HELL: IS IT FIRE OR LIKE FIRE? HOW LONG DOES IT LAST?  In what is called “The Parable of Lazarus And The Rich Man,” (Luke 16:19-31--see farther below) Christ speaks of a rich man who after death had his spirit put into “fire” but at the same time  Christ shows that the fire was not literal or, even if it were, not able to harm the man's spirit as much as it would have if it had been literal fire applied to a literal human body.  We know this because Christ says the man was experiencing torment or agony but he does not say the man was screaming, rather he notes that the man was speaking clearly.  Further, the rich man said that a single drop of water could give him relief, which if he were in literal fire would not have been possible.  One little drop of water wouldn't put out a fire.  At the same time, though, this same parable also makes the point that God does not ignore that some people act unjustly and need discipline.  Even without putting people’s material (or spiritual) bodies into literal fire, He can still see that they receive discipline in a fair way.  Jeremiah 7 notes that unlike cruel humans God has never had it in mind to burn people in fire: 30 “The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the LORD. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. 31 They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind." The words “eternal” and “everlasting” definitely are used in talking about fire in some of the Bible's scriptures, and yet this does not mean that even if they apply to literal fire, the time period for disciplining of the wicked is definitely eternal or everlasting.  For example in Hebrew the word "olam," (oh-lahm) although almost always translated as eternal or everlasting, more precisely means of an unknown but possibly long period of time.  Olam (eternal/long-lasting but not eternal) is used to describe the priesthood of Aaron which ended, Mosaic Law which ended when Christ perfectly fulfilled it 2,000 years ago, the doors of Solomon's Temple which were destroyed, how long King David would live and Solomon's throne would last. Thomas B. Thayer under "Everlasting" in The Origin And History Of The Doctrine Of Endless Punishment says "Now, as these words are used in this limited sense in the Scriptures, why should it be supposed that they express endless duration when applied to punishment?"  Hanson supports him and notes "Even if endless duration were the intrinsic meaning of the word, all intelligent readers of the Bible would perceive that the word must be employed to denote limited duration in the passages above cited." The Bible Greek word "aionion" like the related English word "eon" is a long but not eternal period of time.  Some highly reputable older handbooks about Bible Greek words say the basic meaning of "aionios" is that it normally means eternally in the sense of forever into both the past and the future or else just forever into the future.  However, when "endless" in time is clearly meant, Greek actually more commonly uses "aidios," a different word. Further, even those convinced that the fire or fiery condition of punishment is indeed everlasting, must still take into consideration the fact that the word being rendered as everlasting or eternal applies to the fire or fire-like condition itself.  It is what continues.  The person being disciplined by it does not necessarily stay in it forever, and this fact also harmonizes with what we know of God's just but fair and merciful personality. Jude 7 says Sodom and Gomorrah suffer “everlasting fire” but the two cities and their particular fire are not continuing.  For example if you travel about in modern Israel looking for the smoke of such a fire you will not see smoke from it continuously going up into the air, although as an enormous stretch of the imagination someone might theorize that totally or essentially invisible traces or vapors from it perhaps rise out of the Dead Sea.  Too, Colossians 1:19 says "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."  So a time will come when, after disciplining done in justice and in fairness, all people including the unrighteous or unjust people will be brought back into a relationship with God. (Acts 24:15, John 3:16)  In fact Christ said to the Pharisees "tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you" which means that even the Pharisees, who were worse than tax collectors and harlots, after disciplined would also get another chance. (Matthew 21:31) People die, are disciplined as God knows is most fair and just, but ultimately they clearly see and feel that what they did was wrong and that it actually was right that they be disciplined.  At this point they are all "reconciled" to God.  Revelation indicates that they will then get a second chance at life, but if they act against God's will a second time, then they go into second death from which there will be no resurrection. (Revelation 2:11; 20:6)  One can only speculate as to what discipline they get this second time, for example non-existence, isolation from God's fellowship, having to re-live the lives of people whom they victimized or something else.  However there is no need to doubt but that even evildoers themselves, regardless of whatever the type of discipline is that they may get, whether fiery, fire-like or otherwise, will have to admit in the end that it was only what was right and fair for them to have received.  We do know that God acts with justice for 2 Thessalonians 1:6, 7 says "God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well." However, He is above all loving and merciful (1 John 4:8, Matthew 12:7), definitely not taking delight in anyone having to die let alone suffer.  At Ezekial 33:11 He says "Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’" So, this topic could encompass volumes, but what is here is enough to have sketched out two main points.  The Bible does indeed speak about God disciplining and often mentions fire in connection with such disciplining.  However, it is equally clear that how God disciplines is both just for the victims and fair for those who are disciplined.  NOTE: FOR QUICK REFERENCE, HERE IS CHRIST'S PARABLE ABOUT LAZARUS AND THE RICH MAN: Luke 16:19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

