What is the difference between, sheol, hades and hell?

dreadnought said:

But I don't just mean a foretaste. I think some of the things in Revelation actually describe, in figurative language, what happens in this life.

Click to expand...

I'm sorry, I didn't articulate what I meant well. I mean yeah, I think it describes the true meaning of what happens in this life. Eternity entered time and human history when Jesus came. So everything in the vision describes what has already happened, it is happening now, and is not yet complete. The true meaning of history in it's entirety.

I guess I don't understand how the consequences of sin that occur in time can be compared to the eternal consequences of sin. Here, they are meant to be for my good and direct me away from hell in this life. In eternity there would be nothing good or meaningful about them.

Eloy Craft said:

I'm sorry, I didn't articulate what I meant well. I mean yeah, I think it describes the true meaning of what happens in this life. Eternity entered time and human history when Jesus came. So everything in the vision describes what has already happened, it is happening now, and is not yet complete. The true meaning of history in it's entirety.

I guess I don't understand how the consequences of sin that occur in time can be compared to the eternal consequences of sin. Here, they are meant to be for my good and direct me away from hell in this life. In eternity there would be nothing good or meaningful about them.

Click to expand...

Somehow we get it in our heads that if we sin, we will burn in hell forever. What the truth is, though, I believe, is that if we sin, we will suffer in the here and now. The Lord is trying to break us of our bad habits here, so we can make a smooth transition from this life to the next, when that day arrives.

Complete in Thee said:

Hello, it's occurred to me that I don't know the difference between sheol, hades and hell.

Click to expand...

there are 4 words the KJV translates as "Hell" (the word "hell" itself does not appear in the bible)

Sheol: mysterious place of the dead in the OT
Hades: undesired place of the dead in NT
Tartarus: place reserved for the worst judgment (in hades)
Gehenna: Place of judgment for the dead

Sheol is only used in the OT. In the OT there is no concept of heaven and hell and there is only Sheol. Overall it has a negative association with it but also very mysterious and unknown. If you died you went to Sheol regardless of who you were but the descriptors are vague and what it seems to reveal is people just didn't know so Sheol was a place unknown synonymous with death itself.

Hades is the greek equivalent to Sheol as an all purpose place of the dead and somewhat mysterious however in the NT it is used slightly differently as it is contrasted with Heaven or with the redeemed. So Hades, as revealed in the NT, is a place for the unredeemed or the judged and this is important because it strays from the greek mythology meaning the NT greek is just using this word is express this place of judgment but is not assuming the mythology with it.

Tartarus as a word comes from greek mythology too where the titans are locked up. It is used once in 2 Peter and to me it seem it is contextualising the mythology to show judgement. It is used in the text to show this is where the fallen angels are locked up (not titans). The greek audience however would have understood tartarus as the lowest part of hades or the most severe, although biblically speaking "levels" of hades is not taught words like tartarus invoke already formed ideas of what hades was in greek mythology. Whether it is a "real" place or a metaphor really makes no difference to the text.

Gehenna is not from greek mythology and it is rooted in hebrew from the "Valley of Gehenna" with a complex history that somehow gets associated a place of judgment . It is essentially Jewish mythology but Jesus uses it to show a place of divine judgment and torment, it is often compared to the Lake of Fire in Revelation however not biblically.

A lot of these words have layered meanings and are tied with mythologies. Sometimes people use these mythology texts in Greek or books like Dante's inferno to fill in the blanks of what the bible doesn't tell us which can be dangerous. The bible is not all that clear on these places (heaven included) but does give us broad strokes so we should pay more attention to the broad strokes rather the fine details what we can't know. The bible is written for the living not the dead so we should take away what is helpful to us as we follow Christ not obsess over details unhelpful to redemption.

dreadnought said:

Somehow we get it in our heads that if we sin, we will burn in hell forever. What the truth is, though, I believe, is that if we sin, we will suffer in the here and now. The Lord is trying to break us of our bad habits here, so we can make a smooth transition from this life to the next, when that day arrives.

