Is there proof that hell is real?

Answer 1

By most people's standards, no there is not concrete proof that hell is real. In saying this, one assumes that by "proof" a person would be looking for video, pictures or accounts of hell.

There has been, for example, an account (and over time there have probably been more than one) of a person who claimed that God showed him a vision of hell and that he felt his "ministry" calling was to tell others about it. Other than such so-called "first person" accounts, there is no concrete proof. Three notes should be made about this, however:

First, many claims of faith are not proven. In the case of Biblical Christianity (assuming that this is the "hell" the question is referring to), for example, it seems that the Christian God perhaps prefers it this way.

Second, virtually all aspects of "proof" require belief. For example: if one were to open a science textbook and find a picture of the sun, it would likely be shown as a photograph of what looks like a giant round flaming ball. Most modern humans would accept this as a fact; undeniable and proven. However, if one considers something seen first-hand as proof then one would have to say there is no proof that the fireball shown in thousands of pictures is, in fact, the sun. Because to us on Earth it appears as a bright shining light in the sky (and does not look like it does in scientific pictures) it requires an aspect of faith to believe that it is also what it is claimed to be in the textbook pictures.

Third, let us pretend that a person actually had found a way to go to hell and come back and they took a camera with them. If a person were to show a video of their trip to "hell" or "heaven" it is highly probable that most people would not believe it were real. So in essence, there is no concrete proof, however it is possible that too much emphasis is placed on "proof" in modern religious debate because often times "hard evidence" does not do very much to encourage or discourage individual belief.

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Catholic AnswerOf course there is proof that hell is real, but not if you are a modern, secular man who only accepts physical proof that he can see, touch, etc. Of course by this theory, then most of us in the United States are not really sure that India exists except that others have told us about it and we hear about it all the time, even if we have never met anyone who has been there. Ah, but then we have never met anyone that has been to hell, then, either, have we? Back up a bit though, the Christian heaven and hell are NOT places, they are states of being and we call them hell when our bodies die and we can no longer change. So this is entirely different, because a lot of people we know are living in hell right now. And each one of us at some point in our lives have been living in hell, you know those days or situations where you wonder why you even bother to take the next breath? Well, the only difference between that hell and the state that you may end up with in the next life is that hell on earth is always (for most of us) bearable because we still have HOPE that tomorrow, or next week, or even this afternoon will be better. (For those who can't bear it, they sometimes choose suicide only to discover that the situation only gets worse, much worse, as it is now permanent.) The very definition of hell is "no hope". So think about the worst day of your life, and then think how bad it would have been if the way you felt that day will be the way you are, not just for tomorrow or next year, but for eternity. There, now you know what hell is like, and that feeling of living with no hope? That is what we call trying to live without God - that is the definition of hell. So, although it is not a proof that will stand up to scientific investigation, you and I both know that it is very real, and that never, ever want to see it, even for an instant.

Answer 2

Father Gabriel Amorth, the former lead exorcist for the Vatican. has written several books about his work and, yes, demons do exist. The Church acknowledges that Satan and his army of fallen angels are constantly at work to lead souls astray and to destroy the Catholic Church. The pope, himself, has recommended that each diocese should have an official exorcist who has been trained at the Vatican. Why would we need exorcists if demons did not exist?

If you need additional proof of the existence of demons, read the two books specifically on exorcism written by Fr. Amorth. The two books An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories are not official Roman Catholic documents, rather personal accounts of his office as Exorcist. The books use witness accounts and personal experience as evidence.

There are several instances in the New Testament where Our Lord acknowledges the existence of evil spirits and himself exorcised several people.

Answer 3

There is no proof that either heaven or hell is in any way real. Prior to the Babylonian Exile, the Jews believed that the dead went to sheol, a joyless existence of semiconsciousness. They returned from the Exile with some important new beliefs that parallelled those of their Persian benefactors, including belief in heaven as a place of reward for the righteous and hell as a place of punishment. While the Jews maintained their new belief in heaven, they eventually came to disbelieve in hell, a concept that Christianity had adopted and continues to maintain, as would Islam. Unless we say that Zoroastrianism, the religion of the ancient Persians, is the one true religion, hell is make-believe.