To fully understand the implications of the declaration of a place of eternal damnation, one must first understand what that place is. The common use of the word "Hell" is considered colloquial and comical to some.

The terms 'Gehenna' and 'hell' are not an idea of annihilation, either spiritual or physical. Hell was not intended to be understood as a complete end to existence for the non-believer. Guthrie states, " those who dislike the whole idea of eternal punishment either regard both heaven and hell as mythological or else dismiss the sayings by assigning them to church tradition" (Guthrie p. 888).For support, Matthew chapter twenty-five verse forty-one states " Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels". Furthermore, Jesus says that those who are not accepted by the Lord will be condemned to an 'eternal fire'. In addition, in verse forty-six, he states, "They will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life". It can be concluded from the reading of these two verses that the term 'eternal' is meant as such. Also, Jesus speaks about those who are condemned to the fire, and that their existence is eternal. He continues to say that the dispensation of the believer, who has eternal life, is the same. Strong's definition is the same for both verses. "Eternal" is defined as "eternal, forever, everlasting" (Strong's p. 3), which reinforces the fact that hell is not a temporary existence, but an eternal one. In the book Kingdom of the Cults, Walter Martin is refuting the Jehovah's Witness's idea of the non-existence of eternal damnation. Martin says, " Death is not extinction, hell is not an illusion, and everlasting conscious punishment is a terrifying reality of God's infinite justice upon the souls of unbelieving men" (Martin p.92). There is no end to hell or the existence thereof. It is as Guthrie says an "undeniable fact that judgment is eternal" (Guthrie p. 892). Furthermore, Stamps says, " The wicked will not be allowed to enter Christ's kingdom, but will go into eternal punishment" (Stamps p. 1461). To reiterate the point further, Finis Dake in God's Plan for Man, says that " The argument that Hell is not eternal and that it will come to an end is a mere invention of demons and of humanity" (Dake p. 111). Theologians and the text of the synoptics agree that hell is an eternal and continual torment for those who are sentenced to reside there. Hell does exist and is a place of eternal torment and misery.

Ryrie, Charles Caldwell. The Ryrie Study Bible. Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1978

Guthrie, Donald. New Testament Theology. Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 1981.

In conclusion, it has been discovered what hell is, and what hell is not. Hell is not a mythological place, but an actual literal place of eternal torment and suffering. It exists to hold those souls who are sent there, by their own choice, because they did not choose God. Hell is an eternal place that will never cease to exist. It will remain permanent and those who are sent there will spend eternity in the lake of fire, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Those whose names are not found in the book of life will be sent there, and remain there forever. There are two places where people will go when their physical body ceases to breathe; one is heaven and the other is hell. If one's name is in the book of life, heaven is their inheritance; if one's name is not, then they will literally go to hell.

Martin, Walter R. The Kingdom of the Cults. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany Fellowship Inc., 1977.

Hell does exist according to the bible. Stamps says, " Jesus teaches that there is a place of eternal punishment for those condemned before God" (Stamps p. 1425). In many passages in the synoptics, Jesus states the reality about hell and describes it. It is a terrifying reality to think about a place that has a "Fire that never goes out" (Mark 9:43), with "weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Mark 13:42, 50). Hell cannot be understood to be a place for the proverbial horned man with the hoofed feet, red body and trident staff. Neither Sata

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