Is Hell Eternal?

Well I’ll Be Damned

Quite possibly one of the greatest, if not, the greatest reason as to why people choose to refute God is on the basis of the eternal Hellfire doctrine which is argued as a conflict to His widely upheld loving character. When questioned about the validity of the doctrine, many Christians claim that it’s true and point to many examples in The Bible to ensure it. I began studying these same examples many Christians use to validate their belief, not because I didn’t believe they supported the doctrine, because I did, but so that I can truly understand them for myself instead of just having to listen to someone, and solely go off of what they say. (And I don’t say that as an attack to those that do.) As I studied them, I wanted to end my curiosity as to whether or not they really supported such a belief; so I took a long, and detailed look at them. Probably the most popular story used to credit the belief is the story of The Rich Man and Lazarus.

To give you a clear idea to what the parable says, it reads:

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:19–31)

Nearly everyone asserts that this is not a parable but rather a literal representation of the afterlife, but after reading that it should be clear that the events mentioned in the story never actually took place. If that isn’t very clear, there are two very prominent details that would elaborate it for us.

1. People in hell can’t talk to those in heaven (see Isaiah 65:17)
2. A drop of water will not relieve someone who’s burning in flames (In fact the drop of water would evaporate due to the heat in the surrounding environment.)

When Jesus told this story, He did so in order to convey a message, and had some very important things to teach at that. For one, by representing the beggar as being in heaven and the rich man as lost, Jesus taught His hearers that, contrary to the prevailing view, wealth is not necessarily an indicator of divine favor, just as poverty is not a sign of God’s judgement upon a person. In addition to that, Jesus was also seeking to educate the Jews that salvation would not be theirs by birthright. The rich man in torment calls out to “father Abraham,” just as the Jews of Jesus’ day were mistakenly pointing to heritage as proof of their assurance of salvation.

The passage in 1 Peter 3:18–20 has been preached to mean that Jesus had descended into the lower regions of the earth and preached to the lost who were imprisoned in some type of purgatory or limbo, but this isn’t what is being said here. The first part reads: “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins… that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also He went and preached…” We are told that whatsoever Christ did in preaching during this period of time, He did it through—or by—the Holy Spirit. This time period is later clarified as “the days of Noah”. The terminology applied in the phrase “spirits in prison” is used to describe those who were affixed in their sinful ways, or those who were struggling to get victory over their sin. Just as Christ ministers to us through the Holy Spirit today (yet isn’t physically here), He has also done so back in the days of Noah (where He wasn’t physically present either).

It doesn’t stop here either—there are other texts in other areas of The Bible which are used to support this doctrine of eternal Hell fire. Terms like: “unquenchable fire”, “everlasting fire”, “worm never dieth”, and even “forever” are used to further this ideology.

When we read of “unquenchable fire” in The Bible, it simply is talking about a fire that can’t be put out, not of a fire that never goes out. For instance, 2 Chronicles 36:19–21 speaks of Jerusalem being set on fire “in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah”, which was in reference to Jeremiah 17:27 that tells us this fire was “unquenchable”. Fires that are not quenched eventually go out by themselves when there is nothing left in their path to burn; it does not mean that the fire will go on forever.

The term “eternal fire” might seem like more reliable and convincing evidence in support of this issue. Well lets look at it in retrospect to Sodom and Gamorrah. Jude said: “…Sodom and Gomorrah…are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” (Jude 1:7) So lets ask ourselves: Are the cities Sodom and Gamorrah still burning today? Obviously not! So what is meant when Jude said that the people of Sodom and Gamorrah suffered the vengeance of eternal fire? To put it simply: the term “eternal fire” refers to the results of the fire; which would refer to (in relation to the wicked) the duration of how long their death will last, not how long they would suffer.

“Forever”, as used in the Bible, means simply a period of time, limited or unlimited, and is usually used in a hyperbolic manner—such as the phrase “I haven’t seen you in forever”. It is used 56 times in the Bible in connection with things that have already ended. (Don’t worry I won’t be going into all of them!) We know that Jonah spent only 3 days and nights in the stomach of a great fish, but he describes it as “forever” ([Jonah 2:6] in relation to [Jonah 1:17]). It is also used in reference to the expanse of a person’s life e.g. “for as long as they live”, or “until death”.([1 Samuel 1:28] in reference to [1 Samuel 1:22]). Likewise, the wicked will burn in the fire for as long as they live, or until death.

