- Apr 6, 2016
- 2,934
- 3,009
- 74
- Faith
- Non-Denom
- Marital Status
- Married
Does the Hell/ECT Doctrine Hold Up to Scrutiny?
Most folks listen to their priest/preacher/minister and also read their Bibles, and most of the time they hear or see “Hell” mentioned, and accept it as a given, in a prima facie sense. I ask you, however, is it so? Does this word and concept belong in the Bible? Does it really belong in t,he theology of so many churches? Let’s dig down into the “infernum” of our subject, “infernum” simply meaning originally that which is below...or simply underground.
The witness of the creation accounts
In Genesis, chapters 1 and 2, is the basic Biblical story of the creation of the cosmos and everything in it. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” as we read in Genesis 1:1. Note that there is no mention of God also creating hell. Chapter 1 goes on to state six times that the creation was good, the last time VERY good. The existence of hell would have made it less good, but then, that was before the Fall, so it may not apply. If God made it later, it is not mentioned anywhere, but don’t believe me – examine this list of scriptures mentioning creation:
Exodus 20:11
Isaiah 40:26
Isaiah 45:7-8, 18
Mark 10:6
John 1:1-5
Romans 1:20,25
Romans 8:19-22
I Corinthians 8:6
II Corinthians 5:17
Ephesians 2:10
Colossians 1:16-17, 20
Hebrews 11:3
Revelation 4:11
In Isaiah 45:7 we see a mention of light and darkness, but this is not a hint of hell, if someone were hoping so, for darkness is simply where the light has yet to penetrate.
So, hell appears to be uncreated, but there is more.
The witness of the translated terms
We will find the origin of hell presently, but first let’s look at the words and terms it was translated from.
1. Sheol
“Sheol” is is from the Hebrew, and generally defined as the realm, state or abode of the dead, apart from the literal grave. It is translated in the KJV and probably other translations into one of three words: grave, pit (about half) or hell (about half). Overall, I can think of no good reason to separate “sheol” into three words, as the translators have done. They could have very well let “sheol” stand transliterated, to let it be understood by context and usage. I suppose they needed some support for the hell doctrine in the Old Testament, for besides sheol-rendered-as-hell, there is so very little to go that way.
I find a strong tendency (not consistent) for “sheol” to be rendered as “grave” or “pit” when the context places the instance in the real world. The verses in the “hell” list mostly lack context to connect them to the real world, but this is, again, not consistent.
Besides context, there are solid reasons why some verses were translated in one way or another, mostly theological reasons. Consider I Samuel 2:6 – I’m sure the translators would have been happy to have rendered it as, “…he bringeth down to hell…”, but what would they have done with the following, “…and bringeth up.”? It would have violated the doctrine and belief that damnation is final and irreversible. We can see the same thing going on with Psalms 30:3, 49:14-15, 89:48 and Hosea 13:14, all quoted in the “grave/pit” half.
We have the same problem in reverse, in the “hell” half.Splatter Pak PsalmSplatter Pak 16:10’s “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell…,” should have been given over to the “grave/pit” camp, thus avoiding the ban on exit from hell. As it reads, the translators made a mistake, from their point of view. We see it again in Psalm 86:13, Psalm 139:8 and Amos 9:2.
2. Hades
“Hades” is the best Greek eqivalent for the Hebrew term “sheol.” However, it is a pagan word from a pagan culture, and thus, brought in some unfortunate theological baggage. It is translated as “hell” consistently in most Bibles, except for one instance. I wondered if it were a matter of context, so I examined all eleven instances of the word, and found that context did allow in ten, if a whole town (Capernaum) going to hell is not too much to swallow. The one time when “hades” was rendered as “grave,” was in I Corinthians 15:55. Now context might have allowed, but Paul’s taunt of, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” follows after Hosea 13:14 – “O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction…”. If either were rendered as “hell,” it would have violated the no-exit/eternal-hell doctrine, and the whole idea would have been exposed if hell were robbed of its victory and subject to destruction.
The last two instances of “hades” to “hell” are in the Revelation, 20:13-14. “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them…And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” As these verses stand, they are confusing, and just muddy the waters – “hades,” in the sense of the realm/place of the dead, would be clearer, and that is precisely what my Bible’s references suggest. The translators may have over-reached themselves here, however – hell delivering up its dead, and hell cast into the Lake of Fire (destruction?) violate the no-exit/eternal-hell doctrine. Using “grave” or “sheol” would have cleared up the problems.
3. Gehenna
“Gehenna” is used in the Bible some twelve times, depending on the version, and refers to a physical place in the real world that you can visit today. In the OT, it was the “Valley of the Sons of Hinnom,” where children were sacrificed to idols. The form we read in the NT is a Greek transliteration. Now since it is a place in the real world, a fact no one can dispute, I believe its translation as “hell” is NOT justified.