HELL: PROOF THAT WATCHTOWER HEADS FALSELY TEACH WHAT CHRISTIANS BELIEVE REGARDING HELL The Watchtower Society over Jehovah's Witnesses is false in implying that most all Christians teach hell fire.  Actually, even the Alliance Commission on Unity & Truth among Evangelicals (ACUTE) has stated that although most Protestants have believed hell will be a place of endless conscious physical and spiritual torment, some of the more recent Protestant writers describe it as eternal separation from God.  Some also believe that if punishment in hell will be for all time then it will be equal to the misdeeds of each person, and they have based this for example on Matthew 10:15 and Luke 12:46-48. Another question that is often asked is “Will people who never had an opportunity to learn correctly what God wants us to do, those people who died as infants, and the people who have mental disabilities ever have a second chance or not?  ACUTE has noted that although some say such people will experience hell fire others believe that since God, being fair and loving, He will not do such a thing.  The Watchtower Society however teaches so as to make it seem like all Christians believe God is cruel about this. Further, when we look back to early Christianity we find that Christian writers such as Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Tetullian, and Cyprian believed hell is fiery, but still others such as Origen and Gregory of Nyssa believed hell is a place or condition of separation from God causing spiritual instead of physical suffering.  Augustine of Hippo believed hell is both spiritual and a form of physical suffering.  The writer Chrysostom also saw it as symbolic instead of literal.  So, contrary to what Watchtower implies, throughout Christian history there have been different views by Christians; never have all Christians believed that hell is definitely a place or condition of literal fire. Writings that still exist prove that by the 400s the most common view among Christian writers was that after sinners die there is no second chance and they are punished forever by fire.  The Inferno written by Dante (1265-1321) helped cause belief in a fiery hell to become very common.  However in the 1500sm Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin believed and taught that although the Bible speaks of fiery hell it is symbolic of lasting separation from God. During the 1600s and 1700s the belief that hell is fiery returned to being common.  For example in the British colony of Massachusetts, Jonathan Edwards wrote Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God.  However in the 1800s and 1900s the most common belief again became that hell is separation from God, not a literal place or condition of fire that lasts and is felt for all of time. In modern times the Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica has said it is wrong "to think that God, by means of demons, inflicts fearful torments on the damned like that of fire... Hell exists, not as a place but as a state, a way of being of the person who suffers the pain of the deprivation of God."  In 1999 the Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II said, "Rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy."   The Episcopal Church has stated that hell is "eternal death in our rejection of God."  Not only many church groups believe similarly, but individuals in the various churches, for example individuals in the Disciples of Christ and a lot who are Baptists, either believe hell is not literal fire or else are not sure although they do believe that whatever it may be is a painful or very undesirable punishment or disciplining. Even among those who believe and teach that hell is fiery there are different views as to how long a wicked person experiences it.  For example it is noted that at Jeremiah 17:27 says Jerusalem was destroyed with unquenchable fire, and yet today we see Jerusalem is not on fire.  1 Samuel 1:22, 28 indicates that the word translated as forever means the length of a man’s life or so long as a man lives.  At Psalm 48:14 the word forever means until death.  Jude 7 says God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with everlasting or eternal fire and 2 Peter 2:6 says the cities turned into ashes.  Yet today one does not see smoke rising up from remains of those cities.  In other words, the fire was eternal or everlasting only until the cities were destroyed although the result of the fire has continued. True, Matthew 25:46 says “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”  This speaks of eternal punishment but in which sense?  Does it mean people are punished throughout all of time, or does it mean that punishment is given to people only for a fitting period of time (or time varying per the extent or degree of each person’s sins) although the consequences of it is eternal?  We can speculate but the real truth is that we cannot be for sure although be comforted that whatever God metes out as justice will be totally fair and in line with the fact that His main characteristic is love. Nevertheless, Christians would be unwise to think it unnecessary to be concerned about how God may judge and deal with them.  For example, Revelation 21:8 says “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” Thus even among those who believe God may not use literal fire on the wicked and or not do so for all of the existence of time itself, it is pointed out that all the same it is good for anyone who does or thinks about doing grevious sinning to not be overly confident or think that s/he will escape the painful consequences of justice.

