8 Huge Myths About Hell

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Budman

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Mar 9, 2014
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#1
Myth #1: Hell is a place to be united with unbelievers.

There is widespread belief among non-Christians that hell is a place where they will be united with their unbelieving friends and drink beer all the time in an endless party. The fact is that hell is a place of utter isolation, loneliness, and deprivation.


Myth #2: Hell is a place where Satan and his demons reign.

Another false belief is that hell is the place where Satan and his demons exercise their authority to rule and reign. The fact is that hell is the place where Satan and his demons suffer eternal punishment. Satan and his demons are inmates in hell, not its warden or guards. See Matthew 25:41 for one clear statement to that effect:
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."


Myth #3: Satan and his demons will torment human beings in hell.

Directly related to the previous myth, there is the notion among many that in hell Satan and his demons torment human beings who also are there. No. There is not one text in the Bible that suggests Satan and his demons afflict or torment human beings. They themselves, instead, are the object of God’s punishment. There have been numerous books written by people who claim to have visited hell in which they describe a scene where demons are tormenting humans who have been consigned there. This should be the first indication to all careful, Bible-believing readers that such an experience is fabricated.


Myth #4: There are people in hell who want to reconcile with God.

Yet another misconception is that there are people in hell crying out for mercy who want to reconcile with God. Nothing in Scripture indicates this is so. Instead, those in hell are eternally defiant of God and hate him all the more with each passing moment.


Myth #5: There are people in hell who don't deserve to be there.

One of the more blasphemous notions about hell is that there are people in hell who don’t deserve to be there. Nothing could be farther from the truth. God’s justice is impeccable and he never consigns anyone to punishment in hell who does not fully deserve to suffer there.


Myth #6: There are people in hell who wanted to go to heaven.

A related myth is the notion that there are people in hell who wanted to go to heaven while they were still alive, but God wouldn’t let them. That is utterly false. Jesus himself made this clear when he said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. . . . whoever comes to me I will never cast out . . . . For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:35, John 6:37b, John 6:40).


Myth #7: Hell holds people who will one day be released.

A seventh myth is that there are people in hell who will eventually be released and granted entrance into heaven. As much as we might wish this were true, it isn’t. The Bible does not teach the doctrine of universalism, that is, the idea that everyone will eventually be saved and given eternal life in the new heaven and new earth.


Myth #8: In hell, people will be rid of God.

Finally, there is the myth that in hell people will be rid of God and have no experience of him. That is not true. It is true they will have no experience of God’s loving and gracious presence, but they will most assuredly experience his presence in justice and wrath. In fact, we read in Revelation 14:10 that they will be tormented “in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb,” that is, in the presence of Jesus Christ. As John Piper has said, Revelation 14:10 is not saying that “those in hell have the privilege of seeing what they enjoy, but that they have the remorse of seeing what they rejected.”

https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/8-huge-myths-about-hell.html
 
E

eternally-gratefull

Guest
#2
A few comments.

Number 5. - We all desere to be in hell. The fact is, everyone in heave does nto deserve to be there. Everyone is hell got what they Deserve

Number 6 - I think there will be people in hell who did not want to be there, They just chose to follow people who led them astray and did no trepent till the end, and when judgment day came, realised all the work they did to get to heaven will be rejected. Because they rejected the living savior by following a lie. Then i guess, if they really wanted to and asked, As you said God would have shown them the way.
 

jb

Senior Member
Feb 27, 2010
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#3
Myths About Hell
When you talk about "Hell" do you mean "the lake of fire" or "Hades/Sheol" (which contains "the abyss" and "tartaroo") or something else? Acts 2v23-33 with Psalm 16v8-11, Rom 10v7, 2Peter 2v4, Rev 20v15.
 

