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This question popped into my head after reading this question.

God states, quite specifically, in v.5 that He would make everything new, "for the old order of things has passed away". Which leads to the question -

If everything were created new, starting from scratch so to speak, what would happen to Hell? I'm aware of Annihilationism (I think I spelled that right), but I think the question is a little more particular than that.

If everything is created anew, with no death and sickness and disease, etc - would Hell be gone too? We know the Devil, his angels, and the wicked cast into the pit are said to be there "forever and ever", but if time was recreated in this creation, the old time would end - thus Hell not existing because it's "forever and ever" would have passed, right?

I'm more interested in the Catholic stance on this, seeing as how (at least to my observation) they seem to have more in terms of Heaven/Hell doctrine. I'll take non-Catholic responses too, but a official Catholic source will be selected as the answer so long as it has some reference material for me to check out.

If the question appears too broad, suggest some edits for me. I tried making it easy to understand.

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    more doctrine does not imply correct doctrine, but in my observation just the opposite.
    – Andrew
    Jul 18, 2014 at 19:48
  • @Andrew I wasn't implying more was correct, I'm just more interested in a Catholic source
    – Jesse
    Jul 18, 2014 at 20:04

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Approaching it from this angle:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. So hell is not part of the original creation.

We also know that [Now] war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

It is after this that the eternal fire [was] prepared for the devil and his angels, which is hell.

Hell was not part of God's original plan for his creation.

From Jesus' words and from the Book of Revelation, the lake of fire has been prepared but Satan has not yet been cast into it as yet. It appears that he is held in a prison and whenever he is allowed to roam about, he carries his fire with him, as the New Advent article says.

It is the teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire." [Cf. DS 76; 409; 411; 801; 858; 1002; 1351; 1575; Paul VI, CPG § 12.] [cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1035]

The renewal is of heaven and earth not hell. Heaven has been rid of the dragon [devil] and his angels and God's will is done there [cf. The Our Father]. But is appears that even it is still not as God intended it to be - heaven [is] missing [some] angel[s]. The state of the earth is plain to us: sin, death, devils roaming around, the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain[.] The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers [fallen angels] take counsel together, against the Lord and his anointed, [cf. Ps 2] etc.

Hell is also the outer darkness [cf. Mt 25:30]. Think of one coming to their house and finding it infested with vermin and thoroughly gathering up all the vermin, ridding the house of them for ever, and say, destroying the vermin by burning them, so that they never ever again return.

Heaven and earth are then renewed and they and their inhabitants proceed as God intended for all eternity, free from the fear of their happiness ever being alloyed again even by a tiny bit.

Please see also Why will the sea be no more? Revelation 21:1 [closed]

Overcoming the difficulty as to why evil is not part of ALL:

In the beginning [there] ... was God. cf. Jn 1:1.

God is Love, Goodness, Truth, Thrice Holy, Beauty, etc. cf. The Nature and Attributes of God and what Scripture says of God.

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. cf. Gn 1:31.

Therefore before creation there is Goodness, Beauty, Love, Holiness, Light, etc., this is what IS. At the conclusion of the sixth day, God says of his creation that it is very good.

Evil enters creation with free creatures, freely doing their will vs. God's, i.e. disobeying God: the angels first, then man.

Rather than see evil as something, evil, in a large sense, may be described as the sum of the opposition, which experience shows to exist in the universe. cf. Evil | New Advent.

So evil is opposite, the absence of the Good (=God), and very good of creation at the beginning.

In the end God renews creation to the original very good, and then some.

To advance the time, Catholics' prayer to the Holy Spirit has send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth.

From a philosophical perceptive, it is wrong to consider evil as something, evil is [a] nothing, the absence of good/the Good; therefore does not belong to the ALL that is renewed. In fact, the renewal cannot be accomplished unless evil is forever banished.

A human example: when a person is restored to health, only he is restored and not the sickness (= absence of health). The sickness is banished from him, for him to be restored to health.

“Either the day must come when joy prevails and all the makers of misery are no longer able to infect it, or else, for ever and ever, the makers of misery can destroy in others the happiness they reject for themselves.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

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  • Just curious, why is Hell evil? It is the instrument of justice, and therefore it is not intrinsically evil. Otherwise how can we say God's justice is holy? Why would holy justice be taking place through evil means in an evil place? So excluding it from that which was "good" seems wrong (if in fact one thinks it existed then). I'm not sure the problem is that an evil Hell is still around, but rather that evil souls are in a good (or at the least neutral) Hell.
    – Joshua
    May 6, 2016 at 2:29
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I will take a different approach to the whole idea of hell than the catholic and many protestant directions choose to take and point out these things:

Giving the devil his own place to live and torture people to enternity, because he rebelled against God makes little sense. That would be a gift to a creature who left, and started a war to dethrone God.

Revelation 20:10 states that: "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." Now. The devil, himself, that is the "controller", the "leader" and "master" of hell, shall himself burn there? In the place God "gave" him, because he rebelled against him? (This makes no sense to me)

Because of the lack of logic in this I found this bible study that goes into detail about what the bible really says about hell, and what it means.

http://www.merrittadventist.ca/article/169/pastor-karel-samek/meaning-of-hell-in-the-bible

(personally i feel that the best sources are the one we find in the bible.. and there are usually many references to one subject. Basing ones whole theory on one verse seldom suffices)

Also, as a comment to: FMShyanguya post, where he writes about the state of the dead. Lazarus was not descended to hell, or sent to heaven, and then brought back to earth (which if had happend, would not be very kind, if he had ended up in heaven) - It is written that he was sleeping. There are many places where the same features of death is described. Verses:

  • John 11:11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up." And in verse 14 he says: "So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead,""
  • 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
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  • Bjorn, please don't take offense, but the poster specifically asked for a Catholic perspective. I.m afraid your answer is personal opinion, which is discouraged here. I recommend checking out the following posts, which are meant to help newcomers "learn the ropes": the help page and How we are different than other sites?,.
    – Steve
    Jul 20, 2014 at 13:04
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    Even though it wasn't the Catholic view, I'll give you a +1 for pointing out a lot of other stuff I had questions about.
    – Jesse
    Jul 20, 2014 at 17:58
  • Steve: I am not offended, however i interperted "I'm more interested in the Catholic stance on this" as being; "I prefer", not "I only want a catholic perspective". Since FMShyanguya provideed a fairly good catholic answer i felt i could give the other perspective even if it was not perfered. I am sorry if i was mistaken. And i am not sure about personal opinion, where as all my claims have references... If you however feel that my claims are not backed up, and that my claims are purely speculative i will remove this post to make you feel happy :)
    – Bjørn
    Jul 20, 2014 at 18:11
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I'm glad to hear you'll take non-Catholic responses.

People tend to think of the lake of fire when they think of hell (or hades). Thing is, the Bible states "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." (Rev 20:14 KJV)

A few verses before that it says, "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." (Rev 20:10 KJV)

So we have hell being thrown into the lake of fire in verse 14. And that lake of fire is an eternal place according to verse 10. Thus it will stand along with the new heaven and earth, holding hell, Satan, the false prophet, those who aren't listed in the book of life, the beast and death.

Not easy to wrap the mind around, putting a place in a place. Perhaps it means God is basically going to dump the contents of the one into the other. Not sure and that last part is just a guess. God knows exactly what it means and that's what matters.

So in a manner of speaking, it would appear that God really meant it when He said He made ALL things new. Hell will be getting tossed, literally. Brings new meaning to the quip "Out of the frying pan and into the fire," eh?

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