Intertwined with beliefs about death and spiritism are the doctrines of hell and purgatory. These doctrines are of pagan origin, and were adopted into the Christian culture by the Roman Catholic Church fathers in the 1400s.

The doctrine that the wicked dead are tormented forever is inconsistent with the character of God, who demonstrated infinite love for us in the sacrifice of His Son. Unfortunately, many people have misunderstood these concepts and reject God as a result.

Common Definitions

Cardinal Gibbons writes about purgatory, "There exists in the next life a middle state of temporary punishment, allotted for those who have not died in venial sin...The existence of purgatory naturally implies the correlative dogma, the utility of praying for the dead."ⁱ

Hell is generally defined as a place where those who died in enmity with God suffer eternal torment, whereas the souls of the righteous go to heaven upon death. The Hebrew she'ol and the Greek Hades can both be translated as "hell," and refer to the world of the dead.

The Greek term geena is used 12 times in the New Testament, and denotes "fiery punishment." It is derived from the Hebrew Ge Hinnom, or "the Valley of Hinnom," where heathen rites of sacrificing and burning children to Molech were practiced. Jeremiah called it "the valley of slaughter." The Valley of Hinnom became a place for burning rubbish and, with the development of a doctrine of a fiery hell where the wicked were punished, the valley served as a type of the fires of the last days.

The Biblical terminology is often used in a metaphoric sense and confusion can arise as to whether the terms are referring to a place or state in which the dead find themselves.

Permanent Consequences, not Everlasting Pain

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus refers to geena three times. He warned the Pharisees of the damnation of geena. The nature and effect of the fire is described in the Bible as "unquenchable fire" (Mark 9:43-48; Luke 3:9) or "everlasting fire" (Matthew 25:41). This fire will cleanse the earth (2 Peter 3:10-12; Luke 3:17) after the second resurrection (Revelation 20:5).

The word aiónios, which means "everlasting," is used to described the fate of the righteous as well as the wicked. The punishment of the wicked is everlasting death. The fire itself is not everlasting, but the final consequence of the fire—death—is everlasting.

This principle is clearly demonstrated in the Scriptures. In Malachi 4:1-3, speaking of that last day when the earth and all the wicked are burned up, God tells the prophet, "behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch... they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this."

Ashes and stubble indicate that the fire is out. The wicked do not burn eternally, but their destruction is final. Their pain and suffering is over, as is their life of sin and rebellion. God has mercy even on the wicked in that He does not allow them to suffer eternally.

Similarly, Jude 7 says, "Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (emphasis added). The fires are no longer burning, but the consequences of the fires are everlasting.

Total Obliteration

In the Bible, the word for "destruction" means total and irreversible obliteration. For example, God sent the Flood to destroy—make non-existent—all life on Earth (Genesis 6 and 7). Later in history, God often required the Israelites to destroy their war plunder as an offering to Him. This was done through killing the livestock, and burning the plunder until only ash remained. (Numbers 21:2-3; Joshua 6:21).

This definition of a state irreversible destruction is what we see throughout Scripture in relation to the punishment for those who choose to reject God:

He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed (Exodus 22:20).

And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed (Isaiah 1:18).

In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9).

Like the pain of dying—which eventually culminates in death—the punishment for those who reject God lasts for only a while. Eventually, the destruction is complete and they simply cease to exist.

Read the next article, An Immediate Afterlife?