4. Tartarus
This is yet another pagan word from a pagan culture, and only used once, in II Peter 2:4. For the Greeks, it was a prison for the Titans and some people - to Peter, it was a prison for some spirit beings. Should we really hang a doctrine on the single use of a term?
Further, if these four terms were NOT translated as ”hell,” would any of us have suspected such a place, such an outcome? If we take the Bible at face value, how do we explain God failing to tell us that He made the place? How we view God’s sketchy warnings – why did He warn Adam and Eve of only death...if hell were a real place? The warnings He gave to many after that follow the same pattern: simple death was the only listed outcome.
So, examination of the four underlying words translated to “hell” fails to support the concept, especially as two of them are pagan terms. So let’s move on to...
The witness of paganism
You the reader may be wondering something like “What the hell?” and I fully sympathize. Where did this word “hell” come from, anyway? Happily, we have some bread crumbs. Not only do we have the help of our Bible’s marginal references, telling us to “see sheol,” “see hades,” “see gehenna,” and “see tartarus” - we have the following:
1. I have an Oxford English Dictionary, and it lists the year in which a word first appears in the English language. For “hell” that year is about 825 AD. In that period, Norse and Danes were pouring into the eastern part of Britain, and the Danelaw resulted. New Nordic words were coming into use as well as Nordic rule, and “hel” was one such word. Here’s a sampling from related languages:
Old English – hel
Old Frisian – helle, hille
Old Saxon – hellja, hella
Old High German – helle
Old Norse – hel, heljar
Gothic – halja
Original Teutonic – halja
It’s useful to know that the original meaning of such words was “to hide, to cover” used as verbs, and “hidden, covered” used as adjectives – a reference to the grave, but not to the common understanding of hell. We pick up breadcrumbs in the 1611 KJV, where we see “hell,” and also “hel,” used twice. We see “hel” a lot more in “Beowulf,” which was written in Old English – in fact, it was the Anglo-Saxon language, spoken also on the continent. Under the baptized veneer of the story is a pagan subtext, and the Angles and Saxons were pagans if you go very far back in time. Note in the list above that Old Norse shared “hel” with Old English/Anglo Saxon, so maybe that breadcrumb could lead to something in the culture of Old Norway.
In Norse mythology, we find paydirt – the Norse believed that if you did not rate going to Valhalla when you died, you would spend th,e afterlife in Helheim, or “House of Hel.” Hel was the ruler of Helheim, they thought, and was thought to be a goddess or ogress, and very ugly.
2. Have you ever seen a depiction of the Tibetan Buddhist hell? It is all too familiar: fire, demons and the suffering damned in scenes of torture and misery. The Islamic hell is much like it, but less inventive. Some other religions have a hell, and some don’t.
The witness of helling
As I said, “hell” is a verb, as well as a noun, and is derived from an old Germanic word, meaning, “to hide or cover.” My father told me about this years ago – if a farmer lacked a root cellar or a cellar/basement under the house, and needed a place to keep veggies or fruits over the winter, he would do the following. First, he would dig a pit or trench deeper than the local frost line. Then, he would line the bottom with straw. On top of that, he’d place a layer of, say, potatoes. More straw went on top of the potatoes, and he would finish the job by shovelling in the dirt previously dug out. Note – it is called “helling the potatoes.” Going to Hell, then, just means going into the ground...or the grave.
The witness of truth
So – having tracked hell down to its likely source in pagan mythology/religion, what should we believe? God has some cheery news for us: the Jubilee. Every 49 years, at a set time, everyone who had fallen into slavery was freed, and had land and possessions returned – see Leviticus 25:8-13. Are you mired in sin? Aren’t we all? The Bible tells us to resist sin, the flesh, the adversary...but so few seem to overcome in this life. However, do not despair – the same Book has the solution: Romans 6:7, “For he that is dead is freed from sin.”
This is our Jubilee – after a lifetime as slaves to sin, we are freed! How do we know we are all saved? First Corinthians 15:28 tells us, “And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” Yes, “all” in this verse really means ALL – you, me and everyone! Jesus the Christ really is the Savior of the World, in fact, of the entire created Cosmos. I need to add that the Lake of Fire is not Hell, and is not ID’d as Hell in the Revelation. After a long word study on “fire” in the Bibe, which is beyond the scope of this short essay, I concluded that all mentions of fire in the Bible are either natural fire or a manifestation of God, or as I like to call it, Godfire. Therefore, I am compelled to see the Lake of Fire as Godfire, which is both punitive, corrective and transformatinal. I will leave you with First Corinthians 3:15 - “ If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”
Most folks listen to their priest/preacher/minister and also read their Bibles, and most of the time they hear or see “Hell” mentioned, and accept it as a given, in a prima facie sense. I ask you, however, is it so? Does this word and concept belong in the Bible? Does it really belong in t,he theology of so many churches? Let’s dig down into the “infernum” of our subject, “infernum” simply meaning originally that which is below...or simply underground.
