Is Hell a physical place in mainstream Christianity?
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In the Bible Hell is always referred to in physical, concrete terms. Descriptions include a lake of fire and brimstone, a weeping and gnashing of teeth, darkness, and physical pain. The rich man in the parable has a tongue, a finger, and overall a whole body.
Mainstream Christianity has always put forth this view. Here I will be discounting viewpoints which have softer versions of Hell, like the view that Hell does not last forever.
I am confused on this. The Bible lists Hell as a physical place, where people have a physical body and a physical pain. And yet,
- Hell being physical energy and matter, with the fire being presumably much hotter than regular fire, would likely be detected due to the amount of heat and radiation it gives off,
- People in Hell have bodies. But the bodies do not burn up, and in evangelical circles the pain lasts for ever and ever, day and night, with no rest. Therefore, the body must either be regenerating rapidly, or is indestructible.
- People who are cremated have no body to resurrect. This means either God will make new bodies, or the soul in Hell has no body. If the soul in Hell has no body, then it cannot feel physical pain, because souls are spiritual.
- Hell was created for the devil and his demons (fallen angels). They do not have bodies, they are all spirit. So if Hell was for them, it would need no physical components.
- If Hell is infinite physical pain, like Mainstream Christianity shows, then there must be an infinitely hot and large Hell. But if Hell is physical, then infinite heat and size/mass means infinite gravity, which means that if Hell is physical at all and can interact with physical things (like a body or pain receptors) then the whole world would have collapsed into a black hole.
And yet,
- Most Christian interpretations of Hell include extreme and vast physical pain, the fire is usually like Earth fire, but it is much hotter and much more painful.
- Most Christian views of Hell include eternality, which means that the pain goes on forever.
- The Bible is interpreted literally, unless there is a logical contradiction (God does not contradict Himself)
- The Christian Hell up until recently (ancient, Medieval, and 1900s) was mainly physical, with fire and brimstone sermons being common (like Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God).
With all of this in mind, is Hell a physical place? If Hell is a physical place, then the view that Hell is physical pain holds. But if Hell is not a physical place, then there can be pain but not physical pain.
If Hell is a physical place, then it would seem to have many physical contradictions; it would not be physical per the usual definition of the word. If Hell is not a physical place, then most of the historical view of Christianity is inaccurate. This is a contradiction.
Is Hell a physical place of infinite physical pain, and if it is, how does Mainstream Christianity account for the inconsistencies with physical nature of things?
Asked by user61001
Jan 16, 2023, 09:08 PM
Last activity: Aug 2, 2023, 11:08 AM
Last activity: Aug 2, 2023, 11:08 AM