Is Hell Real?

What is hell anyway? Is it just a figment of a fundamentalist’s imagination? There is no concrete proof that I can give to convince you that hell is real. My purpose here is to connect a few of the dots, so to speak. To look into the biblical origins of hell.

The voice of the LORD will shatter Assyria;
with his rod he will strike them down.
Every stroke the LORD lays on them with his punishing club
will be to the music of timbrels and harps,
as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.
Topheth has long been prepared;
it has been made ready for the king.
Its fire pit has been made deep and wide,
with an abundance of fire and wood;
the breath of the LORD,
like a stream of burning sulfur,
sets it ablaze. (Isaiah 30:31-33, NIV)

In Bible days, Topheth was an actual geographical location outside of Jerusalem, near the ancient Valley of Hinnom. (Some scholars believe that, because of the natural growth of the city, the Valley of Hinnom is now located inside the walls of Jerusalem. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t.) The word itself means “place of burning”–and for good reason! For it was here that children were regularly sacrificed to pagan gods, such as Molech and others. And although archaeology has disproved the notion that there was a great and perpetual fire burning at Topheth, it should not be assumed that this hideous practice of human–and especially of child sacrifice was rare or only occasional.

Within a hundred years of Isaiah’s prophecy, Josiah became king in Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel. After a copy of the Law of Moses was read in his hearing, he tore his clothes in mourning and repentance as he realized how far Israel had strayed from following God, and he began a major religious reform throughout the kingdom.

He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molech. (2 Kings 23:10, NIV)

Unfortunately, though, the heart of the people was not as pure as the heart of Josiah, and soon after his death, the people resumed sacrificing children to pagan gods.

The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the LORD. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire–something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind. So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth ["the place of burning"] or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away. (Jeremiah 7:30-33, NIV; see also Jeremiah 19:1-13)

As Greek culture spread, and with it Greek language, the Valley of Ben Hinnom became transliterated into Greek as the similar sounding word “Gehenna.” And while it is true that Gehenna was a geographical place, it seems that Jesus saw it as a tiny, physical glimpse of a greater, spiritual reality. Consider these words, recorded in Mark’s gospel:

If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell [Gehenna], where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where
“the worms that eat them do not die,
and the fire is not quenched.” (Mark 9:43-48, NIV)

In these verses, Jesus quotes Isaiah 66:24, but it’s worth taking a moment to catch the greater context of that verse.

“As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the LORD,” so will your [true Israel's] name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the LORD. “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathesome to all mankind.” (Isaiah 66:22-24, NIV)

It seems clear that God, through the prophet Isaiah, is not speaking of anything less than the afterlife (see also Revelation 21:1-4). Consider, also, another reference to Gehenna from the mouth of Jesus:

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 [Gehenna]. (Matthew 10:28, NIV)

Or, as it is recorded in Luke’s gospel,

I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell [Gehenna]. Yes, I tell you, fear him. (Luke 12:4-5, NIV)

Consider, lastly, these words of James, the half-brother of Jesus:

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell [Gehenna]. (James 3:6, NIV)

While it is certain that the New Testament authors–and Jesus Himself–were aware of the physical, geographical Topheth, it is worth noting that every single New Testament reference to Gehenna is in the context of the afterlife. Even in the Old Testament, outside of a few scattered references to the Valley of Hinnom in discussions over tribal boundaries, most references speak of either the vile practice of child sacrifice or the punishment of God’s enemies–in this life and the next.

I have in no way given an exhaustive study on the topic of hell, but I have tried to shed light on the origins and the development, over time, of the modern-day concept of it. And knowing what I have briefly outlined here, I find it hard to believe that hell is only a concept or an idea–something we can choose for ourselves here and now through our actions. It is that. But I believe it is much more.