Why a Hell?

[WarEagle]

Jesus certainly declared there is such a place as "the firey hell." Mt 5:22 "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, `You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, `You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

If we don't believe Jesus' words about "the firey hell," why should we believe His words about heaven?

Good question. It's been my experience that those who don't believe Jesus' teachings on Hell tend not to believe His other teachings, either.

As much as InHisPeace may claim that there is no Hell, notice how quickly she stopped once I asked her why Jesus went to the cross, if there is no Hell.

 

[Jazzedforhim]

I haven't found this to be true. It seems to me that most people who don't believe in hell do believe in the rest of Jesus' teachings. I think that many people have only been taught about the love of God to the exclusion of his wrath.

My thoughts are that as Christians we should be holding the whole bible to be truth. It's hard to read these verses and say I believe the whole bible but not in hell..or that somehow everyone will be in heaven.

Revelation 21:8
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

Revelation 20:14-15
Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Luke 13:23-28
Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?"
He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.'
"But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.'
"Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.'
"But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!'
"There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.

 

[John 10:10]

When Jesus comes again, this is what He says He will do:

Matt 25:31 "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.
32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;
33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, `Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35 `For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;
36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'
37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, `Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?
38 `And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?
39 `When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'
40 "The King will answer and say to them, `Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'
41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, `Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;
42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;
43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'
44 "Then they themselves also will answer, `Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'
45 "Then He will answer them, `Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'
46 "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."


There is a kingdom prepared for those who love the Lord, and there is a hell that was prepared for the devil and his angels.

John 3:18 "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

If one believes there is a kingdom prepared for those who love the Lord, one must also believe there is a hell prepared for those who don't love the Lord, which will include more than just the devil and his angels.

 

[mjb72384]

This was written by an aquantince and I hold to it's teaching. Please understand that I've done bible study with a Strong's Concordance and this completely follows scripture.


Hell



The Devil, Satan, Lucifer, Hell, Purgatory, and Fire/Brimstone these words are what you hear come of preachers mouths. There are three reasons for this: 1) the preacher is a moron, 2) the preacher is using this as a tool to instill fear, 3) a tool that is used to fleece the flock. On item #1, giving certain circumstances, you get rid of the preacher or change your church. On item #2, it is a blatant false doctrine teaching. Instead of the preacher teaching us to fear God now we are being taught to fear the Devil and Hell, get rid of the preacher or change your church. On item #3 a book could be written. Tithing is important but it doesn’t stop there. It is your responsibility to see that your tithes are used for righteous purposes. Any time you have a preacher who by his very profession derives his sustenance you may not be told the complete truth on the pulpit. The easiest way for the preacher to get money from the flock is to use fear. Fear is a strong motivator. Get rid of the pastor or change church’s. Oh, by the way, this for the most part does not happen in home church’s.

We have already talked about Satan (though not enough) and now we must attend to the second false doctrine taught in our church’s today. Hell.

The word “Hell” appears 31 times in the Old Testament. It comes from the Hebrew word “Sheol”. But what is interesting, while Hell only appears 31 times in the Old Testament, the word “Sheol” makes 34 more appearances, 33 times for “grave” and 3 times for “pit”. By now you must be asking yourselves “how can 1 Hebrew word have three English word meanings?”. It can’t and it doesn’t. What you must understand, and I can’t stress this enough, when the Bible was translated from its original text it was translated into English……400 years ago. English words have changed their meaning since then and if you don’t study etymology then you won’t know this. That is when you become a target to “hucksterism” and a victim of your own ignorance (please don’t take this as an insult, it is not my intent). The word “Hell” 400 years ago does not have the same meaning as it does today for if it did then how could the same Hebrew word “Sheol” be used for hell, grave, and pit. The English, or Anglo Saxon, word “Hell” or “Helan” simply meant to “cover over” or to “hide”. When a roof was put on a house it was called “Helling” and the same term was used for putting vegetables into the cellar. It simply meant covering over or grave.

