The Chapel - Rediscovering God Changes Everything.

The existence of hell is a sobering reality, closely associated with God's wrath.  God most emphatically does not want to send anyone there, but those who persist in rebellion against him actually send themselves.  Our English word “hell” covers a variety of images. Here is an excerpt from Busted: Exposing Popular Myths about Christianity, by Fred von Kamecke, pages 193-194:

This notion of the persistent application of divine wrath on those who reject Jesus is known as the second death (Revelation 20:14).  God's wrath, then, is most closely associated with hell, the place where unbelievers perish.  The descriptions of it are grim indeed.  Hell is a smoldering worm-infested garbage heap (Mark 9:47-48), a dark place full of anger, sorrow, and regret (Matthew 8:12).  It’s an abyss, a bottomless pit (Luke 8:31), a lake of fire (Revelation 21:8), a place of eternal destruction devoid of the Lord's saving presence (2 Thessalonians 1:9).  It is a fire prepared for “the devil and his angels,” but becomes the eternal abode of anyone who foolishly follows their ways (Matthew 25:41).  Hell is the fixed expression of God's wrath and the eternal absence of his mercy.

 It’s all metaphorical,” you say; “it’s figures of speech.”  Yes, that’s true, but what do the metaphors represent?  Whatever hell is really like will be far worse than any of the attempts to describe it.  Human language strains at making sense of an eternal black gulf that swallows up all hope and resounds with the anguished cries of regret and perishing souls.  Whatever it is, it isn't recommended.