"Does Hell Exist?" - A Second Look

In May 2025, I posted an article on Catholic 365 in which I examined the question “Does Hell Exist?”  Based upon Holy Scripture, the teachings of the Catholic Church and the apparitions of Our Blessed Mother at Fatima, the answer is emphatically “Yes.”  In that article, I wrote “We know that Jesus is Truth.  So if Jesus tells us that Hell exists, Hell MUST exist for Jesus is Truth and he cannot and will not deceive us.”   (See https://www.catholic365.com/article/49102/does-hell-exist.html )

Today I am re-visiting this question about the existence of Hell as part of a two-part article on salvation.  

Hell exists because it must exist.  God is merciful and wants all to be saved but God is also just and His justice includes Heaven for the righteous and eternal punishment for unrepentant sinners.  

In Saint Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tell us, “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.  They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth” (13:40-42).

In the 25^th Chapter of Saint Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus offers three parables about the final judgment of humanity.  He concludes the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats by saying, “And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life”  (Matthew 25:46).  

In the Gospel of Saint Luke Chapter 16 verses 19 to 31, Jesus talks about eternal punishment for those who ignore the sufferings of the poor in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.  He describes how the Rich Man ignored the impoverished suffering of Lazarus and was condemned to eternal torment.  Jesus also alludes to how people will not believe in his own Resurrection from the Dead.  

In light of Holy Scripture and the authentic teachings of the Catholic Church, it seems unnecessary to even ask the question “Does Hell Exist?”  The evidence is abundant and compelling.   However, there are a great many within our society who deny the existence of Hell.  Some deny the existence of Hell because of an erroneous conception of God’s mercy.  Their mistaken logic is that God is so loving and merciful that He would never allow His created humans to suffer in Hell for eternity.  

 At the center of the effort to deny the existence of Hell is Satan.  Satan is the Prince of Lies and denying the existence of Hell is one of his most destructive lies.  By denying the existence of Hell, Satan is actually luring the unwary sinner into the reality of the eternal damnation, ie. Hell, that he himself deliberately denies.  Satan hates God so intensely that he relentlessly strives to destroy God’s greatest creation – humanity.  In denying Hell’s existence, Satan is seeking to neutralize a powerful deterrent for many people to avoid sin, ie. fear of eternal damnation in Hell.  In denying the existence of Hell, Satan is also seeking to neutralize the salvific mission of Jesus on Earth and the triumph of the Cross.  If there is no Hell, then humans do not need Jesus to redeem them from their sins and they do not need him to save them from the fires of Hell.  

In stark contrast to the Prince of Lies is Jesus the Son of God.   “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” Jesus tells us in St. John’s Gospel Chapter 14 verse 6.   Jesus has told us that Hell exists.  Jesus came into this world to redeem us and help us to avoid Hell.  May the Holy Spirit of the Most Merciful God the Father and Son illuminate all souls to recognize the existence of Hell and open their hearts to Him who can save us from the fires of Hell.