There Is No Hell

There is something that’s been on my mind for longer than I care to think about and that usually means that I need to write it out. It’s probably because someone somewhere needs to read about it so I do the writing and let God send it where He wills. Beyond writing about it, the rest is none of my business. I’ve already reconciled the finer points of what I’m about to say and I’m very sure that there’ll be more than one person who staunchly disagrees with me so I’ll say to you all right now, you won’t change my mind and impassioned arguments or scriptural references that you want to interpret to the contrary won’t sway me either. Don’t waste my time or your energy trying to change my perspective.

You see, God has worked with me for more than a decade on the little concepts and the subtleties of what the word “hell” means and its implications beyond this life. Simply put, after much study and reflection, I can only surmise from what I can see that there is no hell. No one is going to hell when they die because it doesn’t exist. Even atheists are not going to hell regardless of what they choose to believe now. Everyone is going to spend eternity with the Heavenly Father.

You see, there were four different words between the biblical Old Testament and New Testament that were translated into the word “hell” and not a single one of them literally means from the vernacular a place of eternal punishment in fire and torture. In fact, in the origins of the word “hell” it literally means “to cover up or conceal.” It comes from a Germanic root.

Let’s examine, shall we?

And yes, before we go any further, I’m going to ignore the implication of “punishment for the wicked and sinful” aspect of the translations and their meanings in each of these and I will explain this later. Hang in there with me, we’ll get to it.

The first word that was translated into the word “hell” was in the Old Testament in Hebrew. It was the word “Sheol” which is, in ancient Hebrew, the world of the dead or the grave. There are no other words translated into the word “hell” in the OT of the bible.

Now, before you go any further, you must first understand that God told Adam that he should not eat of the fruit of the tree for in that day, he would surely die. God never told Adam that he was going to a place of fiery torture for eternity. He told Adam that he would go to the grave. It’s that simple.


All the remaining words that were translated into the word “hell” are in the New Testament and I’m going to break them down one by one and then introduce a new perspective that might help someone somewhere see things in a whole new light.

The first word in the NT translated was the Greek “geenna” which was of Hebrew origin and was simply a pit or a grave where the dead, both human and animal were cast and burned. This was not for torture. This was done to prevent the spread of disease from bacterial growth and whatnot from the cadaver. This is also that simple.

The second word in the NT was “hades” which again is the underworld, or the world of the dead. In transliteration, it means “not to be seen” which coincides with the Germanic root of the word “hell.” Remember that I said that the root meaning of it is “to cover up or conceal?”

The third word in the NT was “pyr” which is of course, a fire. Now, before you get all up in the air or get your undies in a bunch, remember that it was in fact, part of the death ritual for all Greeks to be burned on a pyre. This was a necessary part of the burial process and a person could not get into hades in accordance with Greek burial tradition without their body being burned.

The fourth word from the NT that was translated into the word “hell” was “tartaros.” This was also the underworld, the grave or the pit. There is less implication that goes along with the word “tartaros” so there isn’t so much to work with as far as perspective. It was fairly simple and straightforward.

Now that we’ve examined all of the words that were translated into the word “hell” between the OT and the NT, let me introduce you to a fresh idea. Maybe you’ve thought about this before and you’ve been too worried about the potential ramifications spiritually or morally to really delve into it. The idea is simple.

Every time the word “fire” is translated from the bible, it is a part of a purification process which can only come from the embodiment of the essence of God and not an idea of eternal torture.


Riddle me this, if the fire in the bible is something to be feared, why is it that every reference to the embodiment of God in the same bible is by way of fire?

A few examples, if we will?

God instructed Moses to go to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to free the Israelites from out of “a burning bush that was not consumed.” When Pharaoh finally relented and let the Israelites go, they were led out of Egypt by night by a “pillar of fire” which was God. When God descended upon Mount Sinai to give the law to Moses, He did so as a fire and the sight of the glory of the Lord was like fire to the eyes of the Israelites.

Every sin offering to the Lord was to be a burnt offering or an offering of flesh and fire. In the tabernacle in the wilderness, by night the presence of the Lord was a fire and by day a cloud. The burnt offerings were consumed by the Lord as a fire. Even strange offerings made to the Lord which the Lord did not accept, the person who offered was consumed by fire.

Wickedness was to be burned by fire. No one with blemish was to make an offering by fire. If anyone had anything against his brother, he should settle it first and then make a sin offering by fire. When the Israelites complained and upset the Lord, He came down with fire. Every example of a burnt offering to the Lord that was made with pure intentions was made by fire and was pleasing, or a “sweet savour to the Lord.”

The Lord descended upon Sodom and Gomorrah with fire to destroy them.

