Is there really a hell?

I received an interesting email with a host of questions this morning.  I will paraphrase for the sake of brevity. One had to do with God’s grace and how that works with the doctrine of salvation (the act of delivering from sin; or saving from evil; or the state of being saved or preserved from harm).  There was a question about hell and if there really is a place called hell. Then she shifted to a line in the Apostle’s Creed where it says that Jesus will ‘return again to judge the living and the dead’.  And she asks: “What does that really mean?”  Then her mind travels to our point of death: “I have read that when we die, we really go into a long wait before heaven or hell. Wondering how all of that works?

I treasure minds like hers that truly try tackle the meaning life; and where God fit into it all.  So many of us just choose to ignore what it says about God in the Big Book.  Or we push God to the side as unrealistic, or a myth, in preference to the ‘real’ world’s offerings.  

So I’ll put her thoughts and wonderings out there for you to consider.  

       Is there a hell?  And if so what and where is it?

       How does grace work into our hope for salvation 

      (the act of delivering from sin; or saving from 

      evil; or the state of being saved or preserved 

      from harm)?

      And, what about what happens after we take our 

      last breath, do we go to God or wait somewhere   

      in limbo?

Or,  does it even matter?