What Is Hell, Where Is Hell And Are You In Hell?

Hell is easy to understand once you know where it comes from and how it is created.

And there is a formula for hell!

Hell is torment.  It is separation from God.  It is suffering.  For our purposes it is all the same thing.  And it’s not some far off future experienced reserved for bad people.

OK.  Here’s the formula: Judgment → Sin → Death.

So let’s get started at making a little hell.

We begin with judgment.

We’re naturals at making judgments.  We do it every time we decide that something is wrong.

Religious teachings bolster and solidify our judgments.  We find great comfort in our religious systems that confirm our judgments – and at the same time we’re convicted of sin.

Sin exists because of the judgments we’ve made and love.  We’re very attached to our judgments and therefore to our sin.

Actually, we’re addicted to being right, and that at the cost of being a condemned sinner.  We’d rather be right than free.  And we’d rather be dead than free.  Weird, huh?

Sin leads to death.

The way it works is like this.  Because we are sinful, and wrong, we cannot truly live.  And so we must die.

Now there is something strange about death.

First of all there is the death of the physical body.  That is when our spirit departs and no longer provides life to this physical, flesh, bone and blood body.

This death comes to all physical bodies as far as we know.

It seems that this physical body is like a prison to our spirits in many ways.  Not that it’s bad – the body simply restricts the mobility of our spirit.

Once the spirit is free of the body then we really don’t know what happens.  It would seem that our spirit is free to go and be anywhere.

Christians believe that the fate of the spirit is sealed when it leaves the body. Therefore the condition of a person is pretty important before that separation occurs.

Spiritual death has to do with the condition of the spirit after it departs the physical plane.

Christianity teaches us that the spirit goes to heaven if certain conditions in the physical are met – mainly that the person believes in Jesus and lives by the rules.  (I’m simplifying for the sake of discussion.)

Conversely, the spirit goes to hell if the person did not believe in Jesus and live by the rules while in the physical body.

These two alternatives are the only options according to Christianity.

So spiritual death means that the spirit stays in hell for ever.  You see, the spirit doesn’t die – or at least we have no proof of a spirit ever dying – as in ceasing to exist.

There are no graveyards for spirits.  And there seems to be evidence that spirits are able to do things on the physical plane even after they depart their bodies.

Now let’s dig into what it means for the spirit to be in hell forever.

We’re going into the unknown here so bear with me.

First of all let’s talk about forever.  Forever to the physical body seems like a long time – and it is compared to a 75-80 year average lifespan.

But we’re not talking about forever for the physical.  We’re talking about forever to the spiritual aspect of a person.

To the spiritual aspect forever doesn’t seem so long.  Nor does it seem short.  It really doesn’t matter to the spirit.  Time is of no significance to spirit.

There is no time frame, no deadlines.  No hurry to get anything done.  No reason for anything – reason is mind stuff.

Spirit isn’t male or female.  Spirit doesn’t get married, go to work, have children, get divorced, have flat tires, wait in traffic, worry about the next meal.  Spirit doesn’t need money, food, clothing or a fancy house or car.

Take all that stuff away and forever wouldn’t be so bad, would it?  I mean time really wouldn’t matter – and it could take as long as it wanted – no worries.

Another aspect of eternal death is the suffering part.  Hell is described as a lake of fire – one would assume a very hot place in terms of temperature.

So is spirit temperature sensitive?  Our physical body is.  We work hard to keep our physical body at a comfortable temperature.

But the part of us that’s real?  I’m fairly certain that spirit isn’t bothered by fire, or a long time in a fire.

Remember the Bible story of the Hebrew children in the fiery furnace?

Of course one can believe anything, and proponents of hell would say that was a special circumstance – because even the physical bodies of the Hebrew children were unscathed by the fire and smoke.

As for me, I’m comfortable saying that spirit isn’t affected by temperature in the least.

If you no longer have a time or temperature issue with forever, is it still bad?  Is it still unbearable punishment?

Where did all this come from anyway?

I don’t know.  I really don’t.  But I suspect it came from the same place a lot of religious tradition comes from.

It likely came from an attempt to understand the spiritual from a physical perspective.

Let me say that again.

It came from an attempt to understand the spiritual from a physical perspective.

The two are vastly different.

You cannot comprehend the spiritual with only physical characteristics and attributes.

Religion has done exactly that – provided a physical interpretation of the spiritual.  We’ve applied parables, analogies, comparisons and they’re simply inadequate.

Explain what a fork is to a blind person without allowing them to touch it.

You get the idea.

The limitations of the physical do not give us adequate perspective to understand the spiritual.

Spiritual understanding comes from turning away from the physical, being still and giving attention to the spiritual aspect of life that we simply overlook while we are focused on all the stuff that the physical seems to demand.

So how do you punish spirit?  How do you introduce suffering to spirit?  How do you make spirit pay for deeds done in the flesh?

I mean there’s got to be spiritual consequences right?

There is something about consequences that we love.

It is because we are so attached to our judgments.

We love to say “If you do X, Z will happen”.  It gives some sort of stability to life just knowing how everything is going to shake out doesn’t it?  It’s like being right forever!  We LOVE that!

To entertain for a moment that there might not be spiritual consequences for deeds done in the physical scares the hell out of us! (Pun intended)  I mean why am I being so good if it’s not going to matter forever?

And when we noticed that there were no physical consequences to some of the judgments that we made, we were required to extend the consequences to the spiritual realm of existence.  We likely thought it would be safe to put them there because we’d never get found out anyway.

It’s over now.  Now we know that spirit simply isn’t susceptible to pain and punishment.

I think we’ve know that all along – at a really deep level that we’ve ignored.

Test it for yourself.  Tune into the deepest levels of your own spirituality.  Get out of your head for a while and see if these things are so.

Now you’re saying “Robert doesn’t believe in hell”.  Not so fast.

I’ve lived in hell for a number of years – still working myself free of it actually.

Hell my friends, is the condition that we find ourselves in when we make judgments and condemn ourselves for our sin.

Hell is what we’re enduring right now if we’re judged in any way.  And if we’re judged – that’s forever.  Judgments have no expiration date.

So we judge, sin and suffer right now.  We’re enduring hell right now.  We suffer hell for others right now.

The belief that your loved one who was such a rascal in life is burning in hell is hell.  You’re the one suffering because it’s YOUR belief that created the whole idea of your loved one in hell and that’s misery for you.

It’s your judgment of them that judges you and puts you in hell.

Hell is real – it’s a projection of our judgments upon ourselves and those around us.

No it’s not a physical place and from that perspective it’s not real.

But I think you’ll have to agree that you have indeed experienced it and it was/is pretty real, right?

OK. This doesn’t seem like a very wonderful way to live, does it?  Must we live this way?  Is there an alternative?

Thank God there IS a better way!

Remember what Jesus said?

“I am The Way, The Truth, The Life…”

He offered a way of life that is free of judgment, sin and death.  A way of salvation.

So here’s the other formula: I am The Way → The Truth → The Life.

Walking in the way gives knowledge and understanding of the truth that sets you free, and that is living life as it was meant to be lived.

Living life as it was meant to be lived you are free of judgments, you live close to God – experiencing oneness with Him.  In that state of freedom you enjoy perfect salvation.

So “How?” you ask?

You’re already getting the idea – but stay tuned for more!

And while you’re waiting, take a moment and leave a comment below!