On my way home the other day, I took notice of a particular home in our community. Several months ago when I complained to my hubby about the unsightliness, he informed me that the people were in the process of redoing their front yard. I was humbled at the time. So far, the only improvements completed is the single car driveway that was removed and replaced with a concrete pad large enough to accommodate the owners’ 2 pickup trucks and car. The remainder of the front yard consists of white sugar sand and clumps of tall grass. I thought to myself, “Wow! Looks like hell!” Then caught myself. Looks like hell? Really? What exactly does hell look like? Seems that scripture speaks of hell being a place without God. It is "utter darkness where the fire is not quenched." A place of eternal damnation originally designed for satan and his demons. Satan won’t be the boss there, he will be the main inmate. There won’t be parties or rock concerts or orgies. Just suffering. Forever and forever and forever with no release, no parole. No, I guess the neighbor's yard does NOT look like hell at all.
How often do we find ourselves making the observation that someone or something looks like hell? .... or sounds like hell? ... or maybe even smells like hell? In reality, Hell is not a simile, it is a misnomer. It is not an adjective or an adverb, but a noun. We know that such use of the word is incorrect in its interpretation and yet, we use the term anyway. We employ it to describe someone or something as having the worst attributes that can be had.... or the very best. But do they really? Most of the times, no.
There’s fast as a bat outa hell; she was hell on wheels; he scared the hell out of me; it was a hell of a time; a hell of a deal; what the hell do you want?; or how `bout this one? What the Sam Hell are you looking at? (Later hell was bowdlerised to “hill.”)
With all the euphemism and expletive usages (after all it is a 4-letter word), hell has found its way into names, such as; the infamous motorcycle gang, Hell’s Angels, Hellboy the comic book character later to become a movie hero, and the FOX TV series, Hell’s Kitchen, just to name a few.
So what is this world’s fascination with Hell?
