Hello all. Let me begin by saying I absolutely love Jesus and in Him alone do I rest. At one time in my life I held to the Orthodox position of eternal hell. I was frequenting the debate forum at Steve Brown’s website. There was an individual who carried the name “Kings Kid.“ He challenged me on the Orthodox position of hell I was holding to. He provided me with some food for thought by asking some questions I had never considered. If you are here under a different name, let me just say thanks ”Kings kid!” I‘m so grateful you had the courage to basically stand alone and defend the truth God had revealed to you.
1). If you truly believe in the Orthodox view of hell, how often do you offer the Gospel and warn people of hell? Daily? Weekly? Monthly? Ever?
After thinking about it I was reminded of a statement I heard from a pastor. He stated an unbeliever he was speaking to replied to him; if I believed in a place like hell, as you do, I would crawl across hot coals of fire to warn people of this horrific place you call hell. I confessed to God I was delinquent in my responsibility to proclaim the Gospel. I questioned whether my heart had grown cold, was I afraid to speak the truth or perhaps I was not as convinced of the reality of hell. So down the road I continued to kick the can.
2). The word hell and the concept of eternal damnation was not a part of the Hebrew culture nor the Scriptures. Look up the word Sheol and reference each occurrence and see if hell makes any sense in the context.
My answer: After looking up the word Sheol and looking at the context of all the Scriptural references , I was appalled. I found there to be zero justification to translate the word Sheol in to hell. Very inconsistent. I looked at various translations and was shocked at the inconsistency of rendering Sheol as hell. If scholars cant agree on the proper rendering of Sheol … it made me wonder. Gracious! This is not a subject that should be ambiguous. There should absolutely be no ambiguity in the Scriptures on hell If it real. Yet, there most definitely is …
3). Why is there no mention or warning of hell in the following: No mention of it in the creation account. Nothing said from God to Adam and Eve. Nothing said about it by the Lord when he confronts and rebukes Cain For murder. No mention of hell in the flood account. No mention of it from Moses in the handing down the Ten Commandment.
My answer: After checking it out I found it to be true! Where on earth does the idea of hell come from in the Old Testament? God never spoke of it. Never warned of it. How can the New Testament “seem” to sound the alarm and warn of hell if the Old Testament is silent? Does this mean if you were born in OT times you will be judged by your works because you were never warned? Well how fortunate for them and unfortunate for those born in the times of The Christ and forward. My thought is if the people of God in both Old and New Testaments, according to the book of Hebrews, are saved by faith in the God of Israel. Does it not follow that judgement against the ones whom have no faith, would be consistent too?
4). Paul is credited with authoring 13 epistles under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He stated in the book of Acts that he failed not to proclaim the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). Did Paul lie? Why did Paul, not one time, mention hell in any of his Epistles? Also, Paul publicly engaged the philosophers at Mars Hill and preached to them the unknown god; yet, why did he fail to even once mentioned hell? Why didn’t John, the beloved disciple of Jesus not mention hell in his Epistles nor in his Gospel? In fact, why didn’t any of the Apostles warn of this place hell? Did the Apostles fail to fulfill the commandment of Jesus in the Great Commission?
My Answer: I am dumb-founded and at a loss for words at this point. Is this for real? After checking it out and finding it to be true, I surrendered to the Lord my erroneous position on hell. I knew changing my position on hell went against Orthodoxy but … I cannot unsee what the Lord has shown me. Never again will I slander the Character of God by ascribing to Him that which man devised.
5). Why are the proper names, Gehenna, Hades or Tartarus translated In to hell? How many hells are there? Why were proper names translated in to another name?
My answer: This is apparently a rule of grammar of which I was unaware but after checking a bit it looks like that is indeed true in most instances. Why then did translators feel they were at liberty to break a standard rule of interpretation? I’m not sure but it seems to me I do not recall seeing this done in the Old Testament?
I simply wanted to share with you these questions, and there were more, to stimulate some thinking that perhaps you have not considered. I went bible school, learned some Greek and Hebrew, majored in theology, preached and taught adults and attended church regularly. Yet, after weighing these matters carefully on my own and searching the Scriptures, I couldn’t escape what I would say is a definitive example of what I heard R.C. Sproul call, as he debated MacArthur around the doctrine of infant baptism; an argument from silence! Sometimes what one doesn’t say speaks volumes on a matter with deafening silence. I read somewhere there are approximately 30,000 verses in the Scriptures. Wow! That is a ton of opportunities for God to warn of this horrific place but He chose to be silent. Wonder Why …
PS I received this thought from the Lord while with him in silent conversational prayer. He asked me if I thought he would ever leave the Glory of His NAME in the hands of men? No I replied. He said to me, I made you in my image, would I send those who bare my image to hell? Again I replied, no. He said, If my image is consigned to hell then, MY NAME is also being condemned. Never! I am the Lord and I will not share my Glory with another. I would never allow MY NAME and My Glory to be condemned!
Blessings …