Click to expand...

You said something interesting here. I agree with you very much. I hope you don't mind if you expand on what you said?

so we can make a smooth transition from this life to the next, when that day arrives.

Eloy Craft said:

You said something interesting here. I agree with you very much. I hope you don't mind if you expand on what you said?

so we can make a smooth transition from this life to the next, when that day arrives.

Click to expand...

But very few people agree with what I will say next:

If you look at Matthew 4:17 (From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."), I think Jesus give us the “clue.” Repent. If we do, the “heavens will open up to us.” Most people, not eager to repent, dismiss this passage as a vague statement referring to what happens after we die. They don’t see it as a gate into heaven at this very moment.

Complete in Thee said:

Hello, it's occurred to me that I don't know the difference between sheol, hades and hell.

Click to expand...

Complete,

I recommend this brief article to differentiate the various meanings of these terms in the OT and NT: What is the difference between Sheol, Hades, Hell, the lake of fire, Paradise, and Abraham’s bosom?

Before Christ’s resurrection, both believers and unbelievers went to Sheol/Hades – two separate places in that location (see Isa 14:9-20; 44:23; Ezek 32:21; Lk 16:22-23). After Jesus' resurrection, believers go to be with Christ (Phil. 1:23) which is better than Hades. According to 2 Cor. 5:6-9, believers are present with the Lord and are worshipping with the angelic hosts in heaven (Heb. 12:22-23).

We understand that Christ went to Hades at death (see Acts 2:31). When Jesus was in Hades, Peter explains that Christ was proclaiming to “the spirits now in prison” (1 Peter 3:18-22).

However, in the Gospel records (e.g. Luke 23:43), Paradise refers to the section of Hades reserved for the righteous. By the time of Paul’s writing in 2 Cor. 12:2-4, Paradise seems to have been taken out of Hades and is now the third heaven.

So, with progressive revelation, we understand that after the resurrection of Jesus, the believer who dies goes to heaven at death and there awaits the future resurrection to the eternal state.

What about unbelievers now? The Scriptures seem to teach that they go into torment in the intermediate state in Hades, awaiting the final judgment. Peter described it this way:

“Then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment” (2 Peter 2:9 NIV)

“To hold” in the Greek of this verse is a present, active infinitive, meaning that the wicked are being kept where they are, captive continuously. This verse clearly refutes annihilation of the wicked after death as there would be nothing “to hold” until the judgment day if they had no existence. Peter says the unrighteous are “continuing their punishment”, this phrase is interpreting a present, passive participle that indicates the unbelievers are being continuously tormented/punished. The Greek grammar of this text clearly states that the wicked dead are experiencing torment as they await the final judgment.

We read about the final judgment in Rev. 20:13-15 when Hades (the place for the wicked who died after Christ’s resurrection) will be emptied of the wicked dead and will face God for judgment. At that point, the wicked will be cast into hell (Gehenna, the final punishing for the unbeliever).

That’s a very brief overview of how I understand the intermediate state for believers and unbelievers and the final judgment of unbelievers.

Here is a brief summary of the meaning of these Greek words.

