Who created heaven and hell?
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I think almost all branches of Christianity* agree that both heaven and hell are places specifically created by God. The justification for this is pretty simple: all things outside the being of God himself were created by God. There are no other eternally existing beings, things or places, and all the extant beings, things and places are explicitly identified as having been created by God:
Colossians 1:16 (ESV)
16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
The exact meaning and scope of each of these items is sometimes debated, but it's generally agreed that this covers everything. Including heaven and hell.
In the case of heaven in particular we have another indication that it is a place created by God:
John 14:3 (ESV)
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
Likewise for hell we have an indication that it is a place prepared for a purpose:
Matthew 25:41 (ESV)
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
TL;DR: God created heaven and hell.
* The exceptions are of course a couple sects that don't believe hell even exists and a couple that postulate about it being a sort of less-than-fully-real place not created as hell per-se but that becomes that through acts of either man or the devil.
Upvote:0
I think there is also a mystical understanding of haven and hell as a "union in love with God" (heaven), and a "perpetual rejection of that love" (hell)
In this understanding, they are not places in any material understanding of them. They are states of being
In this understanding, they were never created, in the sense that sin or evil or free-will was not created.
This is not the same as denying that hell exists, as @celeb pointed out in his answer. In this understanding both "places" are very real.
I think this is a consistent reading of the bible in light of the mystery of free-will and god's omnipotence and goodness
Upvote:0
I will first offer a prayer from "A Common Prayer: A Cartoonist talks to God" by Leunig There are only two feelings.Love and fear. There are only two languages.Love and fear. There are only two activities. Love and Fear. There are only two motives.two procedures, two frameworks,two results. Love and fear.Love and Fear.
might I add after contemplation in prayer: To act with Love is to act in kindness and this is heaven on earth and to act in fear is to save oneself and this is Hell on Earth.
second part of reply:the Abyss is on the edges of the thin path that leads from earthly existence to heaven a city of good things in the apocryphal book of 2Esdras:7. We must walk the narrow path which is a meaningless as life on Earth to gain heaven which is wide and safe. This was given to the people of the old testament
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_John is the Good NewsVia, Veritas, Vita.Direct path to heaven for all who believe with no fear of falling into the Abyss.
Upvote:1
This is the fact i got it through internet please verify below, think it answers your question:
What the Bible Says About Hell
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Key Facts About Eternity
(1) Everyone will exist eternally either in heaven or hell (Daniel 12:2,3; Matthew 25:46; John 5:28; Revelation 20:14,15).
(2) Everyone has only one life in which to determine their destiny (Hebrews 9:27).
(3) Heaven or hell is determined by whether a person believes (puts their trust) in Christ alone to save them (John 3:16, 36, etc.).
Key Passages About Hell
(1) Hell was designed originally for Satan and his demons (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10).
(2) Hell will also punish the sin of those who reject Christ (Matthew 13:41,50; Revelation 20:11-15; 21:8).
(3) Hell is conscious torment.
Matthew 13:50 “furnace of fire…weeping and gnashing of teeth”
Mark 9:48 “where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched”
Revelation 14:10 “he will be tormented with fire and brimstone”
(4) Hell is eternal and irreversible.
Revelation 14:11 “the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever and they have no rest day and night”
Revelation 20:14 “This is the second death, the lake of fire”
Revelation 20:15 “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire”
Erroneous Views of Hell
(1) The second chance view – After death there is still a way to escape hell.
Answer: “It is appointed unto men once to die and after that the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
(2) Universalism – All are eternally saved.
Answer: It denies the truth of salvation through Christ which means that a person decides to either trust in Christ or else he/she rejects Christ and goes to hell (John 3:16;3:36).
(3) Annihilationism – Hell means a person dies like an animal – ceases to exist.
Answer: It denies the resurrection of the unsaved (John 5:28, etc. – see above). It denies conscious torment (see above).
Objections to the Biblical View of Hell
(1) A loving God would not send people to a horrible hell.
Response: God is just (Romans 2:11).
God has provided the way of salvation to all (John 3:16,17; 2 Corinthians 5:14,15; 1 Timothy 2:6; 4:10; Titus 2:11; 2 Peter 3:9).
Even those who haven’t heard of Christ are accountable for God’s revelation in nature (Romans 1:20). God will seek those who seek Him (Matthew 7:7; Luke 19:10).
Therefore God doesn’t send people to hell, they choose it (Romans 1:18,21,25).
(2) Hell is too severe a punishment for man’s sin.
Response: God is holy-perfect (1 Peter 1:14,15).
Sin is willful opposition to God our creator (Romans 1:18-32).
Our sin does merit hell (Romans 1:32; 2:2,5,6).
What is unfair and amazing is that Christ died for our sin and freely offers salvation to all (Romans 2:4; 3:22-24; 4:7,8; 5:8,9).
Biblical Terms Describing Where the Dead Are
Sheol - a Hebrew term simply describing “the grave” or “death” – Does not refer to “hell” specifically
Hades - A Greek term that usually refers to hell – a place of torment (Luke 10:15; 16:23, etc.)
Gehenna - A Greek term (borrowed from a literal burning dump near Jerusalem) that always refers to hell – a place of torment (Matthew 5:30; 23:33)
“Lake of fire”- the final abode of unbelievers after they are resurrected (Revelation 20:14,15)
“Abraham’s bosom” - (Luke 16:22) a place of eternal comfort
“Paradise” - (Luke 23:43) a place of eternal comfort
“With the Lord” - a key phrase describes where church age believers are after death (Philippians 1:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:17; 2 Corinthians 5:8)
“New heavens and earth” – where believers will be after they are resurrected (Revelation 20:4-6; 21:1-4)
Conclusion
Our curiosity about the abode of the dead is not completely satisfied by biblical terms or verses. What we do know is that either eternal torment in hell or eternal joy in heaven awaits all people after death, based on whether they trust in Christ’s payment for sin or reject Christ.
Upvote:1
John Henry Newman gives the best explication of Hell I have ever seen:
... —it is fearful, but it is right to say it;—that if we wished to imagine a punishment for an unholy, reprobate soul, we perhaps could not fancy a greater than to summon it to heaven. Heaven would be hell to an irreligious man. We know how unhappy we are apt to feel at present, when alone in the midst of strangers, or of men of different tastes and habits from ourselves. How miserable, for example, would it be to have to live in a foreign land, among a people whose faces we never saw before, and whose language we could not learn. And this is but a faint illustration of the loneliness of a man of earthly dispositions and tastes, thrust into the society of saints and angels. How forlorn would he wander through the courts of heaven! He would find no one like himself; he would see in every direction the marks of God's holiness, and these would make him shudder. He would feel himself always in His presence. He could no longer turn his thoughts another way, as he does now, when conscience reproaches him. He would know that the Eternal Eye was ever upon him; and that Eye of holiness, which is joy and life to holy creatures, would seem to him an Eye of wrath and punishment. God cannot change His nature. Holy He must ever be. But while He is holy, no unholy soul can be happy in heaven. ...
Source: Sermon 1 from John Henry Newman's Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol 1 (1834).
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