Hell know.
Hell is commonly thought to be a place where God punishes "bad people" for eternity.
It is described as a place of eternal punishment, characterized by flames of fire, torment, darkness, separation from God, and destruction.
But could a God, Who is defined by love, torture humans for eternity? Can we really truly grasp that concept?
Think about family members that don't make it to heaven. Think about their lives in hell in the most pain imaginable. Can you find peace with that?
Sadly, many people have turned away from believing in God for that very reason.
Hell is not a place where God tortures and torments bad people forever and ever. It is simply not true.
So how did a torturous hell become mischaracterized? Several reasons.
The idea of eternal torment was a prime tool for controlling the average churchgoer with fear. Later, pop culture added fuel to the fire (pun intended) through imaginative works like Dante’s Inferno.
Greek philosophers believed in an eternal soul that could not be destroyed. They believe that man's soul or spirit cannot die ever. They believed in the immortality of the human soul. This belief is at the very root of the misunderstanding of hell.
Immortality is defined as the quality of being able to live or last forever.
Now, let's look at what the bible says about immortality and who has it and who doesn't have it.
Paul, writes about Jesus.
1 Timothy 6:16 NKJV
(Jesus) who alone has immortality.
Can this verse be anymore clearer about our supposed human immortality?
If God sent us to an eternal hell to be tortured forever, wouldn't that make us immortal?
We are born in the flesh and are not immortal.
Where do those who do not believe in Jesus go after they die?
They perish and die forever. Their mortal life was all there is. Eternal death.
All humans including Christians will die a mortal death.
Eternal life is promised to those who believe and obey Jesus Christ. Those who do not believe or obey will die after their mortal death.
Hundreds of verses make this point.
Here are but a few.
John 10:28 NKJV
And I (Jesus) give them (His followers) eternal life, and they shall never perish.
John 3:16 NKJV
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him (Jesus) should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:15 NKJV
That whoever believes in Him (Jesus) should not perish but have eternal life.
2 Corinthians 4:3 NKJV
But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
1 Corinthians 1:18 NKJV
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
There are many other verses that speak about death, dying, perishing and destruction.
What is the definition of hell in the bible?
The modern English word hell is derived from Old English hel, helle (first attested around 725 AD to refer to a nether world of the dead) reaching into the Anglo-Saxon pagan period.
To the point, hell is all about "the dead" or those in "the grave".
Now let's focus on Jesus and His interactions with the Pharisees and scribes and pay close attention to his He uses the terms grave or tomb and the dead to describe those who do not believe or follow Him.
Look how Jesus responded to a disciple who said he would follow Him, but first he wanted to go home to bury his father.
Luke 9:60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God."
Dead people cannot bury dead people. Jesus is emphatically stating that those who do not wish to follow Him are dead. Not dead physically but dead spiritually.
The Pharisees and scribes prided themselves on their strict observance of the Law of Moses. They were proud and self righteous and looked down on sinners.
Jesus called the Pharisees and scribes like graves, white washed tombs and sons of hell.
Why would Jesus be so blunt to them?
The Pharisees rejected God’s provision for their salvation, attempting to justify themselves through their own self righteous deeds.
Jesus's sacrifice is God's provision for salvation. There is no other way, period.
Luke 11:44 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are (like graves) which are not seen.
Matthew 23:27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are (like whitewashed tombs) which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of (dead) men's bones.
Matthew 23:15 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win a new convert to Judaism and when he is won, you make him twice as much (a son of hell) as yourselves.
Graves, tombs, sons of hell and those not following Jesus symbolize dead people. Hence the term, "Hell".
When someone is in the hospital and is close to death, a common term doctors use to describe their serious nature is, "grave condition"
Those who don't believe in or follow Jesus are also considered in "grave condition"
Do you now see the connection between the definition of hell and those who do not believe in Jesus?
Those who are in their graves or are dead in a spiritual sense here. That's why Jesus likened those who had rejected Him as graves and tombs and sons of hell or simply "the walking dead"
This "grave condition" "is a current condition as we live and breathe because of nonbelief in the Son of God.
John 5:25 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and (now is) when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.
Jesus announced the hour was coming and now is.
To hear Jesus is through the word of God.
Romans 10:17 So, then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Hell is a destination of a current condition. Right now or now is, as Jesus proclaimed. Those who would hear His words and believe in Him would live (spiritually) and those who would reject Him would be spiritually dead and condemned to die in their sins.
They (non believers) were in hell. They were in a state of condemnation (right now) Their sins would remain because of nonbelief.
Jesus was speaking about their current spiritual condition because of sin.
Sin separates us from a relationship with God.
Hell is NOT a destination where non believers go after a mortal death, but a classification of a broken relationship with God because of sin.
When people don't believe in Jesus, you can say they are in the darkness of hell. They don't see Him (blind) as the Son of God.
Hell is a spiritual condition of condemnation or (held guilty) from God because of sin.
How to get out of the condemnation of hell?
The key to understanding the meaning of hell is the following interaction from Jesus towards the Pharisees and scribes.
Jesus asked the Pharisees and scribes the following: Matthew 23:33 How can you escape the condemnation of hell?
Here is the answer He gave several verses later in Matthew 23:39 For I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' "
Romans 8:1 NKJV - There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
To be in Christ Jesus through faith by believing.
That's how to get out of the (condemnation) of "the grave" or "the dead".
When someone believes in Jesus.
We do not see Jesus physically.
We see Jesus by belief through faith by NOT seeing.
John 20:29 Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
Peter writes about faith in Jesus Christ by not seeing but believing.
1 Peter 1:7-8 Jesus Christ, [8] whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy.
1 John 3:6 Whoever abides in (Jesus) does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him (faith) nor known Him.
Sinners yes, but sins forgiven. That's the key to understanding this verse.
We don't remove sin on our own, God forgives and forgets our sins through our faith in Jesus.
John 3:18 "He who believes in Jesus is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned (already), because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Condemned already because of non belief in Jesus, Who is the only way to have sin forgiven.
Condemnation is a guilty verdict from a judge.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 8:32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Free from guilt and the condemnation of sin. Not guilty.
Christ is the sole basis for believers having no condemnation of hell. He gives us the Holy Spirit, who brings light and life (born again) where there was once darkness and death.
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