What the Bible Says About Hell Key Facts About Eternity (1) Everyone will exist eternally

either in heaven or hell (Daniel 12:2,3; Matthew 25:46; John 5:28; Revelation 20:14,15). (2) Everyone has only one life in which to determine their destiny (Hebrews 9:27). (3) Heaven or hell is determined by whether a person believes (puts their trust) in Christ alone to save them (John 3:16, 36, etc.). Key Passages About Hell (1) Hell was designed originally for Satan and his demons (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10). (2) Hell will also punish the sin of those who reject Christ (Matthew 13:41,50; Revelation 20:11-15; 21:8). (3) Hell is conscious torment. * Matthew 13:50 furnace of fireweeping and gnashing of teeth * Mark 9:48 where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched * Revelation 14:10 he will be tormented with fire and brimstone (4) Hell is eternal and irreversible. * Revelation 14:11 the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever and they have no rest day and night * Revelation 20:14 This is the second death, the lake of fire * Revelation 20:15 If anyones name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire Erroneous Views of Hell (1) The second chance view After death there is still a way to escape hell. Answer: It is appointed unto men once to die and after that the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). (2) Universalism All are eternally saved. Answer: It denies the truth of salvation through Christ which means that a person decides to either trust in Christ or else he/she rejects Christ and goes to hell (John 3:16;3:36). (3) Annihilationism Hell means a person dies like an animal ceases to exist.

Answer: It denies the resurrection of the unsaved (John 5:28, etc. see above). It denies conscious torment (see above). Objections to the Biblical View of Hell (1) A loving God would not send people to a horrible hell. Response: God is just (Romans 2:11). * God has provided the way of salvation to all (John 3:16,17; 2 Corinthians 5:14,15; 1 Timothy 2:6; 4:10; Titus 2:11; 2 Peter 3:9). * Even those who havent heard of Christ are accountable for Gods revelation in nature (Romans 1:20). God will seek those who seek Him (Matthew 7:7; Luke 19:10). * Therefore God doesnt send people to hell, they choose it (Romans 1:18,21,25). (2) Hell is too severe a punishment for mans sin. Response: God is holy-perfect (1 Peter 1:14,15). * Sin is willful opposition to God our creator (Romans 1:18-32). * Our sin does merit hell (Romans 1:32; 2:2,5,6). * What is unfair and amazing is that Christ died for our sin and freely offers salvation to all (Romans 2:4; 3:22-24; 4:7,8; 5:8,9). Biblical Terms Describing Where the Dead Are * Sheol - a Hebrew term simply describing the grave or death Does not refer to hell specifically * Hades - A Greek term that usually refers to hell a place of torment (Luke 10:15; 16:23, etc.) * Gehenna - A Greek term (borrowed from a literal burning dump near Jerusalem) that always refers to hell a place of torment (Matthew 5:30; 23:33) * Lake of fire- the final abode of unbelievers after they are resurrected (Revelation 20:14,15) * Abrahams bosom - (Luke 16:22) a place of eternal comfort * Paradise - (Luke 23:43) a place of eternal comfort * With the Lord - a key phrase describes where church age believers are after death (Philippians 1:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:17; 2 Corinthians 5:8) * New heavens and earth where believers will be after they are resurrected

(Revelation 20:4-6; 21:1-4) Conclusion Our curiosity about the abode of the dead is not completely satisfied by biblical terms or verses. What we do know is that either eternal torment in hell or eternal joy in heaven awaits all people after death, based on whether they trust in Christs payment for sin or reject Christ. What Does the Bible Teach About Hell? Does the Bible teach the idea commonly held concerning hell? Does the hell of the Bible denote a place of burning torment, a condition of suffering without end, which begins at death? What is the hell of the Bible? The only way to arrive at the correct answer is to trace the words translated hell from the beginning to the end of the Bible, and by their connections ascertain exactly what the divine Word teaches on this important subject. Before we look into the definitions of hell, think about this fact. The word "heaven" appears in the Bible over 550 times. If "hell" is the fate of those who do not accept Jesus as their Lord, how often do you think God should put it in the Bible Scriptures warning all the people of the world the consequences of failing to accept Jesus as their Savior? Thousands of times? At least as many times as the word "heaven"? At least once in each book in the Bible? The facts may shock you. Number of times "Hell" appears in the text in English Bible Translations Bible Translations "Authorized" King James Version * New King James Version * New International Version American Standard Version New American Standard Bible Revised English Bible New Living Translation Amplified Revised Standard Version New Revised Standard Version Darby OT 31 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NT 23 13 14 13 13 13 13 13 12 12 12 Total 54 32 14 13 13 13 13 13 12 12 12

