Are There Different Levels of Hell?

Question from a reader:

Are there different levels of Hell and different levels of pain and isolation that souls experience in Hell?

Answer from Randy Alcorn:

Hell will have degrees of punishment; each person's punishment will exactly correspond to his sins.

All whose names are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life will be judged by God in relation to their works, which have been recorded in the books of Heaven (see Revelation 20:12-15). The severity of punishment will vary with the amount of truth known, and the nature and number of the sins committed (see Luke 20:45-47; Romans 2:3-6). 

Jesus said the Day of Judgment would be more bearable for some than for others (see Matthew 11:20-24). Some will be "beaten with many blows" and others "beaten with few blows" (Luke 12:47-48).

Hell is not one-size-fits-all. Revelation 20 explicity says that God records all human works so that all punishment will be commensurate to the evil committed (verses 12-13, see also Matthew 5:21-28; 12:36; 1 John 3:15). 

 

Excerpted from Randy's book If God Is Good

Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) is the author of over sixty books and the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries

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