Hell

   The moral problem of Hell for Christian philosophers is that the Bible teaches that God is loving (for example, 1 John 4: 8) and that God sends some people not to Heaven, but to Hell (for example, Matthew 25). Hell is a place of suffering for those in it and nobody leaves Hell for Heaven. The traditional view is that Hell is everlasting, that is, that those sent to Hell remain there forever. A more moderate view is that those in Hell suffer for a specified period and then are annihilated (annihilationism, or conditional immortality). Some think that Hell is empty, with the finally impenitent ceasing to exist with physical death, and everybody else going to Heaven. The universalist thinks that everybody goes to Heaven, though it is not always clear quite how widely 'everybody' is to be taken here, that is, whether it is restricted to humans or whether it also includes the Devil (as it does for Origen). Roman-Catholic dogma also includes belief in Purgatory, as a place of purification for those that die but are not ready to go straight to Heaven, but this is not (as is sometimes mistakenly thought) a substitute for Hell, but rather a third possible post-mortem destination. The philosophical problems thus arising for the traditional doctrine of Hell include whether retributive punishment is justified, whether it is possible for a finite agent to deserve infinite punishment, whether the continuing presence of evil in Hell will spoil the bliss of the redeemed in Heaven, whether God can and should forgive the finally impenitent, and whether God's infliction of eternal punishment can be justified on the basis of the misuse of our freedom.

   See freedom; punishment

   Further reading: Kvanvig 1993; Walls 1992