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[[Category:Definitions]]
[[Category:Definitions]]
In many mythological, folklore and religious traditions, '''Hell''' is a place of eternal torment in an afterlife, often after resurrection. It is viewed by most Abrahamic traditions as a place of punishment.<ref>Heart of Buddha, Heart of China: James Carter - 2010, p 75</ref> Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as eternal destinations. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations. Typically these traditions locate hell in another dimension or under the Earth's surface and often include entrances to Hell from the land of the living. Other afterlife destinations include [[Heaven]], [[Purgatory]], Paradise, and [[Limbo]].


Hell, according to many religious beliefs, is an afterlife of suffering where the wicked or unrighteous souls are punished, in most beliefs, by Satan and his many minions.
Other traditions, which do not conceive of the afterlife as a place of punishment or reward, merely describe hell as an abode of the dead, a neutral place located under the surface of Earth. Modern understandings of hells often depict them abstractly, as a state of loss rather than as fiery torture literally underground, but this view of the concept of a hell can, in fact, be traced back into the ancient and medieval periods as well. Hell is sometimes portrayed as populated with [[demon]]s who torment those dwelling there. Many are ruled by a death god such as Nergal, [[Hades]], Hel, Enma or the [[Devil]].


Hell is almost always depicted as underground. Within Islam and Christianity, hell is traditionally depicted as fiery.[1] Some other traditions, however, portray Hell as cold and gloomy.


Some theologies of Hell offer graphic and gruesome detail (for example, Hindu Naraka). Religions with a linear divine history often depict Hell as endless (for example, see Hell in Christian beliefs). Religions with a cyclic history often depict Hell as an intermediary period between incarnations (for example, see Chinese Di Yu). Punishment in Hell typically corresponds to sins committed in life. Sometimes these distinctions are specific, with damned souls suffering for each wrong committed (see for example Plato's myth of Er or Dante's The Divine Comedy), and sometimes they are general, with sinners being relegated to one or more chamber of Hell or level of suffering (for example, Augustine of Hippo asserting that unbaptized infants, whom he believed to be deprived of Heaven, suffer less in Hell than unbaptized adults). In Islam and Christianity, however, faith and repentance play a larger role than actions in determining a soul's afterlife destiny.
==Etymology and Germanic Mythology==
The modern English word ''Hell'' is derived from Old English ''hel'', ''helle'' (about 725 AD to refer to a nether world of the dead) reaching into the Anglo-Saxon pagan period, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic ''*halja'', meaning "one who covers up or hides something".<ref name=BARNHART348>Barnhart, Robert K. (1995) ''The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology'', page 348. Harper Collins ISBN 0-06-270084-7</ref> The word has cognates in related Germanic languages such as Old Frisian ''helle'', ''hille'', Old Saxon ''hellja'', Middle Dutch ''helle'' (modern Dutch ''hel''), Old High German ''helle'' (Modern German ''Hölle''), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish ''helvede''/''helvete'' (''hel'' + Old Norse ''vitti'', "punishment" whence the Icelandic ''víti'' "hell"), and Gothic ''halja''.<ref name=BARNHART348/> Subsequently, the word was used to transfer a pagan concept to Christian theology and its vocabulary.<ref name=BARNHART348/>


Hell is often portrayed populated with demons, who torment the damned. Many are ruled by a death god, such as Nergal, the Hindu Yama, or the Christian Satan.
The English word ''hell'' has been theorized as being derived from Old Norse ''hel''<ref name=BARNHART348/> but the cognate does appear in all the other languages and has a Proto-Germanic origin.<ref>[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=hell&searchmode=none Etymonline.com]</ref> Among other sources, the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled from earlier traditional sources in the 13th century, and the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, provide information regarding the beliefs of the Norse pagans, including a being named Hel, who is described as ruling over an underworld location of the same name.


In contrast to Hell, other general types of afterlives are abodes of the dead and paradises. Abodes of the dead are neutral places for all the dead (for example, see sheol), rather than prisons of punishment for sinners. A paradise is a happy afterlife for some or all the dead (for example, see heaven).
Modern understandings of Hell often depict it abstractly, as a state of loss rather than as fiery torture literally under the ground.


==Religion, Mythology, and Folklore==
Hell appears in several mythologies and religions. It is commonly inhabited by [[demon]]s and the [[soul]]s of dead people. A fable about hell which recurs in folklore across several cultures is the allegory of the long spoons. Hell is often depicted in art and literature, perhaps most famously in Dante's ''Divine Comedy''.


== Etymology ==
===Punishments===
The modern English word Hell is derived from Old English hel, helle (about 725 AD) and ultimately from Proto-Germanic halja, meaning "one who covers up or hides something". Germanic cognates exist in Old Frisian helle, hille, Old Saxon hellja, Middle Dutch helle (modern Dutch hel), Old High German helle (Modern German Hölle) and Gothic halja.[2]
Punishment in Hell typically corresponds to [[sin]]s committed during life. Sometimes these distinctions are specific, with damned souls suffering for each sin committed (see for example Plato's myth of Er or Dante's ''The Divine Comedy''), but sometimes they are general, with condemned sinners relegated to one or more chamber of Hell or to a level of suffering.


The English term is possibly related to Old Norse Hel. Surviving 13th century Icelandic representations of Germanic paganism in the form of Norse mythology feature a female being named Hel, who is described as ruling over Hel, a location in Niflheim.
In many religious cultures, including Christianity and Islam, Hell is traditionally depicted as fiery and painful, inflicting guilt and suffering.<ref>Numerous verses in the Qu'ran and New Testament.</ref> Despite these common depictions of Hell as a place of fire, some other traditions portray Hell as cold. Buddhist - and particularly Tibetan Buddhist - descriptions of hell feature an equal number of hot and cold hells. Among Christian descriptions Dante's ''Inferno'' portrays the innermost (9th) circle of Hell as a frozen lake of blood and guilt.<ref>{{cite book|last=Alighieri|first=Dante|others=trans. John Ciardi|title= Inferno|origyear= c. 1315|edition=2|date=June 2001 (orig. trans. 1977)|publisher=Penguin|location=New York|language=|chapter=Cantos XXXI-XXXIV}}</ref>
But cold also played a part in earlier Christian depictions of hell, beginning with the Apocalypse of Paul, originally from the early third century;<ref>Eileen Gardiner, [http://www.worldcat.org/title/visions-of-heaven-and-hell-before-dante/oclc/18741120 ''Visions of Heaven and Hell Before Dante''] (New York, Italica Press, 1989), p. 43.
</ref> the "Vision of Dryhthelm" by the Venerable Bede from the seventh century;<ref>Gardiner, ''Visions,'' pp. 58 and 61.</ref> "St Patrick's Purgatory", "The Vision of Tundale" or "Visio Tnugdali", and the "Vision of the Monk of Enysham", all from the twelfth century;<ref>Gardiner, ''Visions,'' pp. 141, 160 and 174, and 206–7.</ref>
and the "Vision of Thurkill" from the early thirteenth century.<ref>Gardiner, ''Visions,'' pp. 222 and 232.</ref>


== Religious literature and views ==
Hell appears in several mythologies and religions. It is commonly inhabited by demons and the souls of dead people. Hell is often depicted in art and literature, perhaps most famously in Dante's Divine Comedy.


===Polytheism===
====Ancient Egypt====
With the rise of the cult of Osiris during the Middle Kingdom the "democratization of religion" offered to even his humblest followers the prospect of eternal life, with moral fitness becoming the dominant factor in determining a person's suitability. At death a person faced judgment by a tribunal of forty-two divine judges. If they had led a life in conformance with the precepts of the Goddess Maat, who represented truth and right living, the person was welcomed into the Two Fields. If found guilty the person was thrown to a "devourer" and would be condemned to the lake of fire.<ref>
''Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt'', Rosalie David, p. 158–159, Penguin, 2002, ISBN 0-14-026252-0</ref> The person taken by the devourer is subject first to terrifying punishment and then annihilated. These depictions of punishment may have influenced medieval perceptions of the inferno in hell via early Christian and Coptic texts.<ref>
''The Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythology: The Oxford Guide'', "Hell", p161-162, Jacobus Van Dijk, Berkley Reference, 2003, ISBN 0-425-19096-X</ref> Purification for those considered justified appears in the descriptions of "Flame Island", where humans experience the triumph over evil and rebirth. For the damned complete destruction into a state of non-being awaits but there is no suggestion of eternal torture; the weighing of the heart in Egyptian Mythology can lead to annihilation.<ref>''The Divine Verdict'', John Gwyn Griffiths, p233, BRILL, 1991, ISBN 90-04-09231-5</ref><ref>See also letter by Prof. Griffith to ''The Independent'', 32 December 1993 [http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letter-hell-in-the-ancient-world-1470076.html]</ref> The Tale of Khaemwese describes the torment of a rich man, who lacked charity, when he dies and compares it to the blessed state of a poor man who has also died.<ref>TheCivilization of Ancient Egypt, Paul Johnson, 1978, p. 170; see also Ancient Egyptian Literature, Miriam Lichtheim, vol 3, p. 126</ref>
Divine pardon at judgement always remained a central concern for the Ancient Egyptians.<ref>"Egyptian Religion", Jan Assman, The Encyclopedia of Christianity, p77, vol2, Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing, 1999, ISBN 90-04-11695-8</ref>


== Bahá'í Faith ==
Modern understanding of Egyptian notions of hell relies on six ancient texts:<ref>[http://www.hell-on-line.org/TextsEGY.html Hell-on-line.org]</ref>
The Bahá'í Faith regards the conventional description of Hell (and heaven) as a specific place as symbolic.[3] Instead the Bahá'í writings describe Hell as a "spiritual condition" where remoteness from God is defined as Hell; conversely heaven is seen as a state of closeness to God.[3] Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, has stated that the nature of the life of the soul in the afterlife is beyond comprehension in the physical plane,[3] but has stated that the soul will retain its consciousness and individuality and remember its physical life; the soul will be able to recognize other souls and communicate with them.[3]


Bahá'u'lláh likened death to the process of birth. He explains: "The world beyond is as different from this world as this world is different from that of the child while still in the womb of its mother."[4] The analogy to the womb in many ways summarizes the Bahá'í view of earthly existence: just as the womb constitutes an important place for a person's initial physical development, the physical world provides for the development of the individual soul. Accordingly, Bahá'ís view life as a preparatory stage, where one can develop and perfect those qualities which will be needed in the next life.[3] The key to spiritual progress is to follow the path outlined by the current Manifestations of God, which Bahá'ís believe is currently Bahá'u'lláh. Bahá'u'lláh wrote, "Know thou, of a truth, that if the soul of man hath walked in the ways of God, it will, assuredly return and be gathered to the glory of the Beloved,"[5]
#''The Book of Two Ways'' (''Book of the Ways of Rosetau'')
# ''The Book of Amduat'' (''Book of the Hidden Room'', ''Book of That Which Is in the Underworld'')
# ''The Book of Gates''
# ''The Book of the Dead'' (''Book of Going Forth by Day'')
# ''The Book of the Earth''
# ''The Book of Caverns''


The Bahá'í teachings state that there exists a hierarchy of souls in the afterlife, where the merits of each soul determines their place in the hierarchy, and that souls lower in the hierarchy cannot completely understand the station of those above.[3] Each soul can continue to progress in the afterlife, but the soul's development is not dependent on its own conscious efforts, but instead on the grace of God, the prayers of others, and good deeds performed by others on Earth in the name of the person.[3]
====Ancient Near East====
The cultures of Mesopotamia (including Sumeria, the Akkadian Empire, Babylonia and Assyria), the Hittites and the Canaanites/Ugarits reveal some of the earliest evidence for the notion of a Netherworld or [[Underworld]]. From among the few texts that survive from these civilizations, this evidence appears in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh,'' the “Descent of Inanna to the Netherworld,” “[[Baal]] and the Underworld,” the “Descent of Ishtar” and the “Vision of Kummâ.”<ref>[http://www.hell-on-line.org/TextsANE.html Hell-on-line.org]</ref>


== Buddhism ==
====Greek====
Most Buddhist schools of thought, Theravāda, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna would acknowledge several Hells [1] [2] [3], which are places of great suffering for those who commit evil actions, such as cold Hells and hot Hells. Like all the different realms within cyclic existence, an existence in Hell is temporary for its inhabitants. Those with sufficiently negative karma are reborn there, where they stay until their specific negative karma has been used up, at which point they are reborn in another realm, such as that of humans, of hungry ghosts, of animals, of asuras, of devas, or of Naraka (Hell) all according to the individual's karma.
In classic Greek mythology, below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus, or ''Tartaros'' (Greek Τάρταρος, deep place). It is either a deep, gloomy place, a pit or abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides within Hades (the entire underworld) with Tartarus being the hellish component. In the ''Gorgias'', Plato (c. 400 BC) wrote that souls were judged after death and those who received punishment were sent to Tartarus. As a place of punishment, it can be considered a hell. The classic Hades, on the other hand, is more similar to Old Testament Sheol.