Nehemiah6

Senior Member
Jul 18, 2017
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#4
You could add a few more myths to the above:

1. There is no place such as Hell. Hell is right here on earth.

2. Christ went to Hell (the Lake of Fire) to suffer the torments of Hell. (WOF False Doctrine)

3. All those in Hell will eventually be reconciled to God.

4. The torments of Hell are NOT eternal but temporary.

5. Sinners are annihilated in Hell and do not suffer the eternal torments of Hell (Annihilationism).
 

Nehemiah6

Senior Member
Jul 18, 2017
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#5
When you talk about "Hell" do you mean "the lake of fire" or "Hades/Sheol" (which contains "the abyss" and "tartaroo") or something else? Acts 2v23-33 with Psalm 16v8-11, Rom 10v7, 2Peter 2v4, Rev 20v15.
Eternal Hell is always a reference to the Lake of Fire (termed Gehenna in the NT).
 

jb

Senior Member
Feb 27, 2010
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#6
Eternal Hell is always a reference to the Lake of Fire (termed Gehenna in the NT).
Different English translations of the Bible translate the Greek word "Hades" as Hell, and whereas "the lake of fire/Gehenna" is eternal, "Hades" is not, as it is cast into "the lake of fire" at the Great White Throne judgement, so it is necessary to know what the OP is referring to! Rev 20v14.

Or do you find yourself confused on this subject?
 

Ahwatukee

Senior Member
Mar 12, 2015
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#7
Different English translations of the Bible translate the Greek word "Hades" as Hell, and whereas "the lake of fire/Gehenna" is eternal, "Hades" is not, as it is cast into "the lake of fire" at the Great White Throne judgement, so it is necessary to know what the OP is referring to! Rev 20v14.

Or do you find yourself confused on this subject?
Greetings JB,

Whenever you see the word Hell/Hades, it is referring to the place of departed spirits after the death of the body. Wherever you see the word Hell translated from "Geenna" it is referring to the lake of fire. The Hebrew "qeber" and the Greek "mnémeion" is referring to "tomb, sepulcher, grave."

Hades, in comparison to the lake of fire, is a temporary place of punishment where all of the unrighteous dead are kept (like the rich man) until the time of the great white throne judgment. After the millennial reign of Christ, all of those in Hades will be resurrected out and will stand before God to be judged at the great white throne.

Both death and Hades are personified in Rev.20:14, i.e. there are two actual beings representing Death and Hades who will be thrown into the lake of fire.
 

Nehemiah6

Senior Member
Jul 18, 2017
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#8
Or do you find yourself confused on this subject?
No I do not find myself confused. However, you are absolutely right. The KJV translators should not have translated different Greek words all as "hell", which has led to a great deal of confusion. So just to sum up for others.

Gehenna = Eternal Hell = the Lake of Fire (originally prepared for the Devil and his angels, and located in "outer darkness")

Sheol/Hades (also translated as "hell") -- the abode of the unsaved departed dead (souls & spirits), located in the heart of the earth

Tartarus (also translated as "hell") -- the temporary prison of the evil angels from the time of the Flood, also located in the heart of the earth
 
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mcubed

Senior Member
Dec 20, 2013
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#9
This is such a great but convicting post.... I like/ don't like it....

Hell, the weeping and gnashing of teeth, is real; Messiah said so. The world is already condemned to hell, that is why Messiah cames, according to John. And the only thing that sends people to hell is the rejection of Messiah. Scripture says we die twice. Death/hades, first death/ second death it does not matter. What matters we know there will be two judgements. The Lamb's Book of life, where christians are judged for their works (not if they are saved) and The Great White Throne Judgement (the book of Life is opened (Yom Kippur) ). You have either accepted Messiah and are found, or not!


What makes this post so convicting is knowing all of this is true many, to may many of times, my witness does more harm than good. And at times I can just get so wrapped up in my I am oblivious to my "neighbor", "brother" who does not know Messiah.
 

Chester

Senior Member
May 23, 2016
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#10
Great OP: you dare to be up-front about an important and misunderstood topic:

I think I agree with most of your 8 points: These observations -

# 2: I don't think that I had thought of this one before, but you are right: Satan is an inmate, not a ruler in hell!

# 3: Again, you may be right - and I cannot think of any Scripture either that says that demons will torment those in hell: but on the other hand, I don't know of any Scripture that says they won't torment people there. So maybe the issue is not conclusive.

