What is hell?
Where does it state in the Bible sinners will be tortured for ever and ever?
SHEOL
The English word "hell" apears 31 times in
the Old Testament and every time it comes
from the Hebrew "sheol," but "sheol," is, also,
translated "grave" 31 times, and "pit" 3
times. To fully understand what the Bible
hell is, we must understand what is meant by
the Hebrew word "sheol"
The King James translators of over 400
years ago, obviously, felt both hell and grave
carried the full meaning of "sheol" This is
true, when we realize from old English
sources that the Anglo-Saxon "helan" or
"hell" meant "to cover" or "to hide out of
sight." When farmers put potatoes or other
root crops in underground cellars to prevent
winter freezing, they called it "helling them,"
i.e., putting them into the ground and covering
them up. Putting a roof on a new house'
was called "helling. "It was entirely natural
for the translators to use either hell or grave
for "sheol" since both words meant the same
thing! "Hell" is very simply the "grave"!
Reading Scripture, where the word
"sheol" was used, will prove it means "grave."
Jacob expected to go to "sheol" when he died
(Gen. 37:35; 42:38). Godly Job, in his sorrow,
wished that he had died at birth and gone to
"sheol" (Job 3: 11-19). In those same verses
he describes it as a place, where "the wicked
cease from troubling; and there the
weary be at rest... they hear not the voice
of the oppressor." Hardly a place of screams
and torture and fire!
Ecclesiastes 9:10 tells us that "There is
no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor
wisdom, in the grave [sheol], whither
thou goest, " and that "The dead know
not any thing" (vss. 5, 10). Psalms 6:5
says, "In death there is no remembrance
of thee," which is similar to Psalms 115:17,
"The dead praise not the Lord, neither
any that go down into silence." "Sheol" is
translated "grave" eight times in the Psalms
(6:5; 30:3; 31:17; 49:14,15; 88:3,5; 89:48.
Read them).
GEHENNA
In the New Testament the Greek word
"gehenna" is translated "hell" 11 times. It is
the name of the burning dump out side of
Jerusalem where refuse and dead bodies of
criminals were burned. Christ and the others
used it as a demonstration of destruction, not
torture! Sinners were NOT tortured there;
they had already been put to death for their
crime, and then their dead bodies were
burned in the dump, because it was thought
they had lost any right to be buried in a regular
grave. It was all over in a few minutes
and certainly cannot be compared to being
burned alive in a conscious State forever.
Advocates of a tortured existence in a
burning hell often use the Sermon on the
Mount to "prove" their theology (Matt. 5).
Christ does warn of the "danger of hell fire"
and of being cast "into hell" in vss. 22, 29
and 30. In each case it is the word "gehenna."
Reading the context it is easy to see He was
telling His listeners not to sin, for if they did,
they would be in danger of being cast into
"gehenna," i.e., being put to death as a sinner!
This is the same exhortation we read
from Peter, "Let none of you suffer as a
murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer,"
and, "For it is better... that ye suffer
for well doing, than for evil doing" (1 Pet.
4: 15; 3:17). In very simple words, Christians
are not to sin and end up as criminals.
HADES
The Greek word "hades" is translated
"hell" 10 times in the New Scriptures. In Acts
2, Peter quotes Old Scripture of Christ that
God would not leave His "soul in hell
[hades]," and therefore, "his soul was not left
in hell [hades]" (vss. 27,31). Any good concordance
will show you "hades" means "grave"!
The entire story of Christ overcoming
death tells us He died and was put in the
grave, but did not remain there, but was resurrected.
Yet priests and ministers would
have us believe that "hades" is a place filled
with billions of "souls" in horrible torment,
which will go on for eternity. Some even tell
of Christ going to this place of hellish sights
and sounds and releasing the prisoners there
and taking some to heaven with Him, and all
sorts of weird imagined things which
have no basis in Scripture whatever!
In Rev. 20:13 we read of the day of resurrection,
"and the sea gave up the dead
which were in it [still therenot gone
somewhere else] and death and hell
[hades] delivered up the dead which were
in them." The margin in most Bibles has a
note for "hell" there, saying, "or, the grave."
The truth is in the Biblewhy wont people
see it?
