Why did God allow there to be a hell?
544082
The short answer is that God did not create Hell, even in the Christian religion.  John Milton did that.\n\nThe idea of Hell really caught hold when John Milton wrote his epic poem "Paradise Lost", which is couched in religious terms of a world trapped in darkest flames and demons to torment the soul.  What people tend to forget is that John Milton didn't write "Paradise Lost" about any general torment of the spirit, but about the torment he felt at being struck blind, and they definitely forget he later regained his sight and was so overjoyed he wrote "Paradise Regained" to end the story of all he experienced at losing and regaining his eyesight... which is very central to the world of most of us and which would very easily torment our spirits if we suddenly lost that way of being able to understand the world since we are used, more perhaps than any other creature in Creation, to viewing the world as the world we can see.\n\nHowever, the literal versions of Hell tossed around are much more a testament to the limitations of those people who insist upon them than they are the nature of a God who would have no need of them.\n\nThey are the punishments imagined by people whose imaginations and spirits cannot get beyond the flesh of their own bodies to realize something more than the pleasures and torments of their flesh, and whose prejudices are so constricting they cannot imagine a being with enough wisdom and grace to move beyond them.\n\nHell is a thought of the foolish, since the need for it can easily be out-thought.  \n\nHas it occurred to no one that a God would not need such an inefficient an anachronistic idea as an eternal Hell when God could literally save all his faithful creations and punish and save his wayward ones in the same moment, simply by granting them a brief glimpse of His perfect view of the Universe so they might become utterly aware of the true nature of all they had done-- the joy they had brought, the misery they had inflicted, the moments of their lives they lived in grace and the moments where they chose instead to revel in the darkness-- and go through Hell as each and every soul utterly wailed with sorrow once it realized the true nature of every moment it had failed and repented with every fiber of its being of its sins not because it wanted to escape punishment but simply because it lamented hurting something else precious and pure, and could not bear realizing it had done so... and then bring them back to purity and Heaven and into His loving arms the very instant after, thereby helping each and every part of His creation find its own unique path to perfection through Him, all in less than a blink of an eye?\n\nHell is a notion for fools who do not understand true grace can move beyond the walls of judgment everyone ultimately imprisons themselves behind, and that true wisdom cannot move beyond their own hatred.  Nothing more.
722671
There isn't a hell. The bible speaks of going to hades or sheol, which are both terms for mankinds natural grave without any afterlife. Belief in God can come by reading bible books like Job and Psalms and taking a look at our surroundings. Someone must have made all this. Next, turn to Matthew chapters 5-7 and read Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and use his "outline" of how to pray to do that; to pray to God. Ask for support and forgiveness in an honest and true way. This is where faith then comes in. Works without faith is dead, so have faith in your creator to guide you. May God be with you.
191708
hell defined is eternal separation from God.  Hell is not a place.  Its a state of being.  So, God's eternal nature is not contradicted by "hell."
646299
Hell isn't a place, and neither is heaven.  Imagine a "god" so cruel that he would condemn people to hell forever just for not understanding or knowing him or for being misled into the "wrong" religion.\n\nOr think about it from a physical point of view.  By physics principles, the universe is slowly running down.  Hell couldn't burn forever.\n\nReligion is there to comfort people.  It shouldn't be taken literally because it has no foundation in reality.
1017180
God allows us to choose to do whatever we want to do.  It is society, humanity and organized religion that puts boundaries on behaviours and sets moral guidelines and laws to be followed.  God could care less what we do.  God loves us regardless and since there is no hell, we will still all return to be home with God when this physical incarnation ends.
879566
no\n\n"hell" is a mistranslation. it always means the "grave", biblically anyway. there is a lake of fire referred to. In it, evil people will be destroyed, not eternally tormented.\n\nheaven is a temporary dwelling until such time as God sets up paradise on earth, as recorded in the book of revelations. we will live together in paradise with Jesus and God will dwell among us.
1009822
There is no such thing as hell except for the hell you create for yourself through your beliefs.  You can make hell for yourself right here on earth, but it does not exist as a physical place.  \n\nChange your beliefs and you will change your experience.
499413
Whatever the answer is, will depend on the religion of the person answering. Hell can be right here on earth.Hell can be pain in your stomach, or pain in your head. Hell can chemotherapy or the death of a loved one. you don't have to die to go to hell, it could waiting for you right here on earth...I hope you do not experience it
1159277
People usually use Hell to inspire FEAR.  If you do not believe in Jesus Christ, don't worry... When you get to hell, you will know he is real...
1080392
Hell is not a place, but a state of Godless existence without truth, reason, logic, or continuity.\n\nThis is where humanity exists without enlightenment. In a godless, truthless, amoral, irrational existence without meaning, people become depressed, manic, anxious, afraid, angry, irritated, and in pain both spiritual, physical, and emotional.\n\nHell is a place where there is no reason, no truth, no morality, no law, no compassion, no justice.\n\nHell is what we are born into, and Heaven is what we can create if we can overcome ignorance and fear and selfishness and subjectivism.\n\nI do not see an almighty and forgiving God creating a place such as a burning lake of fire for all eternity. What would happen? Would we feel pain and irritation of the physical senses? It would seem incredibly unfeeling of God to do such a thing to his loved Creation.\n\nHell is a place humanity chooses to go, by rejecting morality, truth, compassion, selflessness, and logic. It is a state of despair and ignorance and insanity where the only return is enlightenment, but such a thing cannot be achieved unless the correct path is chosen.\n\nYou choose your destiny because of free will. God allows you to choose Him, or to go against him. Since we have all sinned, we have all gone against Him. You had better believe we are already in Hell if this is true, because our only way to heaven is through admission of guilt and asking forgiveness. We must seek to bring God back to this world ourselves.\n\nIf God wished to conquer this world and turn it into heaven on his own, he could. He has not done so.\n\nHe wants us to create heaven here, and ask him to return. He wants us to choose correctly.\n\nThere is no hell but what we create for ourselves.
