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Q: Who had created hell? GOD is Love – He couldn’t. Love doesn’t create tortures. On the other hand, All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3) So, who had made it? A: Let’s first try to make a passable definition. Hell (a.k.a. sheol, hades, gehenna, bottomless pit, underworld) is the spirit area, actually existing and operating in the spirit world. The exact physical position of hell is deep in the center of our Earth globe – “the nether parts of the Earth.” Please note Genesis 3:19; Psalms 63:9; Ezekiel 26:20; 31:14-18; 32:18-32. However, even if some researchers ever manage to get there, nothing of the sort might be found. The venture would have been much the same success as trying to see Angels out there in the sky. Proverbs 3:5; 21:30; 1Corinthians 1:19. Now, we humans are they who made a former spiritual desert the hell. Genesis 1:4. All our sins (evil words & actions) are born in and commanded by the mind when we give in to evil thoughts sent out by the demons. For our mind is a battlefield. 2Corinthians 10:5; Ephesians 6:16-17. Those evil thoughts of humans develop into their evil intentions, attitudes, words, deeds, and thus “echo” in the spirit world at some spiritual dumping ground – hell. To that, Genesis 1:4 might well testify. Hell is still being enlarged by and actually waiting for the unsaved souls investing into it. For, surely, the total amount of sin done is much more than that repented of, confessed to and forgiven by LORD GOD. Proverbs 27:20. This Scripture (on another subject, but) might serve a good analogy: Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven. (Matthew 18:18) There are many Parables of Christ helping us to comprehend Heaven and hell. Why can’t we also comprehend hell several ways, compared, say, to a bank wherein there are only negative accounts or debts (see Matthew 6:12) collected? Speaking of hell, there have always been people who had Visions of hell. The pictures honestly described are fearful, yet, hardly perceivable since they are but symbols. Which symbols require the right interpretations. Note Daniel 8:27; 10:1. Since hell is a spiritual substance, the tortures therein are spiritual too. The Scriptures defines hell as fire – the spiritual fire it is. The fearful pain which physical fire does to our body is thus well compared to the sufferings of a human spirit in hell – the eternal agony of his or her conscience. Psalms 51:3; Matthew 13:42,50; Luke 13:28. And what about Satan & his demons? Isn’t the hell (and the second death) their final destination? 2Peter 2:4 & Revelation 20:14. Christians apt to Godly sorrow & Repentance can pray, confess, and expect to be forgiven. Others can’t. Why? Because the demons block up the voice of their conscience by evil thoughts of worldly reason. Genesis 3:6-7; Isaiah 59:7-11. Repentance isn’t possible in hell. How come? The time is up. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8; Jeremiah 8:6-7. Communications, whether good or evil, aren’t possible too. Spiritual darkness makes for that terrible loneliness. Every spirit is alone to mind his or her sorrows. Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30. Nobody blocks one’s conscience anymore. 2Corinthians 4:4. At last, it’s free. For those who did that evil job are busy with their own pains. Matthew 25:41. Well, to each his due. Exodus 33:33; Job 34:11; Psalms 62:12; Jeremiah 17:10. Prayers aren’t heard too. For, possibly, only there & then the well-known worldly expression “God-forgotten place” is right. Those who died unbelievers will find exactly what they believed in themselves and taught others: “there is no GOD.” Deuteronomy 8:19; Job 8:13-14; Psalms 9:17; 14:1 & 53:1; Hosea 4:6. Want to have a glimpse in the hell? Try to imagine your clear & total recall and the remorse embracing all your past evil thoughts, words, and works. Romans 3:23. How much time would you manage to continue in such a state of mind? The condemned spirits abide so endlessly. Jude 1:7; Revelation 20:10,14,15; 21:8. Many persons, I am aware, have entered into ingenious debates about the Eternal Fire, by which the wicked will be tormented after the Judgment. But we may conclude from many Passages of Scripture, that it is a metaphorical expression... Let us lay aside the speculations, by which foolish men weary themselves to no purpose, and satisfy ourselves with believing, that these forms of speech denote, in a manner suited to our feeble capacity, a dreadful torment, which no man can now comprehend, and no language can express... (John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists... pp 200-201) Scripture further references: Psalm 9:15 (the hell is made by sinners) Isaiah 5:14 (the hell is being enlarged) Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30 (outer darkness) 2Peter 2:4 (the hell is reserved unto Judgment) Revelation 14:9-10; 19:20; 20:10; 21:8 (spiritual fire) Revelation 20:13-14 (the hell becomes the second death) [From “Q & A – Christian Communion in Questions & Answers,” chapter 8]