Introduction
In my Roman Catholic religion it is said that when a person dies, His or her soul separates from body. That soul either goes to Heaven or Hell. Soul of good person goes to heaven whereas soul of bad person goes to Hell. Well there is third place where some souls might also go. This place is called Purgatory. In this place souls have to suffer until they become eligible to go to Heaven. Is hell really mentioned in Bible or is it invented by Roman Catholic Church like perpetual virginity of Mary (To read about this topic click here)? Let’s investigate.
What is Hell?
According to Roman Catholics Hell is a place of fire where some souls go after death because they lived sinful lives during their life. There they are tormented very cruelly. It is said that Hell is located below ground. Demons also live there. There they are themselves suffer and cause suffering to souls who live there. Hell is ruled by Lucifer. Souls who live in Hell have no chance of salvation. They are permanently separated from God.
Many religions have concept of Hell.
- In Greek Mythology Hell (Tartaros) is in Hades (underworld). It is the place of suffering. Souls of dead are judged. Those who receive punishment for their sinful life are being sent there.
- In Judaism there is no Hell. They also don’t have fixed concept of afterlife. Some believe that souls (good as well as bad) go to place called Gehenna. There they come to know about their sinful life. It is place of suffering. But each soul doesn’t remain there more than one year.
- In Islam wicked souls go to Hell. Their Hell has various levels. Soul reaches each level according to their sins done in their life. Hell is guarded by Maalik, who is also leader of angels who guard Hell.
- In Hinduism Naraka (Hell) is ruled by Yamaraja the Hindu God of death. It is place for punishment of sins.
- Buddha teaches that there are five realms of rebirth. Of this ‘Naraka’ is lowest realm of rebirth.
- In Jainism Naraka is place of suffering. Person is born in this place because of his past karma.
Souls are not immortal
Most of us believe that something remains of us when we die. That part is called soul and it is immortal. There are many stories, series and films on human ghosts. But there are some religions like Jehovah Witnesses that say that humans don’t have souls in them. I also accept this concept because it is biblical. Genesis 2:7 defines soul. This verse says that living human beings are called souls. Soul is not separate entity as thought by Roman Catholics. Now you would say that there are encounters that some people actually talked to souls of human beings. I would say that they are not souls but someone in disguise of human beings. In order to understand this please read Psalm 146:3-4 Psalm 115:17 Psalm 6:5 Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 Ecclesiastes 9:10. These verses teach that dead don’t have memory and not able to do any kind of work. Ecclesiastes 9:10 and Psalm 6:5 also teach about Sheol. Sheol is nothing but grave. All dead still rest there. They are unconscious and will be resurrected after second coming of Jesus Christ. Who are the ones who disguise as human souls? They are demons. They disguise and cause humans to sin.
Controversial Matthew 10:28
Now you would say that if human beings are called souls why did Jesus tell to fear God who is capable of destroying both soul and body in Hell (Gehenna). I would answer that Jesus always talked in parables (Matthew 13:10-11). What was the meaning of this parable? In Matthew 10 Jesus chooses twelve apostles and gives them instructions about how to teach. Matthew 10:28 is also part of these instructions. By saying this Jesus meant to teach apostles that they should be fearless while teaching. They shouldn’t fear anybody and try to change and adjust their teaching. They shouldn’t fear even if it causes their death because they (also other faithful) will be resurrected and relive again and unfaithful will be resurrected and burned into lake of fire (Gehenna see Revelation 20:11-15).
Hell is not biblical
Romans 6:23 says that punishment of sins is death and not torments in Hell. In Bible Hell is used for words like in Sheol, Hades, Gehenna and Tartaros. Sheol and Hades means grave. They don’t suffer there. They rest there until their resurrection (John 5:28-29). According to Wikipedia Gehenna is a valley in Jerusalem where apostate Jews, followers of Baals and Canaanite gods offer their children by fire. This word is used to describe fire where antichrist, Satan, demons and wicked people will be burned to death. Tartaros is a place where fallen angels are chained (2 Peter 2:4). Roman Catholic description of Hell is nowhere mentioned in Bible. They copied idea from other religions.
The story Lazarus and rich man
The story of Lazarus and rich man is often used to describe heaven and hell. Common believe is that Lazarus was taken into Heaven and rich man suffered torments in Hell. But as we know now that Jesus always talked in parables. This is also parable which has another meaning. This parable is in Luke 16:19-31. Lazarus was a beggar who ate which was fallen from rich man’s table. Rich man had everything. He lived posh and sinful life. Both of them died and buried. At some time both of them was in their graves. Lazarus received eternal life after second coming of Jesus. At that time rich man(also resurrected) comes to realize about his sinful life he lived and knows that he will not receive salvation (will burn in lake of fire i.e. Gehenna ). Thus he gets worried and asks Abraham to send Lazarus, to dip the tip of his tongue with water. Now I am going to ask you one question if rich man was burning in fire would he ask just ask for a drop of water or buckets of water? Secondly the morale of this parable is that we should follow teachings of all prophets and Jesus. As Jesus asked in this parable how you could follow his teaching if you don’t follow teaching of prophets. This description of parable I had taken from booklet ‘Truth about Hell’ by David C. Pack. He has given wonderful description about this parable.
References
WLC video on HellHell topic of Wikipedia
Truth about Hell by David C. Pack