Hell In Religion

The history of Christianity indicates that there has always been different ways of approaching the Bible. And at particular times, throughout history, the church from its beginning has faced a series of doctrinal issues that have led to numerous council meetings. Usually, two aspects have led to this problem. First, it was the problem of heresy from within the church and second, the outside pressure of secular cultural beliefs reinterpreting the church’s doctrines. It never surprises me that history always seemed to repeat itself. And as such, this heretical deviation has reemerged an old theological argument: The debate about hell. The study of hell has always been of great interest to me. My conversion to Christianity was only possible after hearing the “good news” of hell. What was good about hell was that the preacher, after describing the horrors of hell, presented it as an alternative because of the salvific death of Jesus.

The issue of eternity (particularly hell) is a subject that needs to be addressed and not shun away as most Christians do. Preachers nowadays just avoid it or when asked, they shun from it. In fact, the silence on hell has made the British evangelist John Blanchard to ask “What happened to hell?” It used to be one of the hottest topics but it has vanished. Nevertheless, the popular questions people ask of hell are: What is hell? Who goes there? Where is it? Is it a literal place of fire and brimstone? Annihilation? Separation into outer darkness? Purification? Well, modern scholarships have presented four popular views of hell: 1. The Literal View 2. The Metaphorical View 3.The Purgatorial View and 4. The Conditional