# 6: Are there people in hell who wanted to go to heaven? Probably - but how badly did they "want" to be in heaven? They must have more deeply wanted their own fun and pleasure now! Then you have the question of the heathen person who has never heard about Jesus? . . .
 

Deade

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#11
God is in the process of removing evil from the universe. God is a God of love. If He allowed the evil being to continue anywhere forever, that would be most unkind to them. Would not a God of love let anyone, that couldn't quite cut with Him, be destroyed instead of tortured forever. Some people are going to turn evil despite any influence acted upon them.

All this speculation about the fate of all unbelievers is moot. Even professing Christians that do not have the Holy Spirit, have no chance to serve God. Only the participants of the first resurrection have any chance of ruling with Christ.

There are many morally good people in the world, but unless our Father draws them into His fold: they will never understand God's word and His plan. We don't have to worry about anyone being tormented in flames forever. Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. Everybody sins and everybody pays. This is physical death. The dead are asleep. Paul may have said: to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. OK, to close your eyes at night: presto - it is morning. It is the same principal.

God's promise to resurrect "the rest of the dead" in Rev. 20 will be the first and only chance these that were not called in the first life will have. That is when they will have their chance to overcome Satan and his fallen army. This will be Satan's last act. When God is finished with purging the universe of evil: all the demons and evil people will be completely destroyed.


Eze. 28:14: "Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire." This establishes identity.

Eze. 28:18: "Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee."

Eze. 28:19: "All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more." This tells of the fate of Satan. Which is also the fate of those that reject the Holy Spirit anointing by the end of the judgement period. :cool:
 
Oct 11, 2017
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#12
Being born so mentally challenged as not to have the ability to believe or deny anything would be better than having a choice to accept Christ......according to "Christians". The idiot goes to heaven. :cool:
 

Ahwatukee

Senior Member
Mar 12, 2015
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#13
Good day Deade,

We don't have to worry about anyone being tormented in flames forever. Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death.
In understanding the above, it is important to have a correct interpretation of what "death" means. Both life and death are conscious states of existence in relation to ones standing with God. Death does not mean annihilation/extinction, but complete loss of well being in separation from God in the lake of fire. So the error is in your interpretation of the word "death."

We have an example of what happens to the spirit after death found in the event of the rich man and Lazarus, which shows two men who died with their bodies buried upon the earth, but their spirits found at another location, conscious and aware. It because of the false teaching that the rich man and Lazarus as being a parable that people miss out on the information that the context provides. Both Abraham and Lazarus were in a place of comfort/paradise which was across from and separated by a large chasm from the place of torment where the rich man was. When people make this a parable, it is to get rid of the proof that there is a place of punishment and that the spirit/soul is conscious and aware after death.

After Christ ascended He took with him all the righteous spirits that were in that place of comfort to heaven. Now when a believer dies their spirit goes directly to be in the presence of the Lord. However, when the unbeliever dies, they still go into Hades in torment where they will remain until the time of the great white throne judgment.

There is the death of the body and the death of the spirit. The body is buried, but will be resurrected for both believer and unbeliever. Once the spirit leaves the body it is conscious and aware for both believer and unbeliever. Life and death are both states of conscious existence, with that state of existence being dependent upon ones standing with God at the time of death. For the unrighteous at the time of death, they, like the rich man, their spirits depart and go down into Sheol/Hades in torment until the great white throne judgments. Where at which time they will be held accountable for ever sin they ever committed. Anyone's name not found in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire, where they will be conscious and aware.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”

One would have to be conscious and aware in order for the smoke of his torment to rise up forever and ever and to experience not having any rest day or night.
 
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Deade

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#14
It's a funny thing that the parable of Lazarus and the rich man is used to determine a major doctrine. Especially since it is found nowhere else in the Bible. This against advise to not do so.

Matt. 18:16: "But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established."

