Hell

Hell is generally considered a place where sinners who are not saved by faith in Christ are burned, tormented, tortured, and harmed by fire for eternity. It is also considered as a place ruled by Satan, or the absence of God (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9, esp. v. 9: "everlasting destruction from the prescence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;"). However, some sects of Christianity, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, believe that Hell is simply a place where unrighteous people go to be unconscious forever, i.e. die.

The English word corresponds to the Biblical concept of Gehenna, although Sheol (the world of the dead) is sometimes described as a region of Hell in certain contexts.

The Christian idea of Hell is arguably different from the Sheol of Judaism, though it is generally acknowledged as being the same as the place created by God to punish Satan. (Insert the quote from I think Samuel or a prophet that talks about that.) The nature of Hell is described in the New Testament on several occasions. In the following chapters and verses, Hell is mentioned (see also the issues with the word "Hell" rendered in the original languages)

Book of Matthew (Matthew 3:10-12), (Matthew 5:22), (Matthew 5:29-30), (Matthew 7:19), (Matthew 8:12), (Matthew 22:13), (Matthew 25:30).

Gospel of Luke (Luke 3:9), (Luke 12:5), (Luke 13:28), (Luke 16:19-28)

and the Book of Revelation (Revelation 12:9), (Revelation 14:9-11), (Revelation 19:20), (Revelation 20:10) and (Revelation 14:14-15), (Revelation 21:8); in the Book of Revelation Hell is also mentioned as the "abyss" and "the Earth".

Issues with the word "Hell"

When the Bible was translated into English, several words are rendered as "Hell".

Jeff Priddy, writing in The Idle Babbler Illustrated (Volume 4, Issue 2), expresses the problem:

The religious and secular man's nightmarish ideas of HELL (that is, of a Christ-managed hothouse where sinners get burned forever) come to them compliments of ... careless translating ... the practice of ignoring separate Greek words.

In 2 Peter 2:4, God chose the Greek word "Tartaros" (ταρταροω; English transliteration, "Tartarus") to identify the temporary abode of sinning angels. Tartarus holds spirit beings, not humans, and there is not a flame on the premises. The KJV and NIV translators (neither of whose versions have any influence in the expression of Eastern Orthodox doctrine) gave this specific Greek word the English equivalent, "hell".

In Matthew 5:22 (and in several other places), God chose a different Greek word, "Geenna," (English transliteration: "Gehenna") to name a valley on the southwest corner of Jerusalem where the corpses of criminals will be disposed of during the thousand-year kingdom. There are flames here, yes, but the flames cremate the dead. (Isaiah 66:24), they don't torture the living. Most of humanity is not even alive to see Gehenna (Revelation 20:5), let alone be tormented there. The KJV and NIV translators gave this specific Greek word the English equivalent, "hell".

In Luke 16:23 (and in other places), God chose the Greek word, "hades", to describe the state of invisibility; in Greek, the word means "unseen". God uses this word often to describe a person's nonexistence in death: unless spoken of figuratively, a dead person doesn't see anything, hear anything, feel anything, know anything, do anything: hades. Flames, screams, pointy tails and pitchforks are conspicuously absent. All the dead "go" here, not just the wicked. The KJV and NIV translators gave this specific Greek word the English equivalent, "hell".

Priddy goes on to point out that if a (Western) Christian says that someone is in "Hell", that "is a terrible lack of information", because many versions of the Bible indiscriminately use the word "Hell" to describe three different places. If you press the point, and the Christian says that person is in Gehenna, then you could take a plane to Jerusalem and look for the person there. If the claim is that the person is in Tartarus, you can point out that they were never a stubborn, sinning angel who surrendered their sovereignty during the days of Noah (1 Peter 3:19-20, 2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6). And if in Hades, you could rejoice that, like Christ (Acts 2:31), David (Psalm 16: 10), and Jacob (Genesis 37:35) before him, the person has ceased from their troubles and sufferings (Job 3:11-19), and now rests, as if asleep (John 11:11,14). However, given the perfectly natural evolution of concepts over a long period of time, examples such as Sheol, provide us with a good example of how ideas can begin with a simple meaning - "the grave" - and morph into a far larger concept - a place of eternal torment.

Catholicism

Catholic theologians distinguish four meanings of the term "Hell":

Hell in the strict sense, or the place of punishment for the damned, be they demons or men. Hell is the destination for all those who die in mortal sin. This defintion is identified with Gehenna.

the limbo of infants (limbus parvulorum), where those who die in original sin alone, and without personal mortal sin, are confined and undergo some kind of punishment.
the limbo of the Fathers (limbus patrum), identified with Sheol, in which the souls of the just who died before Christ awaited their admission to heaven; for in the meantime heaven was closed against them in punishment for the sin of Adam.
purgatory, where the just, who die in venial sin or who still owe a debt of temporal punishment for sin, are cleansed by suffering before their admission to heaven.

