What role does HELL play in Christian doctrine & teaching?
No one really knows what hell is like. It has been described by people who have not been there as everything from flames to a frozen lake (Dante). Hell is the state of complete and final self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed, reserved for those who refuse by their own free choice to believe and be converted from sin, even to the end of their lives I like to think of it this way. The only way a person will go to hell is if they want to. God in His (or Her) unlimited love has given us free will to choose. Our most important choice is to freely decide to accept or reject God’s constant offer of spending eternity with Him in heaven. God will respect the choice to reject Him. For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, sections 1033-1037: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art12.htm#1033 With love in Christ.
