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What You Know About Hell is Wrong:
Challenge yourself to place Biblical study over tradition.
By Wesley Baines
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd

What do you know about Hell?
Perhaps you imagine a place of darkness and fire, where God happily sends unbelievers to suffer in eternal, smoke-filled agony at the hands of demonic torturers.
If you did, you’d be wrong.
Hell is one of the most misunderstood concepts of Christian theology, both by those within the religion, and by those outside of it. This misrepresentation of Hell not only does damage to the image of the Christian Church, but also causes some of the faithful, themselves, to fall away from what they perceive to be a monstrous God.
At the heart of this is the issue of the very character of God—what we believe about Hell affects what we believe about the Lord who created it. When we are wrong about Hell, we misrepresent God.
And so it is vital to try and grasp the reality of what Hell truly is.
Hell is real. There is no worse place in all creation. But it’s also very different from what you’ve been taught.
Here are the THREE MISCONCEPTIONS about Hell that you need to stop believing:
“Hell is eternal."
The biggest lie we’ve ever been told about Hell is that it lasts forever.
The Bible simply does not support the idea of unending, conscious torment. There is much more evidence that, instead of agony, the end of the wicked lies in oblivion.
Annihilationism is the view that anyone who refuses God’s redemption simply ceases to exist after an indeterminate period of torment—they are eventually annihilated rather than damned to suffer eternally. The Bible, when we read carefully, seems to support this view in several ways.
Scripture speaks of the wicked suffering “eternal punishment,” “eternal destruction,” and “eternal judgment,” but the language indicates that it is the consequence of unbelief that is eternal, not the duration. The unsaved are “destroyed forever,” but they are not eternally being destroyed. They are annihilated, and cease to be.
Most tellingly, Matthew 10:28 reads, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” While Christian pop culture teaching will tell you that the still-living soul burns in Hell forever, this verse shows that God destroys souls in Hell.
The warning of an eternal Hell is what puts many non-Christians on the defensive, but the warning of the annihilationist is both Biblical and believable, and, as we’re about to see, shows God’s true character.
“God wants unbelievers to go to Hell.”
If there’s one image that criticize the Church seize on the most, it is that of the eternally angry God who enjoys locking the unsaved away in the fires of Hell.
There’s one problem here. That’s not God’s character at all.
Psalms 30:5 speaks of God’s temperament, saying “For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime.” Numerous other scriptures speak of God’s enduring, eternal love—if God’s anger is temporary and his love, eternal, then what sense does an eternal Hell make? It’s simply not compatible.
But it is in Ezekiel 18:23 that we find the most compelling description of how God feels about the unrepentant. Here, God says, “’Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?’ declares the Sovereign Lord. ‘Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?’”
God loves His creations, and only wants the best for us. He is grieved when we do not choose to live in His word.
Why, then, you might ask, would He allow Hell? Why not take everyone up to Heaven, no matter what?
The answer to that lies bound up in the gift of free will.
God always allows us choice—He did not create automatons. And in the end, we’re given a final choice: go and live with God in Heaven, or separate ourselves from Him. And since God is the source of all life and energy, to separate from Him is to cease. Without Him, we are un-created.
A lesser being wouldn’t give humankind that choice—it would create slaves of us. But God doesn’t do that. He loves us so much that He gives us a choice.
“In Hell, demons will torture you.”
The final popular misconception about Hell is that it is a place where human souls are tortured by demons. This image has been popularized by historical art, by modern film and fiction, and even by the Catholic Church, itself.
But there isn’t a shred of evidence in the Bible that Hell’s horrors come from demons. They’re prisoners, too—not the jailers.
While Hell as a place of agony may not be eternal for humans, it is still a very real place, with very real consequences. The book of Revelation shows that Hell, is a place of agony and forever torment for Satan and his demons, is a holding area like the grave for those who refused God in life, where they remain until the Day of Judgment, when they will perish and made nothing. In actuality they are in the grave waiting for the Great White Throne judgement.
Is the concept of eternal torment in Hell really Biblical? Most Christians think there is a place of eternal fire and torment called Hell which will be the ultimate fate of the wicked. Satan, they believe, is to rule in this limited kingdom of Hell and torture his unwilling subjects for all eternity. The concept of an eternal fiery Hell designed to torment sinners forever has been taught by the Catholic Church and accepted as true for many centuries. Integral to this concept is the proposition that no one will ever really die, since upon the death of your external mortal body, your spirit immediately (supposedly) travels to Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory. You either live forever in heaven with God, or you live forever in torment in Hell with Satan and his angels - at least that is what is taught and believed by most of the Christian world.
Let Us Explore
I would like to explore what the Bible really teaches and how it compares to this Catholic concept of Hell and death. Let's start in the book of Romans-
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Note the wages for sin is death, not eternal punishment and torment in some place called Hell. We are not promised immortality in Hell! If Christ did not die in our place, if He did not take our sins to the cross and pay the death penalty that we are condemned to as sinners, then the price for sin is not paid and we retain our sins, and we will surely pay the death penalty ourselves because of our sins.
Ezek 18:4 says, “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
Ezek 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Scripture makes very clear that unrepentant unbelieving sinners will surely pay the penalty of death for their sins if they do not believe in Jesus Christ:
John 5:24 states, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Note that there are only two fates listed. Sinners will perish, but the faithful will receive eternal life. It should be plain that these verses say nothing about sinners living forever in eternal torment. If sinners perish (die) and do not have eternal life, then what exactly is death and what happens when you die?
Eccl 9:5 says, “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.”
Eccl 9:6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun.
Psa 115:17 The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.
Psa 146:4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
Death here is described as the very thoughts of a person perishing, that the dead know nothing, and do not even praise the Lord. The dead return to the earth, the grave, there is no conscious spirit that survives to ascend to heaven. Death is obliteration. Next let's look at what has to be the most quoted verse from the Bible-
John 3:16 the word says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
What Christian does not know this verse? Maybe they can quote it by heart, but do they really understand what it says? Again there are only two choices presented. Believers will receive eternal life, but the unbeliever will perish. Eternal life or death that is too perish. The wicked will not receive eternal life or eternal punishment, they will die, which means to perish! When you die, you are gone, you no longer exist, not even in some spirit form. You are nothing, you return to the void never to return. Gone Forever!

