I believe the picture of hell as a place filled with red devils with tails and pitchforks is human illustration of how the Bible presents it. Hell is easier to understand if you see that it is merely eternal separation from God. The Bible reveals that God is love and light and is righteous. If God is absent from a place it means it is a place without love, or light or righteousness. My best guess is that you lived in such a condition it would be very depressing and a fog of hopelessness and misery would permeate everything there. A place without love or hope could accurately be described as “Hell”.
So, why would God send people to such a place? Well, it’s because God’s heaven is filled with love, light and righteousness. The nature of sin is so polluting it corrupts all things good and to allow an unforgiven sinner into such a place would undermine the righteousness and love that fills heaven. This is why Christianity works. A true believer is admitted to God’s heaven because of the righteousness they have been provided by faith in Christ. In other words, the only part of us that lives in heaven is the Jesus part. Old Jim the fleshly sinner is gone!
Without the righteousness of Christ a human being is just stuck with their own sin and that sin is powerful enough cause eternal separation from God. This is a tough idea for some to understand and accept, but when you understand the true nature and destructive power of sin, it is quite logical to accept.
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