What is Hell?
Atheists don’t believe in hell, because they don’t believe in God, souls, or the Bible. For them, hell is a made up word. It’s nothing. Aristotle said, “Nothing is what rocks dream about.” It is literally “no thing” whatsoever. Even so, I’ve heard atheists use the word many times. They exclaim, “Go to hell!” when they are mad, or “Arguing with a Christian is pure hell!” For them, even though they think hell does not exist in the literal sense, they imagine it as a concept—something bad.
Christians do believe in hell, literally, because one source of Christian knowledge is the Bible, and it says plenty about hell. Even so, many Christians today have very different views to answer the question, “What is hell?” Some say it doesn’t exist anymore, but it existed before Jesus Christ saved the world. Still others are stumped. They believe it exists, but they cannot reconcile the idea that an all-loving God could do anything other than be completely forgiving, and the notion of hell does not seem particularly forgiving, or loving. After all, we are born into a fallen world, filled with corruption. We are, in fact, prone to sin, and have limited understanding. Under these conditions, the notion of an eternal punishment for anything we do for a short period of time (our lives exist in what amounts to an infinitely small period of time when contrasting 100 years against eternity) seems unjust. For many Christians, it’s a very difficult concept. What exactly is hell anyway?
What is hell? Our understanding is primarily derived from the Bible. So, let’s first look to see what Jesus actually says about hell. Jesus tells the parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). In this parable, hell is described as being a place where people suffer in agony. It is also a place where those who reside in hell can see those who reside in heaven. Those in hell seem to have access to communicate with God. Lastly, there is a barrier that prevents others from visiting those in hell, and prevents those in hell from leaving.
As a side note, many people believe that eternal life is only granted to those who do God’s will; and all others are passed over. Yes, but what is eternal life? It depends on what you mean by “life.” Eternal life, taken to mean existing forever, is also the lot of those in hell. The difference is location, not duration. As the bible shows repeatedly, words are symbols with meaning, some obvious, others less so. Eternal life, for the Christian, is generally imagined as an eternity in heaven, because eternal damnation isn’t really living. “Life” (in the biblical sense) implies something good is going on, especially after our corporal bodies have turned to dust.
Let’s look at a couple more passages, and then move on to answer the question, “What is hell?” There does seem to be plenty of confusion, especially among those who believe that Jesus spoke only of love, and dispelled the notion of hell. By sheer counting of passages, Jesus spoke more about hell than he did about love. It’s an important thing to know. People received more warnings than promises, at least when counting the number of passages—and that seems to imply that hell is serious business. Jesus really doesn’t want people to end up there. It is His desire to keep you out of hell, and He went out of His way to warn people many times.
Matthew 13:41-42, 49-50 “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Mark 9:43, 48-49 “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire…where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be salted with fire.”
Some words are fairly unmistakable in translation, especially in context. From the passage in Mathew, noted above, it’s obvious that hell exists at the end of the ages. That means Jesus did not do away with hell. It exists today. Also, in the passage from Mark, noted above, there is no relief from the suffering. It too is eternal.
But what is hell really, because there is all this talk of fire? Surely, once our bodies pass away, we cannot feel pain anymore. Why would we care if our souls were in an inferno? An inferno of hellfire would be indistinguishable from a sunny day at the beach. We wouldn’t be able to feel either of them. It doesn’t make much sense, does it? This is where people tend to get lost. Remember, words are symbols with meaning, and fire is a powerful symbol. For example, when we try to avoid trouble, but end up making things worse for ourselves, we say, “I’ve gone from the frying pan into the fire.” We don’t usually mean we literally were in a frying pan and then went into a literal fire. It’s a way of understanding the situation.
Hell’s “fire” is a symbol of suffering. Whatever you imagine the “fire” to be, the reality is that hell is a place of infinite suffering. Burning in fire forever, and similar concepts, are impossible to conceptualize fully, but we have tricks to help us cope. If something is unimaginable by degree, symbols fill in the gaps, serving as a type of understanding. We use words like “infinite” and “forever” to understand the concept. We are incapable of perfectly imagining 100 individual blades of grass at the same time, but we understand the concept of “infinite blades of grass” because we have replaced what we cannot conceive with a symbol. Burning forever in fire is a pretty good symbol, wouldn’t you say? It definitely gets the point across.
Remember earlier, when I noted that 100 years is infinitely small when contrasted with eternity? The same is true of infinite love—or infinite anything. In fact, anything that is finite is infinitely small when contrasted with anything infinite. It’s difficult to imagine—let me put it another way. 
If you imagine an infinite string of numbers, like a number line with an arrow pointing to the right. You are the number 11, and the string of numbers goes on and on forever. Imagine how you would begin to feel smaller and smaller as the numbers count upward. When the line reaches 1 million, you’re feeling pretty small at number 11. When it reaches 1 trillion, you are feeling even smaller. And because the numbers are infinite, they don’t count out one by one, allowing you to see them speed off into the distance as you rest there like a spec on number 11. Instead, all the numbers populate the line in an instant, infinite in number. You might exist, but you are suddenly infinitely small compared to the rest of the line, and it doesn’t matter if you are number 11, or any other finite number, you are equally infinitely small compared to an infinite group of numbers no matter what number you are.
Now imagine standing before God. He is infinite, and suddenly you feel like an infinitely small spec of near nothingness. He is all-loving, and you suddenly understand that, in ways your finite body could only conceptualize while you were on earth. Now you have a real understanding of infinite goodness. How amazing! Can you imagine being in the presence of infinite goodness and love? Even as a concept, it’s amazing and tremendously uplifting. Imagine the awe and magnificence. Like a finite number, anything else is infinitely small, infinitely bad in comparison to infinite goodness. Do you have that concept firmly rooted in your mind now? What it might be like to be a small spec of nothingness basking in the glow of infinite goodness?
Now imagine being cast away from that, into a place that is infinitely bad by comparison. It is a place of unimaginable suffering. You now have a wall separating you from all goodness. You are taunted, because you can see heaven, and even speak to God, but you cannot ever experience goodness again. Now, the symbol of hell you once knew, that of being burned in a fire forever, seems infinitely better than where you are, because that kind of suffering would at least have some limits. Being cast away from all goodness is limitless suffering. You cannot escape, and even the tiniest relief from your suffering could be described as what rocks dream about, “no thing” — nonexistent. Hell poses no possibilities other than eternal separation from everything good, and with it, eternal and unimaginable suffering.
That is hell.
Fortunately, everyone can avoid hell. The consequences of hell are unchanging. God does not actively hurt those who are condemned to hell so much as He separates Himself from them. The consequences are the same–unimaginable suffering. The Bible does not complicate the process of avoiding hell. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God wants you and I to be with Him, to avoid hell, which is why Jesus repeatedly warned everyone about the dangers of hell. According to the Bible, you don’t have to be a perfect person, or even a particularly good person, or perform a lot of difficult tasks. You need only believe in Jesus, in a world that tries to draw you away. Such faith is rewarded eternally. It makes sense, doesn’t it? God wants us to at least believe, and those who do receive “eternal life” (not just duration of existence, but the good stuff–basking in love, goodness, happiness…). That’s a big reward so little effort. Simple belief means you don’t get separated from God. You get to dwell with Him in a place set aside for believers. I hope to see you there.