Is hell a literal place? According to a Pew Research Poll conducted in 2014, 58% of adult Americans believe hell is a real place, “where people who have led bad lives and die without being sorry are eternally punished.” The same poll found that 72% of U.S. adults believe in heaven — defined as a place “where people who have led good lives are eternally rewarded,” That means that a percentage of Americans believe in heaven, but don’t believe in hell. How can people who believe there is a place that good people go to be rewarded, not believe there is place where bad people go to be punished? Because it scares the “hell” out of them.
Hell does scare most sane people. Even those who make jokes such as “I’d rather go to hell because all of my friends will be there”, are likely hiding a fear of hell. Who wouldn’t be afraid when the Bible tells us that hell is a place of eternal fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth? But the thing that makes it is so incomprehensible is the idea that it is eternal.
Eternal is forever, with no end. We think of it in terms of time. But God lives outside of time.