The pain of loss (separation from God) and the pain of sense (torment by fire) constitute the very essence of Hell, the former being by far the most dreadful part of eternal punishment. But the damned also suffer various "accidental" punishments. Just as the blessed in heaven are free from all pain, so, on the other hand, the damned never experience even the least real pleasure. In Hell separation from the blissful influence of Divine love has reached its consummation. The reprobate must live in the midst of the damned; and their outbursts of hatred or of reproach as they gloat over his sufferings, and their hideous presence, are an ever fresh source of torment. The reunion of soul and body after the Resurrection of the dead will be a special punishment for the reprobate, although there will be no essential change in the pain of sense which they are already suffering.

Dante Alighieri, in The Divine Comedy described seven circles of Hell, each with its own category of sinner. Dante's portrayal of Hell, and the afterlife in general, reflect Medieval Catholic beliefs.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Catholic Encyclopedia, available online.

Protestantism

Protestantism generally rejects the view that Hell is an unclear doctrine based on differing translations of Hebrew or Greek words. (Sheol, Tartarus, Hades, etc.) Protestants generally reject Catholic teachings on Limbo and Purgatory, and also reject the temporary Hell of Universalism. For most Protestants, Hell is the place of eternal punishment and torment for all those who die and are not born again, due to man's inherently sinful nature and God's infinitely just nature. In Hell the "worm does not die and the fire is not quenched." Without faith in Jesus to save one from the consequences of sin, most Protestants feel that God must send a sinner to Hell because He cannot abide by sin.

The scriptural references to the concept of hell (or eternal judgment) may be summarized to present a unified biblical view:

First and foremost, hell is eternal (Isaiah 66:24; Matthew 18:8; Matthew 25:41,46; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Jude 1:7), everlasting (Daniel 12:2; Matthew 25:46), and lasts forever and ever (Jude 1:13; Revelation 14:11; Revelation 20:10). There is no other way to state it; hell will never cease to exist. Secondly, hell itself is described as a lake of fire (Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:10,14,15; Revelation 21:8), eternal fire (Revelation 18:8, Matthew 25:41; Jude 1:7), unquenchable fire (Mark 9:43), the second death (Revelation 20:14), and darkness (Matthew 8:12; Matthew 22:13; Matthew 25:30; Jude 1:13).

The wicked consigned to hell will never cease to exist and their body will never be consumed (Isaiah 66:24; Mark 9:43,48); they must face eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46), eternal destruction (Matthew 10:28; 2 Thessalonians 1:9), and their torment will last forever and ever (Revelation 14:11; Revelation 20:10). There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12; Matthew 22:13; Matthew 25:30), they will be weak (Isaiah 14:9-10) and lack any interaction with those outside of hell (Ecclesiastes 9:4-6). Upon the unbeliever’s death, they will be an abhorrence (Isaiah 66:24), shut out from the fellowship of God (2 Thessalonians 1:9), experiencing God’s wrath (Romans 2:8; Hebrews 10:27; Revelation 14:10), anger (Revelation 14:10), indignation (Romans 2:8), retribution (2 Thessalonians 1:8), vengeance (Hebrews 10:30), and judgment (Matthew 25:31-46; Hebrews 9:27; Hebrews 10:27,30; Revelation 20:11-15).

Hell will be dreadful and painful for all, but for some it will be worse than others (Matthew 5:22; Revelation 20:12-14). Finally, there will be no second chance for the unbeliever to change his destiny (Matthew 12:32; Mark 3:29; Luke 16:26; Hebrews 9:27). All in all, “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).

Eastern Orthodox view on Hell

In Eastern Christianity, Hell is a place of eternal torment for those who of their own free will reject the grace and mercy of God. Damnation will come after the Day of Judgement.

For many ancient Christians, Hell was the same "place" as Heaven: living in the presence of God and directly experiencing God's love. Whether this was experienced as pleasure or torment depended on one's disposition towards God. St. Isaac of Syria wrote in Mystic Treatises: "... those who find themselves in Hell will be chastised by the scourge of love. How cruel and bitter this torment of love will be! For those who understand that they have sinned against love, undergo greater suffering than those produced by the most fearful tortures. The sorrow which takes hold of the heart, which has sinned against love, is more piercing than any other pain. It is not right to say that the sinners in Hell are deprived of the love of God ... But love acts in two ways, as suffering of the reproved, and as joy in the blessed!" This ancient view is still the doctrine of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

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Other sects' views on Hell

Universalism

Universalists believe in the doctrine of apocatastasis, in which Hell is merely a place where some people go to be punished for only a little while before every single person in the world goes to heaven, similar to the catholic idea of purgatory, except everybody eventually goes to heaven. Many universalists bring up objections to Hell based on arguments around the word "Sheol" and "Ghenna", and often object to words like "eternal" which Jesus used to describe Hell. This often brings up problems, since the very same word for "eternal" is often used to describe God, and there is no context which supports a temporary Hell in the Bible. Apocatastasis was formally pronounced anathema by the Synod of Constantinople in 543 AD.