• Sheol. OT believers knew that Sheol was visible to God (Job 26:6) and that they were in the presence and protection of God at death (Psalm 139:8).
• Hades (Morey 1984:81-87). It is the Greek equivalent of Sheol, although it translates other Hebrew words as well. We run into problems with the mistranslation by the KJV of Hades and Sheol. The post-resurrection teaching in the NT is that the believer goes to heaven at death (present with the Lord) to await the resurrection and the final eternal state. But for unbelievers they go to Hades, a temporary place of torment, awaiting their resurrection and the eternal punishment. Regarding 2 Peter 2:9, ‘the grammar of the text irrefutably establishes that the wicked are in torment while they await their final judgment. When the day of judgment arrives, Hades will be emptied of its inhabitants, and the wicked will stand before God for their final sentence (Rev. 20:13-15). Thus, we conclude that Hades will be emptied at the resurrection, and then the wicked will be cast into “hell” (Gehenna)’ (Morey 1984:87).
• Valley of Hinnom. It is mentioned in Josh 15:8; 18:16 and Neh. 11:30. It was the place where idolatrous Jews gave human sacrifices to pagan deities. In Christ’s day it became Jerusalem’s garbage dump. So, this garbage dump became a Jewish picture of the ultimate fate of idol worshippers (Morey 1984:87).
• Tartarus. This is used in 2 Peter 2:4 to refer to angels and where they were cast. He was using a word that in Greek literature meant a place of conscious torment in the netherworld. It did not mean non-existence, but referred to their being reserved in the place of mental anguish and terror until the day of judgment (Morey 1984:135).
• Gehenna. It’s the Greek equivalent of the Valley of Hinnom, so Gehenna is an appropriate description of the final, eternal garbage dump where idolators go after the resurrection. The wicked would suffer there forever. Even Arndt & Gingrich’s Greek lexicon concluded that it means ‘the place of eternal punishment’. Coon and Mills define Gehenna as ‘the place of eternal punishment’. So Gehenna is the final place of punishment, the ultimate place of torment for the wicked. It will be eternal, conscious torment (Morey 1984:87-90) [from my article:
  Hell in the Bible].

Works consulted
Morey, R A 1984. Death and the Afterlife. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany House Publishers.

Most of the above details are taken from my article: The Intermediate State for believers and unbelievers: Where do they go at death?

Oz

Can I just play here real fast? Like a game show. "the answer is" "places you never want to visit" Smile

Some gave awsome help.. should search on this. Its just to hard to answer in post after post.

dreadnought said:

Somehow we get it in our heads that if we sin, we will burn in hell forever. What the truth is, though, I believe, is that if we sin, we will suffer in the here and now. The Lord is trying to break us of our bad habits here, so we can make a smooth transition from this life to the next, when that day arrives.

Click to expand...

I don't know if the "Lord is trying to break us ..." as you stated. If there would be scripture for that I would be interested in knowing about it

CGL1023 said:

I don't know if the "Lord is trying to break us ..." as you stated. If there would be scripture for that I would be interested in knowing about it

Click to expand...

Well, certainly he is trying to break us of bad habits. It would seem to be a waste of time searching for scripture to verify that.

Complete in Thee said:

Hello, it's occurred to me that I don't know the difference between sheol, hades and hell.

Click to expand...

At the end of the day there is no significant difference.

Sometimes in the OT the meaning of sheol can be limited to the grave. But these occasions are usually pretty obvious.

Complete in Thee said:

Hello, it's occurred to me that I don't know the difference between sheol, hades and hell.

Click to expand...

Sheol is the OT term for the grave
Hades is the NT Greek term - place of the dead or in myth it has other definitions.
hell is fiery hell - John calls it the "Lake of Fire" in Rev 20

Complete in Thee said:

Hello, it's occurred to me that I don't know the difference between sheol, hades and hell.

Click to expand...

Well, in the OT, there are only two terms used for the terms you mentioned.

Sheol - which is hebrew, and it simply means the grave. It's where the dead rest. No consciousness, just rest, until the resurrection, or someone speaks to the dead and awakens them temporarily (which is never a good idea).

The second:

Tartarus - Which, again is hebrew, and it's a holding place for angels that have sinned against God or man. Either for having sex with women, or for leading men astray, or for blaspheming, basically any sin at all.

These are the only two terms ever used in the OT to describe the terms that we call hades and hell.

"Hell" - has been used to replace one or both of the two terms I described above, but after much study into the subject, I've found that Hell, comes from the nordic "goddess" "Hel". She was the daughter of "Loki" and was the ruler of the underworld. She was responsible for tormenting and torturing souls that went there. Although, no where in the bible is there mention of an eternal soul. We are to live forever with Jesus, but we're supposed to sleep in death, until the resurrection. At that time, we'll be given new bodies that are incorruptible, with which we'll reign with Jesus here on earth. There's not really ever a talk about an eternal soul being punished in "hell". That's a pagan philosophy that dates back bast the time of the egyptians.