HELL: SOME GENERAL POINTS ABOUT GOD'S DISCIPLINE AFTER DEATH NOT BEING UNFAIR OR EXTREME There is every reason to believe that the judgment of our heavenly Father brings a discipline that is not excessive but always just right.  In fact 1 John 4:8 says that God’s main characteristic is “love.”  To also be just, our heavenly Father appropriately punishes heinous misconduct but His punishment or chastisement is never inappropriate, never unduly harsh, unjust, unfair, off-balance, or unloving. The Christian Bible speaks of some people after death receiving discipline in an appropriate way or ways variously viewed as possibly literal or fire, re-living the lives of victims, sleep, isolation etc; finally reconciled and given a second chance by resurrection, some however falling again into wrongdoing and justly receiving a Second Death that is lasting. (Revelation 2:11, 20:14, 15)  We humans when we see someone mercilessly torture an innocent animal or child, for example, also naturally believe that some form of justice definitely needs done.  The need to have justice after death if not in this life for the sake of victims has transcended time and spanned all cultures, for example, among the Greeks, Roman, Chinese, etc.  Although it's true that people don't always agree about everything, we who are Christians are united in being thankful that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, came, died and was resurrected, offering us similar hope of resurrection.  (John 3:16)  Our "unity" is based on love, not everyone believing the exact same thing about this or any number of other topics. (Be sure to read Colossians 3:14.) Let us remember that Christ himself who was and is perfect spent three days preaching to the dead.  This was in “hades” (read Acts 2:31) which unlike “hell” or Second Death has also been said to not be a permanent place or condition.  (Revelation 20:11-15) We who are in the flesh on earth today are all imperfect humans and so we must also die (1 Corinthians 15:22, Romans 5:12) but we can rest assured that our imperfect conduct and thinking as well as all of our sincerely shown repentance will be perfectly weighed by the only perfect and final Judge, our Father in heaven whose main quality is love.  His justice is fair and appropriate.  He wants all to be saved from death. The apostle Paul previously hated and helped slay Christians such as Stephan (Acts 6:8-8:1), and King Manasseh murdered many innocent people.  (2 Kings 21:16-26) Yet Both repented, God knew their sincerity and so forgave them.  It is said that Paul was himself later crucified and though forgiven Mannaseh's sins were justly dealt with otherwise.  King David wrongly caused the death of his Hittite warrior Uriah in order to get the man's wife Bathsheba, was strongly disciplined for having done so but then also forgiven. So if we have done something similar, we need to not think that we can not ever be forgiven.  God always knows the best way to do things.  Since our Father in heaven forgave Mannaseh, Paul, King David and many many others, we can be sure that He will forgive us to for whom Christ also came and died as well as deal in the most fair and loving way possibly for any number of other people throughout history from Adam and Eve onward, including surely too all the millions of babies, infants and children.