New Century Version Young's Literal Translation (1891) Rotherham's Emphasized Bible (reprinted, 1902) Fenton's Holy Bible in Modern English (1903) New American Bible (1970) Restoration of Original Sacred Name Bible (1976) Christian Bible (1991) World English Bible (in progress) 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0

12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Original Bible Project (Dr. James Tabor, still in translation) 0 Wesley's New Testament (1755) Scarlett's New Testament (1798) -

The New Testament in Greek and English (Kneeland, 1823) Twentieth Century New Testament (1900) Weymouth's New Testament in Modern Speech (1903) Panin's Numeric English New Testament (1914) The People's New Covenant (Overbury, 1925) Hanson's New Covenant (1884) Western New Testament (1926) -

New Testament of our Lord and Savior Anointed (Tomanek, 1958) -0 Concordant Literal New Testament (1983) 0 0 0 0 0

The New Testament, A Translation (Clementson, 1938)

Emphatic Diaglott, Greek/English Interlinear (Wilson, 1942) The New Testament, A New Translation (Greber, 1980) Orthodox Jewish Brit Chadasha [New Testament only] -

Zondervan Parallel New Testament in Greek and English (1975)**

Interlinear NASB-NIV Parallel New Testament in Greek and English (1993)**-0 Interlinear Greek-English New Testament (Berry,1897)** 0 0

Jewish Publication Society Bible Old Testament (1917) Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, Old Testament (1985) 0

0 -

* The KJV and the NKJV are the only two translations in the list above to use "hell" in the Old Testament. Even the NKJV, which was only supposed to modernize the English words of the traditional "Authorized Version," took many "hell" references out. The use of the word "hell" is decreasing. The NKJV, RSV, ASV, NRSV, and NASB are all technically revisions of the original KJV. From 54 times to 32 and then to 12 or 13 times--who knows-maybe the next revision will bring it in line with the many Bibles which have eliminated the pagan word Hell all together. ** A note about the Parallel Interlinears. I am referring to the word-for-word translations beneath the Greek in these works, NOT the English versions which are also in these reference works. Obviously the versions in these books (NIV, NASB, and KJV) contain the word Hell as many times as they normally would. Def initions of Hell In the King James Bible, the term "hell" is used 54 times; 31 times in the Old Testament, and 23 times in the New Testament. What is the meaning of the word "hell" in the bible? In the Old Testament, it is translated from one word, Sheol. In the New Testament, "hell" is translated from three words, tartaroo, Hades, and Gehenna. Let us look at their meanings. 1) Tartaroo [Greek New Testament]: "Hell" is translated only one time from tartaroo, which is from the root Tartaros, which means "the deepest abyss of Hades" (2 Peter 2:4). Apparently, Peter was not writing about a place of flames and torment because "the angels that sinned" are there "to be reserved unto judgment." It would not make sense that angels would be burning in hell before judgment is pronounced on them. If angels are being reserved for judgment, it means they havent been judged yet. After all, an accused murderer wouldn't serve 25 years and then be judged to see if he belongs there or not. If the wicked were to live in a burning hell, theyd have eternal life, just as the righteous, differing only in its quality. The penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23), not eternal life. 2) Sheol (Hebrew Old Testament) / Hades (Greek New Testament): What is the meaning of the word "hell" in the Old Testament? "Hell" is always translated from the Hebrew word Sheol (which is used 65 times in the Old Testament) and means simply "the world of the dead". There is no hint of a place of fire (Jonah 2:1-2). Sheol is translated as "grave" 31 times, "hell" 31 times, and "pit" 3 times. "Sheol" is translated as "grave" in Psa.89:48, Job 17:13, where both Job (a godly man) and the wicked go to Sheol (hell). Sheol is described in terms of overwhelming floods, water, or waves (Jonah 2:2-6). Sometimes, Sheol is pictured as a hunter setting snares for its victim, binding them with