== Chinese religions ==
====Europe====
In Chinese mythology, the name of Hell does not carry a negative connotation. The Hell they refer to is Di Yu (trad. 地獄, simp. 地狱; lit. "underground hold/court"). Diyu is a maze of underground levels and chambers where souls are taken to atone for their earthly sins.
The hells of Europe include Breton Mythology's "Anaon", Celtic Mythology's "Uffern", Slavic mythology's "Peklo", the hell of Sami mythology and Finnish "tuonela" ("manala").


The popular story is that the word Hell was introduced to China by Christian missionaries, who preached that all non-Christian Chinese people would "go to Hell" when they died. As such, it was believed that the word "Hell" was the proper English term for the Chinese afterlife, and hence the word was adopted. The belief in hell can be traced to Understanding Heaven and Hell.
====Asia====
The hells of Asia include the Bagobo “Gimokodan” and Ancient Indian mythology's “Kalichi" or "Naraka".


The Chinese view Hell as similar to a present day passport or immigration control station. In a Chinese funeral, they burn many Hell Bank Notes for the dead. With this Hell money, the dead person can bribe the ruler of Hell, and spend the rest of the money either in Hell or in Heaven. There is a belief that once the dead person runs out of Hell money, and if he does not receive more, he will be eternally poor.
In folklore among the Ainu people, hell is below ground, and is described as an uninviting wet place reserved for sinful people.<ref>Ainu Folklore: Traditions and Culture of the Vanishing Aborigines of Japan - Page 150, Carl Etter - 2004</ref>


== Christianity ==
====Africa====
The Christian doctrine of hell derives from the teaching of the New Testament, where hell is typically described using the Greek word Gehenna. Hell is the final destiny of the unsaved, where they will be punished for sin after the general resurrection and last judgment. Traditionally hell has been viewed as a place of eternal, conscious torment under the wrath of God. However, in modern times some Christian theologians have adopted alternative views such as conditional immortality and universalism.[6][7][8]
African hells include Haida Mythology's “Hetgwauge” and the hell of Swahili Mythology (kuzimu).
Serer religion rejects the general notion of [[heaven]] and hell.<ref name="Thiaw">Thiaw, Issa Laye, "La religiosité des Seereer, avant et pendant leur islamisation", [in] Éthiopiques, no. 54, volume 7, 2e semestre 1991</ref> In Serer religion, acceptance by the ancestors who have long departed is as close to any heaven as one can get. Rejection and becoming a wandering soul is a sort of hell for one passing over. The souls of the dead must make their way to ''Jaaniw'' (the sacred dwelling place of the soul). Only those who have lived their lives on earth in accordance with Serer doctrines will be able to make this necessary journey and thus accepted by the ancestors. Those who can't make the journey become lost and wandering souls, but they do not burn in "hell fire".<ref name="Thiaw"/><ref>Gravrand, Henry, "La civilisation sereer, vol. II: ''Pangool'', Nouvelles éditions africaines, Dakar, 1990, pp 91-128, ISBN 2-7236-1055-1 (''Jaaniw'', variation: ''"Jaaniiw"'')</ref>


== Deism ==
====Oceania====
Deism is the belief that there is a God that created the physical universe but does not interfere with it. It takes no position on what God may do outside the universe. Belief in a punishment in the afterlife is neither necessary for nor excluded by deism.[citation needed]
The Oceanic hells include Samoan Mythology's “O le nu'u-o-nonoa” and the hells of Bangka Mythology and Caroline Islands Mythology.


== Greek mythology ==
====Native American====
See Wikipedia article: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartarus Tartarus]
The hells of the Americas include the Aztec religion's “Mictlan”, Inuit religion's “Adlivun”, and the Yanomami religion's “Shobari Waka”. In Mayan religion, ''Xibalbá'' is the dangerous underworld of nine levels ruled by the demons ''Vucub Caquix'' and ''Hun Came''. The road into and out of it is said to be steep, thorny and very forbidding. ''Metnal'' is the lowest and most horrible of the nine Hells of the underworld, ruled by ''Ah Puch''. Ritual healers would intone healing prayers banishing diseases to ''Metnal''. Much of the Popol Vuh describes the adventures of the Maya Hero Twins in their cunning struggle with the evil lords of ''Xibalbá''.


== Hinduism ==
The Aztecs believed that the dead traveled to Mictlan, a neutral place found far to the north. There was also a legend of a place of white flowers, which was always dark, and was home to the gods of death, particularly Mictlantecutli and his spouse Mictlantecihuatl, which means literally "lords of Mictlan". The journey to Mictlan took four years, and the travelers had to overcome difficult tests, such as passing a mountain range where the mountains crashed into each other, a field where the wind carried flesh-scraping knives, and a river of blood with fearsome [[jaguar]]s.
In Hinduism, there are contradictions as to whether or not there is a Hell (referred to as 'Narak' in Hindi). For some it is a metaphor for a conscience. But in Mahabharata there is a mention of the Pandavas going to Heaven and the Kauravas going to Hell. Hells are also described in various Puranas and other scriptures. Garuda Purana gives a detailed account on Hell, its features and enlists amount of punishment for most of the crimes like modern day penal code.


It is believed that people who commit 'paap' (sin) go to Hell and have to go through the punishments in accordance to the sins they committed. The god Yama, who is also the god of death, is the king of Hell. The detailed accounts of all the sins committed by an individual are supposed to be kept by Chitragupta who is the record keeper in Yama's court. Chitragupta reads out the sins committed and Yama orders the appropriate punishments to be given to the individuals. These punishments include dipping in boiling oil, burning in fire, torture using various weapons etc. in various Hells. Individuals who finish their quota of the punishments are reborn according to their karma. All of the created are imperfect and thus have at least one sin to their record, but if one has led a generally pious life, one ascends to Heaven, or Swarga after a brief period of expiation in Hell.
===Abrahamic===
====Judaism====
Early Judaism had no concept of Hell, though the concept of an afterlife was introduced during the Hellenic period, apparently from neighboring Hellenistic religions. It occurs for example in Book of Daniel. Daniel 12:2 proclaims "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt."
Judaism does not have a specific doctrine about the afterlife, but it does have a mystical/Orthodox tradition of describing Gehenna. Gehenna is not Hell, but originally a grave and in later times a sort of [[Purgatory]] where one is judged based on one's life's deeds, or rather, where one becomes fully aware of one's own shortcomings and negative actions during one's life. The Kabbalah explains it as a "waiting room" (commonly translated as an "entry way") for all souls (not just the wicked). The overwhelming majority of rabbinic thought maintains that people are not in Gehenna forever; the longest that one can be there is said to be 12 months, however there has been the occasional noted exception. Some consider it a spiritual forge where the soul is purified for its eventual ascent to Olam Habah (''heb.'' עולם הבא; ''lit.'' "The world to come", often viewed as analogous to [[Heaven]]). This is also mentioned in the Kabbalah, where the soul is described as breaking, like the flame of a candle lighting another: the part of the soul that ascends being pure and the "unfinished" piece being reborn.


== Islam ==
According to Jewish teachings, hell is not entirely physical; rather, it can be compared to a very intense feeling of shame. People are ashamed of their misdeeds and this constitutes suffering which makes up for the bad deeds. When one has so deviated from the will of [[God]], one is said to be in gehinom. This is not meant to refer to some point in the future, but to the very present moment. The gates of teshuva (return) are said to be always open, and so one can align his will with that of God at any moment. Being out of alignment with God's will is itself a punishment according to the Torah.
Muslims believe in jahannam (in Arabic: جهنم) (which is related to the Hebrew word gehennim and resembles the versions of Hell in Christianity). In the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, there are literal descriptions of the condemned in a fiery Hell, as contrasted to the garden-like Paradise (jannah) enjoyed by righteous believers.


In addition, Heaven and Hell are split into many different levels depending on the actions perpetrated in life, where punishment is given depending on the level of evil done in life, and good is separated into other levels depending on how well one followed God while alive.
====Christianity====
There is an equal number of mentions of both Hell and paradise in the Qur'an, which is considered by believers to be among the numeric miracles in the Qur'an.[citation needed]
The Christian doctrine of hell derives from the teaching of the New Testament, where hell is typically described using the Greek words ''Tartarus'' or ''Hades'' or the Hebrew word ''Gehenna''.
<center>
{|class="wikitable" border="0"
|-
! Hebrew OT
! Septuagint
! Greek NT
! times in NT
! Vulgate
! KJV
! NIV
|-
|Sheol<ref>[http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H7585&t=KJV Sheol]: 1Mos 37:35, 42:38, 44:29, 44:31,</ref>
|[[Hades]]
|[[Hades]]<ref>[http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G86&t=KJV Hades]: Mat.11:23 16:18 Luk.10:15. Ap.2:27,31. 1Kor 15:55.Upp.1:18 6:8 20:13,14</ref>
|x10
|infernus<ref>Lewis & Short [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3Dinferus Inferus]</ref>
|Hell
|Hades
|-
|Ge Hinom<ref>גֵיא בֶן־הִנֹּם [http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H2011&t=KJV Hinnom]: Jer.19:6</ref>
|Ennom<ref>LXX πολυάνδριον υἱοῦ Εννομ</ref>
|Gehenna<ref>[http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G1067&t=KJV Gehenna]: Mat.5:22,29,30, 10:28, 18:09, 23:15,33. Mar. 9:43,45,47, Luk.12:05, Jak.3:6.</ref>
|x11
|infernus
|Hell
|Hell
|-
|
|
|''tartaro''<ref>tartaro - verb: throw down to Tartarus, used of the fall of the Titans</ref>
|x1
|infernus
|Hell
|Hell
|}
</center>
These three terms have different meanings and must be recognized.
* Hades has similarities to the Old Testament term, Sheol as "the place of the dead". Thus, it is used in reference to both the righteous and the wicked, since both wind up there eventually.<ref>{{cite book |last=Unger |first=Merrill F.|year=1981 |title='''Unger's Bible Dictionary''' |publisher=Moody Bible Institute, The |location=Chicago|pages=467}}</ref>
* Gehenna refers to the "Valley of Hinnon", which was a garbage dump outside of Jerusalem. It was a place where people burned their garbage and thus there was always a fire burning there. Bodies of those deemed to have died in sin without hope of salvation (such as people who committed suicide) were thrown there to be destroyed.<ref>''The New Schaf-Herzog Encyclopedia of religious Knowledge'', p. 415</ref> Gehenna is used in the New Testament as a metaphor for the final place of punishment for the wicked after the resurrection.<ref>The New Schaf-Herzog Encyclopedia of religious Knowledge pgs. 414–415</ref>
* ''Tartaro'' (the verb "throw to Tartarus") occurs only once in the New Testament in II Peter 2:4, where it is parallel to the use of the noun form in 1 Enoch as the place of incarceration of 200 fallen angels. It mentions nothing about human souls being sent there in the afterlife.