2 Cor. 13:1: "This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established."


1 Tim. 5:19: "Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses."


Heb. 10:28: "He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:"
:rolleyes:
 

Blain

The Word Weaver
Aug 28, 2012
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#15
There is a myth I have heard that there are nine circles of hell kind of like levels of torment and nine being the worst but just as a circle goes continuous so does each level of hell, I also saw the movie dantes inferno while an interesting theory I cannot really find any kind of biblical evidence of it's validation.
 

PennEd

Senior Member
Apr 22, 2013
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#16
It's a funny thing that the parable of Lazarus and the rich man is used to determine a major doctrine. Especially since it is found nowhere else in the Bible. This against advise to not do so.

Matt. 18:16: "But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established."

2 Cor. 13:1: "This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established."


1 Tim. 5:19: "Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses."


Heb. 10:28: "He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:"
:rolleyes:
Why do you think the the account is a parable brother?

Scripture does not say it is a parable, and in no other parable are actual names used. No question an uncomfortable story, but it sounds like Jesus recounting a historical event.
 

Nehemiah6

Senior Member
Jul 18, 2017
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#17
# 3: Again, you may be right - and I cannot think of any Scripture either that says that demons will torment those in hell: but on the other hand, I don't know of any Scripture that says they won't torment people there. So maybe the issue is not conclusive.
Since the Lord plainly told us that Hell was created for the devil and his angels, demons will suffer the torments of Hell just like the Devil. They themselves will receive their just punishment, but they will not be tormenting anyone. It is the Lake of Fire.
 

Nehemiah6

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Jul 18, 2017
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#18
Why do you think the the account is a parable brother?

Scripture does not say it is a parable, and in no other parable are actual names used. No question an uncomfortable story, but it sounds like Jesus recounting a historical event.
You are quite right. People unnecessarily dismiss this as a parable when there is no reason to do so. Parables are earthly stories with heavenly meanings, but the account of the Rich Man and Lazarus is to draw the curtain on the afterlife and show us what happens at the moment of death (and beyond).

What has changed since the resurrection of Christ is that the righteous dead do not go to Sheol/Hades any more. Those who were there (in Abraham's bosom) were taken to Heaven up by Christ. Now all the saints (souls and spirits) go directly to Heaven.
 

Deade

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#19
Why do you think the the account is a parable brother?

Scripture does not say it is a parable, and in no other parable are actual names used. No question an uncomfortable story, but it sounds like Jesus recounting a historical event.
Parable or no, Matthew has other suspect references found nowhere else in scripture. Another example is Matt. 27:52,53; where the graves were opened. This runs counter to so many other scriptures it defies logic. I'll run a few by you:

DEAD UNCONSCIOUSNESS


Here is your only reference to immediately being in paradise:
Luke 23:43:
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

The original Greek did not have punctuation. So we can move the comma, and it reads differently. That is why the Lord doesn’t allow us to draw doctrine on one witness.
Luke 23:43:
“And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee To day, shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Nobody is going to spend an eternity in flames. Romans 6:23:
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord," The RCC started the myth of everlasting life in fiery torment. They also started the last rites confession you speak of. Dante's Inferno is also scripturally unsound.

Ecclesiastes 9:5,6: “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.”

Psalms 6:5:
For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

Psalms 30:9:
What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?

Psalms 115:17:
The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.”

Isaiah 38:18:
For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

Psalms 88:10-12:
“Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

Psalms 115:17:
The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.”
 

Deade

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#20
The first thing: Nobody is in heaven yet: John 3:13: "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." They are asleep.

Acts 2:29: "Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day."

Acts 2:34,35: "For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool."

Here we are speaking of all the patriarchs of ancient Israel:
Heb. 11:40: "God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."

The second thing: Nobody is going to heaven: Heaven (the Kingdom of) is coming to earth. Rev. 5:10: "And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth."

Rev. 20:6: "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."

After the 1000 years: Rev 20:5,7,8:"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea." Then comes the Great White Throne Judgement: in which the rest of the dead will be dealt with.

Actually the little season that Satan is released is simultaneous with the GWTJ. This is pictured as the Last Great Day among the ancient Israeli Festivals.