cords, snatching them from the land of the living (2 Sam. 22:6; Job 24:19; Ps. 116:3). Sheol is a prison with bars, a place of no return (Job 7:9; 10:21; 16:22; 21:13; Ps.49:14; Isa.38:10). People could go to Sheol alive (Num.16:30,33; Ps.55:15; Prov.1:12). It does not teach a place of the conscious souls. The Greek Septuagint, which our Lord used when he read or quoted from the Old Testament, gives Hades as the exact equivalent of the Hebrew Sheol, and when the Savior, or his apostles, used the word, they meant the same as is meant in the Old Testament. Thus, the New Testament usage agrees exactly with the Old Testament. Literally, Hades means "death" or the "grave"; and figuratively, it means "destruction". Hades is used 11 times in the New Testament. It is translated 10 times as "hell", and 1 time as "grave." Hades means "the place (state) of departed souls, grave, hell." In Acts 2:27,31, apparently, both the righteous and the wicked go to Hades, the same as they both go to Sheol in the Old Testament, for Christ went to hell when He died. In quoting the Old Testament prophecy regarding Christ, the New Testament writer uses Hades. Compare Acts 2:27 with Psalm 16:10. It seems more logical to think of Christ in the grave instead of in a burning hell. 1 Corinthians 15:55 illustrates that "grave" is a proper reading for Hades. This verse is quoted from Hosea 13:14 in the Old Testament where we find the equivalent word Sheol (grave). Hades is also used in Matthew 11:23; 16:18, Luke 10:23, and Revelation 1:18; 6:8. In Revelation 20:13-14, if one thinks of "hell" as death represented by the grave, it makes sense for hell to be cast into the lake of fire. After all, if "hell" itself is really a lake of fire, how can it be thrown into itself? This does not make any sense. Notice in 1 Corinthians 15:26 that death will be destroyed. What is represented by death? The grave! 3) Hinnom (Hebrew Old Testament) / Gehenna (Greek New Testament): "Hell is translated twelve times from Gehenna (or, as it is sometimes transliterated, Geenna). This is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Hinnom, which is the name of a valley outside Jerusalem where garbage and the carcasses of animals were cast into and consumed by fire constantly kept burning. Thus, Gehenna is the only one of those words translated as "hell" in the Bible, that has any idea of fire or torment resident in it. Look at Matthew 5:22,29-30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15,33 and Mark 9:43,45,47. It is apparent from these texts that the whole physical body is cast into Hell, and not just the soul. Gehenna is also used in Luke 12:5 and James 3:6. "Gehenna was a well-known valley, near Jerusalem, in which the Jews in their idolatrous days had sacrificed their children to the idol Moloch, in consequence of which it was condemned to receive the offal and refuse and sewage of the city, and into which the bodies of malefactors were cast and where to destroy the odor and pestilential influences,

continual fires were kept burning. Here fire, smoke, worms bred by the corruption, and other repulsive features, rendered the place a horrible one, in the eyes of the Jews. It was a locality with which they were as well acquainted. But in process of time Gehenna came to be an emblem of the consequences of sin, and to be employed figuratively by the Jews, to denote those consequences. But always in this world. The Jews never used it to mean torment after death, until long after Christ. The word had not the meaning of post-mortem torment when our Savior used it." (J.W. Hanson's, Bible Threatenings Explained). Also note, not one single time in the entire Old Testament was this word "Ge-Hinnom" translated as "hell." See Leviticus 18:21; 20:2; Joshua 15:8; 18:16; 2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6; Nehemiah 11:30; Jeremiah 7:30-33; 19:2, 6; 32:35. Every Bible reference using the word "hell" is addressed to this world. It was also employed in the time of Christ as a symbol of moral corruption and wickedness; but more especially as a figure of the terrible judgment of God on the rebellious and sinful nation of the Jews. It was a place fit only for waste. Should a Jew, God's chosen people, ever be given a burial in "Gehenna," it would be the most humiliating thing that could ever happen to him. It would be like saying to a Pharisee, that his life, his religious works, his devotion to God were completely worthless, fit only for the dump. Read the prophecy concerning the apostate Israel in Jeremiah 7:30-34: Jeremiah 7:30 For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it. Jeremiah 7:31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom (Greek = Gehenna), to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart. Jeremiah 7:32 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom (Greek = Gehenna), but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place. Jeremiah 7:33 And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away. (See Matthew 24:28). Jeremiah 7:34 Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate. (See Revelation 18:23). This passage undoubtedly refers to the literal destruction that would befall the Jewish nation in 70 A.D., when many Jews experienced literally the condemnation of Gehenna, by perishing miserably by fire and sword. Every Bible reference about hell is to this world. Only Jesus and James ever used the term Gehenna. Neither Paul, John, Peter nor Jude ever