HELL: WHY TEACHING THAT EVILDOERS JUST SLEEP  FOREVER AFTER DEATH IS FALSE AND WRONG TO DO NOTE: Credit for the most insightful thoughts in the following about Hell (Sheol, Hades) and in particular about its location and even its change of location, goes to David A. Reed who was an Elder among Jehovah's Witnesses and who is now a prolific writer of Christian literature. Getting to sleep after death is peaceful, and so is it truly justice for violent, wicked people to get to just sleep forever, their victims thus never having justice done on their behalf?  Should the only punishment for a person who killed and tortured a million people be the same as for others who did fewer things that are wrong?  Yet the men at the top of the Watchtower Society over Jehovah’s Witnesses says they and only they have all the right answers, and that all the dead (=evil persons too) just sleep peacefully.  If that's so then the worst of evildoers never have to feel any consequences any more than the peaceful people whom they hurt, tortured or murdered.  Yet that would make God unjust, unfair to the victims. However, regardless of Watchtower's views, if God judges that some kind of strong punishment does befit some extremely wicked people, well, then whatever God may have decided is right.  His being God, who is totally holy or perfect, means that His judgments are also perfectly right and fair.  Even among humans it's an injustice to not punish murderers. Watchtower teaches that any and all verses that tell of punishment by fire or torment must just all be symbolic, and yet when we read Acts 24:25 (please do so) and discover that Paul told Felix there is a coming scary judgment, are we to just out-of-hand mark it as just being symbolic?  Or doesn't it in fact show that Paul indeed indeed is speaking of a scary judgment and he meant exactly what he said?  When Paul also wrote, “keep working out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12), he also clearly meant what he said.  For evildoers to get to just sleep away forever would not be a “punishment” that would lead anyone to be in fear of it or trembling.  If you still are missing the point, go back to re-read these passages and meditate on them.  It's definitely important.  Getting to sleep forever could even be viewed as a reward for evildoers, a comforting thought for them when they get ready to go out to kill or otherwise harm innocent victims.  Yet scriptures do also speak of people sleeping in death.  For example Christ resurrected a little girl whom he had said was asleep.  (John 9:24, 25)  However, there is no indication that she was any kind of an extreme evildoer.  It is reasonable that God is also reasonable in disciplining the dead as well as the living.  So some of the dead may be at rest, others punished by fire or a fire-like condition, perhaps having to experience a feeling of isolation, etc, however God knows best. But above all God is merciful and loving. (Matthew 12:7, 1 John 4:8)  At John 3:16 Christ says he died so that all might live; and Paul at Acts 24:15 says the just and unjust (or in some translations "the righteous and unrighteous") will be resurrected.  All are then perfectly judged by God, some to rightly, justly, perfectly receive eternal life but others to be rightly, justly, perfectly punished. The Bible says that at death the body is no longer conscious (Ecclesiastes 9:5) and of course it turns into dust.  But other scriptures show that the spirit that was with the body, continues to exist and definitely is conscious.  For example, it is well-known that Paul looked forward to leaving behind his body and going to heaven, scriptures speak of 144,000 in heaven (Revelation 7:4, and Revelation 14:3), and Revelation 19:1 adds that there is a Great Crowd or multitude there.  John 5:28, 29 for example speaks of people being resurrected from Memorial Tombs and Christ and the Prophets also resurrected some people here upon the Earth.  Revelation 6:9 says that souls rewarded with new life as spirits after having been slain are in heaven, are still conscious of and concerned about what happens on earth.  Christ says at Luke 12:5  there is also the opposite of a reward for some after death:  "Do not fear those who kill the body and after this are not able to do anything more.  But I will indicate to you whom to fear: Fear him who after killing has authority to throw into Gehenna.” Isaiah 14:9-11 says upon entering Sheol or the afterlife, those already there speak about how those there are reduced in power.  So it too confirms the existence of an afterlife.  John 3:13 says "No man has ascended into heaven but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man.." Even Jacob expected to go to sheol (Hebrews for grave or afterlife) after dying.  Acts 2:31 says that after dying Christ also went to hades (Greek for grave or afterlife), preached to spirits imprisoned there but that he was not abandoned or left there. (1 Peter 3:19)  Please look up these scriptures to be sure of this. Christ used parables, which by definition are stories that do not consist of nothing but symbols as Watchtower has claimed, but which are illustrative for making a larger point or points.  