This is a Q&A blog post by our Visiting Scholar in Philosophy, William Lane Craig.

Question

If God created Hell, and God is omnipresent, then doesn't it follow that God is present in Hell?

If that's the case, why do some Christians say that Hell is "eternal separation from God"? It seems the more accurate statement is that Hell is "eternal separation from God's grace, mercy and blessing".

However, how can Hell be the absence of anything good if God is present in Hell?

Or maybe does it mean that only some of God's attributes are present in Hell? For instance, His wrath is there, but not His grace.

If that's true, how can God be present without all of His attributes, if all of His attributes make up His eternal essence? His attributes are His essence. I don't think He can be partially present.

I've tried wrapping my head around all of this, but have yet to settle on a sufficient explanation.

William Lane Craig’s Response

Since omnipresence is an essential attribute of God, Patrick, it follows that God is present in hell. According to the analysis of omnipresence that I provide in my , I agree with the classical position that God is a spaceless being and therefore does not have a literal spatial location. Omnipresence is a derivative attribute that follows from God’s omnipotence and omniscience. It means that God is causally active at and cognizant of every point in space. So the inhabitants of hell exist only because God causally sustains them in existence and He knows what is happening there. It is in that sense that He is present there.

But God is not present to the persons in hell in a relational sense. Persons in hell are relationally separated from God and so have no personal relationship with God. That is to say, they do not experience God’s presence. I don’t think this is hard to understand. On a purely human level, an eavesdropper may be present in the room with us, even though we are wholly unaware of his presence. Similarly, persons in hell are unaware of God’s presence, even though He is causally active there and cognizant of it.

This is not to say that God is partially present in hell. As you say, He cannot lack any of His essential attributes. So God, with all His attributes, is present in hell in the way defined. When people say that hell is “eternal separation from God,” what they mean is that the persons there will never again have a personal relationship with God. Tragically, they will not experience Him despite His being there.

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