Why is hell portrayed as a punishment?

Much of what popular culture believes about Hell was a result of absorbing literary and visual ideas from a variety of artistic sources such as Dante's "Inferno," and paintings of Heironymous Bosch. read more

In most world religions with an idea of duality, or good and evil, there is some concept of punishment and reward at the hands of higher spiritual beings, either virtuous or evil beings. Hell in Abrahamic religious traditions is not a place of reward, but rather as punishment for evildoers. read more

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". The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs. read more

Hell, in many religious and folkloric traditions, is a place of torment and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as eternal destinations while religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations. read more