406927
It doesn't. All go to hell at death including children and Christians.The original Hebrew word was Sheol and the Greek word was Hades, properly translated they mean: the grave or a pit.Another word also translated as hell was Gehenna(Greek),this is an actual place now known as the Hinnom Valley in Jerusalem. This is a place that always had a fire and they burnt trash, animal carcasses, and live babies were sacrificed to molech the great owl god.Look at a map.In Psalm 16:10, & 49:15 David knew he was going to hell (grave) and would be resurected from it.Many of the older Bibles such as Geneva properly translated these words as grave or pit. It is impossible to have three totally different words and translate them all as hell. In the 1600's when the KJV Bible was made ,the meaning of the word hell was to put in the ground so when they changed the wording to hell they understood what it meant.If you look up Gehenna in Websters dictionary today you will see it tells you the same thing I said. Apparently its to difficult for most Christians to actually look up the meaning of a word, they prefer to listen to the lies that their preacher spews from the pulpit. My God will put you in hell when you die,the grave, and regardless of your beliefs or how you lived you will be resurected for judgement. To receive eternal life you must know Christ as saviour, if not you will be thrown into the lake of fire Rev. 20:14,this is the second death, where people are consumed instantly and permanently. No eternal suffering and torment.I am a Christian and I think its a shame that churches use these kind of scare tactics to keep people in church.
382692
I think you raise a good question.  I don't think parents would have a child if they thought the child would end up being tortured FOREVER!  I also don't think that God would create children if they risked that!  That is one reason I think the theory of hell is very off-base.
437385
Duh!u go to hell.  the only reason being because only god has the right to take your life and you can only repent if you're alive you cant repent when youre dead thats why people tell you to repent before you die so you can get to heaven
821325
Before, and during the time of Jesus, in the Old Testament, when a person died, or was killed by god it was said that he was no more, but after the death of Jesus came the advent of Christianity, and with it came another idea that had never been mentioned before, and this was the idea of hell. What a wonderful thing that the new church gave us. I wonder how many millions of people spent most of their lives in misery because of the ignorance of a few zealots? And to this day the church would rather have people suffer then tell them the truth. It makes me sick to my stomach.
683726
I have heard different theories....One...yes this is the hell...earth and your current life lessons...Another theory...Hell is the place of limbo some enter after death......yet another...hell is the place of satan, fire and suffering for eternity.....yet another...hell is a man made entity....yet another ...hell is a church made idea to scare followers into obaying and attending the church...One who says they know this answer...full of crap...cuz one will never know till the end...and even then we may never know.
549683
nope. if hell DOES exist then god is not all loving. if god i no lal loving then he isnt worthy of the title "god".
996884
US Catholic Magazine writes:  “There are in fact so many strong biblical, doctrinal, and logical argument against the existence of a literal “hell” that this question naturally arises. Why do the churches teach it and why do people often believe it.” -  Robert Short, Methodist clergyman, U.S. Catholic magazine, April 1980 pp. 37-40\nConcerning this use of “hell” to translate these original words from the Hebrew and Greek, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (1981, Vol. 2, p. 187) says: “HADES . . . It corresponds to ‘Sheol’ in the O.T. [Old Testament]. In the A.V. of the O.T. [Old Testament] and N.T. [New Testament], it has been unhappily rendered ‘Hell.’”\n\nWebster’s Third New International Dictionary, unabridged, under “Hell” says: “fr[om] . . . helan to conceal.” The word “hell” thus originally conveyed no thought of heat or torment but simply of a ‘covered over or concealed place.’ \n\n In the century after Luther, the English Bible that was authorized by King James I of England, in 1611 C.E., translated Sheol as “the grave.” The Hebrews, the Jews themselves, ought to know what their own word Sheol means; and so the English Bible translation by the Jewish Publication Society of America translates the word as “the grave.” (1917 C.E.) And so too does the English translation by the Jewish rabbi, Isaac Leeser. (1853 C.E.) Note, however, that Sheol does not mean “a grave.” It means “the grave,” that is, the common grave of all dead mankind. Once we understand this fact about the “hell” as taught in the Holy Bible, it helps us to understand the situation as to dead mankind.\n\n“Hellfire” has been a basic teaching in Christendom for many centuries. It is understandable why The Encyclopedia Americana (1956, Vol. XIV, p. 81) said: “Much confusion and misunderstanding has been caused through the early translators of the Bible persistently rendering the Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hades and Gehenna by the word hell. The simple transliteration of these words by the translators of the revised editions of the Bible has not sufficed to appreciably clear up this confusion and misconception.” \n\nIn ancient Babylonian and Assyrian beliefs the “nether world . . . is pictured as a place full of horrors, and is presided over by gods and demons of great strength and fierceness.” (The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, Boston, 1898, Morris Jastrow, Jr., p. 581) \nEarly evidence of the fiery aspect of Christendom’s hell is found in the religion of ancient Egypt. (The Book of the Dead, New Hyde Park, N.Y., 1960, with introduction by E. A. Wallis Budge, pp. 144, 149, 151, 153, 161) \n\nBuddhism, which dates back to the 6th century B.C.E., in time came to feature both hot and cold hells. (The Encyclopedia Americana, 1977, Vol. 14, p. 68) \nDepictions of hell portrayed in Catholic churches in Italy have been traced to Etruscan roots.—La civiltà etrusca (Milan, 1979), Werner Keller, p. 389.