Lastly, for the term “worm never dieth”. The words spoken by Jesus in Mark 9:48 are cited from Isaiah 66:24, where he was giving a visualization of how things will look on the day of Judgement. Jesus used it to as a reference to something else though to portray the same message. Before we get into what he was referencing, we should first understand that the word “Hell” used in Mark 9:43–48 is from the Greek word Gehenna, which is the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew word Hinnom—the name of a valley near Jerusalem. This valley was basically a dump site used to dispose of trash, dead animal carcasses, and even criminals. Fires were used to disintegrate the trash that was thrown there, and were continually kept burning to mask the smell that came from the area. Any life-form that wasn’t consumed by the fire was eaten by the worms. Ultimately the things that were thrown here were inevitably destroyed! Jesus was using the valley of Hinnom as an illustration in comparison to Hell to give His listeners an idea of the fate that awaits the wicked—that they’d be completely destroyed! Knowing that Jesus was speaking of the valley of Hinnom, those who were listening couldn’t have possibly obtained the idea Jesus was talking about souls endlessly suffering.

This belief that, after death, the lost spend the rest of eternity being tormented in Hell is centered around another belief—that of an undying, immortal soul. After all you can’t spend eternity in Hell unless your soul is undying, or immortal!

The idea of an undying, immortal, human soul is not found in The Bible. The word “immortal” is only found twice (in relation to the way it’s being used to suggest living forever) in The Bible (NIV version) and they’re found in 1 Timothy 1:17, and 1 Timothy 6:16; both of which apply the term in reference to God.

“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:17)

“who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.”(1 Timothy 6:16)

Likewise, the word “immortality”, being found only 5 times in The Bible (NIV version), never applies that the human soul is immortal.

“To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life” (Romans 2:7)

Notice the word “seek”, and the list of things that come after it: “…glory, honor, and immortality…” It should be understood that if something is to be sought after, we don’t already have it.

“In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality.” (Proverbs 12:28)

Similarly, this passage suggests that along this way of righteousness is immortality, meaning that we haven’t already obtained it.

“but it (grace) has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2 Timothy 1:10)

This verse is pretty self-explanatory; we learn that Christ brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. We can understand that this immortality, eternal life, is given by and through Christ.

“For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’” (1 Corinthians 15:53,54)

In reference to the earlier parts of the passage, the first sentence is used to emphasize that we will receive immortality at the sound of the last trumpet. While in the second sentence this emphasis is used in relation to another Bible verse in a prophetic manner.

Nowhere are we told that the we have a naturally undying, immortal soul. Instead we can learn that the only one who is immortal is God, but those who have received Jesus can also receive eternal life through Him.

So what does The Bible say about the soul? We are given clear implications that the soul isn’t immortal. God had told Adam, in regards to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “you must not eat from the tree,…when you eat from it you will certainly die.’” (Genesis 2:16, 17) God banished Adam and Eve from Eden so that they wouldn’t “take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.’” (Genesis 3:22, 23) Furthermore, Jesus told his listeners to: “…not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.”, but to “…be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28) Now wouldn’t such a belief directly conflict with The Bible when it says that the wicked perish? How would the wages of sin be death when the wicked actually never die? It wouldn’t make any sense then to say when somebody dies they live forever in Hell!

Another question we should ask ourselves is: would justice be served by burning someone in Hell forever for the bad things they’ve done in this life?

According to The Bible God wouldn’t do anything that was unjust or unrighteous. He tells us to “…‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.’” (Zechariah 7:9) As God commands us to act in a just manner, we should expect that He would too! Paul said: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done… whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10) Jesus affirming that by saying: “‘…I will give to each person according to what they have done.’” (Revelations 22:12) And Moses said: “…For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice…” (Deuteronomy 32:4)

How would it be then, if all sinners are to burn forever in Hell, would they be getting a punishment according to what each individual among them deserves?

The ideas of God being just and loving, and that He burns people forever are completely disjoint; so either God isn’t a just and loving God, in which case He might burn people forever, or He is just and loving, in which case doesn’t burn people forever.

We can be sure that these teachings of eternal Hellfire aren’t supported by The Bible (unless you’re willing to take verses out of context), and we can understand that those who die not being cleansed of their sins, will never exist again, and will never have the opportunity to experience consciousness again, after being justly punished in Hell.

As for where this Hellfire ideology originated from, is a different story of it’s own.