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Does the Bible actually say heaven is up & hell is down? Does it explicitly say they are both spiritual realms?

Or is one spiritual (heaven) & one physical (hell). Isn't that the idea? God is all spirit & Satan is all physical? Can you give me King James edition Biblical quotes please not your 'personal opinions'. i want it from the horse's mouth.

Update:

HEY I SAID BIBLICAL QUOTES DIDN'T I!

11 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    No it doesn't. So you get no biblical quotes.

    These concepts hail from ancient mythology that hell is the "underworld" therefore, buried in the earth. Therefore, down, while heaven is said to be in the clouds such as the peak of Mt. Olympos. Now consider that in Greek mythology the "lowest" point in hell is called Tartarus. Lowest point, most suffering, down. Then we also have Dante's fictional depiction of hell. The idea of heaven in the sky and a hell below certainly predates the Bible.

    The only physical reference to hell the Bible gives us is a lake of fire, which seems to me would be at ground level, since it is a lake and all.

    Up and down are only relative perspectives anyway. They are relative in spacetime. I would imagine they would be highly relative in some fictional preternatural setting as well. Sh*t, time doesn't even exist in the celestial world. What's to say there is a concept of up and down?

  • 1 decade ago

    The common understanding of ancient peoples is that Heaven is up, hell is the underworld, and in between is the earth. Acts 1:11: "why stand ye gazing up into heaven?" For hell, see 1 Peter 3:18-20; 4:6.

    Both heaven and hell are intermediate states between death and the resurrection, so both are spiritual realms.

  • 1 decade ago

    The KJV is not the most "accurate" translation available, it is a dynamic, i.e. in the current vernacular (where current means the 1600's) translation based on some of the least trustworthy sources.

    However, there are no or little reference that specify where hell is or that really define it as physical of spiritual and references to heaven tend to be indistinguishable from the sky.

    As for opinions, it doesn't matter if you get verses or not, how they are used is still an opinion.

  • 1 decade ago

    Does the Bible actually say heaven is up & hell is down? yes it does

    KJV: Ecclesiastes 3:21. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

    KJV: II Peter 2:4. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

    Does it explicitly say they are both spiritual realms? yes it does

    KJV: II Corinthians 5:8. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

    KJV: II Peter 2:4. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

    Or is one spiritual (heaven) & one physical (hell). Isn't that the idea?

    no both are spiritual

    God is all spirit & Satan is all physical?

    no satan is a spirit also

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  • 1 decade ago

    Find a good concordance, look up heaven and hell, and read the passages that describe both. They are both literal places. Satan is an angel - which means he is a spiritual being.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Spock, don't you understand that God can only be understood and detected by sheer emotion alone.

    When your girlfriend gets mad at you for no darn reason, the logical thing to do is to pretend in heaven and hell and spiritual realms, because sometimes that's the only possible explanation (that, and that women eat toilet tissue, again, it's the only possible explanation.)

    So you see, Spock.

    I am The Captain, not Tanielle, up and down is meaningless is space, and let's all move on now, shall we?

    The 22nd Century of Shiny Things awaits us all.

    Live long and prosper, my friend.

  • L.J.
    Lv 5
    1 decade ago

    A lot of it is personally opinions. Where and what exactly heaven and hell will be like is not given in detail.

    Heaven is described by Jesus as paradise- he says to a criminal dying on a cross next to his who showed faith:

    And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.Luke 23:43

    And hell is described as God's wrath.

    He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. John 3:36

    KJV as requested. Though I prefer the NIV coz it's in today's English.

    These are just some examples. If you want to know more search yourself at http://www.biblegateway.com/

  • J.
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago

    The first reference "heaven above" can be found in Deuteronomy 33:13

    About Joseph he said: “May the LORD bless his land with the precious dew from heaven above and with the deep waters that lie below;

    Source(s): Bible NIV
  • 1 decade ago

    (John 3:13 KJV) And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

    (Rev 11:12 KJV) And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

    ========================================================================

    (Isa 14:15 KJV) Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

    (Ezek 31:16 KJV) I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.

    (Ezek 32:27 KJV) And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

    (Mat 11:23 KJV) And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

    (Luke 10:15 KJV) And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell.

    (2 Pet 2:4 KJV) For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

  • 1 decade ago

    Ever wonder why the center of the earth is so hot?

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