The Islamic concept of Hell is similar to the medieval Christian view of Dante.[citation needed] However, Satan is not viewed as Hell's ruler, merely one of its sufferers. The gate of Hell is guarded by Maalik also known as Zabaaniyah. The Quran states that the fuel of Hellfire is rocks/stones (idols) and human beings.
The Roman Catholic Church defines Hell as "a state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed." One finds themselves in Hell as the result of dying in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love, becoming eternally separated from Him by one's own free choice<ref>''Catechism of the Catholic Church'', Article 1033</ref> immediately after death.<ref>''Catechism of the Catholic Church'', Article 1035</ref> The Roman Catholic Church, many other Christian churches, such as the Baptists and Episcopalians, and some Greek Orthodox churches,<ref>See Kallistos Ware, "Dare we hope for the salvation of all?" in ''The Inner Kingdom: Volume 1 of the Collected Works''</ref> Hell is taught as the final destiny of those who have not been found worthy after the general resurrection and last judgment,<ref>[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+20:11-15 Revelation 20:11]</ref><ref>[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+6:23 Romans 6:23]</ref><ref>Mt 25:31, 32, 46</ref> where they will be eternally punished for [[sin]] and permanently separated from God. The nature of this judgment is inconsistent with many Protestant churches teaching the saving comes from accepting Jesus Christ as their savior, while the Greek Orthodox and Catholic Churches teach that the judgment hinges on both faith and works. However, many Liberal Christians throughout Liberal Protestant and Anglican churches believe in Universal Reconciliation (see below) even though it might contradict more evangelical views in their denomination.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/699929.stm |publisher=BBC|title=Hell - it's about to get hotter |date=4 April 2000 |accessdate=30 April 2012 |first1=Joe |last1=Gooden}}</ref>


Names of Hell according to Islamic Tradition based on the Quranic ayah and Hadith:
Some modern Christian theologians subscribe to the doctrines of Conditional Immortality. Conditional Immortality is the belief that the soul dies with the body and does not live again until the resurrection. This is the view held by a few Christian sects such as the Living Church of God, The Church of God International, and Seventh Day Adventist Church.
*Jahim
*Hutamah
*Jahannam
*Ladza
*Hawiah
*Saqor
*Sae'er
*Sijjin
*Zamhareer


Although generally Hell is often portrayed as a hot steaming and tormenting place for sinners there is one Hell pit which is characterized differently from the other Hell in Islamic tradition. Zamhareer is seen as the coldest and the most freezing Hell of all, yet its coldness is not seen as a pleasure or a relief to the sinners who committed crimes against God. The state of the Hell of Zamhareer is a suffering of extreme coldness of blizzards ice and snow which no one on this earth can bear.
Annihilationism is the belief that the soul is mortal unless granted eternal life, making it possible to be destroyed in Hell.


The lowest pit of all existing Hells is the Hawiyah which is meant for the Hypocrites and two-faced people who claimed to believe in Allah and His messenger by the tongue but denounced both in their hearts. Hypocrisy is considered to be the most dangerous sin of all (despite the fact that Shirk is the greatest sin viewed by Allah). According to the Qur'an, all non-believers (non-muslims) who have received and rejected Islamic teachings for reasons unknown will go to Hell.
Jehovah's Witnesses hold that the soul ceases to exist when the person dies<ref name="bibleteach">"What Does the Bible Really Teach?", 2005, Published by Jehovah's Witnesses</ref> and therefore that Hell (Sheol or Hades) is a state of non-existence.<ref name="bibleteach" /> In their theology, Gehenna differs from Sheol or Hades in that it holds no hope of a resurrection.<ref name="bibleteach" /> Tatarus is held to be the metaphorical state of debasement of the fallen angels between the time of their moral fall (Genesis chapter 6) until their post-millennial destruction along with Satan (Revelation chapter 20).<ref>"Insight on the scriptures, Volume 2", 1988, Published by Jehovah's Witnesses.</ref>


The Qur'an also says that some of those who are damned to Hell are not damned forever, but instead for an indefinite period of time. In any case, there is good reason to believe that punishment in Hell is not meant to actually last eternally, but instead serves as a basis for spiritual rectification.[9]
Universal Reconciliation is the belief that all human souls (even demons and fallen angels) will be eventually reconciled with God and admitted to Heaven. This view is held by some Unitarian-Universalists.<ref>''New Bible Dictionary'', "Hell", InterVarsity Press, 1996.</ref><ref>''New Dictionary of Biblical Theology'', "Hell", InterVarsity Press, 2000.</ref><ref>Evangelical Alliance Commission on Truth and Unity Among Evangelicals, ''The Nature of Hell'', Paternoster, 2000.</ref>
Even though in Islam, the devil, or shaitan, is created from fire, he suffers in Hell because Hellfire is 70 times hotter than the fire of this world. It was also said that Shaytan is derived from shata, (literally `burned'), because it was created from a smokeless fire.[10]


According to Emanuel Swedenborg’s Second Coming Christian revelation, hell exists because evil people want it.<ref>Swedenborg, E. [http://swedenborgdigitallibrary.org/contets/HH.html Heaven and its Wonders and Hell From Things Heard and Seen(Swedenborg Foundation, 1946 #545ff.)]</ref> They, not God, introduced evil to the human race.<ref>Swedenborg, E. [http://www.swedenborgdigitallibrary.org/contets/tcrtc.html The True Christian Religion Containing the Universal Theology of The New Church Foretold by the Lord in Daniel 7; 13, 14; and in Revelation 21; 1, 2] (Swedenborg Foundation, 1946, #489ff.).</ref>


== Japanese religions ==
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) teach that hell is a state between death and resurrection, in which those spirits who didn't repent while on earth must suffer for their own sins (Doctrine and Covenants 19:15–17<ref>http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/19?lang=eng</ref>). In this sense, Mormons regard hell as a temporary state that ends for a spirit once they have "paid the uttermost farthing" (Matt 5:26) for the sins they committed. As David wrote, "thou wilt not leave my soul in hell" (Psalms 16:10, 86:13, Acts 2:27). This punishment can be characterized as a mental anguish for sins committed, which Mormons believe Christ took upon himself for all mankind while in the Garden of Gethsemane—"that they may not suffer if they would repent." (Doctrine and Covenants 19:16<ref>http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/19.16?lang=eng#15</ref>). Mormons believe Christ initiated missionary work in the spirit world during the period between his own death and resurrection (1 Peter 3:19, 4:6), at which time he commissioned righteous spirits to teach the gospel to those who didn't have the opportunity to receive it while on earth (Doctrine and Covenants 138:30<ref>http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/138?lang=eng</ref>). Those spirits who accept the gospel are able to repent, whereas those who choose not to repent are destined to remain in hell throughout the Millennium.<ref name="lds.org">http://www.lds.org/scriptures/gs/hell</ref> At the times appointed for the resurrection, "death and hell" will deliver up the dead that are in them, to be judged according to their works (Rev 20:13). At that time, all but the [[sons of perdition]] will attain a degree of glory, which Peter compared to the glory of the sun, moon, and stars (1 Cor 15:41). In another sense, hell is referred to as the permanent state of those who are not redeemed by the atonement of Jesus Christ, which will include the sons of perdition, as well as Satan and his angels.<ref name="lds.org"/>
Note: The following viewpoint does not specify which Chinese-based religion it is referring to.


The structure of Hell is remarkably complex in many Japanese and Chinese religions. The ruler of Hell has to deal with politics, just as human rulers do. Hell is the subject of many folk stories and manga. In many such stories, people in Hell are able to die again.
====Islam====
Muslims believe in ''jahannam'' (in Arabic: جهنم) (which is related to the Hebrew word ''gehinnom'' and resembles the versions of Hell in Christianity). In the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, there are literal descriptions of the condemned in a fiery Hell, as contrasted to the garden-like Paradise (''jannah'') enjoyed by righteous believers.


== Judaism ==
In addition, Heaven and Hell are split into many different levels depending on the actions perpetrated in life, where punishment is given depending on the level of evil done in life, and good is separated into other levels depending on how well one followed God while alive. The gate of Hell is guarded by Maalik who is the leader of the angels assigned as the guards of hell also known as ''Zabaaniyah''.
Daniel 12:2 proclaims "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt." Judaism does not have a specific doctrine about the afterlife, but it does have a tradition of describing Gehenna. Gehenna is not Hell, but rather a sort of Purgatory where one is judged based on his or her life's deeds. The Kabbalah describes it as a "waiting room" (commonly translated as an "entry way") for all souls (not just the wicked). The overwhelming majority of rabbinic thought maintains that people are not in Gehenna forever; the longest that one can be there is said to be 11 months, however there has been the occasional noted exception. Some consider it a spiritual forge where the soul is purified for its eventual ascent to Olam Habah (heb. עולם הבא; lit. "The world to come", often viewed as analogous to Heaven). This is also mentioned in the Kabbalah, where the soul is described as breaking, like the flame of a candle lighting another: the part of the soul that ascends being pure and the "unfinished" piece being reborn.


When one has so deviated from the will of God, one is said to be in gehinom. This is not meant to refer to some point in the future, but to the very present moment. The gates of teshuva (return) are said to be always open, and so one can align his will with that of God at any moment. Being out of alignment with God's will is itself a punishment according to the Torah.
Although generally Hell is often portrayed as a hot steaming and tormenting place for sinners, there is one Hell pit which is characterized differently from the other Hell in Islamic tradition. ''Zamhareer'' is the Hell of extreme coldness, of unbearable blizzards, ice, and snow.


Also, Subbotniks and Messianic Judaism believe in Gehenna, but Samaritans probably believe in a separation of the wicked in a shadowy existence, Sheol, and the righteous in heaven.
The lowest pit of Hell is Hawiyah, meant for those hypocrites who claimed aloud to believe in Allah and His messenger but denounced both in their hearts. Hypocrisy is considered to be one of the most dangerous sins, along with shirk. Sunni hadiths states that out of 73 Muslim denominations, 72 will go to hell.<ref>Contemporary Yemen: Politics and Historical Development - Page 1, B R. Pridham - 1984</ref>


== Maya faith ==
The Qur'an emphasises (Jonah:19) that the idols of this world cannot intercede on behalf of the deceased with Allah and their fate will be dependent on what they have done, or failed to do, and what they have believed. The normal view is that the punishment of Hell is eternal.<ref>''"MUSLIM SCHOLARLY DISCUSSIONS ON SALVATION AND THE FATE OF ‘OTHERS’''", Mohammad Hassan Khalil, p.223 ''"The Fitnah of Wealth",'' Abû Ammâr Yasir al-Qadhî</ref>
In Maya mythology ,Xibalbá is the dangerous underworld of nine levels ruled by the demons Vucub Caquix and Hun Came. The road into and out of it is said to be steep, thorny and very forbidding. Metnal is the lowest and most horrible of the nine Hells of the underworld,it is ruled by Ah Puch. Ritual healers would intone healing prayers banishing diseases to Metnal. Much of the Popol Vuh describes the adventures of the Maya Hero Twins in their cunning struggle with the evil lords of Xibalbá.


== Norse mythology ==
====Bahá'í Faith====
See Wikipedia article: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hel_%28realm%29 Hel (realm)]
In the Bahá'í Faith, the conventional descriptions of Hell and Heaven are considered to be symbolic representations of spiritual conditions. The Bahá'í writings describe closeness to God to be heaven, and conversely, remoteness from God as hell.<ref name="lafd">{{cite book
| title = Life After Death: A study of the afterlife in world religions| last = Masumian| first = Farnaz| publisher = Oneworld Publications| location = Oxford| year = 1995| isbn = 1-85168-074-8}}</ref>


== Taoism ==
===Eastern===
Ancient Taoism had no concept of Hell, as morality was seen to be a man-made distinction and there was no concept of an immaterial soul. In its home country China, where Taoism adopted tenets of other religions, popular belief endows Taoist Hell with many deities and spirits who punish sin in a variety of horrible ways. This is also considered Karma for Taoism.
====Buddhism====
In "Devaduta Sutta", the 130th discourse of the Majjhima Nikaya, Buddha teaches about the hell in vivid detail. Buddhism teaches that there are five (sometimes six) realms of rebirth, which can then be further subdivided into degrees of agony or pleasure. Of these realms, the hell realms, or ''Naraka'', is the lowest realm of rebirth. Of the hell realms, the worst is ''Avīci'' or "endless suffering". The Buddha's disciple, Devadatta, who tried to kill the Buddha on three occasions, as well as create a schism in the monastic order, is said to have been reborn in the Avici Hell.


