# Is Hell Hot Or Cold? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 30, 2021, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351 "2021-06-30T18:39:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2021, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/21 "2021-06-30T22:29:49Z")
By literal Scriptural description, it is hot, of course. That being said, some believe the flames are metaphorical and it might be a reference to some other torture, perhaps one specifically tailored to each person. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2021, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/22 "2021-06-30T22:33:57Z")
You can go to Hell I’ll go to [Eden](https://www.infomi.com/township/eden/lake/) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2021, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/23 "2021-06-30T22:48:28Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > it might be a reference to some other torture, perhaps one specifically tailored to each person. Welcome to hell. Here’s your accordion. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2021, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/24 "2021-06-30T22:54:35Z")
For me, bagpipes. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/25 "2021-07-01T00:33:37Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > Strictly theologically speaking, is hell hot or cold? It depends; which would you prefer it to be? It’s the other one. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/26 "2021-07-01T00:36:15Z")
> [@chela](#): > > You can go to Hell I’ll go to [Eden](https://www.infomi.com/township/eden/lake/) Or [Eden](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2018/09/1200/675/Getty_BarbaraEden.jpg?ve=1&tl=1). ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/27 "2021-07-01T00:40:58Z")
That’s absolute happiness in a bottle I wonder what she keeps the temperature at? ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/28 "2021-07-01T16:36:20Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > False choice. It’s Hell. It’s going to be both. Also, wet & dry. Yes, based on what I hear in the vernacular it has many contradictory qualities, as many things are: “Cool as hell”, “Sexy as hell”, “Ugly as hell”, “Awesome as hell” etc. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/29 "2021-07-01T16:45:09Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Yes, based on what I hear in the vernacular it has many contradictory qualities, as many things are: “Cool as hell”, “Sexy as hell”, “Ugly as hell”, “Awesome as hell” etc. There is also the matter of confusing transport conveyances. You can reserve a seat on an express bus to hell, or be carried in a hand basket. But to leave, you have to catch a “Bat out of Hell”. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/30 "2021-07-01T19:35:32Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > “Hell is other people.” But are they hot? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/31 "2021-07-01T23:22:53Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > There is also the matter of confusing transport conveyances. You can reserve a seat on an express bus to hell, or be carried in a hand basket. But to leave, you have to catch a “Bat out of Hell”. In the beginning of Olsen and Johnson’s “Hellzapoppin’” which is set in hell, the stars arrive in a taxi. Johnson says that finally a cabbie went where he told him to go. As for Eden, you might not want this one: > **[The Way to Eden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_to_Eden)** > > "The Way to Eden" is the twentieth episode of the third season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. The episode was written by Arthur Heinemann, based on a story by Heinemann and D. C. Fontana (using the pen name "Michael Richards"). It was directed by David Alexander, and first broadcast on February 21, 1969. > In the episode, the Enterprise is hijacked by a hippie-like group obsessed with finding a mythical paradise. > The Federation starship Enterprise is in pursuit o... ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/32 "2021-07-02T08:28:53Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > “Hell is other people.” Hell is having endless debates with stubborn, ignorant, rude people who continually argue about everything and never concede anything. No relation to the Straight Dope! 😉 🤓 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/33 "2021-07-02T09:42:22Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > “Hell is other people.” [Other People](https://holdinghandswithhades.edublogs.org/seven-deadly-sins-part-7-the-others-by-neil-gaiman/) ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/34 "2021-07-02T11:02:08Z")
> [@glee](#): > > Hell is having endless debates with stubborn, ignorant, rude people who continually argue about everything and never concede anything. Sounds like online Brexit debates. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/35 "2021-07-02T16:37:36Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > “Hell is other people.” Most people interpret this from too personal a perspective. There’s the joke about a guy arriving in hell. And the devil tells him Hell is a place of eternal punishment and takes him into a room where there’s a beautiful nude woman on a bed and tells the man he’s going to spend the rest of eternity making love to the woman. As the man begins, he says the devil was obviously wrong in saying Hell was a place of eternal punishment. The woman says “You’re not the one being punished.” ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/36 "2021-07-02T22:52:25Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > I’ve also heard some people say heaven and hell are just a ‘state’. In the case of Hell, I agree it is a state, specifically, Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/37 "2021-07-04T03:00:42Z")
It’s where the damned men and women fight over the thermostat for all eternity. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/38 "2021-07-04T13:23:25Z")
[![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QAzgOeenDLY/TfjTA0OCDHI/AAAAAAAAETg/T0semwSO7IM/s1600/FS-Cold-coffee-in-hell.jpg) ](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QAzgOeenDLY/TfjTA0OCDHI/AAAAAAAAETg/T0semwSO7IM/s1600/FS-Cold-coffee-in-hell.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/39 "2021-07-19T20:15:29Z")
That’s actually pretty close to what I was taught by some teachers (not all) in my Jesuit high school.\* Hell is simple. It’s just yourself. \* Some others said Hell existed, but that the only beings in Hell were those who chose to be there. In other words, universal salvation. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351/40 "2021-07-19T21:00:11Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > That’s actually pretty close to what I was taught by some teachers (not all) in my Jesuit high school.\* > > Hell is simple. It’s just yourself. I’ve heard, I think from Catholic circles, that hell is just the absence of God. Which I’m a-ok with, as long as I had a fridge full of food and cold beer and good wifi. It’s been that state my whole life so far. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-hot-or-cold/945351.md?page=3)