+ Hades + Hades is the ancient Greek underworld where all mortals go after death. This is not a Christian belief. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades + Sheol, or Abraham's Bosom + The Catholic Church believes that those who die never hearing of Christ but have sought the truth and does the will of God as they understand it can be saved. See Romans 2:13-16. If they died before Jesus died for our sins and opened the gates of heaven for us, then they waited in what is called in the Old Testament Abraham's bosom or Sheol. Catholics believe that after Jesus died on the cross, he descended into Sheol, the place of the dead. While there He freed the holy souls who awaited their savior in Abraham's bosom. No one is left in this place of waiting. So Noah, Abraham, Moses, the Prophets, and even Adam and Eve may be in heaven. For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 632 and following: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt2art5.shtml#p1 + Hell + 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.shtml#1033 With love in Christ.