Is hell located in the center of the earth?

[Michie]

Anyone can cobble together a few Bible verses that speak of the place of the dead as under the earth, but it's a mighty thin thread of reasoning to get from there to the confident certainty that hell is in the center of the earth. You are right to stick close to the Church's teaching--both what it says and what it refrains from saying. In the end...

Is hell located in the center of the earth?

 

[FriendlyJosh]

I find it interesting the center of the earth is really hot, and hell is described as a fire pit. So seems like a possible place. All I know is I don't want anyone to go there

 

[Philosoraptor]

Semantics... while I don't claim to be an expert, consider how there wasn't much of a concept of Hell until Jesus came along. Before then, it was the underworld, the world of the dead. Where do the dead go? In the ground. They're buried.

Metaphorical language is an easy way to illustrate ideas. But just because you say someone went "down" to Hell doesn't mean anyone should take that literally.

 

[stone]

Then Saul disguised himself by putting on other clothes, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night; and he said, “Conjure up for me, please, and bring up for me whom I shall name to you.” 9But the woman said to him, “Behold, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who are mediums and spiritists from the land. Why are you then laying a snare for my life to bring about my death?” 10Saul vowed to her by the LORD, saying, “As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.” 11Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” And he said, “Bring up Samuel for me.” 12When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul.” 13The king said to her, “Do not be afraid; but what do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a divine being coming up out of the earth.” 14He said to her, “What is his form?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped with a robe.” And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and did homage.
15Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” And Saul answered, “I am greatly distressed; for the Philistines are waging war against me, and God has departed from me and no longer answers me, either through prophets or by dreams; therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I should do.” 16Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has departed from you and has become your adversary? 17“The LORD has done accordingly as He spoke through me; for the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, to David. 18“As you did not obey the LORD and did not execute His fierce wrath on Amalek, so the LORD has done this thing to you this day. 19“Moreover the LORD will also give over Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines, therefore tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Indeed the LORD will give over the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines!”

***

It's similar to how an angel can appear before us and then in a split second disappear right in front of you.

 

[stone]

1Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD. 2And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

kjv

the nab says he is walking around on it, not in and out of it.

 

[stone]

9The sons of Eliab: Nemuel and Dathan and Abiram. These are the Dathan and Abiram who were called by the congregation, who contended against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they contended against the LORD, 10and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up along with Korah, when that company died, when the fire devoured 250 men, so that they became a warning.

***

just for the record, my opinion is that if you dig to the center of the earth, your not gonna find hell, unless of course it kills you digging to the center. lol

 

[WarriorAngel]

I am gonna dig into philosophical meanderings here [where is CC?]

Anyway - the whole Bible is chocked full of symbolism based from reality.

IF the Lord wishes to put hell under the earth - and He also wishes to make the inner earth quite fiery as a way of showing a spiritual reality - then He can if He so pleases. It is one of those - we wont know til the next life - kind of things.

But where hell is - i dont know - and really dont want to know. May the Lord have mercy.

 

[StThomasMore]

Semantics... while I don't claim to be an expert, consider how there wasn't much of a concept of Hell until Jesus came along. Before then, it was the underworld, the world of the dead. Where do the dead go? In the ground. They're buried.

Metaphorical language is an easy way to illustrate ideas. But just because you say someone went "down" to Hell doesn't mean anyone should take that literally.

Gehenna was a very common doctrine among the pharisees. The Jews believed sheol contained 2 compartments for the good(Bosom of Abraham) and the wicked(Tartarus)

 

[Humble Pie]

Don't laugh, I could be wrong, but the centre of the earth does sound hellish. Just watching a volano erupt brings hell to mind.

 

[JesusIsTheWay33]

Since the Church teaches us that Hell is not a physical place (which is unsurprising, since our souls are not material, either), I should think the answer was no, hell is not at the centre of the earth, any more than heaven is on a cloud.

 

[Humble Pie]

So why are our physical bodies resurrected?

 

[A Penitent Man]

Hell as we understand and are taught is a spiritual concept more than a physical one. Perhaps once again the idea of hell being beneath the earth's crust stems from folk tales and race memories!.