In Judges, the Angel of the Lord touched the altar on which was the offering of unleavened cakes and flesh. Fire came out of the rock and consumed the offering. The spirit of the Lord descended upon Samson as fire and burnt his bonds in Lehi.

In 2 Samuel when David cried out to the Lord, the Lord heard him and answered with fire.

Elijah offered an offering to the Lord to prove between him and the prophets of Ba’al which of their gods was the living God in 1 Kings 18 and God burnt the offering, the altar, the water that was poured onto it and the water filled moat around it with fire. In 2 Kings when Elijah told the captain that if he be a man of God, that fire consume him and his fifty men, and it did. Elijah went to heaven in a chariot of fire.

Elisha’s protection in the form of Angel armies was being surrounded by chariots of fire.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were not consumed in the fiery furnace and in fact walked around in it where the servants who threw them into the furnace were consumed by the fire.

In the NT, the fire is mentioned several times as a process of purification. The clay must go through the fire to harden it and to burn up the dross. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. The tares are gathered to be burned in the fire after the harvest. Also a reference to the time of the harvest, the wheat is kept but the chaff is burned in the fire.

John the Baptist, who baptized in water and repentance, told of Jesus who was to baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire.

Everyone is to be salted with fire and every sacrifice to be salted with salt.

Jesus stated that He was come to send fire on the earth.

The Holy Spirit descended upon those in the upper room as tongues of fire and they spoke in languages they didn’t know.

Kindness to your enemies is as heaping coals of fire on their heads.

In Hebrews, God is a consuming fire.

Shall I keep going or do you have the idea? Have you figured out yet that the fire purifies? It burns up the impurities and leaves the hardened and purified state behind when it is done.


I went around all of that to make this one parallel. Every reference to hell in the NT of the bible says specifically “hell fire.” Now, if the word “hell” is of Germanic origin and means to cover up or conceal and anyone who reads this gets the point that I’m trying to make in the idea that the embodiment of God is fire, it is then not such a big stretch of the imagination to draw the idea that the real hell is what happens when you try to conceal yourself from God.

Just like Adam in Genesis when he told God that he “was naked and so he hid,” the real hell of which everyone is so afraid has nothing whatsoever to do with a place of fiery torment in the afterlife. There is no possibility that hell is a place where people are going to be cooked for eternity for the amusement of God and as punishment for their wicked ways. People hide themselves from God in their own hell to try to avoid their wickedness being laid bare before Him.

God does not intend to punish anyone forever with fire and torture. God intends to pass us through His presence to purify.

I know, I know, this completely sets the lie to whatever it was you were taught all your life. It’s so much more comforting to believe that someone who did you wrong in your mind or who doesn’t act within the scope of your accepted beliefs and behavior is going to be punished eternally by a just and righteous God.

Then again, if you’ve ever told a white lie whether it was for the right reasons or not, if you’ve ever looked at something and wanted it, if you’ve ever hated anyone for even a moment or lusted after someone else who is not your spouse, if you’ve ever carried around unforgiveness in your heart or been proud of yourself for any reason and even if you’ve ever worn cotton underwear with an elastic waistband or driven one mile an hour over the speed limit, you are just as guilty as they are and you too should go to hell. Even Jesus said, “He who is guilty of breaking one of God’s commandments is guilty of breaking them all.”

Perhaps then we should all grant some latitude to each other and be loving and sensitive in our dealings because as much as it might be consoling to you to believe that someone else is going to burn in hell for all of eternity and forever because they hurt your feelings, this is simply not going to happen. It is a lie and at face value, it’s a rather convincing one, too.

Does this upend accountability? No, because a person who is trying to conceal themselves from God is refusing accountability and will only know peace when they’ve allowed the fire that is God to help them face the things they’ve done wrong or the mistakes they’ve made and forgive themselves for it. There is the point where we step out of hell. It only happens in a spiritual manner when we are no longer trying to hide from God.


Does this mean that the Bible is a long and exhaustive way for God to say, “I love you, your sins are forgiven and you’re going to spend eternity in paradise with Me whether you want to or not and there’s nothing you can do about it?” That’s absolutely the case. That is the right answer and God has spent six thousand years telling us that and has also provided hundreds, if not thousands of examples of exactly what He was talking about. We’re all going to spend eternity in the Kingdom with our Heavenly Father no matter where we came from and no matter how much we resist. We all go home to God sooner or later, Christian or Atheist, Jew or Gentile. The person doesn’t matter, the will of God does and it is the will of God to bring all of His beloved children home. You are among them. Accept it, there are no alternatives and you have no choice.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I welcome it.