Theists: Which of these opinions best represents your views on Hell?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

I'm pretty agnostic about the existence of Hell.  I imagine Hell, if it exists, as a state of separation from God... not a place of fire and agony.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Don't believe in it. There is no way humans can know Hell, let alone what it is or what it looks like. I have doubts about any kind of afterlife though, even though I'm pretty confident that there's some kind of god or god-force that governs "everything."
 
If there is an afterlife, I'd tend to assume that it welcomes every soul as a kind of "universal law." But maybe I'm bringing some of my biases from the physical earth into the equation, so who knows? I still have a hard time believing God judges morality though, considering I think of him as being the force behind everything. It would seem awfully superficial.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Separation from God is eternal torture and fire, in a sense.

[DC Al Fine]

My church teaches that hell is eternal separation from God. We also view the fire and torture as an improvement over separation.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Other: Hell is a place where the wicked will be punished and annihilated.  The Annihilationist viewpoint held by Seventh-Day Adventists and others I think accords best with a literal reading of the Bible. In that viewpoint, the punishment of hellfire is eternal not in the sense that it is everlasting but that its effects are everlasting and irrevocable. It's not a firm point of doctrine for me, as I've focused more on this life than the afterlife, but it is an internally consistent viewpoint, so its serves as a reasonable working theory until such time as I an able to study it further.

[afleitch]

Doesn't exist of course. The early Christians viewed 'hell' along Hellenistic lines more as a domain for the dead. It wasn't really of any concern of them until the fifth century blah blah blah, well researched stuff, blah blah no one reads blah blah blah.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Separation from God, and thus fire and agony.

[pbrower2a]

Probably gradations of torment and differing styles for the unforgivable sins. It would be relatively slight for such people as druggies and drunks (they would get to stumble over each other), somewhat more dreadful for brawlers (they are beating each other incessantly and without purpose), and incredibly horrible for such horrid creatures as Holocaust perpetrators, slave traffickers, and Stalinist butchers.

Man has created Hells far worse than anything that Dante could imagine:

http://documentaryaddict.com/Alfred+Hitchcocks+Documentary+German+Death+Camps-10571-documentary.html

Alfred Hitchcock, master of dark humor as horror, narrates. Images are graphic, and not to be viewed lightly.

Another horror:

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/resource/22slaves.htm

If God is worth believing in, then He is merciful enough toward people who worshiped the wrong God or Gods or worshiped Him the wrong way. It is hard to imagine Holocaust perpetrators or slave traffickers in the same Heaven as their innocent victims.    

[Blue3]

In the afterlife, we'll be exposed to and see through the eyes of God all of our sins... all our imperfect thoughts, words, and actions from an objective point of view. We'll all be "naked" before the Lord.

So we will "burn" with a sense of shame, and that burning shame will separate us spiritually from God...
unless/until we find it in ourselves to accept God's love and forgiveness, and forgive and love ourselves...
as well as forgive the faults of everyone else we'll then be interacting with for eternity too.

So... a mix of option 1, option 2, and I guess purgatory. I believe eventually everyone will move beyond "hell," I'm universalist. Some may barely be there at all. But as Jesus said, the most painful punishment on Earth is better than one moment in this place/state of mind.

[7,052,770]

Anything other than #3 is inexcusably unreasonable.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

#3 is reasonable only if there is no such thing as an afterlife in which our essence remembers what we did while alive.

[afleitch]

It's worth pointing that this poll presupposes that 'theists' have or that forms of theism require an abstract concept of hell at all. Or is conflating the concept of an underworld or a domain of the dead with that of a doctrinal 'hell.'

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It's worth pointing that this poll presupposes that 'theists' have or that forms of theism require an abstract concept of hell at all. Or is conflating the concept of an underworld or a domain of the dead with that of a doctrinal 'hell.'

It doesn't even list all the Christian views on Hell, so that's not too surprising.

[minionofmidas]

Hell does not exist, and the soul is mortal.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Dead go to Hades. Until Christ returns. Righteous lives on earth with him.

[DemPGH]

Voted 3, although 6 also applies. But I like option 2 since eternity worshipping a deity does not actually appeal to me anymore than being roasted over a fire. Well, maybe slightly, given the choice.

I think Carl Sagan had made a lovely statement about an afterlife without capital-G God; as in, one is completely free to explore the mysteries of the universe without temporal limits. Yes!

The concept of hell that exists in the popular culture was invented by Medieval "scholastics" (that term goes in major quotations because it is an abuse of the word) who also happened to be most interested in scaring the bejesus out of their audience. Well, and Dante. He made the whole thing up to get at people he didn't like. Poor Celestine V. All that dude tried to do was abdicate once he realized how damn corrupt the office of the Pope was!! Probably.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I imagine that  it probably looks a bit like Basingstoke.

[Zioneer]

Well, I'm a Mormon, and we have three different levels of heaven all described to be better than Earth, so...

Basically, all but the very worst (the completely unrepentant about the most monstrous of acts, though the scriptures don't specify what those acts are) and those who have seen God/felt his presence for a fact (literally seen God), and still reject him. We call our version of Hell "outer darkness", and it's alternatively described as "lakes of fire" and simple cutting off of an individual from God, which is considered to be the worst possible fate. The "cutting off from God entirely" interpretation seems to be the dominant view at this point, and has been for decades.

Even then, there's been various implications and hints by the prophets throughout the years that an individual can escape outer darkness and possibly advance through the heavens if they're repentant enough and righteous enough. Eternity is a long time, after all.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Separation from God

[Sirius]

My church teaches that hell is eternal separation from God. We also view the fire and torture as an improvement over separation.

Can you explain this logic to me? As an atheist, you would say I am separated from God. I certainly don't think fire and torture would make me feel any better.

[DC Al Fine]

My church teaches that hell is eternal separation from God. We also view the fire and torture as an improvement over separation.

Can you explain this logic to me? As an atheist, you would say I am separated from God. I certainly don't think fire and torture would make me feel any better.

Well, I'd use separation in two ways; to describe man in it's fallen state and to God rejecting someone and removing casting them out of his presence.

You are separate in the former sense, but so is everyone else affected by original sin. You are not in the latter sense.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

I think Realisticidealist once explained his view (or rather, the Roman Catholic view) on 'separation from God.'  It goes like this: God, according to Christian teachings, is omnipresent.  Therefore, if one is 'separated' from God, they exist in a void in which He does not.  In other words, your consciousness, your personality, your thoughts, your feelings, everything - cease to exist.  Your soul does not go into a literal pit of fire and brimstone, because your soul does not go anywhere.

Either that, or you go to New Jersey.

(Couldn't resist.)

[DC Al Fine]

I think Realisticidealist once explained his view (or rather, the Roman Catholic view) on 'separation from God.'  It goes like this: God, according to Christian teachings, is omnipresent.  Therefore, if one is 'separated' from God, they exist in a void in which He does not.  In other words, your consciousness, your personality, your thoughts, your feelings, everything - cease to exist.  Your soul does not go into a literal pit of fire and brimstone, because your soul does not go anywhere.

Either that, or you go to New Jersey.

(Couldn't resist.)

Bah dum tshhs

[CatoMinor]

Option 2

[TJ in Oregon]

The Roman Catholic teaching is that hell is an eternal separation from God and often understood as a "place" or "state". Eternal separation from God is believed to be torment for our souls. So options 1 and 2 both apply.

Another interesting thought is the Eastern Orthodox teaching (which the Catholic church neither concurs with nor denies) is that upon death we come to meet God and whether that is heaven or hell depends on the state of our souls.