* * *
Really reaching now, aren't you. The false translation "hell" isn't even mentioned in this verse. Jesus is warning those listening that the people who will attack His disciples, His "little ones" (The Greek word is mikros, which means "little", not paidion, which means a small child), that they would be better off to drown themselves than to go through the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
Utter nonsense, sir. You are like the guy who owns a hammer and suddenly everything looks like a nail to him. The Jews of the first century had no idea of an eternal hell. Instead of spouting off here, go find some Jewish sources and read up on what they believed.
* * *
"There are, however, several biblical references to a place called Sheol (cf. Numbers 30, 33). It is described as a region “dark and deep,” “the Pit,” and “the Land of Forgetfulness,” where human beings descend after death. The suggestion is that in the netherworld of Sheol, the deceased, although cut off from God and humankind, live on in some shadowy state of existence. * * *
While this vision of Sheol is rather bleak (setting precedents for later Jewish and Christian ideas of an underground hell) there is generally no concept of judgment or reward and punishment attached to it. In fact, the more pessimistic books of the Bible, such as Ecclesiastes and Job, insist that all of the dead go down to Sheol, whether good or evil, rich or poor, slave or free man (Job 3:11-19).[1]
The Hebrew Bible itself assumes that the dead are simply dead – that their body lies in the grave, and there is no consciousness, ever again. It is true that some poetic authors, for example in the Psalms, use the mysterious term “Sheol” to describe a person’s new location. But in most instances Sheol is simply a synonym for “tomb” or “grave.” It’s not a place where someone actually goes."[2] [3]
[1] Rose, “Heaven and Hell in Jewish Tradition.” Para. 3–4.
[2] Ehrman, “What Jesus Really Said About Heaven and Hell.” Para. 7.
[3] Another good reference to Jewish beliefs on the afterlife can be found at the Jewish Encyclopedia online at GEHENNA - JewishEncyclopedia.com
You list Bart Ehrman as one of your sources. He is a former Christian graduate professor who now identifies as an atheist. Isn't that almost like asking a Palestinian for credible information about Israelites?
You list the Jewish Encyclopedia as one of your sources but you ignored everything the Gehenna article said about "Hell."
…..Concerning only the existence of a Jewish belief in hell
not the validity of the historical faith, beliefs and practices of the ancient Jews,
Below are quotes from three credible Jewish sources; the Jewish Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Judaica and the Talmud. Which to date have not been refuted.
…..According to these three sources, among the יהודים/Yehudim/ιουδαιων/Youdaion/Jews in Israel, before and during the time of Jesus, there was a significant belief in a place of everlasting torment of the wicked and they called it both sheol and gehinnom, which are translated Hades and Gehenna, respectively, in both the 225 BC LXX and the NT.
…..There were different factions within Judaism; Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes etc. and different beliefs about resurrection, hell etc. These differing beliefs do not refute anything in the following post.
[1]1917 Jewish Encyclopedia, Gehenna
The place where children were sacrificed to the god Moloch … in the "valley of the son of Hinnom," to the south of Jerusalem (Josh. xv. 8, passim; II Kings xxiii. 10; Jer. ii. 23; vii. 31-32; xix. 6, 13-14). … the valley was deemed to be accursed, and "Gehenna" therefore soon became a figurative equivalent for "hell." Hell, like paradise, was created by God (Sotah 22a);[“Soon” in this verse would be about 700 BC +/-, DA]
[Note: this is according to the ancient Jews, long before the Christian era,
NOT any assumed/alleged bias of “modern” Christian translators. DA]
”(I)n general …
sinners go to hell immediately after their death. The famous teacher Johanan b. Zakkai wept before his death because he did not know whether he would go to paradise or to hell (Ber. 28b).
The pious go to paradise, and sinners to hell(B.M. 83b).
But as regards the heretics, etc., and Jeroboam, Nebat's son,
hell shall pass away, but they shall not pass away" (R. H. 17a; comp. Shab. 33b). All that descend into Gehenna shall come up again, with the exception of three classes of men: those who have committed adultery, or shamed their neighbors, or vilified them (B. M. 58b).[/i]
… heretics and the Roman oppressors go to Gehenna, and the same fate awaits the Persians, the oppressors of the Babylonian Jews (Ber. 8b).
When Nebuchadnezzar descended into hell, [שאול/Sheol] all its inhabitants were afraid that he was coming to rule over them (Shab. 149a; comp.
Isa. xiv. 9-10). The Book of
Enoch [x. 6, xci. 9, etal] also says that it is
chiefly the heathen who are to be cast into the fiery pool on the Day of Judgment (x. 6, xci. 9, et al). "The Lord, the Almighty, will punish them on the Day of Judgment by putting fire and worms into their flesh, so that they cry out with pain unto all eternity" (
Judith xvi. 17).
The sinners in Gehenna will be filled with pain when God puts back the souls into the dead bodies on the Day of Judgment, according toIsa. xxxiii. 11 (Sanh. 108b).
Link:
Jewish Encyclopedia Online
Note, scripture references are highlighted in
blue.
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[2]1972 Encyclopedia Judaica:
Gehinnom (Heb.
גֵּי בֶן־הִנֹּם, גֵּי בְנֵי הִנֹּם, גֵּיא בֶן־הִנֹּם, גֵּיא הִנֹּם; Gr.
Γέεννα; "Valley of Ben-Hinnom, Valley of [the Son (s) of]
Hinnom," Gehenna), a valley south of Jerusalem on one of the borders between the territories of Judah and Benjamin, between the Valley of *Rephaim and *En-Rogel (
Josh. 15:8; 18:16). It is identified with Wadi er-Rababi.
…..During the time of the Monarchy,
Gehinnom, at a place called Topheth, was the site of a cult which involved the burning of children (
II Kings 23:10; Jer. 7:31; 32:35 et al.; ). Jeremiah repeatedly condemned this cult and predicted that on its account Topheth and the Valley of the Son of Hinnom would be called the Valley of the "Slaughter" (
Jer. 19:5–6).
In Judaism the name Gehinnom is generally used as an appellation of the place of torment reserved for the wicked after death. The New Testament used the Greek form Gehenna in the same sense.
Gehinnom
http://www.jevzajcg.me/enciklopedia/Encyclopaedia Judaica, v. 07 (Fey-Gor).pdf
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[3]pre-Christianity Talmud -Tractate Rosh Hashanah Chapter 1.
The school of Hillel says: . . .
but as for Minim, [i.e. followers of Jesus] informers and disbelievers, who deny the Torah, or Resurrection, or separate themselves from the congregation, or who inspire their fellowmen with dread of them, or who sin and cause others to sin, as did Jeroboam the son of Nebat and his followers,
they all descend to Gehenna, and are judged there from generation to generation, as it is said [Isa. lxvi. 24]:
"
And they shall go forth and look upon the carcases of the men who have transgressed against Me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched."
Even when Gehenna will be destroyed, they will not be consumed, as it is written[Psalms, xlix. 15]: "And their forms wasteth away in the nether world," which the sages comment upon to mean that
their forms shall endure even when the grave is no more.
Concerning them Hannah says
[I Sam. ii. 10]: "The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces."
Link:
Tract Rosh Hashana: Chapter I.
For someone who presents himself as a Christian you don't handle your sources very honestly.
