HELL
Would our Almighty Father torment people for eternity if He really is love? (1 John 4:8) Is that real love, especially coming from a God who tells us to love our enemies? (Matthew 5:44, Romans 12:20-21). And beyond that, does it make sense that God would punish us permanently for something we did while living in a temporary state? The bible shows that the idea of burning people never came up into God's heart (Jeremiah 7:30-31) and it was an abhorrent practice in His eyes (Deuteronomy 18:10, 2 Kings 16:3, 17:16-17, 21:6, 23:10). The practice of burnt human sacrifice was prevalent in the land of Canaan, and was one of the reasons God told the Israelites to destroy the Canaanites (Deuteronomy 9:1-6, Deuteronomy 18:9-12); and these weren't even acts of eternal burning! So, what about the biblical references concerning Gehenna, Sheol, Hades, and The Lake of Fire as synonyms for Hell? Let's look at these one at a time: GEHENNA: Some bible versions reference "Gehenna" at scriptures such as at Matthew 5:22, 29-30, 10:28, 18:9, 23:15, 23:33, Mark 9:43,45,47, Luke 12:5, James 3:6. (Amplified Bible, English Standard Version footnote, Young's Literal Translation, New World Translation) while others translate "Gehenna" as the word "Hell". According to historians, Gehenna was a valley just outside Jerusalem. During the time of Christ Gehenna was used to burn waste, trash, and dead bodies. Nobody was thrown into the fires of Gehenna while alive and able to feel pain during the time of Jesus. Therefore, when the New Testament references Gehenna as a place of everlasting fire or destruction, it is a symbolization of the permanency of death. (Fire tends to be a rather permanent and everlasting method of destruction, just as death is equally permanent) Here are a few web pages with more information on Gehenna: http://www.concordant.org/expohtml/DeathAndJudgment/TheGehennaOfFire.html SHEOL: This is a Hebrew word that is sometimes rendered as "shaul", the root word means"unseen", or simply the "place of the dead", i.e. the common grave. It is usually translated simply as "grave" (Genesis 37:35, 42:38, Numbers 16:30, 1 Samuel 2:6, 1 Kings 2:6, Job 7:9, Ecclesiastes 9:10, Isaiah 14:11). But interestingly, sometimes this very same Hebrew word becomes translated as "Hell" (2 Samuel 22:6, Job 11:8, Job 26:6, Psalms 9:17) even though it is the word for "grave". Sheol/Shaul is used in connection with being covered in maggots (Isaiah 14:11) and has a connection of having no sentience in Sheol (Ecclesiastes 9:10), supporting its definition of being simply a grave. There is no reason to change "Sheol", the word for "grave", into "Hell" in any of the cases that the translators do so. Thus, this shows that the use of the word "Hell" for sheol/shaul is influenced by the belief of the particular translator. This can be examined online with the interlinear bible at: www.scripture4all.org HADES: "Hades" is also often translated as "Hell" (Matthew 11:23, 16:18, Luke 10:15, Acts 2:27,31). Sometimes remains translated as "Hades" (Revelation 6:7-8, Revelation 20:13-14), depending on the bible version you are reading. One instance in which "Hades" is used is when referring to Christ as having been in Hades after his death (Acts 2:31) Are we to suppose that Christ, who was sinless, deserved to go to a tormenting fiery hell, even for just a brief time? Many people point to the scripture that state Jesus bore our sins upon himself, (1 Peter 2:24) and believe he had to enter fiery hell for our sins. However, as pointed out at the beginning of this page, it is death that pays the debt for sin. Since Jesus, a sinless man, DIED, that was the debt he paid for us, not entrance into a fiery hell. In another case, the apostle Peter also expected to go into Hades upon his own death as well (Acts 2:27). Since Peter was of the group who would eventually enter heaven and he knew this, (Luke 22:28-29, John 13:36-14:4) it doesn't make sense that he'd expect go to a fiery hell instead. Since he did expect to go to Hades, clearly the meaning is a simple grave and nothing more. This is supported at Revelation 6:7-8, which informs us that Hades closely follows the horseman of death. Since burial in a grave always closely follows a person's death, then this makes sense. Later, Revelation tells us that both Hades and death are hurled together into the Lake of Fire for destruction (Revelation 20:13-14). Again, this points to Hades being the grave because death and the grave are tied together, and because it is not possible to throw fiery hell ("Hades") into fire ("Lake of Fire") to destroy it. However, having death and the grave destroyed together does go along with God's plan to rid the world of death and mourning (Isaiah 25:8, John 6:58, 1 Corinthians 15:54, Revelation 21:1-4, Psalms 37:29). So, now, this brings up the next issue: What is the Lake of Fire? LAKE OF FIRE : According to what the scriptures say, the Lake of Fire is only mentioned in Revelation at 20: 10,14,15. These say: " And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever...And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death...And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. " Now, as mentioned above in the subtopic "Hades", here it says that death and Hades/The Grave will be hurled into the Lake of Fire.( Hades/Hell = New International Version, The Message, King James Version, Grave/Death's Kingdom = Contemporary English Version, Worldwide English NT) But what about the Devil being tormented day and night forever in the Lake of Fire? Doesn't this mean the Lake of Fire is Hell? Since death and Hades are hurled into the Lake of Fire after the Devil is hurled in, this "torment" is symbolic of total destruction, the permanent cessation of existence. To be destroyed means to cease to exist. This parallels other examples of "torment" symbolizing permanent destruction in the bible at scriptures such as Mark 1:24 compared to Matthew 8:29. This is all well and nice, but what about the scripture at Revelation 14:11 which says: "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." What are we to make of this? Reading the verse, we see that it is the smoke of the "torment" that lasts forever, not the "torment" itself. This is the smoke of the symbolic torment. According to the interlinear bible, it says that their situation is an unceasing ordeal, and death is indeed an unceasing ordeal. And upon looking at the interlinear bible, note that it does not use the word "torment" in the original Greek rendering of this verse . As for not resting for day or night, obviously these ones are not getting a break from death at this point. It is worth pointing out that the book of Revelation is chock full of symbolism and allegory. We can't pick and choose what we want to be real and which to remain as symbolism and allegory. Just as Christ's parable of the Rich man in Hell and poor Lazarus in heaven was allegorical (Luke 16:19-31, which he relayed to the Pharisees to prove a point Luke 16:9-15), we need to look behind the symbolism and see what is really being told to us.
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