Hell, Gehenna (Greek Ἅδης - Hades, the kingdom of Hades, the underworld; Hebrew גיהינום, Gehenom, שאול, Sheol; Slav. Hell) - originally (ancient Greek mythology, Old Testament) a posthumous state of the soul, later an underground place of punishment for sinners (tradition of Buddhism, Christianity and Islam). Contrasted with paradise.
Hell in Christianity
According to Christian teaching, after the fall of the forefathers, the souls of all the dead, including the Old Testament righteous, fell into hell. The souls of the righteous Simeon the God-Receiver and John the Baptist, beheaded by King Herod, preached in hell a quick and universal deliverance. After his suffering and death on the cross, Christ, with his human soul, descended into the remotest depths of hell, destroyed hell and brought out of it the souls of all the righteous into the Kingdom of God (paradise), as well as those souls of sinners who accepted the sermon about the salvation that had come. And now, the souls of the dead saints (pious Christians) go to heaven. But often by their sins, living people push God away from themselves - they themselves create a living hell in their souls, and after death, souls no longer have the opportunity to change their state, which will continue to progress in eternity. The posthumous and final fate of the souls of dead non-Christians is unknown to those living now - it completely depends on the will of God, if He considers that the deceased lived according to his conscience, and that his soul is ready to praise Christ, then it can be accepted into the heavenly abodes.
The Savior emphasizes that the determining criterion for Him will be the presence (among the "lambs") of works of mercy (helping those in need, to which He also reckons Himself), or the absence of these works (among the "goats") (Matthew 25: 31-46) … God will make the final decision at the Last Judgment, after which not only the souls of sinners, but also their resurrected material bodies will be tormented in hell. Christ pointed out that the greatest torments in hell will befall those who knew His commandments, but did not fulfill them, and those who did not forgive offense against their neighbors. The most difficult torment in hell will not be physical, but moral, the voice of conscience, some unnatural state, when a sinful soul cannot bear the presence of God, but without God it is completely unbearable to it. Demons (fallen angels) will also be tormented in hell, who after the Last Judgment will be even more tied up.
Catholicism and Orthodoxy claim that in order for the soul to end up not in hell, but in heaven after death, one must be baptized, adhere to the doctrine, partake of the Body and Blood of Christ, maintain spiritual purity and perform godly deeds while living on earth. The right to determine whether a person's soul goes to hell or heaven in Christianity belongs to God.
Protestantism argues that in order for a person's soul to go to heaven and not to hell, one must be a born-again Christian. In neo-Protestantism (Baptism, Methodism, Pentecostalism, etc.), baptism does not play a major role in salvation. In classical Protestantism (Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglicanism, etc.), there is a thesis about the need to baptize babies in order for them to go to heaven after death.
St. John Chrysostom writes: “Therefore, He (God) prepared Gehenna (hell, as a dwelling place for sinners), because He is good.” [1] Even the most intolerable and incomparable eternal torment of sinners in hell is still better than non-existence or complete cessation of their existence. According to some Christian apologists, hell is evil, but God cannot do evil, however, with His creation (good), it leaves the opportunity for intelligent beings (angels and people) created by Him to “create” both good and evil. Evil, according to their concept, is just either perverted good, or - the absence of good, that is, - nothingness, which can never be complete and final. Despite the fact that hell is called the kingdom of the devil and his angels, the omnipresent and omnipotent God is inconceivably present in hell and providentially governs it
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Hell in Islam
According to the doctrine of Islam, on the Day of Judgment, all people will be resurrected, and judgment will take place over them, and people will be divided into 2 groups - the inhabitants of hell and the inhabitants of heaven. Hell in Islam is the eternal refuge of the infidels ("kafirs" - those who did not follow the divine religion) and worked shirk. The Almighty will not forgive anyone only one sin - polytheism ("shirk" - Arabic), shirk refers to worshiping someone other than the Most High One God ("Allah" - Arabic), giving him companions, assimilating someone to Allah, etc. All other sins the Almighty will forgive or not according to His Wisdom and Mercy. Hell in Islam is called Jahannam (Arabic).
In Hell there is a tree called zakkum: “which goes back to Hell. The fruits of its branches are like devil's heads. And from it they eat and fill their stomachs with it”(Qur'an, 37: 64-66). The inhabitants of Hell will eat this tree, drink boiling water: “And they will give them fetid boiling water, they will sip it (in sips), but they can hardly swallow it” (Koran, 14: 16-17), wear clothes made of fire: “And for the unbelievers will be covered with fire from fire "(Koran, 22:19), everywhere in hell there will be fire:" Layers of Fire will fall above them and below them "(Koran, 39:16)," In the shade of suffocating smoke that does not refresh and not good”(Quran, 56: 43-44). The Quran also describes that all the inhabitants of Hell will experience guilt, grief and sadness that they have lived their lives without worshiping the Almighty. “For them there is a cry and a roar, and an eternal abode there, while the earth and the sky last,if your Lord just does not want to dispose of in a different way, - after all, your Lord is truly the Actor of all that he wills”(Koran, 11: 106-107).
“After all, We have truly delivered to them the Book, which We have set forth with the Lord's knowledge of all essence, as mercy and guidance for those who have believed in the Lord. Are they expecting something other than the fulfillment of (His) promises? On the day when it comes, those who neglected it until then will say: “The messengers of the Lord came to us with the truth. Will we find defenders now who can stand up for us? Or will we be returned (to the ground), then we would have done differently from what we did before? (Quran, 7: 52-53).
"And you will see the wicked, who at the sight of punishment say:" Is there no way to return (to earthly life)? " (Quran, 42:44).
The Qur'an harshly criticizes the mockery of pagans and atheists over the message of the Day of Judgment and Hell: “After all, they had led a life full of sinful pleasures, persisting in great sin, and so it happened, they said:“Really, when we die and become dust and bones, will we be resurrected again? " (Quran, 56: 45-47). "What benefit have you gained from the good you have accumulated and what you have been magnified by?" (Quran, 7:48)
Hell in Buddhism
In Buddhism, hells are a place of residence for beings who practice anger and hatred. There are eight hells (eight cold, eight hot), but there are also additional hells. Staying in hell is long, but not endless, after the consequences of negative karma are exhausted, the being dies and is reborn in the higher worlds.
Hell in Kabbalah
In Kabbalah, “hell” is the understanding of the difference between man and the Creator - the Upper Power of Good. This is the extreme degree of awareness of our evil - a measure of how bad we feel when we suddenly discover that we are opposite to Him in properties. The feeling of shame, remoteness, own insignificance and baseness is so terrible that there is nothing worse than this. This feeling of absolute shame is exactly the feeling of "hell", which simply incinerates.
Hell in Mormonism
In the revelations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the word hell is used in two ways.
First, this is the name of the spiritual prison - a place in the after-earth spiritual world prepared for those “who died in their sins, without knowing the truth, or in sin, rejecting the prophets” (Doctrine and Covenants 138: 32). This is a temporary state, in which the spirits will be given the opportunity to study the Gospel, repent and accept the ordinances of salvation performed for them in the temples (Doctrine and Covenants 138: 30-35).
Secondly, the word hell is called the outer darkness - the place where Satan, his angels and the sons of destruction will dwell (Doctrine and Covenants 29: 36-38, 76: 28-33).
Scientifically Hell
Jack and Rexell van Imp, Michigan, USA concluded that black holes fit the bill to be the location of hell. For this they were awarded the 2001 Shnobel Prize.