“Too Hot To Handle”

Monday, April 30, 2018

Is hell hot?

Sincerely,
Sweating It

Dear Sweating It,

Just like heaven is described using symbolic language (streets of gold, a river of the water of life, a glassy sea, gates made of pearls, etc.), hell is described using symbolic language, too.  Heaven and hell are both real places that are respectively so wonderful and terrible that we cannot fathom their extremes.  Therefore, God uses figurative language to give us a taste of what they will be like.  Hell may or may not have literal heat, but it is described as an eternal fire (Matt 25:41), the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 8:12), and the place where the worm burns and never dies (Mk 9:47-48).  Whatever the thermometer reads, there is no doubt that hell is a place of terrible pain and misery.

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