In one parable he said that a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus both died and went to the afterlife (hades).  The rich man was suffering from the fire there, so he asked Abraham to let the Lazarus give him some water.   Abraham said that was not possible due to the rich man’s former life, and besides, a gulf was located between them.  So in hades, sheol, or the afterlife, the beggar Lazarus was rewarded by getting to later go on to enjoy the afterlife with Abraham.  Sheol or the afterlife is shown to consist of two areas or conditions, one of which is enjoyble, but the other one being something that unrepentant wrongdoers rightly need to fear.  (Luke 16:19-31)  Sheol or Hades is also shown by this parable to be a temporary place of discipline after which one can be rewarded or may pass on to eternal hell. As noted, Watchtower likes to point out that what Christ said was a parable and proclaim that a parable is symbolic.  However, as also noted, it is not wholly just symbolic but illustrative and factual.  Look it up in a decent dictionary and see for yourself.  Also, even if this particular account were not a parable but totally symbolic, it still makes the overall points that in one way or another God does give appropriate justice to those who have done grievous wrong things when alive, while also rewarding those who although imperfect are sincerely sorry for the wrongs they have done. In the Bible when Christ was dying he told a repentant wrongdoer dying nearby him that today that man would be in paradise with him.  So, upon death, they both went to the afterlife and for Christ and the repentant wrongdoer, this was not a Sheol or Hades of torment, but that which was Abrahamic or like "paradise" for sincere, decent persons. (Luke 23:43)  Notice that Christ said that a time would come when many came from east and west to sit with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob:   “in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 8:11)   God was not ashamed of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so after Christ had received resurrection, they too were transferred from Hades, on up to “heavenly Jerusalem.”   So, getting to live amidst the stunning glories of the star-packed heaven or what moderns also call outer space is a reward for the spirits of all righteous people as instituted since the ransom sacrifice of Christ. (Hebrews 12:22-23; Eph 4:8-10)   Interestingly although Watchtower heads keep on calling and misteaching JWs to teach that Hades, Sheol or Hell is a purely symbolic place or condition, they do not equally call heaven a purely symbolic place or condition.  Instead they admit that heaven is for real but then claim that the number of those which Revelation says will get to go there, that is 144,000, is only a literal or symbolic number.  (Revelation 7:4, and Revelation 14:3)  To the contrary, Revelation 19:1 says a Great Multitude or Crowd will live on Earth.  Please read it. Our bodies of flesh are dying but if we have not grieved God’s Holy Spirit, then we have the resurrection hope.  When Christ visibly returns, those then alive will have their bodies changed in a twinkling into imperishable spirit bodies. Those already with Christ as spirits in heaven will be resurrected with bodies upon earth.  (2 Cor. 4:14-5:8; 1 Thess 4:15-17; 1 Cor. 15:42-58)  No human knows when such changes of fleshly bodies and spirit bodies will occur, nor do we know all the details. Likewise, we do not know all the other details about God meting out justice to the various wrongdoers who have died.  For example, will the man who robbed a bank to feed his hungry family suffer as long and as much as another man who robbed ten banks out of pure greediness?  It would seem not, but then that is only a guess.  Only God knows for sure.  Also, will God resurrect only good Christians or is the resurrection hope open to non-Christians since Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David were Jews; and Job was an “Oriental” not said to have been Jewish but definitely considered righteous?  We can weigh the different scriptures and say what we think might be the case, but the reality is that in this life we cannot be fully certain but trust that after death if and when God so wills, He will rightly inform us. Watchtower has said it has all the answers even though it backs off and proclaims it has new and different light, having done so many times regardubg different things.  All good, decent persons who truly love and put Christ first among Jehovah’s Witnesses need to come out of the Watchtower Society, draw close to God Almighty.  Being a witnessing Christian is far better than being a Jehovah’s Witness misled by Watchtower instead of the one and only MOST Faithful and Discreet Slave who is Christ himself.