"Hades" - is the same exact thing as "Hel". He's the ruler of the underworld, but instead of Nordic paganism, Hades belongs to the Greek's.

This begs the question, where do we go if not eternally to "Hell"?

Well, what happens to someone who comes into the presence of God, without a savior? God is an all consuming fire - so they simply burn up, as Nadab and Abihu did, so will those resurrected unto judgement without the testimony of Jesus and a walk purified by Him (the word). We won't be punished for all eternity by being tortured by demons. The demons are spirits of the fallen ones, that are also marked for judgement, so how would they be punished, if they get to reign and do what they love to do for all eternity? They too will be punished. What happens to us when we die, and are resurrected to judgement, is we simply burn up in the presence of the Almighty God, and cease to exist. There is no soul, and there is no eternal punishment. It talks about a lake of fire, but I think that's more so talking about because of how many people will be resurrected to judgement that will be devoured in the consuming fire of our Creator, the road is wide.

Heaven, comes from the hebraic word Shamayim, which just means sky. There's different levels of the sky and the bible talks about this, but it's not where we go when we die if we've been accepted and saved. We are resurrected, and as I wrote above, we will be given a new resurrected body for life here on earth to reign with Him in New Jerusalem. There will still be people here on earth during that time that we will live amongst. We will reign and rule over them, with Jesus as our King, in Israel. (Not the country Israel of today, but the Israel that God Himself will set in place, and in doing so, He will bring all 12 tribes of Israel back to live in Israel. Of which, we - Gentiles - are grafted in as Romans 11 talks about, through the tribe of Ephraim. And actually Genesis 49 talks about this too. On several times, though it's translated as completeness of the nations, in the hebrew it literally means fulness of the gentiles.)

Complete in Thee said:

Hello, it's occurred to me that I don't know the difference between sheol, hades and hell.

Click to expand...

The quick response is that I don't know, and I hope I will never have to find out.

Complete in Thee said:

Hello, it's occurred to me that I don't know the difference between sheol, hades and hell.

Click to expand...

sheol and hades are the equivalent of each other, Sheol being an OT Hebrew term, and hades being a NT greek term, both describing a temp holding place for souls when they die. Hell (gehenna) is a NT greek term for a final place for souls who were unrepentant. Also worth noting " lake of fire", which is also the final Hell, but it more describes the type of punishment that will take place, which is eternal unspeakable agony. The idea is that when you die, your soul "rest" or is held in a temp place until an appointed time, which would be when Jesus comes back to judge.

There's been some debate about it such as if there is a Hell, or "lake of fire", would they burn up or just cease to exist, if its different place for the wicked than where the fallen angels are, do the righteous stay in a temp place or do they just go straight to paradise (heaven), is paradise just a holding place etc

Gods Holy Word is "Literal" and that is where many hearts/souls are going wrong; deciphering Gods Holy Word incorrectly - figuratively/symbolically/ for many reasons; one being we are mortal with many people of whom are practical and have not received Jesus into hearts, not received Holy Spirit guiding them reading His Holy Word (pray to our Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, God The Most High through Jesus and Most Holy Mother Mary prior to reading Gods Holy Word asking Him for His Loving Holy Guidance Holy Passage by Holy Passage) then wait while focussing on Jesus and His Cross and Life for our Lords Holy Blessed Response as you are reading and being directed to His Holy Passages. One should be receiving several Holy Messages in each one of our Lord Jesus/God's Holy Spirits' Holy Passages - our Lord Jesus in His Holy Parables for one thing - taught many of His Holy Teachings in one Holy Parable - with our Lords Holy Word on Holy Heaven and Gods Holy Divine Will and Ways taught in addition to His Righteous ways/teachings. Praying for Holy Spirit to enlighten our Hearts Souls Minds in Gods Holy Discernment is pretty much essential if one does not pray daily or receive our Lord in His Holy Communion regularly or does not attend Holy Confession being in Holy Union with our Lord Jesus receiving Him into hearts. Sins block our Hearts/Souls non repented to our Lord Jesus from receiving Jesus into our hearts in Holy Unity/Holy Union with Him and receiving Holy Spirit enlightening our Hearts/Minds/Souls in Gods Holy Word.