== Unification Church ==
However, like all realms of rebirth, rebirth in the Hell realms is not permanent, though suffering can persist for eons before being reborn again. In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha teaches that eventually even Devadatta will become a Pratyekabuddha himself, emphasizing the temporary nature of the Hell realms. Thus, Buddhism teaches to escape the endless migration of rebirths (both positive and negative) through the attainment of Nirvana.
The Unification Church teaches that Hell is the condition of being separated from God's love. Hell can be said to exist in this world as well as in the afterlife. Those in the state of Hell can repent by paying a condition of indemnity and change their condition, both before and after death (Although, the process is done differently). The Divine Principle, the main textbook of church teachings, says:


It is not God who decides whether a person's spirit enters heaven or Hell upon his death; it is decided by the spirit himself. Humans are created so that once they reach perfection they will fully breathe the love of God. Those who committed sinful deeds while on earth become crippled spirits who are incapable of fully breathing in the love of God. They find it agonizing to stand before God, the center of true love. Of their own will, they choose to dwell in Hell, far removed from the love of God.[4]
The Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha, according to the Ksitigarbha Sutra, made a great vow as a young girl to not reach Nirvana until all beings were liberated from the Hell Realms or other unwholesome rebirths. In popular literature, Ksitigarbha travels to the Hell realms to teach and relieve beings of their suffering.


== Zoroastrianism ==
====Hinduism====
The Gathas mention a "House of the Lie" where those who had more bad thoughts, words, and deeds go. Over the history of this faith they have believed in annihilation of the wicked, purgation of the wicked in molten metal and in eternal punishment. It is difficult to find which one is correct because they all have standing in Zoroastor's writings.
Early Vedic religion does not have a concept of Hell. Ṛg-veda mentions three realms, bhūr (the earth), svar (the sky) and bhuvas or antarikṣa (the middle area, i.e. air or atmosphere). In later Hindu literature, especially the law books and Puranas, more realms are mentioned, including a realm similar to Hell, called naraka (in Devanāgarī: नरक). Yama as first born human (together with his twin sister Yamī) in virtue of precedence becomes ruler of men and a judge on their departure. Originally he resides in Heaven, but later, especially medieval traditions, mention his court in naraka.


== Other Hells ==
In the law-books (smṛtis and dharma-sūtras, like the Manu-smṛti) naraka is a place of punishment for sins. It is a lower spiritual plane (called naraka-loka) where the spirit is judged, or partial fruits of karma affected in a next life. In Mahabharata there is a mention of the Pandavas and the Kauravas both going to Heaven. At first Yudhisthir goes to heaven where he sees Duryodhana enjoying in heaven, Indra tells him Duryodhana is in heaven as he did his Kshatriya duties, then he shows Yudhisthir hell where it appears his brothers are but later its revealed it was a test for Yudhisthir and his brothers and Kauravas both are in heaven and both live happily in divine abode of gods. Hells are also described in various Puranas and other scriptures. Garuda Purana gives a detailed account of Hell, its features and enlists amount of punishment for most of the crimes like a modern day penal code.
The hells of Europe include Briton Mythology's “Anaon”, Celtic Mythology's “Uffern”, the hell of Lapps Mythology and Ugarian Mythology's “Manala” leads to annihilation. The hells in the Middle East include Sumerian Mythology's “Aralu”; the hells of Canaanite Mythology, Hittite Mythology and Mithraism; the weighing of the heart in Egyptian Mythology can lead to annihilation. The hells of Asia include Bagobo Mythology's “Gimokodan” and Ancient Indian Mythology's “Kalichi". African hells include Haida Mythology's “Hetgwauge” and the hell of Swahili Mythology. The hells of the Americas include Aztec Mythology's “Mictlan”, Inuit Mythology's “Adlivun” and Yanomamo Mythology's “Shobari Waka”. The Oceanic hells include Samoan Mythology's “O le nu'u-o-nonoa” and the hells of Bangka Mythology and Caroline Islands Mythology.


== Hell in literature ==
It is believed that people who commit sins go to Hell and have to go through punishments in accordance with the sins they committed. The god Yamarāja, who is also the god of death, presides over Hell. Detailed accounts of all the sins committed by an individual are kept by Chitragupta, who is the record keeper in Yama's court. Chitragupta reads out the sins committed and Yama orders appropriate punishments to be given to individuals. These punishments include dipping in boiling oil, burning in fire, torture using various weapons, etc. in various Hells. Individuals who finish their quota of the punishments are reborn in accordance with their balance of karma. All created beings are imperfect and thus have at least one sin to their record; but if one has generally led a pious life, one ascends to svarga, a temporary realm of enjoinment similar to Paradise, after a brief period of expiation in Hell and before the next reincarnation according to the law of karma.
In his Divina commedia ('Divine comedy'; set in the year 1300), Dante Alighieri employed the conceit of taking Virgil as his guide through Inferno (and then, in the second cantiche, up the mountain of Purgatorio). Virgil himself is not condemned to Hell in Dante's poem but is rather, as a virtuous pagan, confined to Limbo just at the edge of Hell. The geography of Hell is very elaborately laid out in this work, with nine concentric rings leading deeper into the Earth and deeper into the various punishments of Hell, until, at the center of the world, Dante finds Satan himself trapped in the frozen lake of Cocytus. A small tunnel leads past Satan and out to the other side of the world, at the base of the Mount of Purgatory.


John Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) opens with the fallen angels, including their leader Satan, waking up in Hell after having been defeated in the war in heaven and the action returns there at several points throughout the poem. Milton portrayes Hell as the abode of the demons, and the passive prison from which they plot their revenge upon Heaven through the corruption of the human race.
====Jainism====
In Jain cosmology, Naraka (translated as hell) is the name given to realm of existence having great suffering. However, a Naraka differs from the hells of Abrahamic religions as souls are not sent to Naraka as the result of a divine judgment and punishment. Furthermore, length of a being's stay in a Naraka is not eternal, though it is usually very long—measured in billions of years. A soul is born into a Naraka as a direct result of his or her previous karma (actions of body, speech and mind), and resides there for a finite length of time until his karma has achieved its full result. After his karma is used up, he may be reborn in one of the higher worlds as the result of an earlier karma that had not yet ripened.


19th century French poet Arthur Rimbaud alluded to the concept as well in the title and themes of one of his major works, "A Season In Hell". Rimbaud's poetry portrays his own suffering in a poetic form as well as other themes.
The hells are situated in the seven grounds at the lower part of the universe. The seven grounds are:
# Ratna prabha
# Sharkara prabha.
# Valuka prabha.
# Panka prabha.
# Dhuma prabha.
# Tamaha prabha.
# Mahatamaha prabha.


The hellish beings are a type of souls which are residing in these various hells. They are born in hells by sudden manifestation.<ref>{{cite book | last =Sanghvi | first =Sukhlal | title =Commentary on Tattvārthasūtra of Vācaka Umāsvāti | publisher =L. D. Institute of Indology | year =1974 | location =Ahmedabad | language =English trans. by K. K. Dixit}} pp. 107</ref> The hellish beings possess ''vaikriya''  body (protean body which can transform itself and take various forms). They have a fixed life span (ranging from ten thousand to billions of years) in the respective hells where they reside. According to Jain scripture, Tattvarthasutra, following are the causes for birth in hell:<ref>Sanghvi, Sukhlal (1974) pp.250-52</ref>
#Killing or causing pain with intense passion.
#Excessive attachment to things and worldly pleasure with constantly indulging in cruel and violent acts.
#Vowless and unrestrained life.<ref>refer Mahavrata for the vows and restraints in Jainism</ref>


Dante And Virgil In Hell - William-Adolphe Bouguereau
====Taoism====
 
Ancient Taoism had no concept of Hell, as morality was seen to be a man-made distinction and there was no concept of an immaterial soul. In its home country China, where Taoism adopted tenets of other religions, popular belief endows Taoist Hell with many deities and spirits who punish sin in a variety of horrible ways. This is also considered Karma for Taoism.
Many of the great epics of European literature include episodes that occur in Hell. In the Roman poet Virgil's Latin epic, the Aeneid, Aeneas descends into Dis (the underworld) to visit his father's spirit. The underworld is only vaguely described, with one unexplored path leading to the punishments of Tartarus, while the other leads through Erebus and the Elysian Fields.
 
In the 1903 play "Man and Superman", George Bernard Shaw pictures Hell as a place of idle worship of youth and beauty.
 
The idea of Hell was highly influential to writers such as Jean-Paul Sartre who authored the 1944 play "No Exit" about the idea that "Hell is other people". Although not a religious man, Sartre was fascinated by his interpretation of a Hellish state of suffering.
 
C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce (1945) borrows its title from William Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1793) and its inspiration from the Divine Comedy as the narrator is likewise guided through Hell and Heaven. Hell is portrayed here as an endless, desolate twilight city upon which night is imperceptibly sinking. The night is actually the Apocalypse, and it heralds the arrival of the demons after their judgment. Before the night comes, anyone can escape Hell if they leave behind their former selves and accept Heaven's offer, and a journey to Heaven reveals that Hell is infinitely small; it is nothing more or less than what happens to a soul that turns away from God and into itself.
 
The 1976 novel Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle is set in Dante's Hell with 20th century protagonists.
 
In 1981, The War Hound and the World's Pain by Michael Moorcock the central character, Ulrich von Bek is taken on a visit to Hell by Lucifer who charges von Bek with recovering the Holy Grail (the world's pain of the title) in order to attempt a reconciliation between God and Lucifer.
 
== Hell in popular culture ==
 
See the Wikipedia article: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_in_popular_culture Hell in popular culture]
 
== Non-religious views ==
The word "Hell" used away from its religious context was long considered to be profanity, particularly in North America. Although its use was commonplace in everyday speech and on television by the 1970s, many people in the US still consider it somewhat rude or inappropriate language, particularly involving children.[11] Many, particularly among religious circles and in certain sensitive environments, still avoid casual usage of the word. In British English and some parts of North America, the word has fallen into common use and is not considered profane; often considered to be a safer and less offensive alternative to swearing, as in the phrase, "Go to Hell."
 
 
== Euphemistic ways of saying Hell ==
"Hell" is sometimes used as a minced oath, "heck" or "Sam Hill" ("What in the Sam Hill is going on here?"). Another common euphemism for Hell is "The Other Place".[12] Example: "Gosh darn you to heck and tarnation" in place of "May god damn you to Hell and eternal damnation."
 
 
== Cold day in Hell ==
Another example of common use of “Hell” in daily language, a “cold day in Hell” is a paradox and an idiom for a most unlikely event, since most imagery of Hell depicts it as hot and fiery. Therefore, an event that will transpire “on a cold day in Hell” will never occur. Similar or related phrases include: “a snowball's chance in Hell”, "a cat in hell's chance", “when the devil goes ice-skating” and “when Hell freezes over", which was used as the title for the rock band The Eagles first album in 14 years, referring to statements by the band that The Eagles would reunite when Hell Freezes Over.
Another idiom relating to Hell, that would be used with a request is "And People In Hell Want Ice Water".
 
In Dante's Inferno, the innermost circle of Hell is represented as a frozen lake of blood and guilt.
 
== Words translated as "Hell" ==
*Sheol
*In the King James Bible, the Old Testament term Sheol is translated as Hell 31 times.[13] However, sheol was translated as "grave" 31 times.[14] Sheol is also translated as pit three times.[15]
*Gehenna
*In the New Testament of the KJV, Gehenna is always translated as Hell.[16]
*Hades
*The KJV translates Hades as "Hell" 10 times,[17] and as "grave" once.[18] Hades is traditionally the Greek word for Sheol.
*Tartarus
*The KJV translates tartarus, which appears only in II Pet. 2:4, as "Hell".
*Abaddon
*The Hebrew word Abaddon, meaning "destruction", is sometimes used as a synonym of Hell.[19]
*Infernus
*The Latin word infernus means "being underneath" and is often translated as "Hell".
 
== See also ==
*[[Hades]]
*[[Limbo]]
*[[Purgatory]]
*[[Demon]]s
 
== References ==
1 Numerous verses in the Qu'ran and New Testament.
 
2 Barnhart, Robert K. The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology (1995) ISBN 0062700847
 
3 a b c d e f g Masumian, Farnaz (1995). Life After Death: A study of the afterlife in world religions. Oxford: Oneworld Publications. ISBN 1-85168-074-8.
 