Giving my above explanation, now we will cover Old Testament scripture using our new found knowledge and you tell me if now the scripture doesn’t have a new clarity. Go to Strong’s concordance and look up the words grave, hell, and pit and you will see Strong’s number 7585 (Sheol) used for all three. Look up those scriptures, read them in context of the chapter, and see if my explanation doesn’t fit in better than what the huckster preachers are telling you. Here are a few verses:

Ge 37:35

And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.



AND

Ge 42:38

And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave



AND

Ge 50:5

My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.



AND

Isa 38:10

I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years



It is interesting to note that the grave is described in some of the verses as such: where the wicked cease from troubling, the weary be at rest, and the dead know not anything. Keep in mind, one more time, that the words grave, pit, and hell come from the same Hebrew word “Sheol”. Just the study of Psalms, giving this context, will take hours.

It is important not to be misled or deceived. God considers it is your responsibility not to be deceived. It is considered a sin.

Let’s look at the Greek word “Hades”. The Greek word Hades means “grave” as any good concordance will tell you but 10 times in the New Testament it translated as “Hell”. Do you for a second think that in Acts 2: 27, 31 that Jesus was going to Hell:

Ac 2:27

Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Ac 2:31

He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption



In Revelations 20:13 you see the word “Hell” used and what I find amazing that in some Bibles in the margins that for “Hell” they say “or in the grave”. Isn’t that enough to question the other uses of the word “Hell”? Here is the verse:

Re 20:13

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.



Now let’s talk about another word that where we seem to find one of our bigger mistakes. Is it intentional? You answer the question for yourselves and ask yourselves how you could be duped so. I was once duped and when it was pointed out to me I was angry, not for being fooled, but allowing myself to be perceived as a fool. That word is “Gehenna” or “Geenna”. That word is translated as “Hell” 12 times in the New Testament. Did you know that “Gehena” was an actual geographical location? It was a dump outside of Jerusalem where the poor or sinners and criminals were burned. Actually the fire was there to “purify” (fire of purification? Hmmmm) the air while the worm infested corpses decayed. There were actual descriptions of this place but I find this one the most interesting:

Isa 66:23

And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.

Isa 66:24

And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.



How many of your pastors told you that this was “Gehenna”? How many of your pastors told you that “Gehenna” was translated as “Hell” in the Bible? If this humble lay person can find this out on his own then how can a pastor who has gone to a seminary not know it? He is either a moron or you are truly sheep….being fleeced. I won’t go into this now but the Hebrew text had a similar area called the “Valley of Hinnom”:

2ch 33:6

And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger



Here is some more examples:

Mt 5:22

But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.



AND

Mt 5:29

And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.



AND

Mt 5:30

And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.



In those 3 above verses the word was “Gehenna” translated into “Hell”.

At this point I would like to make another point. God’s laws prohibits the torture of people in fire. It is in the book of laws:

Le 18:21

And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.



God has comments on it in these verses also:

Jer 19:5

They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:

Jer 19:6

Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.

Jer 32:35

And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

 

[mjb72384]

continued....


Ask yourself this: How can God find this an abomination and yet still your pastors are telling you otherwise?

Let’s now talk about the “Lake of Fire”. Revelations is a hard book to understand and can be very frustrating to the lay person, such as myself. I still study it as if I am reading it for the first time. The “Lake if Fire” is where everybody runs to when you destroy all of there other preconceived notions of “Hell”. Note: I can do the same for your false doctrines on Heaven also, but I digress. In order for you to understand Revelations you must realize it takes years of studies and a good understanding of Greek. This is a hard one for me to explain but here goes. This time I work from back to front. My interpretation of the “Lake of Fire” is this: “Divine heat and light producing a change”. I was asked recently by one of our fellow Christians “yeah Ibere but what about Revelations 19:20, 20:10, 21:8- dealing with the “Lake of Fire? Isn’t that a burning hell?”.

Let’s take a look at Rev 19:20:

Re 19:20

And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.



