Editing Swedenborgianism (section)

=== Hell ===
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When all external restraints are removed in the spirit world, nothing remains to stop evil spirits except punishment. Since evil spirits act in accordance with their nature, they are drawn towards hell:

{{blockquote|Every evil brings with itself punishment, the two making one; whoever therefore is in evil, is also in the punishment of evil. But still no one in the other world suffers punishment on account of the evils which he had done in this world, but on account of the evils which he then does. Yet it amounts to the same, and is the same thing, whether it be said that men suffer punishment on account of their evils in the world, or that they suffer punishment on account of the evils which they do in the other life, inasmuch as every one after death returns into his own life, and thus into similar evils, his nature remaining the same as it had been in the life of the body. That they are punished, is because the fear of punishment is the only means of subduing evils in this state. Exhortation is no longer of any avail, neither instruction, nor the fear of the law and loss of reputation, since every one now acts from his nature, which cannot be restrained nor broken except by punishments.<ref name="HH, n. 509">HH, n. 509.</ref>}}

New Church adherents believe that God sends no one to heaven or hell; since hell is the internal state of evil and heaven the internal state of good, each person enters a state matching his or her internal nature.<ref name="HH, n. 509"/> Because every spirit joins the like-minded group after death in which it feels the most comfortable according to Swedenborg, hell is believed to be a place of happiness for the spirits which delight in evilness. Each person will remain eternally in accordance with their will or love.<ref>HH, n. 480.</ref>