Many years ago, I was in a European country. In the early evening, we went to visit the ancient Jewish graveyard in the Jewish Quarter. As we approached, the rabbi came out and apologised that it was closed. Then, with a hint of humour, he remarked, “But they will be coming out one day,” or words to that effect.
I replied by quoting Ecclesiastes 9:5:
“For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing...”
I found myself thinking about this again today, particularly in light of the belief held by many that some are being tortured in hell, despite these words and God’s statement in Genesis: “Dust you are, and to dust you will return.
I believe that many people inherit their religious beliefs without ever being encouraged to question them, in the same way some people in North Korea comply with the regime publicly while privately holding very different convictions. This is not a call to get up and leave; that's a personal decision. One must recognise that churches and other religious groups have considerable value. However, one must reflect on Jesus words to Nicodemus in John 3:10 when he said, “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and you do not understand these things?"
This reflection led me to put together a theological analysis of the subject.
Why There Is No Evidence for Hell
A Simple Re-Reading of What the Bible Says About Hell
Introduction
Many Christians grow up assuming that Hell means eternal conscious torture—a place where people are kept alive forever just to suffer. This idea is often treated as a core Christian belief. But when we slow down and actually read the Bible carefully—especially in its original languages—and look at how early Christians understood it, serious questions arise.
This study argues something straightforward:
the Bible itself does not clearly teach eternal conscious torment.
Instead, that idea developed later, largely from reading symbolic and metaphorical language as if it were literal descriptions of the afterlife.
We’ll look at this in three simple steps:
- What the Bible’s original words actually mean
- The strongest verses people use to argue for eternal torment—and how they can be understood differently
- What respected early Christian thinkers believed
1. What the Bible’s Words Really Mean
Sheol (Old Testament)
In the Hebrew Bible, the main word translated as “hell” is Sheol. But Sheol does not mean a place of punishment.
Sheol simply means the grave or the realm of the dead. Everyone goes there—the righteous and the wicked alike. It’s described as a place of silence, rest, and unconsciousness, not pain or reward.
Verses like Ecclesiastes 9:10 and Psalm 6:5 describe Sheol as a place where people do not think, speak, or praise. That alone makes it impossible to see it as a place of torture.
Key point:
The Old Testament contains no developed belief in punishment after death.
Hades (New Testament)
In the New Testament, the Greek word Hades replaces Sheol. It means essentially the same thing: the place of the dead.
Importantly, Hades is described as temporary. In the book of Revelation, Hades is destroyed. If Hades were an eternal place of torment, destroying it would make no sense.
Key point:
Hades is not eternal Hell. It doesn’t last forever.
Jesus sometimes used the word Gehenna, which comes from a real place outside Jerusalem—the Valley of Hinnom. It was associated with judgment, destruction, and national disaster in Israel’s history.
When Jesus warned about Gehenna, he was using strong prophetic imagery, not giving a literal map of the afterlife. His language echoed Old Testament prophets who warned Israel about coming judgment—especially the destruction of Jerusalem.
Nothing about the word itself requires it to mean endless torture.
Key point:
Gehenna is symbolic language about judgment and destruction, not proof of eternal torment.
2. How Jesus Taught
Jesus taught almost entirely through parables, metaphors, and exaggeration. He used shocking images—fire, darkness, exclusion—to wake people up morally and spiritually.
Parables are not instruction manuals about the afterlife. They are stories meant to challenge the heart and provoke repentance.
If we turn metaphors into literal descriptions, we run into problems fast. We end up arguing that God maintains a torture chamber forever, something Scripture never clearly states.
Key point:
Jesus’ teaching style warns us against reading his imagery too literally.
3. Revelation and the End of Death
The book of Revelation uses symbolic, apocalyptic language. But one thing it says very clearly is this:
“Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.”
That means death itself is destroyed.
Revelation ends not with evil lasting forever, but with a renewed world where death no longer exists. If Hell were eternal conscious suffering, then death wouldn’t truly be defeated—it would simply be repackaged.
Key point:
The Bible ends with death abolished, not preserved forever
4. Common Arguments for Eternal Torment—Reconsidered
“Eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:46)
The phrase often translated “eternal punishment” does not necessarily mean punishment that goes on forever. It can mean punishment with permanent results.
The Bible speaks the same way about “eternal redemption” or “eternal judgment”—not actions that go on endlessly, but decisions with lasting outcome “Unquenchable fire” and “the worm never dies” (Mark 9)
These phrases come from Isaiah 66, which describes dead bodies, not living souls. The fire doesn’t go out because it burns everything up. The worms don’t die because there is plenty to consume.
This imagery points to complete destruction, not endless pain.
The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16)
This is clearly a parable, not a literal report of the afterlife. If taken literally, it would mean souls have fingers, tongues, and can be relieved by a single drop of water—something no one actually believes.
The point of the story is moral reversal and warning the wealthy, not teaching about Hell’s geography.
5. Early Christians Did Not Agree on Eternal Torment
Eternal conscious torment was not universally believed in the early church.
- Origen believed God’s punishment was corrective and would eventually lead to restoration.
- Gregory of Nyssa, a highly respected church father, taught that punishment was meant to heal, not torment forever.
- Isaac of Nineveh rejected eternal punishment as incompatible with God’s love.
No ecumenical church council ever officially declared eternal conscious torment as required Christian belief.
Conclusion
When we read the Bible carefully—paying attention to language, symbolism, and historical context—the idea of Hell as eternal conscious torture becomes very hard to support.
- The Old Testament doesn’t teach it
- The New Testament words don’t require it
- Jesus’ teaching style warns against literalism
- Revelation shows death being destroyed
- Influential early Christians rejected it
The picture that emerges is not of God maintaining endless suffering, but of God finally ending evil, death, and corruption altogether.
In short:
Hell as eternal torture is not clearly taught in Scripture.
It appears to be a later theological idea imposed on symbolic language, rather than a belief grounded solidly in the Bible itself.
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV), which is in the public domain.