4 Bahá'u'lláh (1976). Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, pp. 157. ISBN 0-87743-187-6.
 
5 Bahá'u'lláh (1976). Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, pp. 162. ISBN 0-87743-187-6.  


6 New Bible Dictionary, "Hell", InterVarsity Press, 1996.
====Chinese Folk Beliefs====
''Diyu'' (simplified Chinese: 地狱; traditional Chinese: 地獄; pinyin: ''Dìyù''; Wade–Giles: ''Ti-yü''; Japanese: 地獄, ''jigoku''; literally "earth prison") is the realm of the dead in Chinese mythology. It is very loosely based upon the Buddhist concept of Naraka combined with traditional Chinese afterlife beliefs and a variety of popular expansions and re-interpretations of these two traditions. Ruled by Yanluo Wang, the King of Hell, Diyu is a maze of underground levels and chambers where souls are taken to atone for their earthly sins.


7 New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, "Hell", InterVarsity Press, 2000.
Incorporating ideas from Taoism and Buddhism as well as traditional Chinese folk religion, Diyu is a kind of purgatory place which serves not only to punish but also to renew spirits ready for their next incarnation. There are many deities associated with the place, whose names and purposes are the subject of much conflicting information.


8 Evangelical Alliance Commission on Truth and Unity Among Evangelicals, The Nature of Hell, Paternoster, 2000.
The exact number of levels in Chinese Hell - and their associated deities - differs according to the Buddhist or Taoist perception. Some speak of three to four 'Courts', other as many as ten. The ten judges are also known as the 10 Kings of Yama. Each Court deals with a different aspect of atonement. For example, murder is punished in one Court, adultery in another. According to some Chinese legends, there are eighteen levels in Hell. Punishment also varies according to belief, but most legends speak of highly imaginative chambers where wrong-doers are sawn in half, beheaded, thrown into pits of filth or forced to climb trees adorned with sharp blades.


9 1, William C. Chittick, Imaginal Worlds: Ibn al-‘Arabī and the Problem of Religious Diversity. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1994. 2. See Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah. Hādī al-Arwāh, ed. M. ibn Ibrāhīm al-zaghlī. Al-Dammām, Saudi Arabia: Ramādī lil-Nashr, 1997.
However, most legends agree that once a soul (usually referred to as a 'ghost') has atoned for their deeds and repented, he or she is given the Drink of Forgetfulness by Meng Po and sent back into the world to be reborn, possibly as an animal or a poor or sick person, for further punishment.


10 Islam News Room. Retrieved on 2007-05-03.
===Other===
====Zoroastrianism====
Zoroastrianism has historically suggested several possible fates for the wicked, including annihilation, purgation in molten metal, and eternal punishment, all of which have standing in Zoroaster's writings. Zoroastrian eschatology includes the belief that wicked souls will remain in hell until, following the arrival of three saviors at thousand-year intervals, Ahura Mazda reconciles the world, destroying evil and resurrecting tormented souls to perfection.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ubfellowship.org/archive/readers/601_zoroastrianism.htm | title=An Introduction to Zoroastrianism | author=Meredith Sprunger | accessdate=10 October 2008}}</ref>


11 "Girl suspended for saying h-e-double-hockey-sticks", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2004-02-05.  
The sacred Gathas mention a “House of the Lie″ for those “that are of an evil dominion, of evil deeds, evil words, evil Self, and evil thought, Liars.”<ref>Yasna 49:11, {{cite web | url=http://www.avesta.org/yasna/y47to50b.htm | title=Avesta: Yasna | accessdate=11 October 2008}}</ref> However, the best-known Zoroastrian text to describe hell in detail is the Book of Arda Viraf.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.hell-on-line.org/AboutZOR.html#The%20Fate%20of%20the%20Soul | title=About Zoroastrian Hell | author=Eileen Gardiner | date=10 February 2006 | accessdate=10 October 2008}}</ref> It depicts particular punishments for particular sins—for instance, being trampled by cattle as punishment for neglecting the needs of work animals.<ref>Chapter 75, {{cite web | url=http://www.avesta.org/pahlavi/viraf.html | title=The Book of Arda Viraf | accessdate=10 October 2008}}</ref> Other descriptions can be found in the ''Book of Scriptures (Hadhokht Nask), Religious Judgments (Dadestan-i Denig)'' and the ''Book of the Judgments of the Spirit of Wisdom (Mainyo-I-Khard)''.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.hell-on-line.org/TextsZOR.html#The%20Fate%20of%20the%20Soul | title=Zoroastrian Hell Texts| author=Eileen Gardiner | date=18 January 2009 | accessdate=24 August 2010}}</ref>


12 In the Parliament of the United Kingdom, this is also used by members of the House of Commons to refer to the House of Lords, and vice-versa. In addition, it was used by Hamlet as a silent threat addressed to Claudius and as a hint to Polonius's location.
====Wicca====
In Wicca, there is no such thing as hell because Wiccans largely don't believe in the concept of punishment or reward.<ref>Solitary Wicca For Life: Complete Guide to Mastering the Craft on your Own - Page 162</ref> Although Wiccan views differ among different Wiccan denominations, Wiccans tend to prefer viewing the Horned God and the Goddess as gentle deities<ref>Living Wicca: A Further Guide for the Solitary Practitioner</ref>


13 Deut. 32:22, Deut. 32:36a & 39, II Sam. 22:6, Job 11:8, Job 26:6, Psalm 9:17, Psalm 16:10, Psalm 18:5, Psalm 55:15, Psalm 86:13, Ps. 116:3, Psalm 139:8, Prov. 5:5, Prov. 7:27, Prov. 9:18, Prov. 15:11, Prov. 15:24, Prov. 23:14, Prov. 27:20, Isa. 5:14, Isa. 14:9, Isa. 14:15, Isa. 28:15, Isa. 28:18, Isa. 57:9, Ezek. 31:16, Ezek. 31:17, Ezek. 32:21, Ezk. 32:27, Amos 9:2, Jonah 2:2, Hab. 2:5


14 Gen. 37:35, Gen. 42:38, Gen. 44:29, Gen. 44:31, I Sam. 2:6, I Kings 2:6, I Kings 2:9, Job 7:9, Job 14:13, Job 17:13, Job 21:13, Job 24:19, Psalm 6:5, Psalm 30:3, Psalm 31:17, Psalm 49:14, Psalm 49:14, Psalm 49:15, Psalm 88:3, Psalm 89:48, Prov. 1:12, Prov. 30:16, Ecc. 9:10, Song 8:6, Isa. 14:11, Isa. 38:10, Isa. 38:18, Ezek. 31:15, Hosea 13:14, Hosea 13:14, Psalm 141:7
==Literature==
In his ''Divina commedia'' ("Divine comedy"; set in the year 1300), Dante Alighieri employed the concept of taking Virgil as his guide through Inferno (and then, in the second canticle, up the mountain of [[Purgatory|Purgatorio]]). Virgil himself is not condemned to Hell in Dante's poem but is rather, as a virtuous pagan, confined to [[Limbo]] just at the edge of Hell. The geography of Hell is very elaborately laid out in this work, with nine concentric rings leading deeper into the Earth and deeper into the various punishments of Hell, until, at the center of the world, Dante finds Satan himself trapped in the frozen lake of Cocytus. A small tunnel leads past Satan and out to the other side of the world, at the base of the Mount of [[Purgatory]].


15 Num. 16:30, Num. 16:33, Job 17:16
John Milton's ''Paradise Lost'' (1667) opens with the [[fallen angel]]s, including their leader [[Satan]], waking up in Hell after having been defeated in the war in heaven and the action returns there at several points throughout the poem. Milton portrays Hell as the abode of the demons, and the passive prison from which they plot their revenge upon Heaven through the corruption of the human race. 19th-century French poet Arthur Rimbaud alluded to the concept as well in the title and themes of one of his major works, ''A Season In Hell''. Rimbaud's poetry portrays his own suffering in a poetic form as well as other themes.


16 Mat. 5:29, Mat. 5:30, Matt. 10:28, Matt. 23:15, Matt. 23:33, Mark 9:43, Mark 9:45, Mark 9:47, Luke 12:5, Matt. 5:22, Matt. 18:9, Jas. 3:6
Many of the great epics of European literature include episodes that occur in Hell. In the Roman poet Virgil's Latin epic, the ''Aeneid'', Aeneas descends into Dis (the underworld) to visit his father's spirit. The underworld is only vaguely described, with one unexplored path leading to the punishments of Tartarus, while the other leads through Erebus and the Elysian Fields.


17 Matt. 11:23, Matt. 16:18, Luke 10:15/Mat. 11:23, Luke 16:23, Acts 2:27, Acts 2:31, Rev. 1:18, Rev. 6:8, Rev. 20:13, Rev. 20:14
The idea of Hell was highly influential to writers such as Jean-Paul Sartre who authored the 1944 play "No Exit" about the idea that "Hell is other people". Although not a religious man, Sartre was fascinated by his interpretation of a Hellish state of suffering. C.S. Lewis's ''The Great Divorce'' (1945) borrows its title from William Blake's ''Marriage of Heaven and Hell'' (1793) and its inspiration from the Divine Comedy as the narrator is likewise guided through Hell and Heaven. Hell is portrayed here as an endless, desolate twilight city upon which night is imperceptibly sinking. The night is actually the Apocalypse, and it heralds the arrival of the demons after their judgment. Before the night comes, anyone can escape Hell if they leave behind their former selves and accept Heaven's offer, and a journey to Heaven reveals that Hell is infinitely small; it is nothing more or less than what happens to a soul that turns away from God and into itself.


18 I Cor. 15:55
Piers Anthony in his series ''Incarnations of Immortality'' portrays examples of Heaven and Hell via Death, Fate, Nature, War, Time, Good-God, and Evil-Devil. Robert A. Heinlein offers a yin-yang version of Hell where there is still some good within; most evident in his book Job: A Comedy of Justice.  Lois McMaster Bujold uses her five Gods 'Father, Mother, Son, Daughter and Bastard' in The Curse of Chalion with an example of Hell as formless chaos. Michael Moorcock is one of many who offer Chaos-Evil-(Hell) and Uniformity-Good-(Heaven) as equally unacceptable extremes which must be held in balance; in particular in the Elric and Eternal Champion series.  Fredric Brown wrote a number of fantasy short stories about [[Satan]]’s activities in Hell. Cartoonist Jimmy Hatlo created a series of cartoons about life in Hell called ''The Hatlo Inferno'', which ran from 1953 to 1958.<ref>[http://www.cartoonbrew.com/archives/jimmyhatlo.jpg Sample ''Hatlo Inferno'' comic:]</ref>


19 Roget's Thesaurus, VI.V.2, "Hell"


13. Bill Wiese, 23 Minutes in Hell (Lake Mary: Charisma House, 2006), 107
==See Also==
* [[Heaven]]
* [[Limbo]]
* [[Purgatory]]


== Further reading ==
The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners Jonathan Edwards, Diggory Press, ISBN 978-1846856723


Hell Thomas Boston, Diggory Press, ISBN 978-1846857485
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}


A Few Sighs from Hell (Or The Groans of the Damned Soul) John Bunyan, Diggory Press, ISBN 978-1846857270


Metzeger, Bruce M. (ed); , Michael D. Coogan (ed) (1993). The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504645-5.
==Further Reading==
* Boston, Thomas. ''Hell''. Diggory Press, ISBN 978-1-84685-748-5
* Bunyan, John. ''A Few Sighs from Hell (Or The Groans of the Damned Soul)''. Diggory Press, ISBN 978-1-84685-727-0
* Edwards, Jonathan. ''The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners''. Diggory Press, ISBN 978-1-84685-672-3
* Gardiner, Eileen. ''Visions of Heaven and Hell before Dante.'' New York: Italica Press, 1989. ISBN 0-934977-14-3
* {{cite book|chapter=Hell? No!|page=387|title=Why I became an atheist|first=John W.|last=Loftus|publicationplace=Amherst, NY|publisher=Prometheus Books|year=2008|isbn=978-1-59102-592-4
}}
* {{cite book| last =Metzger| first =Bruce M. (ed)| authorlink =| coauthors = , Michael D. Coogan (ed)| title = The Oxford Companion to the Bible| publisher = Oxford University Press| year = 1993| location = Oxford, UK| pages =| url =| doi =| isbn = 0-19-504645-5
}}