Who are Spirit Beings?

All of the angels God created are spirit beings. The book of Hebrews states: “But to which of the angels has He ever said: ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool?’ Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:13-14, emphasis added throughout).
When speaking of those who would be in the resurrection at His return, Jesus said, “But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection” (Luke 20:35-36). So we see from the Bible that spirit will not die.
The devil was at one time a righteous angel! Therefore, he, too, is a spirit being. The prophet Ezekiel spoke of Satan before he rebelled. We are told he was an “anointed cherub [a powerful angel] who covers,” a reference to those angels honored to stand at God’s throne (Ezekiel 28:14; see also Exodus 25:20). Isaiah 14:12 tells us that his name then was Lucifer. “Lucifer” is translated from the Hebrew word heylel, which means “shining one” (Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew Lexicon).
Ezekiel continues describing Lucifer saying, “You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created” (verse 15). However, at some point this high-ranking angel became corrupt. He turned egotistical, violent and selfish. Lucifer sinned against his Creator. And in doing so, he became Satan, meaning “adversary” (International Standard Bible Dictionary, article “Satan”).
Other scriptures indicate that Satan convinced one-third of the other angels to join his rebellion in an attempt to overthrow God (Revelation 12:4, 7). Because of his rebellion, God said to him: “I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain [government] of God; and I destroyed you O covering cherub from the midst of the fiery stones” (Ezekiel 28:16).
Christ told His disciples that He had personally witnessed this momentous event (Luke 10:18). Let us see how Satan could be destroyed, even though he is a spirit being.

How is Satan Destroyed?

To understand this apparent contradiction, we need to consider the contextual meaning of the Hebrew word translated “destroyed.” This Hebrew word, ’abad (Strong’s #6), is commonly used in the Hebrew Scriptures and may be translated “to perish, to vanish, to destroy or to put to death” depending on the context and the verb stem in the Hebrew (The King James Version Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon).
In the context of this passage, Satan was “destroyed … from the midst of the fiery stones.” The sense is that God is going to cause Satan to vanish or be removed from His presence. When we compare what is said in Ezekiel 28 with other scriptures pertaining to Satan’s fate, it becomes clear that God is going to eventually bind the devil permanently, rendering him useless in terms of continuing to deceive humans.
Many centuries after Ezekiel penned his prophecy, Paul wrote to the Corinthians about Satan, calling him “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4). This scripture and many others prove that the devil was alive and actively opposing God on earth during the life of Paul and the rest of the apostles. Moreover, Satan remains alive and committed to the destruction of God’s Church and its saints today (1 Peter 5:8).
Even though Satan is a spirit being, God is going to “destroy” the influence and power that the devil has had over mankind. Christ’s death facilitates this action. As the writer of Hebrews explains, “Through death He [Christ] might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14).
Even though Satan will not die, God will render him useless in his efforts to deceive humans by restraining him along with his angels. Again, the word destroy in this passage does not mean to destroy in the sense of do away with or make nonexistent. The word translated “destroy” is from the Greek word katargeo, meaning “to render idle, unemployed, inactive, inoperative; to cause a person or thing to have no further efficiency; to deprive of force, influence, power” (The New American Standard Greek Lexicon).
Even though Satan will not die, God will render him useless in his efforts to deceive humans by restraining him along with his angels. As Jude confirms, “And the angels who did not keep their proper domain [the responsibilities God originally assigned to them], but left their own abode, He [God] has reserved in everlasting chains [some spiritual means of restriction] under darkness for the judgment of the great day” (Jude 1:6).

Separation from God

Real torture comes from the separation from God.
There doesn’t need to be literal fire in Hell. It couldn’t hold a candle to this separation. No demon’s blade or whip could match it. No darkened pit could replicate its horrors.
Imagine being in the presence of absolute perfection, love, and goodness once, and then never seeing it again. That is Hell.
We were, as C.S. Lewis once wrote, made for another world: Heaven. We intrinsically belong there with God. So when we are forever cut off, it is an indescribable pain.
But it is also a pain that we choose, not one that is inflicted on us from the outside. And that makes all the difference.