In Norse mythology the name Hel originally meant, the world of the dead; it later became the name of the godess of death whose kingdom was said to lie downward and northward. It was called Nilfheim or the world of darkness and was divided into several domains, one of which was, Nastrond, the shore of corpses.
There stood a castle filled with the venom of serpents, in which, murderers, adulterers and perjurers endured eternal torment, while the dragon Nidhogg sucked the blood from their bodies.

Could it be possible that early christian missionaries used these folktales of Hel to bring early converts into the light of Christ?

Having said that a popular saying still in use in Yorkshire,(dominated by Norse warriors circa 800-1070 AD) is, ''I'm midway twixt, Hell, Hull and Halifax''

 

[Theofane]

Is hell located in the center of the earth?

I don't think it's part of our physical reality. It's another dimension that somehow corresponds to the center of the earth.

 

[BBCath]

So why are our physical bodies resurrected?

Our bodies will not be the same as they are on earth.

 

[isshinwhat]

Since the Church teaches us that Hell is not a physical place (which is unsurprising, since our souls are not material, either), I should think the answer was no, hell is not at the centre of the earth, any more than heaven is on a cloud.

The Church does not teach definitively that Hell nor Heaven are physical places, to the contrary the Ascension, Assumption, and taking into Heaven of Elijah and Enoch bodily alludes to Heaven as being a physical place. Additionally, the eternal nature of Hell, even after the general resurrection of mankind, leads me to believe the same.

 

[Rhamiel]

Our bodies will not be the same as they are on earth.

they will not be the same
but they will still be our physical bodies
just perfected and glorified
like when CHrist rose from the dead
He still had wounds in his hands and feet and side

 

[BBCath]

they will not be the same
but they will still be our physical bodies
just perfected and glorified
like when CHrist rose from the dead
He still had wounds in his hands and feet and side

What exactly does that mean - "perfected"?

If someone was 20lbs overweight, would they not be anymore? What about an amputee? Would they then have their limb(s) back?

What if a person was cremated? Would they have the same body they had before they were cremated?

What about age? Would a 95-year-old person who may have been weathered and wrinkled become young and wrinkle-free?

I am not trying to start a debate or anything like that. I am genuinely curious about people's opinions on this.

My apologies if my questions are off-topic.

 

[isshinwhat]

You might enjoy reading through this, as well as its references.

Catechism of the Catholic Church - PART 1 SECTION 2 CHAPTER 3 ARTICLE 12

 

[Rhamiel]

What exactly does that mean - "perfected"?

If someone was 20lbs overweight, would they not be anymore? What about an amputee? Would they then have their limb(s) back?

What if a person was cremated? Would they have the same body they had before they were cremated?

What about age? Would a 95-year-old person who may have been weathered and wrinkled become young and wrinkle-free?

I am not trying to start a debate or anything like that. I am genuinely curious about people's opinions on this.

My apologies if my questions are off-topic.

me and my mother offten do not agree on this topic
this is something we know so little about, the only example we have is Jesus so let us go to Him, as we should for all things

let us look at what happened after Jesus rose from the dead
there are times when people could not recognize Him, Mary Magdalen thought He was a gardner and two of His desciples walked with Him on the road to Emmaus and did not recognize Him untill they broke bread with Him. So we will look differant

Jesus allso did stuff like apear in a locked room, now this could be because Jesus is, was and always will be God and He works miricles, or this could be something that speaks to the nature our bodies will have after the resurection

Jesus had Thomas see the holes in His hands and side, Jesus also ate with the apostles on the beach, so it is also a physical body and more then that, the same body that was nailed to the cross

one time someone asked me what happens when people are creamated, I said that they will come back as horrible whirlwinds, that joke was in poor taste, but I think it was funny
but on a serious note, if God can make the entire world in 6 days just from speaking it into being, I think He can just restore creamated people, I mean even if you are not creamated, in a few years you are little more then bones anyways
amputees I think would get their arms back
but what if you were never born with an arm? like a birth defect?
maybe you will have an arm, or since your body will be perfect it will not matter if you lack a limb?

 

[Gwendolyn]

Here - an illustration of Hebrew cosmology, from which we derive our concept of the afterlife.