And Jesus said:

"And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it".

The gates of hell will not overcome it - satan/evil spirits will not overcome it - because our Lord Jesus' Holy Catholic Church is within our Lord Jesus Holy Sacred Heart and within Holy Spirit, God The Most High and within our Most Holy Blessed Virgin Mother Mary's Holy Immaculate Heart.

Heaven - Holy Heaven - for those Souls cleansed/purified of sins
Purgatory - Holy Purgatory - for the Holy Fiery Furnacy Cleansing of Souls/Purified yet punished at the same time; then able to enter Heaven later, sometimes years later
Hell/Hades/Sheol - Souls lost to Jesus, God The Most High, Holy Spirit and lost to Most Holy Mother Mary in Heaven - punished/damned for eternity

Sheol is an early Judaic concept of a holding place for souls. Hades is the Greek approximation. Sheol is not torment or reward.

Gehinnom (Gehenna) is a *temporary* hell, or purgatory, where souls are purified in preparation for the resurrection, according to second Temple Judaism. In Judaism, the souls in Gehenna are prayed for. It is believed they are in Gehenna for no more than one year.

Hell is a Christian concept of a place of eternal torment made for the devil and his angels. Those who never repented will be thown into this, the lake of fire.

Purgatory is a Catholic continuation of the Jewish concept of Gehinnom.

The word “hell” is found in many Bible translations. In the same verses other trans-lations read “the grave,” “the world of the dead,” and so forth. Some translations use she’ohl´ (Hebrew) and its equivalent hai´des, (Greek) which refer, not to an individual burial place, but to the common grave of dead mankind. “Hades” is the ancient mythical Greek name for their “god“ of the “underworld.” Also, ge´en•na (Greek), which was used as a symbol of eternal destruction. Furthermore, modern translators of the Bible have nurtured this doctrine by not rendering an accurate translations of these words within the various editions of the Bible; these same translators are not even consistent in their different applications in the various context of the scriptures.

The ancient Babylonian and Assyrian have been identified mostly as the ancient peoples whose religious beliefs of a “nether world…place of horrors” gave birth to this fallacy. The ancient Egyptian added to this with a “fiery aspect.” Buddhism, in time, evolved a concept of “hot and cold hells.” Sadly, both in Christendom and in many non-Christian religions it is taught that hell is a place inhabited by demons and where the wicked, after death, are punished (and some believe that this is with torment).

God warned the human families’ first parents what the results for disobedience would be: death and returning to dust. (Genesis. 2:17; 3:19) Other than the conditions that imperfection brings, no other conditions were given as a warning to be imposed after death. Apostle Paul counseled that death acquits us of our sins; furthermore, he stated that the wages for sin is death-nothing else. (Romans 6:7, 23; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10; Psalms 146:3, 4) Theological doctrine as “Hell/Hades.” is only one of Satan (Opposer) the Devil’s (Slanderer) ploys to mislead many. (Revelation 12:9) Remember that he is the “father of the lie” and the god of this system of things. (John 8:44; 12:31; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 6:11; 1 Peter 5:8; 1 John 5:19) The correct translations are the common grave or pit. (Job 17:16; 34:15; Psalms 146:4; Ecclesiastes 3:20; Isaiah 14:11) These are only a few scriptures comforting us of the condition of the dead.

Response to Post #35:
False RCC dogma and doctrine...NOT Biblical!