The witness of the creation accounts
In Genesis, chapters 1 and 2, is the basic Biblical story of the creation of the cosmos and everything in it. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” as we read in Genesis 1:1. Note that there is no mention of God also creating hell. Chapter 1 goes on to state six times that the creation was good, the last time VERY good. The existence of hell would have made it less good, but then, that was before the Fall, so it may not apply. If God made it later, it is not mentioned anywhere, but don’t believe me – examine this list of scriptures mentioning creation:
Exodus 20:11
Isaiah 40:26
Isaiah 45:7-8, 18
Mark 10:6
John 1:1-5
Romans 1:20,25
Romans 8:19-22
I Corinthians 8:6
II Corinthians 5:17
Ephesians 2:10
Colossians 1:16-17, 20
Hebrews 11:3
Revelation 4:11
In Isaiah 45:7 we see a mention of light and darkness, but this is not a hint of hell, if someone were hoping so, for darkness is simply where the light has yet to penetrate.
So, hell appears to be uncreated, but there is more.
The witness of the translated terms
We will find the origin of hell presently, but first let’s look at the words and terms it was translated from.
1. Sheol
“Sheol” is is from the Hebrew, and generally defined as the realm, state or abode of the dead, apart from the literal grave. It is translated in the KJV and probably other translations into one of three words: grave, pit (about half) or hell (about half). Overall, I can think of no good reason to separate “sheol” into three words, as the translators have done. They could have very well let “sheol” stand transliterated, to let it be understood by context and usage. I suppose they needed some support for the hell doctrine in the Old Testament, for besides sheol-rendered-as-hell, there is so very little to go that way.
I find a strong tendency (not consistent) for “sheol” to be rendered as “grave” or “pit” when the context places the instance in the real world. The verses in the “hell” list mostly lack context to connect them to the real world, but this is, again, not consistent.
Besides context, there are solid reasons why some verses were translated in one way or another, mostly theological reasons. Consider I Samuel 2:6 – I’m sure the translators would have been happy to have rendered it as, “…he bringeth down to hell…”, but what would they have done with the following, “…and bringeth up.”? It would have violated the doctrine and belief that damnation is final and irreversible. We can see the same thing going on with Psalms 30:3, 49:14-15, 89:48 and Hosea 13:14, all quoted in the “grave/pit” half.
We have the same problem in reverse, in the “hell” half.Splatter Pak PsalmSplatter Pak 16:10’s “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell…,” should have been given over to the “grave/pit” camp, thus avoiding the ban on exit from hell. As it reads, the translators made a mistake, from their point of view. We see it again in Psalm 86:13, Psalm 139:8 and Amos 9:2.
2. Hades
“Hades” is the best Greek eqivalent for the Hebrew term “sheol.” However, it is a pagan word from a pagan culture, and thus, brought in some unfortunate theological baggage. It is translated as “hell” consistently in most Bibles, except for one instance. I wondered if it were a matter of context, so I examined all eleven instances of the word, and found that context did allow in ten, if a whole town (Capernaum) going to hell is not too much to swallow. The one time when “hades” was rendered as “grave,” was in I Corinthians 15:55. Now context might have allowed, but Paul’s taunt of, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” follows after Hosea 13:14 – “O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction…”. If either were rendered as “hell,” it would have violated the no-exit/eternal-hell doctrine, and the whole idea would have been exposed if hell were robbed of its victory and subject to destruction.
The last two instances of “hades” to “hell” are in the Revelation, 20:13-14. “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them…And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” As these verses stand, they are confusing, and just muddy the waters – “hades,” in the sense of the realm/place of the dead, would be clearer, and that is precisely what my Bible’s references suggest. The translators may have over-reached themselves here, however – hell delivering up its dead, and hell cast into the Lake of Fire (destruction?) violate the no-exit/eternal-hell doctrine. Using “grave” or “sheol” would have cleared up the problems.
3. Gehenna
“Gehenna” is used in the Bible some twelve times, depending on the version, and refers to a physical place in the real world that you can visit today. In the OT, it was the “Valley of the Sons of Hinnom,” where children were sacrificed to idols. The form we read in the NT is a Greek transliteration. Now since it is a place in the real world, a fact no one can dispute, I believe its translation as “hell” is NOT justified.
