HELL? WHAT HELL?

Do you mean GeHenna, the word Jesus used which literally means the Valley of Hinnom. Jesus warned his generation of the danger there and hundreds of thousands of bodies after being burned in the city in AD 70 were thrown into that valley where they rotted and were eaten with worms.

Do you mean Sheol? That place in the OT that simply meant the place of the dead that had no “hell” meaning?

Do you mean Hades? Are you thinking of the Greek god who ruled the underworld, had a hat that made him invisible and a three headed dog that wouldn’t let people go from his death-underworld that Jesus was said to have figuratively conquered?

Or did you mean Tartarus, the word that is used by Peter once and is only used once in the Bible not as a place to send people, but as a mythological place that Peter used as an illustration of judgment.

Wait, you must be thinking of the Lake of Fire, that place that is mentioned only in the book of Revelation and never anywhere else in the Bible. That book that is filled with apocalyptic, non-literal images to communicate about the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70?

Sorry, the mythical place where satan rules and people are tormented for eternity doesn’t exist. It really was imposed over the Bible by those who wanted to control the people by fear. I used to think that was silly, but there are documented quotes by early church fathers and others who held the “doctrine of reserve”, ie the idea that they needed to reserve the truth otherwise people may live immoral and would endanger the order of society..

Chuck Crisco