Hell is not a literal place per the Bible

(Basis of Christian Belief in Hell being a literal place)

“...the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment...for I am tormented in this flame.”

(Luke 16:22-24)

Notes

• “Hell, an English word used to translate Sheol (Hebrew); Hades (Greek); and Gehenna (Hebrew). In Christian tradition it is usually associated with the notion of eternal punishment, especially by fire.” (Harper’s Bible Dictionary, p. 382)

(Hell is not a physical place (it is used symbolically))

A hell that a prostitute's guests are in

“But he knoweth not the dead are there; and that her (a prostitute’s) guests are in the depths of hell.”

(Proverbs 9:18)

Notes

• Here Death and Hell occur from partaking and being in the presence of immorality.

A hell that follows Death

“...And I looked, and beheld a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”

(Revelation 6:8)

Notes

• Hell is a rider on a horse and is clearly used symbolically to signify an evil force.

The hell of a belly of a fish

“...Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly; and said, ‘I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice’...Then I said, ‘I am cast out from thy presence; how shall I again look upon thy holy temple?’...And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.”

(Jonah 2:1-10)

Notes

• Hell is equated with being “cast out from thy presence,” the presence of the Lord, for if read literally, Hell is a wandering place in the belly of a fish.

(Those in Hell cannot be in eternal punishment as this would require immortality which they don't have)

“The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who alone has immortality...”

(1 Timothy 6:15-16)

Notes

• Eternal physical torment in Hell would make a person immortal, but God alone is immortal.

(Hell cannot be an eternal physical place if its location in earth shall pass away)

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise; and the elements shall melt with a fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

(2 Peter 3:10)

“...Of old hast thou laid the foundations of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure.”

(Psalms 102:25-26)

“...Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

(Luke 21:33)

“And Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire.”

(Revelation 20:14)

Notes

• Both the Old and New Testaments refer to the destruction of heaven and of the earth wherein Hell is said to exist. Therefore, Hell can’t be a place of eternal physical punishment and these verses must be interpreted spiritually.
• Reading the Bible literally, all those who are in Heaven and Hell eventually cease to exist; if no one is immortal but God, and both Heaven and Hell are to be destroyed (see items above), then all souls cease to exist and all receive the same ultimate destruction as judgement as if all deserved the same fate. Clearly a spiritual understanding is needed for these terms.

(The physical body cannot reside in hell as it will return to dust)

“For dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return.”

(Genesis 3:19)

Notes

• Therefore, residing in Hell must be a spiritual condition as no physical body escapes returning to dust.

(Hell is referred to as a spiritual condition)

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you traverse sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.”

(Matthew 23:15)

Notes

• “Child of hell” and being in the “depths of hell” cannot in these verses make sense literally and therefore must be understood as spiritual conditions. Also as per above, Jonah equates Hell as being cast out of the Lord’s presence.

(Paul never mentions Hell, but refers to death as a “sleep” from which those who are to be resurrected emerge “changed” into a new spiritual form)

“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men more to be pitied.”

(1 Corinthians 15:17-19)

“...We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed...and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality.”

(1 Corinthians 15:51-53)

Notes

• Paul indicates the punishment for unbelief is a “sleep” from which only the believers awake with a “changed” spiritual nature. Eternal physical torment is not indicated by “sleep” for the unbelievers and those who are not resurrected.
• The Bahá’í Writings refer to Hell at least 51 times and in the same usage style as can be found in the Bible (despite being symbolic):

“Soon shall the blasts of His chastisement beat upon you, and the dust of hell enshroud you. Those men who having amassed the vanities and ornaments of the earth, have turned disdainfully from God—these have lost both this world and the world to come.”

(Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 209)

“...They that have disbelieved in God and rebelled against His sovereignty are the helpless victims of their corrupt inclinations and desires. These shall return to their abode in the fire of hell: wretched is the abode of the deniers!”

(Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 284-285)

• Summation: Biblical verses demonstrate that Hell cannot literally be an eternal place of physical torment inside the earth in which human bodies suffer unending pain. However it is a term used repeatedly in both the Bible and Bahá’í Scriptures to refer symbolically to a soul’s spiritual condition in this world and the next.

See also

• Satan in the Bible
• Heaven is not a Literal Place per the Bible
• Paradise
• Hell