Hell is often portrayed as a place of fire and brimstone, where unbelievers are tortured for eternity. We must turn to the Bible to understand what it actually teaches[1][2].

The word "hell" appears around 54 times in the Bible, referring to various concepts related to punishment and the afterlife[3][4]. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word Sheol is often translated as "hell," but it primarily signifies the grave or the place of the dead[5][6].

In the New Testament, three key Greek words are used[7][8]:
* Hades refers to the intermediate state of the dead[9].
* Tartarus (mentioned once in 2 Peter 2:4) is where fallen angels are imprisoned[10].
* Gehenna is the most significant, drawing its name from the Valley of Hinnom, a real-life garbage dump outside Jerusalem where refuse was burned. It is this term that Jesus uses most often to describe the final place of eternal judgment[11].

As the ultimate authority on this subject, Jesus provides several descriptions[12]:

1. A place of "outer darkness" where "there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 8:12)[13].
2. A "fiery furnace" where law-breakers will be thrown at the end of the age: "The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 13:41–42)[14][15].
3. "The hell of fire" (Matthew 5:22)[16][17].
4. "Eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41)[18][19].
5. Where "the fire never goes out" (Mark 9:43)[20][21].
6. A place of "eternal punishment" (Matthew 25:46)[22][23].


While these passages affirm the reality of fire and torment, the Bible also suggests that punishment is proportional to the severity of the sin[24][25]. The description of fire should not be the sole focus, as Jesus also describes it as "outer darkness," indicating that the imagery used is multifaceted[26][27].

The most profound understanding of hell is that it is a state of being completely separate from God, who is the source of all life, goodness, and joy[28][29]. In essence, hell is the absence of God's beatific presence[30][31].

This leads to the question of why a loving God would send anyone there. The Protestant view emphasizes that God grants humanity free will to choose to walk with Him or to reject Him[32][33]. Because God is love, He honors this choice, allowing those who persistently reject His presence in life to continue in that chosen state of separation in the afterlife[34][35].

Hell is the ultimate consequence of sin, which is everything that is not of God[36]. Since God is goodness and love, sin is fundamentally the opposite of His nature and results in separation from Him[37][38].

The Good News is that salvation does not depend on our own merit, being perfectly good, or any works we perform[39][40]. As Jesus stated, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16)[41][42]. By accepting Jesus into our hearts and believing in Him[43][44], we receive forgiveness for all sin that separates us from God[45][46].