

I'm interested in knowing what you think Hell is like.