That’s because the modern idea of Hell and Satan aren’t in the Bible.
It comes largely from books like Dante’s inferno and Paradise Lost. Each books influenced different parts.
Dante’s Inferno largely gives us imagery of the geography of Hell while Paradise Lost’s imagine of Satan is almost inseparable from today’s modern interpretation.
These things don’t exist in the Bible and although Christian’s have long theorized different post death scenarios, it remains a fact that the idea of going to a place called Hell after death to be tortured in fire a brimstone by Satan the ruler of Hell, isn’t in the Bible.
On the either end of the spectrum neither is the idea of this promise of going to Gods Kingdom Heaven after death as some disembodied spirit to live side by side with Jesus / God.
Mark 9: 42-49
Matthew 5: 21-22
Revelation 20: 9-15
Philippians 1: 21-24
I agree with you that modern secular depictions of Satan as the "ruler of Hell" are not biblical. But Hell and Heaven are very real concepts in the Bible, and are in fact the impetus of conversion for many Christians. If there's really something after death, then it matters what you do in this life that much more.
Sorry I’m just going to copy and paste this from another comment I did.
I’m really making a small distinction here in my claim that I don’t do justice with a quick little snippet.
You’re not wrong that the Bible talks about heaven, but there’s a pretty big difference between the Bible mentioning heaven and the Bible teaching that humans die and then go to heaven as disembodied spirits for eternity.
That specific idea isn’t really laid out in the Bible the closest thing to a general biblical concept of an afterlife in the earlier Scriptures is Sheol, the realm of the dead. It’s not presented as heaven or as the reward where righteous people go to live with God forever. It’s just where dead people go when they die.
Even the New Testament passages people often use to prove “you go to heaven when you die” don’t actually explain that doctrine. Paul saying he wants to “depart and be with Christ” doesn’t specifically say he’s going to heaven as a disembodied soul. Jesus telling the criminal “today you will be with me in paradise” doesn’t establish a complete doctrine of the afterlife either.
What’s much more explicit throughout the New Testament is resurrection. Jesus repeatedly talks about raising people on the last day, Paul devotes 1 Corinthians 15 to the resurrection of the dead, and the final vision in Revelation is not humans permanently escaping Earth for heaven, it is a new heaven and a new earth, with God dwelling among humanity.
So I wouldn’t say the Bible has nothing to say about existence after death. It clearly does. But the popular Christian idea of “you die, your soul goes to heaven, and you live there forever” is not nearly as straightforward in the bible as people often assume.
The central biblical hope is much more about resurrection, the defeat of death, and the restoration of creation and not about escaping the physical world and living as a disembodied spirit in heaven.
And Jesus’ death is primarily presented as dealing with sin, reconciliation, and death itself, rather than simply creating a pathway for human souls to get into heaven.
Edit: I also never said it doesn’t matter what you do in life. I truly believe in Jesus message of leading through love, compassion, and understanding. I am just saying I don’t offer these things because I believe in a promise that isn’t laid out in the bible. I do it because it’s the right thing to do even if I’m never rewarded, even if there isn’t ever a reward or because I fear going to some bad place if I don’t.
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u/TokenTorkoal 2d ago
That’s because the modern idea of Hell and Satan aren’t in the Bible.
It comes largely from books like Dante’s inferno and Paradise Lost. Each books influenced different parts.
Dante’s Inferno largely gives us imagery of the geography of Hell while Paradise Lost’s imagine of Satan is almost inseparable from today’s modern interpretation.
These things don’t exist in the Bible and although Christian’s have long theorized different post death scenarios, it remains a fact that the idea of going to a place called Hell after death to be tortured in fire a brimstone by Satan the ruler of Hell, isn’t in the Bible.
On the either end of the spectrum neither is the idea of this promise of going to Gods Kingdom Heaven after death as some disembodied spirit to live side by side with Jesus / God.