MOLECH
God's own Law prohibits the torture of
men in fire. Israel was ordered not to do so in
Lev. 18:21 and 20:1-5, and God says that
such a thing never "came... into my mind"
(Jer. 19:5). In Jer. 32:35 He says burning
their sons and daughters in "the fire of
Molech" was an "abomination" and caused
Judah "to sin." Yet preachers tell us that God
will do that which He prohibits, and calls an
"abomination"!
These scriptures and many other verses
give the lie to the hell of the dark ages, which
is taught by so many priests and ministers
today. Hell is not a place of eternal torture
where the damned scream in pain for eternity;
it is a place of silence, of rest, a place,
where its occupants know nothing; a place
where righteous Job said he would remain
until his Redeemer "shall stand at the latter
day upon the earth" (Job. 19:25-27)
DEATH
When we understand the Scripture penalty
for sin is simply "death" (Gen. 2: 17, Ezek.
18:4, Romans 6:23 and others), we realize
there is no foundation for this idea that the
penalty is "everlasting torture." Christ paid
the full penalty for sin, that we might not suffer
what?everlasting (or, permanent)
death, not everlasting torture! "And sin
when it is finished, bringeth forth death
(James l:15). Christ "died for our sins" (1
Cor. 15:3). If the penalty was everlasting torture,
would it not follow that Jesus would
have had to suffer everlasting torture to pay
for our sins? But of course, it isn't, and He
didn't. He paid the Scriptural penalty
deathfor "He is the propitiation for our
sins" (1 John 2:2).
So we die once and then we are raised to
everlasting life in the resurrection. Christ's
death and resurrection set the pattern for all.
And our resurrection is not a spirit resurrection
at our death, but is a literal resurrection
"at his coming" (I Cor. 15:23).
The "everlasting punishment" of Matt.
25:46 and the "everlasting destruction" of
2 Thess. 1:9 are very simply death, for God's
Law is "everlasting" (Gen. 9: 16; Hab. 3:6,
et al). Notice in Matt. 25:41 it is the fire,
which is everlasting, not, necessarily, the person's
term of punishment in it.
Where does it state in the Bible sinners will be tortured for ever and ever?
SHEOL
The English word "hell" apears 31 times in
the Old Testament and every time it comes
from the Hebrew "sheol," but "sheol," is, also,
translated "grave" 31 times, and "pit" 3
times. To fully understand what the Bible
hell is, we must understand what is meant by
the Hebrew word "sheol"
The King James translators of over 400
years ago, obviously, felt both hell and grave
carried the full meaning of "sheol" This is
true, when we realize from old English
sources that the Anglo-Saxon "helan" or
"hell" meant "to cover" or "to hide out of
sight." When farmers put potatoes or other
root crops in underground cellars to prevent
winter freezing, they called it "helling them,"
i.e., putting them into the ground and covering
them up. Putting a roof on a new house'
was called "helling. "It was entirely natural
for the translators to use either hell or grave
for "sheol" since both words meant the same
thing! "Hell" is very simply the "grave"!
Reading Scripture, where the word
"sheol" was used, will prove it means "grave."
Jacob expected to go to "sheol" when he died
(Gen. 37:35; 42:38). Godly Job, in his sorrow,
wished that he had died at birth and gone to
"sheol" (Job 3: 11-19). In those same verses
he describes it as a place, where "the wicked
cease from troubling; and there the
weary be at rest... they hear not the voice
of the oppressor." Hardly a place of screams
and torture and fire!
Ecclesiastes 9:10 tells us that "There is
no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor
wisdom, in the grave [sheol], whither
thou goest, " and that "The dead know
not any thing" (vss. 5, 10). Psalms 6:5
says, "In death there is no remembrance
of thee," which is similar to Psalms 115:17,
"The dead praise not the Lord, neither
any that go down into silence." "Sheol" is
translated "grave" eight times in the Psalms
(6:5; 30:3; 31:17; 49:14,15; 88:3,5; 89:48.
Read them).