== External links ==
==External Links==
*[http://www.hellandjustice.com/near_death_experiences.htm Testimonies from people who claim to have seen Hell.]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell The original source of this article at Wikipedia]
*[http://www.whitedove.cc/content/view/55/39/ Revelations of Heaven and Hell to 7 Columbian Youths.]
* [http://www.atheistfoundation.org.au/hell.htm Atheist Foundation of Australia] – 666 words about hell
*[http://www.thebaptist.org/Lucifer.htm Eternal Home of the Chief of the Fallen Angels]
* [http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2002521 The Jehovah's Witnesses perspective]
*[http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/beliefs/Hell.htm Christian Doctrines of Hell] - statements from the Old Testament, New Testament, church fathers and modern denominations on Hell, plus common arguments for and against Hell.
* [http://veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclopedia/dying.htm Dying, Yamaraja and Yamadutas + terminal restlessness]
*[http://mercifultruth.com/the-real-hell.htm Translation Charts - From an argument against the existence of hell.]
* [http://www.khandro.net/doctrine_Hells.htm example Buddhist Hells]
*[http://www.atheistfoundation.org.au/hell.htm 666 words about Hell Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc]
* [http://www.hell-on-line.org/ Hell-on-Line website]
*[http://www.tentmaker.org/books/Aion_lim.html Hell as non-eternal (Universalist study)]
* [http://www.helltruth.com/ The Seventh Day Adventist perspective]
*[http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2002/7/15/article_02.htm The Jehovah's Witnesses perspective]
* [http://www.swedenborgdigitallibrary.org/contets/HH.html Swedenborg, E. ''Heaven and its Wonders and Hell. From Things Heard and Seen''] (Swedenborg Foundation, 1946)
*[http://veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclopedia/dying.htm Dying, Yamaraja and Yamadutas + terminal restlessness]
*[http://www.khandro.net/doctrine_Hells.htm example Buddhist Hells]
*[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heaven-Hell/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Heaven and Hell]
*[http://www.chabad.org/search/keyword.asp?scope=6198&kid=9562 The Jewish view of Hell]
*[http://uk.geocities.com/frege@btinternet.com/afterlife/afterlife.htm Aquinas on The Inferno (parallel Latin English text)]

Revision as of 13:00, 6 November 2014

In many mythological, folklore and religious traditions, Hell is a place of eternal torment in an afterlife, often after resurrection. It is viewed by most Abrahamic traditions as a place of punishment.[1] Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as eternal destinations. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations. Typically these traditions locate hell in another dimension or under the Earth's surface and often include entrances to Hell from the land of the living. Other afterlife destinations include Heaven, Purgatory, Paradise, and Limbo.

Other traditions, which do not conceive of the afterlife as a place of punishment or reward, merely describe hell as an abode of the dead, a neutral place located under the surface of Earth. Modern understandings of hells often depict them abstractly, as a state of loss rather than as fiery torture literally underground, but this view of the concept of a hell can, in fact, be traced back into the ancient and medieval periods as well. Hell is sometimes portrayed as populated with demons who torment those dwelling there. Many are ruled by a death god such as Nergal, Hades, Hel, Enma or the Devil.


Etymology and Germanic Mythology

The modern English word Hell is derived from Old English hel, helle (about 725 AD to refer to a nether world of the dead) reaching into the Anglo-Saxon pagan period, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *halja, meaning "one who covers up or hides something".[2] The word has cognates in related Germanic languages such as Old Frisian helle, hille, Old Saxon hellja, Middle Dutch helle (modern Dutch hel), Old High German helle (Modern German Hölle), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish helvede/helvete (hel + Old Norse vitti, "punishment" whence the Icelandic víti "hell"), and Gothic halja.[2] Subsequently, the word was used to transfer a pagan concept to Christian theology and its vocabulary.[2]

The English word hell has been theorized as being derived from Old Norse hel[2] but the cognate does appear in all the other languages and has a Proto-Germanic origin.[3] Among other sources, the Poetic Edda, compiled from earlier traditional sources in the 13th century, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, provide information regarding the beliefs of the Norse pagans, including a being named Hel, who is described as ruling over an underworld location of the same name.


Religion, Mythology, and Folklore

Hell appears in several mythologies and religions. It is commonly inhabited by demons and the souls of dead people. A fable about hell which recurs in folklore across several cultures is the allegory of the long spoons. Hell is often depicted in art and literature, perhaps most famously in Dante's Divine Comedy.

Punishments

Punishment in Hell typically corresponds to sins committed during life. Sometimes these distinctions are specific, with damned souls suffering for each sin committed (see for example Plato's myth of Er or Dante's The Divine Comedy), but sometimes they are general, with condemned sinners relegated to one or more chamber of Hell or to a level of suffering.

In many religious cultures, including Christianity and Islam, Hell is traditionally depicted as fiery and painful, inflicting guilt and suffering.[4] Despite these common depictions of Hell as a place of fire, some other traditions portray Hell as cold. Buddhist - and particularly Tibetan Buddhist - descriptions of hell feature an equal number of hot and cold hells. Among Christian descriptions Dante's Inferno portrays the innermost (9th) circle of Hell as a frozen lake of blood and guilt.[5] But cold also played a part in earlier Christian depictions of hell, beginning with the Apocalypse of Paul, originally from the early third century;[6] the "Vision of Dryhthelm" by the Venerable Bede from the seventh century;[7] "St Patrick's Purgatory", "The Vision of Tundale" or "Visio Tnugdali", and the "Vision of the Monk of Enysham", all from the twelfth century;[8] and the "Vision of Thurkill" from the early thirteenth century.[9]


Polytheism

Ancient Egypt

With the rise of the cult of Osiris during the Middle Kingdom the "democratization of religion" offered to even his humblest followers the prospect of eternal life, with moral fitness becoming the dominant factor in determining a person's suitability. At death a person faced judgment by a tribunal of forty-two divine judges. If they had led a life in conformance with the precepts of the Goddess Maat, who represented truth and right living, the person was welcomed into the Two Fields. If found guilty the person was thrown to a "devourer" and would be condemned to the lake of fire.[10] The person taken by the devourer is subject first to terrifying punishment and then annihilated. These depictions of punishment may have influenced medieval perceptions of the inferno in hell via early Christian and Coptic texts.[11] Purification for those considered justified appears in the descriptions of "Flame Island", where humans experience the triumph over evil and rebirth. For the damned complete destruction into a state of non-being awaits but there is no suggestion of eternal torture; the weighing of the heart in Egyptian Mythology can lead to annihilation.[12][13] The Tale of Khaemwese describes the torment of a rich man, who lacked charity, when he dies and compares it to the blessed state of a poor man who has also died.[14] Divine pardon at judgement always remained a central concern for the Ancient Egyptians.[15]

Modern understanding of Egyptian notions of hell relies on six ancient texts:[16]

  1. The Book of Two Ways (Book of the Ways of Rosetau)
  2. The Book of Amduat (Book of the Hidden Room, Book of That Which Is in the Underworld)
  3. The Book of Gates
  4. The Book of the Dead (Book of Going Forth by Day)
  5. The Book of the Earth
  6. The Book of Caverns

Ancient Near East

The cultures of Mesopotamia (including Sumeria, the Akkadian Empire, Babylonia and Assyria), the Hittites and the Canaanites/Ugarits reveal some of the earliest evidence for the notion of a Netherworld or Underworld. From among the few texts that survive from these civilizations, this evidence appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the “Descent of Inanna to the Netherworld,” “Baal and the Underworld,” the “Descent of Ishtar” and the “Vision of Kummâ.”[17]

Greek

In classic Greek mythology, below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros (Greek Τάρταρος, deep place). It is either a deep, gloomy place, a pit or abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides within Hades (the entire underworld) with Tartarus being the hellish component. In the Gorgias, Plato (c. 400 BC) wrote that souls were judged after death and those who received punishment were sent to Tartarus. As a place of punishment, it can be considered a hell. The classic Hades, on the other hand, is more similar to Old Testament Sheol.

Europe

The hells of Europe include Breton Mythology's "Anaon", Celtic Mythology's "Uffern", Slavic mythology's "Peklo", the hell of Sami mythology and Finnish "tuonela" ("manala").

Asia

The hells of Asia include the Bagobo “Gimokodan” and Ancient Indian mythology's “Kalichi" or "Naraka".

In folklore among the Ainu people, hell is below ground, and is described as an uninviting wet place reserved for sinful people.[18]

Africa

African hells include Haida Mythology's “Hetgwauge” and the hell of Swahili Mythology (kuzimu). Serer religion rejects the general notion of heaven and hell.[19] In Serer religion, acceptance by the ancestors who have long departed is as close to any heaven as one can get. Rejection and becoming a wandering soul is a sort of hell for one passing over. The souls of the dead must make their way to Jaaniw (the sacred dwelling place of the soul). Only those who have lived their lives on earth in accordance with Serer doctrines will be able to make this necessary journey and thus accepted by the ancestors. Those who can't make the journey become lost and wandering souls, but they do not burn in "hell fire".[19][20]

Oceania

The Oceanic hells include Samoan Mythology's “O le nu'u-o-nonoa” and the hells of Bangka Mythology and Caroline Islands Mythology.

Native American

The hells of the Americas include the Aztec religion's “Mictlan”, Inuit religion's “Adlivun”, and the Yanomami religion's “Shobari Waka”. In Mayan religion, Xibalbá is the dangerous underworld of nine levels ruled by the demons Vucub Caquix and Hun Came. The road into and out of it is said to be steep, thorny and very forbidding. Metnal is the lowest and most horrible of the nine Hells of the underworld, ruled by Ah Puch. Ritual healers would intone healing prayers banishing diseases to Metnal. Much of the Popol Vuh describes the adventures of the Maya Hero Twins in their cunning struggle with the evil lords of Xibalbá.

The Aztecs believed that the dead traveled to Mictlan, a neutral place found far to the north. There was also a legend of a place of white flowers, which was always dark, and was home to the gods of death, particularly Mictlantecutli and his spouse Mictlantecihuatl, which means literally "lords of Mictlan". The journey to Mictlan took four years, and the travelers had to overcome difficult tests, such as passing a mountain range where the mountains crashed into each other, a field where the wind carried flesh-scraping knives, and a river of blood with fearsome jaguars.

Abrahamic

Judaism

Early Judaism had no concept of Hell, though the concept of an afterlife was introduced during the Hellenic period, apparently from neighboring Hellenistic religions. It occurs for example in Book of Daniel. Daniel 12:2 proclaims "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt." Judaism does not have a specific doctrine about the afterlife, but it does have a mystical/Orthodox tradition of describing Gehenna. Gehenna is not Hell, but originally a grave and in later times a sort of Purgatory where one is judged based on one's life's deeds, or rather, where one becomes fully aware of one's own shortcomings and negative actions during one's life. The Kabbalah explains it as a "waiting room" (commonly translated as an "entry way") for all souls (not just the wicked). The overwhelming majority of rabbinic thought maintains that people are not in Gehenna forever; the longest that one can be there is said to be 12 months, however there has been the occasional noted exception. Some consider it a spiritual forge where the soul is purified for its eventual ascent to Olam Habah (heb. עולם הבא; lit. "The world to come", often viewed as analogous to Heaven). This is also mentioned in the Kabbalah, where the soul is described as breaking, like the flame of a candle lighting another: the part of the soul that ascends being pure and the "unfinished" piece being reborn.

According to Jewish teachings, hell is not entirely physical; rather, it can be compared to a very intense feeling of shame. People are ashamed of their misdeeds and this constitutes suffering which makes up for the bad deeds. When one has so deviated from the will of God, one is said to be in gehinom. This is not meant to refer to some point in the future, but to the very present moment. The gates of teshuva (return) are said to be always open, and so one can align his will with that of God at any moment. Being out of alignment with God's will is itself a punishment according to the Torah.

Christianity

The Christian doctrine of hell derives from the teaching of the New Testament, where hell is typically described using the Greek words Tartarus or Hades or the Hebrew word Gehenna.

Hebrew OT Septuagint Greek NT times in NT Vulgate KJV NIV
Sheol[21] Hades Hades[22] x10 infernus[23] Hell Hades
Ge Hinom[24] Ennom[25] Gehenna[26] x11 infernus Hell Hell
tartaro[27] x1 infernus Hell Hell

These three terms have different meanings and must be recognized.