Now let’s take the confusing words, go back to the Greek text, and put modern day meaning to them and see if we don’t see this verse and the others in a different light. For the sake of expediency and because he says it better than I ever could I would like to quote Charles Pidgeon, “The Lake of Fire and Brimstone signifies a fire burning with brimstone; the word 'brimstone' or sulphur defines the character of the fire. The Greek word THEION translated 'brimstone' is exactly the same word THEION which means 'divine.' Sulphur was sacred to the deity among the ancient Greeks; and was used to fumigate, to purify, and to cleanse and consecrate to the deity; for this purpose they burned it in their incense. In Homer's Iliad (16:228), one is spoken of as purifying a goblet with fire and brimstone. The verb derived from THEION is THEIOO, which means to hallow, to make divine, or to dedicate to a god (See Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon, 1897 Edition). To any Greek, or any trained in the Greek language, a 'lake of fire and brimstone' would mean a 'lake of divine purification.' The idea of judgment need not be excluded. Divine purification and divine consecration are the plain meaning in ancient Greek. In the ordinary explanation, this fundamental meaning of the word is entirely left out, and nothing but eternal torment is associated with it" -end quote.

Now let’s tackle this “unquenchable fire” or “cannot be quenched fire” false doctrine. We know that in the law of physics nothing can burn forever, not even the sun. Let’s go back to a verse where “unquenchable fire” was used and the fire burned out:

Jer 17:27

But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched



A couple years later the fire did occur:

Jer 52:13

And burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire:



Is Jerusalem burning today? No. It ran out of fuel. A “fire that can not be quenched” or an “unquenchable fire” cannot be put out but will burn itself out when it runs out of fuel or “performs the task it was set to do”. Now here is the rub. Your pastors are calling a fire “that cannot be quenched” as an eternal fire and that you will burn for eternity. Another false doctrine! Let’s take a look at another look at the word fire that segues’s from the above:

Heb 12:29

For our God is a consuming fire.



The basic purpose of this divine fire of God is to cleanse, purify, purge, temper and change. It is to rid of impurities, of filth, of undesirable elements. There is no better way to deal with filth than to deal with it by fire.

I know that what I have just covered here may be hard to understand and may not be as coherent as the rest of this piece. I am still in my infancy as far as my knowledge of the Book of Revelations is concerned. There is much more that you need to know before even delving into the nature of this book. You cannot just simply look at a verse and use your limited knowledge of history, etymology, and the other 51 scriptures and think you know what it means. The other 51 scriptures alone must be completely understood before tackling Revelations.

Now you will probably say, “okay Ibere let’s say I believe everything up to now, if the sin filled soul does not go to hell after death then where does it go?” I know, I know everybody is thinking to themselves “what a softball question” for I would assume that we all know that the soul goes nowhere upon death. Not Heaven or Hell. The scripture penalty for sin is “death” is through out the Bible, here are some:

Eze 18:4

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

Ro 6:23

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.



Since the penalty of sin is death and since we all are sinners then we all will die and go to our grave. We all know that Christ died for our sins so that we will not have everlasting death (grave). He did not die for our sins so that we would not have everlasting torture.

In the Catholic and Protestant church’s you are taught that you will immediately go to heaven when you die. Straight to the point that teaching is Pagan and how it infiltrated into the Christian faith is beyond me. The following verses are self explanatory:

Ac 2:29

Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.

Ac 2:30

Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;



AND

Joh 11:11

These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

Joh 11:12

Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.

Joh 11:13

Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.

Joh 11:14

Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.



AND

1co 15:16

For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:

1co 15:17

And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.

1co 15:18

Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.



Did not Christ say this:

Joh 5:28

Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,

Joh 5:29

And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.



AND

Ps 89:48

What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.



So you see here that upon death we go to the grave and later we will be judged, yet still you have some church’s saying that you immediately go to Heaven or Hell. You know that is what they must believe because instead of just praying unto God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit they also pray to Mary and the Saints. How foolish to think those in their grave and who have not yet been judged can hear and answer your prayers. Those who have been saved and are judged will have everlasting life and those who are not saved will have everlasting death.