HELL: IF IT IS A PLACE OF LITERAL FIRE, THEN WHERE IS IT ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURES? Although spirits do not have physical bodies, it appears that all the same their spirit bodies can experience feelings such as pain and fear.  Logically, hell might not be located inside the earth, that is under the ground but in another dimension or universe.  However, the question in this particular publication is not actually where all might hell be, but rather it is What Does The Bible Say About The Location of Hell? First, let us consider some scriptures in the New Testament.  At Matthew 12:40 Christ says "for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."  At Philippians 2:10 the apostle Paul notes “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.”  At Ephesians 4:7 Paul says of Christ “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.” 9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)” At Deuteronomy 32:22, God Almighty (Yahweh/Jehovah) says “For a fire will be kindled by my wrath, one that burns down to the realm of the dead below. It will devour the earth and its harvests and set afire the foundations of the mountains.” Psalm 86:13 adds “For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead.” Proverbs 15:24 similarly notes “The path of life leads upward for the prudent to keep them from going down to the realm of the dead.”  Isaiah 14:9 says that not just dead bodies but spirits which speak are there: The realm of the dead below is all astir to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you— all those who were leaders in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones— all those who were kings over the nations.  10 They will all respond, they will say to you, “You also have become weak, as we are; you have become like us.” So according to these and other scriptures it does appear that the scriptures speak of hell as below the surface of our own planet.  It may or may not be a physical place any more than the spirits there are physical.  It might be another dimension, place or condition of existence for souls, that is spirits without bodies, but regardless scriptures clearly show that we need to be concerned to not experience hell  God does not fiendishly delight in tormenting human spirits as would Satan, but rather the punishment, disciplining or training that occurs there for extreme evildoers shall only be exactly what is most fitting and it needs to be perceived as such. .

HELL: WHY PEOPLE NEED TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT IT Is what happens to us after we die something to not be concerned too much about, for example, if we simply go into eternal sleep or separation from God?  Or might there be major reasons to actually be scared about what is going to happen at that time? To begin, at Matthew 5:22 in the New International Version, Christ says “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ [note: a word then used to show contempt] is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” Here we notice that being angry with a brother without good reason put us in danger of adverse judgment from human council, but hell fire is even greater than such a danger.  So, it appears to be something to be concerned about. Then we notice that Paul at Acts 24:25 says in the Contemporary English Version, “But Felix was frightened when Paul started talking to them [Felix, Bernice, Agrippa II] about doing right, about self-control, and about the coming judgment. So he said to Paul, ‘That's enough for now. You may go. But when I have time I will send for you.’"   The Good News Translation says “But as Paul went on discussing about goodness, self-control, and the coming Day of Judgment, Felix was afraid and said, ‘You may leave now. I will call you again when I get the chance.’”  What comes through is that whatever Paul said to the powerful man Felix and his sister Bernice as well as the even more power King Agrippa II, it was very scary or terrifying.  It was not on the order of saying “after death God judges your conduct and if it was bad you must sleep forever,” or “if you behave bad while alive then after death you will be isolated from God.”  Rather, it was more like “listen, you had better pay attention because if God finds your conduct was too bad then you are going had better be afraid of what is going to happen to you!”  At Matthew 5:29 Christ says "If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."   At Matthew 18:8 he adds “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.”  Matthew 13:41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Also compare: Matthew 25:41)  So Jesus Christ, the Son of God, also said to be concerned! Sleep and isolation are also not pleasant, but roasting in literal fire or a condition comparable to it would be even more frightful.  So, since we have not been to hell yet, we might be wrong in thinking it is worse than sleeping in death or not having access to and fellowship with God, but in any case, it would seem extremely unwise to think that it is inconsequential according to the scriptures. .