  • Hades has similarities to the Old Testament term, Sheol as "the place of the dead". Thus, it is used in reference to both the righteous and the wicked, since both wind up there eventually.[28]
  • Gehenna refers to the "Valley of Hinnon", which was a garbage dump outside of Jerusalem. It was a place where people burned their garbage and thus there was always a fire burning there. Bodies of those deemed to have died in sin without hope of salvation (such as people who committed suicide) were thrown there to be destroyed.[29] Gehenna is used in the New Testament as a metaphor for the final place of punishment for the wicked after the resurrection.[30]
  • Tartaro (the verb "throw to Tartarus") occurs only once in the New Testament in II Peter 2:4, where it is parallel to the use of the noun form in 1 Enoch as the place of incarceration of 200 fallen angels. It mentions nothing about human souls being sent there in the afterlife.

The Roman Catholic Church defines Hell as "a state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed." One finds themselves in Hell as the result of dying in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love, becoming eternally separated from Him by one's own free choice[31] immediately after death.[32] The Roman Catholic Church, many other Christian churches, such as the Baptists and Episcopalians, and some Greek Orthodox churches,[33] Hell is taught as the final destiny of those who have not been found worthy after the general resurrection and last judgment,[34][35][36] where they will be eternally punished for sin and permanently separated from God. The nature of this judgment is inconsistent with many Protestant churches teaching the saving comes from accepting Jesus Christ as their savior, while the Greek Orthodox and Catholic Churches teach that the judgment hinges on both faith and works. However, many Liberal Christians throughout Liberal Protestant and Anglican churches believe in Universal Reconciliation (see below) even though it might contradict more evangelical views in their denomination.[37]

Some modern Christian theologians subscribe to the doctrines of Conditional Immortality. Conditional Immortality is the belief that the soul dies with the body and does not live again until the resurrection. This is the view held by a few Christian sects such as the Living Church of God, The Church of God International, and Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Annihilationism is the belief that the soul is mortal unless granted eternal life, making it possible to be destroyed in Hell.

Jehovah's Witnesses hold that the soul ceases to exist when the person dies[38] and therefore that Hell (Sheol or Hades) is a state of non-existence.[38] In their theology, Gehenna differs from Sheol or Hades in that it holds no hope of a resurrection.[38] Tatarus is held to be the metaphorical state of debasement of the fallen angels between the time of their moral fall (Genesis chapter 6) until their post-millennial destruction along with Satan (Revelation chapter 20).[39]

Universal Reconciliation is the belief that all human souls (even demons and fallen angels) will be eventually reconciled with God and admitted to Heaven. This view is held by some Unitarian-Universalists.[40][41][42]

According to Emanuel Swedenborg’s Second Coming Christian revelation, hell exists because evil people want it.[43] They, not God, introduced evil to the human race.[44]

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) teach that hell is a state between death and resurrection, in which those spirits who didn't repent while on earth must suffer for their own sins (Doctrine and Covenants 19:15–17[45]). In this sense, Mormons regard hell as a temporary state that ends for a spirit once they have "paid the uttermost farthing" (Matt 5:26) for the sins they committed. As David wrote, "thou wilt not leave my soul in hell" (Psalms 16:10, 86:13, Acts 2:27). This punishment can be characterized as a mental anguish for sins committed, which Mormons believe Christ took upon himself for all mankind while in the Garden of Gethsemane—"that they may not suffer if they would repent." (Doctrine and Covenants 19:16[46]). Mormons believe Christ initiated missionary work in the spirit world during the period between his own death and resurrection (1 Peter 3:19, 4:6), at which time he commissioned righteous spirits to teach the gospel to those who didn't have the opportunity to receive it while on earth (Doctrine and Covenants 138:30[47]). Those spirits who accept the gospel are able to repent, whereas those who choose not to repent are destined to remain in hell throughout the Millennium.[48] At the times appointed for the resurrection, "death and hell" will deliver up the dead that are in them, to be judged according to their works (Rev 20:13). At that time, all but the sons of perdition will attain a degree of glory, which Peter compared to the glory of the sun, moon, and stars (1 Cor 15:41). In another sense, hell is referred to as the permanent state of those who are not redeemed by the atonement of Jesus Christ, which will include the sons of perdition, as well as Satan and his angels.[48]

Islam

Muslims believe in jahannam (in Arabic: جهنم) (which is related to the Hebrew word gehinnom and resembles the versions of Hell in Christianity). In the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, there are literal descriptions of the condemned in a fiery Hell, as contrasted to the garden-like Paradise (jannah) enjoyed by righteous believers.

In addition, Heaven and Hell are split into many different levels depending on the actions perpetrated in life, where punishment is given depending on the level of evil done in life, and good is separated into other levels depending on how well one followed God while alive. The gate of Hell is guarded by Maalik who is the leader of the angels assigned as the guards of hell also known as Zabaaniyah.

Although generally Hell is often portrayed as a hot steaming and tormenting place for sinners, there is one Hell pit which is characterized differently from the other Hell in Islamic tradition. Zamhareer is the Hell of extreme coldness, of unbearable blizzards, ice, and snow.

The lowest pit of Hell is Hawiyah, meant for those hypocrites who claimed aloud to believe in Allah and His messenger but denounced both in their hearts. Hypocrisy is considered to be one of the most dangerous sins, along with shirk. Sunni hadiths states that out of 73 Muslim denominations, 72 will go to hell.[49]

The Qur'an emphasises (Jonah:19) that the idols of this world cannot intercede on behalf of the deceased with Allah and their fate will be dependent on what they have done, or failed to do, and what they have believed. The normal view is that the punishment of Hell is eternal.[50]

Bahá'í Faith

In the Bahá'í Faith, the conventional descriptions of Hell and Heaven are considered to be symbolic representations of spiritual conditions. The Bahá'í writings describe closeness to God to be heaven, and conversely, remoteness from God as hell.[51]

Eastern

Buddhism

In "Devaduta Sutta", the 130th discourse of the Majjhima Nikaya, Buddha teaches about the hell in vivid detail. Buddhism teaches that there are five (sometimes six) realms of rebirth, which can then be further subdivided into degrees of agony or pleasure. Of these realms, the hell realms, or Naraka, is the lowest realm of rebirth. Of the hell realms, the worst is Avīci or "endless suffering". The Buddha's disciple, Devadatta, who tried to kill the Buddha on three occasions, as well as create a schism in the monastic order, is said to have been reborn in the Avici Hell.

However, like all realms of rebirth, rebirth in the Hell realms is not permanent, though suffering can persist for eons before being reborn again. In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha teaches that eventually even Devadatta will become a Pratyekabuddha himself, emphasizing the temporary nature of the Hell realms. Thus, Buddhism teaches to escape the endless migration of rebirths (both positive and negative) through the attainment of Nirvana.

The Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha, according to the Ksitigarbha Sutra, made a great vow as a young girl to not reach Nirvana until all beings were liberated from the Hell Realms or other unwholesome rebirths. In popular literature, Ksitigarbha travels to the Hell realms to teach and relieve beings of their suffering.

Hinduism

Early Vedic religion does not have a concept of Hell. Ṛg-veda mentions three realms, bhūr (the earth), svar (the sky) and bhuvas or antarikṣa (the middle area, i.e. air or atmosphere). In later Hindu literature, especially the law books and Puranas, more realms are mentioned, including a realm similar to Hell, called naraka (in Devanāgarī: नरक). Yama as first born human (together with his twin sister Yamī) in virtue of precedence becomes ruler of men and a judge on their departure. Originally he resides in Heaven, but later, especially medieval traditions, mention his court in naraka.

In the law-books (smṛtis and dharma-sūtras, like the Manu-smṛti) naraka is a place of punishment for sins. It is a lower spiritual plane (called naraka-loka) where the spirit is judged, or partial fruits of karma affected in a next life. In Mahabharata there is a mention of the Pandavas and the Kauravas both going to Heaven. At first Yudhisthir goes to heaven where he sees Duryodhana enjoying in heaven, Indra tells him Duryodhana is in heaven as he did his Kshatriya duties, then he shows Yudhisthir hell where it appears his brothers are but later its revealed it was a test for Yudhisthir and his brothers and Kauravas both are in heaven and both live happily in divine abode of gods. Hells are also described in various Puranas and other scriptures. Garuda Purana gives a detailed account of Hell, its features and enlists amount of punishment for most of the crimes like a modern day penal code.

It is believed that people who commit sins go to Hell and have to go through punishments in accordance with the sins they committed. The god Yamarāja, who is also the god of death, presides over Hell. Detailed accounts of all the sins committed by an individual are kept by Chitragupta, who is the record keeper in Yama's court. Chitragupta reads out the sins committed and Yama orders appropriate punishments to be given to individuals. These punishments include dipping in boiling oil, burning in fire, torture using various weapons, etc. in various Hells. Individuals who finish their quota of the punishments are reborn in accordance with their balance of karma. All created beings are imperfect and thus have at least one sin to their record; but if one has generally led a pious life, one ascends to svarga, a temporary realm of enjoinment similar to Paradise, after a brief period of expiation in Hell and before the next reincarnation according to the law of karma.

Jainism

In Jain cosmology, Naraka (translated as hell) is the name given to realm of existence having great suffering. However, a Naraka differs from the hells of Abrahamic religions as souls are not sent to Naraka as the result of a divine judgment and punishment. Furthermore, length of a being's stay in a Naraka is not eternal, though it is usually very long—measured in billions of years. A soul is born into a Naraka as a direct result of his or her previous karma (actions of body, speech and mind), and resides there for a finite length of time until his karma has achieved its full result. After his karma is used up, he may be reborn in one of the higher worlds as the result of an earlier karma that had not yet ripened.

The hells are situated in the seven grounds at the lower part of the universe. The seven grounds are:

  1. Ratna prabha
  2. Sharkara prabha.
  3. Valuka prabha.
  4. Panka prabha.
  5. Dhuma prabha.
  6. Tamaha prabha.
  7. Mahatamaha prabha.

The hellish beings are a type of souls which are residing in these various hells. They are born in hells by sudden manifestation.[52] The hellish beings possess vaikriya body (protean body which can transform itself and take various forms). They have a fixed life span (ranging from ten thousand to billions of years) in the respective hells where they reside. According to Jain scripture, Tattvarthasutra, following are the causes for birth in hell:[53]

  1. Killing or causing pain with intense passion.
  2. Excessive attachment to things and worldly pleasure with constantly indulging in cruel and violent acts.
  3. Vowless and unrestrained life.[54]

Taoism

Ancient Taoism had no concept of Hell, as morality was seen to be a man-made distinction and there was no concept of an immaterial soul. In its home country China, where Taoism adopted tenets of other religions, popular belief endows Taoist Hell with many deities and spirits who punish sin in a variety of horrible ways. This is also considered Karma for Taoism.

Chinese Folk Beliefs

Diyu (simplified Chinese: 地狱; traditional Chinese: 地獄; pinyin: Dìyù; Wade–Giles: Ti-yü; Japanese: 地獄, jigoku; literally "earth prison") is the realm of the dead in Chinese mythology. It is very loosely based upon the Buddhist concept of Naraka combined with traditional Chinese afterlife beliefs and a variety of popular expansions and re-interpretations of these two traditions. Ruled by Yanluo Wang, the King of Hell, Diyu is a maze of underground levels and chambers where souls are taken to atone for their earthly sins.

Incorporating ideas from Taoism and Buddhism as well as traditional Chinese folk religion, Diyu is a kind of purgatory place which serves not only to punish but also to renew spirits ready for their next incarnation. There are many deities associated with the place, whose names and purposes are the subject of much conflicting information.

The exact number of levels in Chinese Hell - and their associated deities - differs according to the Buddhist or Taoist perception. Some speak of three to four 'Courts', other as many as ten. The ten judges are also known as the 10 Kings of Yama. Each Court deals with a different aspect of atonement. For example, murder is punished in one Court, adultery in another. According to some Chinese legends, there are eighteen levels in Hell. Punishment also varies according to belief, but most legends speak of highly imaginative chambers where wrong-doers are sawn in half, beheaded, thrown into pits of filth or forced to climb trees adorned with sharp blades.

However, most legends agree that once a soul (usually referred to as a 'ghost') has atoned for their deeds and repented, he or she is given the Drink of Forgetfulness by Meng Po and sent back into the world to be reborn, possibly as an animal or a poor or sick person, for further punishment.