I guess that since I am on a roll here I might as well point out one more thing. Most Christians have this thought that they will go to Heaven. Another false doctrinal teaching. Here are verses to support this:

Job 19:25

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:



AND

Re 5:10

And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.



AND

Ps 115:16

The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men



I hope that this has produced more answers than questions. This was assembled with the help of the Holy Spirit and it is in the Spirit from which it is given. God Bless you and yours.

 

[looksgood]

Because accepting the Biblical teaching of Heaven and Hell leads right back to the necessity of the cross and the cross is always going to be an offense to those who are walking after the flesh.

Wow...thats bold! I LOVE IT!
It is VERY true and in fact the scripture itself says the same thing!

1 Corinthians 1:18 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.

Galatians 5:11

And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.

 

[Jazzedforhim]

First of all...there are three dwelling places of God spoken of in the Bible.

1) Heaven where God is now
2) Earth...the millennium (1,000 years of Christ's reign on earth)
3) Heaven: The New Jerusalem...The New Heaven & New Earth. Final place mentioned in the Bible where God will dwell with believers.

MJB, you are confusing the three dwelling places of God. In addition, you are confusing the two types of death: physical and spiritual.

Umm...when the physical body dies we will be with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:6-10

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

I have studied Revelation...and we will all be judged "the living and the dead" and those whose name are not written in the book of life will be punished...they will be forever seperated from God in torture.

Regarding Revelation 19:20! Your article said the following:

Now let’s tackle this “unquenchable fire” or “cannot be quenched fire” false doctrine. We know that in the law of physics nothing can burn forever, not even the sun. Let’s go back to a verse where “unquenchable fire” was used and the fire burned out:

Are you telling me the the creator of the universe could not create an "unquenchable fire". Forgive me but my God is bigger then that...he can do anything He wants to. He can have a new heaven and a new earth come down from the heavens. He can roll the sky up like a scroll! He will do as he says in His word.

You cannot say that Hell is there to rid humans of their impurities. All will not be in heaven, nor will all be saved. We only die once. Scripture is clear, especially regardking Luke 13 as quoted below.


Luke 13:23-28
Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?"
He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.'
"But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.'
"Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.'
"But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!'
"There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.

 

[whiterider]

I agree with Jazzed, regardless if you believe in a literal fire, or some form of torment, I can guarentee you that weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, is not a pleasant activity to be doing for eternity; And that whatever the spiritual properties of the Lake of fire are, it is: one, the most unpleasant place to be, and two; eternal. Two great motivators to live godly and to escape at all cost.

 

[JPPT1974]

I agree with Jazzed, regardless if you believe in a literal fire, or some form of torment, I can guarentee you that weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, is not a pleasant activity to be doing for eternity; And that whatever the spiritual properties of the Lake of fire are, it is: one, the most unpleasant place to be, and two; eternal. Two great motivators to live godly and to escape at all cost.

You got that right my friend
Very true!

 

[WarEagle]

This was written by an aquantince and I hold to it's teaching. Please understand that I've done bible study with a Strong's Concordance and this completely follows scripture.

The Devil, Satan, Lucifer, Hell, Purgatory, and Fire/Brimstone these words are what you hear come of preachers mouths. There are three reasons for this: 1) the preacher is a moron,

Given the utter hatchet job your friend has done on the scriptures he cites, I don't know that I'd be calling anyone a moron, if I were him. That's a bit like WalMart accusing Neiman-Marcus of selling shoddy merchandise.

Long story short:

1. on what grounds do you disagree with the Biblical teaching about Hell?

2. If there is no Hell, then what did Jesus go to the cross to save us from?

3. If there is no Hell, then why did Jesus say that He would send the wicked to Hell?

Ask yourself this: How can God find this an abomination and yet still your pastors are telling you otherwise?

Because, unlike you and your friend, my pastor has actually taken the time to study the scriptures and knows that this verse isn't referring to Hell.