Many of the images we associate with hell owe as much to centuries of art, literature, and imagination as they do to the words of Jesus. That's not really anyone's fault: fantastical images make for great television and filmmaking, so they keep being perpetuated. What we actually find in the New Testament is so at odds with what we expect that it almost feels provocative. Is hell a literal place? Does judgment depend on its existence? Can it be true that after suffering for billions of years, one might be no closer to the end of their suffering? Did Jesus even mean the same thing by “hell” that we mean when we use the word? Or have we misunderstood what Jesus was trying to convey to us?