Other

Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism has historically suggested several possible fates for the wicked, including annihilation, purgation in molten metal, and eternal punishment, all of which have standing in Zoroaster's writings. Zoroastrian eschatology includes the belief that wicked souls will remain in hell until, following the arrival of three saviors at thousand-year intervals, Ahura Mazda reconciles the world, destroying evil and resurrecting tormented souls to perfection.[55]

The sacred Gathas mention a “House of the Lie″ for those “that are of an evil dominion, of evil deeds, evil words, evil Self, and evil thought, Liars.”[56] However, the best-known Zoroastrian text to describe hell in detail is the Book of Arda Viraf.[57] It depicts particular punishments for particular sins—for instance, being trampled by cattle as punishment for neglecting the needs of work animals.[58] Other descriptions can be found in the Book of Scriptures (Hadhokht Nask), Religious Judgments (Dadestan-i Denig) and the Book of the Judgments of the Spirit of Wisdom (Mainyo-I-Khard).[59]

Wicca

In Wicca, there is no such thing as hell because Wiccans largely don't believe in the concept of punishment or reward.[60] Although Wiccan views differ among different Wiccan denominations, Wiccans tend to prefer viewing the Horned God and the Goddess as gentle deities[61]


Literature

In his Divina commedia ("Divine comedy"; set in the year 1300), Dante Alighieri employed the concept of taking Virgil as his guide through Inferno (and then, in the second canticle, up the mountain of Purgatorio). Virgil himself is not condemned to Hell in Dante's poem but is rather, as a virtuous pagan, confined to Limbo just at the edge of Hell. The geography of Hell is very elaborately laid out in this work, with nine concentric rings leading deeper into the Earth and deeper into the various punishments of Hell, until, at the center of the world, Dante finds Satan himself trapped in the frozen lake of Cocytus. A small tunnel leads past Satan and out to the other side of the world, at the base of the Mount of Purgatory.

John Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) opens with the fallen angels, including their leader Satan, waking up in Hell after having been defeated in the war in heaven and the action returns there at several points throughout the poem. Milton portrays Hell as the abode of the demons, and the passive prison from which they plot their revenge upon Heaven through the corruption of the human race. 19th-century French poet Arthur Rimbaud alluded to the concept as well in the title and themes of one of his major works, A Season In Hell. Rimbaud's poetry portrays his own suffering in a poetic form as well as other themes.

Many of the great epics of European literature include episodes that occur in Hell. In the Roman poet Virgil's Latin epic, the Aeneid, Aeneas descends into Dis (the underworld) to visit his father's spirit. The underworld is only vaguely described, with one unexplored path leading to the punishments of Tartarus, while the other leads through Erebus and the Elysian Fields.

The idea of Hell was highly influential to writers such as Jean-Paul Sartre who authored the 1944 play "No Exit" about the idea that "Hell is other people". Although not a religious man, Sartre was fascinated by his interpretation of a Hellish state of suffering. C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce (1945) borrows its title from William Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1793) and its inspiration from the Divine Comedy as the narrator is likewise guided through Hell and Heaven. Hell is portrayed here as an endless, desolate twilight city upon which night is imperceptibly sinking. The night is actually the Apocalypse, and it heralds the arrival of the demons after their judgment. Before the night comes, anyone can escape Hell if they leave behind their former selves and accept Heaven's offer, and a journey to Heaven reveals that Hell is infinitely small; it is nothing more or less than what happens to a soul that turns away from God and into itself.

Piers Anthony in his series Incarnations of Immortality portrays examples of Heaven and Hell via Death, Fate, Nature, War, Time, Good-God, and Evil-Devil. Robert A. Heinlein offers a yin-yang version of Hell where there is still some good within; most evident in his book Job: A Comedy of Justice. Lois McMaster Bujold uses her five Gods 'Father, Mother, Son, Daughter and Bastard' in The Curse of Chalion with an example of Hell as formless chaos. Michael Moorcock is one of many who offer Chaos-Evil-(Hell) and Uniformity-Good-(Heaven) as equally unacceptable extremes which must be held in balance; in particular in the Elric and Eternal Champion series. Fredric Brown wrote a number of fantasy short stories about Satan’s activities in Hell. Cartoonist Jimmy Hatlo created a series of cartoons about life in Hell called The Hatlo Inferno, which ran from 1953 to 1958.[62]


See Also


References

  1. ↑ Heart of Buddha, Heart of China: James Carter - 2010, p 75
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Barnhart, Robert K. (1995) The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, page 348. Harper Collins ISBN 0-06-270084-7
  3. ↑ Etymonline.com
  4. ↑ Numerous verses in the Qu'ran and New Testament.
  5. ↑ Alighieri, Dante [c. 1315] (June 2001 (orig. trans. 1977)). “Cantos XXXI-XXXIV”, Inferno, trans. John Ciardi, 2, New York: Penguin.
  6. ↑ Eileen Gardiner, Visions of Heaven and Hell Before Dante (New York, Italica Press, 1989), p. 43.
  7. ↑ Gardiner, Visions, pp. 58 and 61.
  8. ↑ Gardiner, Visions, pp. 141, 160 and 174, and 206–7.
  9. ↑ Gardiner, Visions, pp. 222 and 232.
  10. ↑ Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt, Rosalie David, p. 158–159, Penguin, 2002, ISBN 0-14-026252-0
  11. ↑ The Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythology: The Oxford Guide, "Hell", p161-162, Jacobus Van Dijk, Berkley Reference, 2003, ISBN 0-425-19096-X
  12. ↑ The Divine Verdict, John Gwyn Griffiths, p233, BRILL, 1991, ISBN 90-04-09231-5
  13. ↑ See also letter by Prof. Griffith to The Independent, 32 December 1993 [1]
  14. ↑ TheCivilization of Ancient Egypt, Paul Johnson, 1978, p. 170; see also Ancient Egyptian Literature, Miriam Lichtheim, vol 3, p. 126
  15. ↑ "Egyptian Religion", Jan Assman, The Encyclopedia of Christianity, p77, vol2, Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing, 1999, ISBN 90-04-11695-8
  16. ↑ Hell-on-line.org
  17. ↑ Hell-on-line.org
  18. ↑ Ainu Folklore: Traditions and Culture of the Vanishing Aborigines of Japan - Page 150, Carl Etter - 2004
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Thiaw, Issa Laye, "La religiosité des Seereer, avant et pendant leur islamisation", [in] Éthiopiques, no. 54, volume 7, 2e semestre 1991
  20. ↑ Gravrand, Henry, "La civilisation sereer, vol. II: Pangool, Nouvelles éditions africaines, Dakar, 1990, pp 91-128, ISBN 2-7236-1055-1 (Jaaniw, variation: "Jaaniiw")
  21. ↑ Sheol: 1Mos 37:35, 42:38, 44:29, 44:31,
  22. ↑ Hades: Mat.11:23 16:18 Luk.10:15. Ap.2:27,31. 1Kor 15:55.Upp.1:18 6:8 20:13,14
  23. ↑ Lewis & Short Inferus
  24. ↑ גֵיא בֶן־הִנֹּם Hinnom: Jer.19:6
  25. ↑ LXX πολυάνδριον υἱοῦ Εννομ
  26. ↑ Gehenna: Mat.5:22,29,30, 10:28, 18:09, 23:15,33. Mar. 9:43,45,47, Luk.12:05, Jak.3:6.
  27. ↑ tartaro - verb: throw down to Tartarus, used of the fall of the Titans
  28. ↑ Unger, Merrill F. (1981). Unger's Bible Dictionary, 467, Chicago: Moody Bible Institute, The.
  29. ↑ The New Schaf-Herzog Encyclopedia of religious Knowledge, p. 415
  30. ↑ The New Schaf-Herzog Encyclopedia of religious Knowledge pgs. 414–415
  31. ↑ Catechism of the Catholic Church, Article 1033
  32. ↑ Catechism of the Catholic Church, Article 1035
  33. ↑ See Kallistos Ware, "Dare we hope for the salvation of all?" in The Inner Kingdom: Volume 1 of the Collected Works
  34. ↑ Revelation 20:11
  35. ↑ Romans 6:23
  36. ↑ Mt 25:31, 32, 46
  37. ↑ Gooden, Joe (4 April 2000). "Hell - it's about to get hotter". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/699929.stm. Retrieved 30 April 2012. 
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 "What Does the Bible Really Teach?", 2005, Published by Jehovah's Witnesses
  39. ↑ "Insight on the scriptures, Volume 2", 1988, Published by Jehovah's Witnesses.
  40. ↑ New Bible Dictionary, "Hell", InterVarsity Press, 1996.
  41. ↑ New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, "Hell", InterVarsity Press, 2000.
  42. ↑ Evangelical Alliance Commission on Truth and Unity Among Evangelicals, The Nature of Hell, Paternoster, 2000.
  43. ↑ Swedenborg, E. Heaven and its Wonders and Hell From Things Heard and Seen(Swedenborg Foundation, 1946 #545ff.)
  44. ↑ Swedenborg, E. The True Christian Religion Containing the Universal Theology of The New Church Foretold by the Lord in Daniel 7; 13, 14; and in Revelation 21; 1, 2 (Swedenborg Foundation, 1946, #489ff.).
  45. ↑ http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/19?lang=eng
  46. ↑ http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/19.16?lang=eng#15
  47. ↑ http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/138?lang=eng
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 http://www.lds.org/scriptures/gs/hell
  49. ↑ Contemporary Yemen: Politics and Historical Development - Page 1, B R. Pridham - 1984
  50. ↑ "MUSLIM SCHOLARLY DISCUSSIONS ON SALVATION AND THE FATE OF ‘OTHERS’", Mohammad Hassan Khalil, p.223 "The Fitnah of Wealth", Abû Ammâr Yasir al-Qadhî
  51. ↑ Masumian, Farnaz (1995). Life After Death: A study of the afterlife in world religions. Oxford: Oneworld Publications.
  52. ↑ Sanghvi, Sukhlal (1974). Commentary on Tattvārthasūtra of Vācaka Umāsvāti (in English trans. by K. K. Dixit). Ahmedabad: L. D. Institute of Indology. pp. 107
  53. ↑ Sanghvi, Sukhlal (1974) pp.250-52
  54. ↑ refer Mahavrata for the vows and restraints in Jainism
  55. ↑ Meredith Sprunger. "An Introduction to Zoroastrianism". http://www.ubfellowship.org/archive/readers/601_zoroastrianism.htm. Retrieved 10 October 2008. 
  56. ↑ Yasna 49:11, "Avesta: Yasna". http://www.avesta.org/yasna/y47to50b.htm. Retrieved 11 October 2008. 
  57. ↑ Eileen Gardiner (10 February 2006). "About Zoroastrian Hell". http://www.hell-on-line.org/AboutZOR.html#The%20Fate%20of%20the%20Soul. Retrieved 10 October 2008. 
  58. ↑ Chapter 75, "The Book of Arda Viraf". http://www.avesta.org/pahlavi/viraf.html. Retrieved 10 October 2008. 
  59. ↑ Eileen Gardiner (18 January 2009). "Zoroastrian Hell Texts". http://www.hell-on-line.org/TextsZOR.html#The%20Fate%20of%20the%20Soul. Retrieved 24 August 2010. 
  60. ↑ Solitary Wicca For Life: Complete Guide to Mastering the Craft on your Own - Page 162
  61. ↑ Living Wicca: A Further Guide for the Solitary Practitioner
  62. ↑ Sample Hatlo Inferno comic:


Further Reading

  • Boston, Thomas. Hell. Diggory Press, ISBN 978-1-84685-748-5
  • Bunyan, John. A Few Sighs from Hell (Or The Groans of the Damned Soul). Diggory Press, ISBN 978-1-84685-727-0
  • Edwards, Jonathan. The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners. Diggory Press, ISBN 978-1-84685-672-3
  • Gardiner, Eileen. Visions of Heaven and Hell before Dante. New York: Italica Press, 1989. ISBN 0-934977-14-3
  • Loftus, John W. (2008). “Hell? No!”, Why I became an atheist. Prometheus Books.
  • Metzger, Bruce M. (ed); , Michael D. Coogan (ed) (1993). The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

External Links

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