4. Tartarus
This is yet another pagan word from a pagan culture, and only used once, in II Peter 2:4. For the Greeks, it was a prison for the Titans and some people - to Peter, it was a prison for some spirit beings. Should we really hang a doctrine on the single use of a term?
Further, if these four terms were NOT translated as ”hell,” would any of us have suspected such a place, such an outcome? If we take the Bible at face value, how do we explain God failing to tell us that He made the place? How we view God’s sketchy warnings – why did He warn Adam and Eve of only death...if hell were a real place? The warnings He gave to many after that follow the same pattern: simple death was the only listed outcome.
So, examination of the four underlying words translated to “hell” fails to support the concept, especially as two of them are pagan terms. So let’s move on to...
The witness of paganism
You the reader may be wondering something like “What the hell?” and I fully sympathize. Where did this word “hell” come from, anyway? Happily, we have some bread crumbs. Not only do we have the help of our Bible’s marginal references, telling us to “see sheol,” “see hades,” “see gehenna,” and “see tartarus” - we have the following:
1. I have an Oxford English Dictionary, and it lists the year in which a word first appears in the English language. For “hell” that year is about 825 AD. In that period, Norse and Danes were pouring into the eastern part of Britain, and the Danelaw resulted. New Nordic words were coming into use as well as Nordic rule, and “hel” was one such word. Here’s a sampling from related languages:
Old English – hel
Old Frisian – helle, hille
Old Saxon – hellja, hella
Old High German – helle
Old Norse – hel, heljar
Gothic – halja
Original Teutonic – halja
It’s useful to know that the original meaning of such words was “to hide, to cover” used as verbs, and “hidden, covered” used as adjectives – a reference to the grave, but not to the common understanding of hell. We pick up breadcrumbs in the 1611 KJV, where we see “hell,” and also “hel,” used twice. We see “hel” a lot more in “Beowulf,” which was written in Old English – in fact, it was the Anglo-Saxon language, spoken also on the continent. Under the baptized veneer of the story is a pagan subtext, and the Angles and Saxons were pagans if you go very far back in time. Note in the list above that Old Norse shared “hel” with Old English/Anglo Saxon, so maybe that breadcrumb could lead to something in the culture of Old Norway.
In Norse mythology, we find paydirt – the Norse believed that if you did not rate going to Valhalla when you died, you would spend th,e afterlife in Helheim, or “House of Hel.” Hel was the ruler of Helheim, they thought, and was thought to be a goddess or ogress, and very ugly.
2. Have you ever seen a depiction of the Tibetan Buddhist hell? It is all too familiar: fire, demons and the suffering damned in scenes of torture and misery. The Islamic hell is much like it, but less inventive. Some other religions have a hell, and some don’t.
The witness of helling
As I said, “hell” is a verb, as well as a noun, and is derived from an old Germanic word, meaning, “to hide or cover.” My father told me about this years ago – if a farmer lacked a root cellar or a cellar/basement under the house, and needed a place to keep veggies or fruits over the winter, he would do the following. First, he would dig a pit or trench deeper than the local frost line. Then, he would line the bottom with straw. On top of that, he’d place a layer of, say, potatoes. More straw went on top of the potatoes, and he would finish the job by shovelling in the dirt previously dug out. Note – it is called “helling the potatoes.” Going to Hell, then, just means going into the ground...or the grave.
The witness of truth
So – having tracked hell down to its likely source in pagan mythology/religion, what should we believe? God has some cheery news for us: the Jubilee. Every 49 years, at a set time, everyone who had fallen into slavery was freed, and had land and possessions returned – see Leviticus 25:8-13. Are you mired in sin? Aren’t we all? The Bible tells us to resist sin, the flesh, the adversary...but so few seem to overcome in this life. However, do not despair – the same Book has the solution: Romans 6:7, “For he that is dead is freed from sin.”
This is our Jubilee – after a lifetime as slaves to sin, we are freed! How do we know we are all saved? First Corinthians 15:28 tells us, “And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” Yes, “all” in this verse really means ALL – you, me and everyone! Jesus the Christ really is the Savior of the World, in fact, of the entire created Cosmos. I need to add that the Lake of Fire is not Hell, and is not ID’d as Hell in the Revelation. After a long word study on “fire” in the Bibe, which is beyond the scope of this short essay, I concluded that all mentions of fire in the Bible are either natural fire or a manifestation of God, or as I like to call it, Godfire. Therefore, I am compelled to see the Lake of Fire as Godfire, which is both punitive, corrective and transformatinal. I will leave you with First Corinthians 3:15 - “ If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”