GEHENNA
In the New Testament the Greek word
"gehenna" is translated "hell" 11 times. It is
the name of the burning dump out side of
Jerusalem where refuse and dead bodies of
criminals were burned. Christ and the others
used it as a demonstration of destruction, not
torture! Sinners were NOT tortured there;
they had already been put to death for their
crime, and then their dead bodies were
burned in the dump, because it was thought
they had lost any right to be buried in a regular
grave. It was all over in a few minutes
and certainly cannot be compared to being
burned alive in a conscious State forever.
Advocates of a tortured existence in a
burning hell often use the Sermon on the
Mount to "prove" their theology (Matt. 5).
Christ does warn of the "danger of hell fire"
and of being cast "into hell" in vss. 22, 29
and 30. In each case it is the word "gehenna."
Reading the context it is easy to see He was
telling His listeners not to sin, for if they did,
they would be in danger of being cast into
"gehenna," i.e., being put to death as a sinner!
This is the same exhortation we read
from Peter, "Let none of you suffer as a
murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer,"
and, "For it is better... that ye suffer
for well doing, than for evil doing" (1 Pet.
4: 15; 3:17). In very simple words, Christians
are not to sin and end up as criminals.
HADES
The Greek word "hades" is translated
"hell" 10 times in the New Scriptures. In Acts
2, Peter quotes Old Scripture of Christ that
God would not leave His "soul in hell
[hades]," and therefore, "his soul was not left
in hell [hades]" (vss. 27,31). Any good concordance
will show you "hades" means "grave"!
The entire story of Christ overcoming
death tells us He died and was put in the
grave, but did not remain there, but was resurrected.
Yet priests and ministers would
have us believe that "hades" is a place filled
with billions of "souls" in horrible torment,
which will go on for eternity. Some even tell
of Christ going to this place of hellish sights
and sounds and releasing the prisoners there
and taking some to heaven with Him, and all
sorts of weird imagined things which
have no basis in Scripture whatever!
In Rev. 20:13 we read of the day of resurrection,
"and the sea gave up the dead
which were in it [still therenot gone
somewhere else] and death and hell
[hades] delivered up the dead which were
in them." The margin in most Bibles has a
note for "hell" there, saying, "or, the grave."
The truth is in the Biblewhy wont people
see it?
MOLECH
God's own Law prohibits the torture of
men in fire. Israel was ordered not to do so in
Lev. 18:21 and 20:1-5, and God says that
such a thing never "came... into my mind"
(Jer. 19:5). In Jer. 32:35 He says burning
their sons and daughters in "the fire of
Molech" was an "abomination" and caused
Judah "to sin." Yet preachers tell us that God
will do that which He prohibits, and calls an
"abomination"!
These scriptures and many other verses
give the lie to the hell of the dark ages, which
is taught by so many priests and ministers
today. Hell is not a place of eternal torture
where the damned scream in pain for eternity;
it is a place of silence, of rest, a place,
where its occupants know nothing; a place
where righteous Job said he would remain
until his Redeemer "shall stand at the latter
day upon the earth" (Job. 19:25-27)
DEATH
When we understand the Scripture penalty
for sin is simply "death" (Gen. 2: 17, Ezek.
18:4, Romans 6:23 and others), we realize
there is no foundation for this idea that the
penalty is "everlasting torture." Christ paid
the full penalty for sin, that we might not suffer
what?everlasting (or, permanent)
death, not everlasting torture! "And sin
when it is finished, bringeth forth death
(James l:15). Christ "died for our sins" (1
Cor. 15:3). If the penalty was everlasting torture,
would it not follow that Jesus would
have had to suffer everlasting torture to pay
for our sins? But of course, it isn't, and He
didn't. He paid the Scriptural penalty
deathfor "He is the propitiation for our
sins" (1 John 2:2).
So we die once and then we are raised to
everlasting life in the resurrection. Christ's
death and resurrection set the pattern for all.
And our resurrection is not a spirit resurrection
at our death, but is a literal resurrection
"at his coming" (I Cor. 15:23).
The "everlasting punishment" of Matt.
25:46 and the "everlasting destruction" of
2 Thess. 1:9 are very simply death, for God's
Law is "everlasting" (Gen. 9: 16; Hab. 3:6,
et al). Notice in Matt. 25:41 it is the fire,
which is everlasting, not, necessarily, the person's
term of punishment in it.