employed it. Would they not have warned sinners concerning it, if there were a Gehenna of torment after death? Neither Christ nor His apostles ever used the term Gehenna to Gentiles, but only to Jews, which proves it is a locality known only to Jews, whereas, if it were a place of punishment after death for sinners, it would have been preached to the Gentiles as well as to Jews. The Book of Acts contains the record of the apostolic preaching, and the history of the first planting of the church among the Jews and Gentiles, and embraces a period of thirty years from the ascension of Christ. In all this history, in all this preaching of the disciples and apostles of Jesus, there is no mention of Gehenna. In thirty years of missionary effort, these men of God, addressing people of all characters and nations, never, under any circumstances, threaten them with the torments of Gehenna, or allude to it in the most distant manner! In the face of such a fact as this, can any man believe that Gehenna signifies endless punishment; and that this is a part of divine revelation, a part of the gospel message to the world? Now, if endless punishment awaits millions of the human race, and if it is denoted by this word, is it possible that only David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Malachi use the word to define punishment, in all less than a dozen times, while Job, Moses, Joshua, Ruth, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Solomon, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Hahum, Habbakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai and Zachariah NEVER employed it thus? Such silence is criminal, on the popular hypothesis. These holy men should and would have made every sentence bristle with the word, and thus have borne the awful message to the soul with an emphasis that could neither be resisted or disputed. The fact that the word is so seldom, and by so few, applied to punishment, and never in the Old Testament to punishment beyond death, demonstrates that it cannot mean endless. The Apocrypha, B.C.150-500, Philo Judaeus, A.D.40, and Josephus, A.D.70-100, all refer to future punishment, but none of them use Gehenna to describe it, which they would have done, being Jews, had the word been then in use with that meaning. Were it the name of a place of future torment then, can anyone doubt that it would be found repeatedly in their writings? And does not the fact that it is never found in their writings demonstrate that it had no such use then, and if so, does it not follow that Christ used it in no such sense? The first Christian writer who calls Hell Gehenna is Justin Martyr A.D., 140-166.. Tertullian, A.D. 200-220, was originally a Pagan; by birth, an African, and a lawyer by profession. He seems to have believed in the strictly endless punishment of the wicked, and to have argued against the doctrine of their annihilation, or, to use his own words, against the doctrine that "the wicked would be consumed, and not punished," that is, endlessly. He is the first, as far as can be ascertained, who expressly affirmed, and argued the question, that the torments of the damned would be equal in duration to the happiness of the blessed. What I find very interesting is that Jesus and James only mentioned it. Doesn't it seem

absurd that Jesus and James speaking of "hell" to the believers in Matthew 5:22, 29-30; 10:28; 9:42-47; 12:5 and James 3:6? Do they mean it literally? Seems to me when they speak of "hell", it is just figurative. It means a greater judgment while on earth, both the elect and the non-elect. Where will the wicked be punished? Proverbs 11:31, "Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner." The Scripture shows that both the righteous and the wicked are to be recompensed in the same place. Isaiah 24:21, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth." Here is a plain statement that punishment is to be administered "upon the earth" at some time. Where is hell located? Since "hell" means "the grave," scripture should describe hell as it would the grave. And in fact, this is what we find! Hell is described as being in the earth, and in the foundation of the mountains - the foundations being under the earth (Deuteronomy 32:22). Hell is deep - underground (Job 11:8). The direction of hell is down (Psalms 55:15, Ezekiel 32:21,27). Hell is low (Psalms 86:13). Hell is beneath us (Proverbs 15:24, Isaiah 14:9). Hell is a pit (Isaiah 14:15, Ezekiel 31:16). We must dig into hell (Amos 9:2). Hell (the grave) follows death (Revelation 6:8). Men and Women cannot Live in Fire, it will Burn Them Up Psalms 92:7, "When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:" Philippians 3:18-19, "...they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction..." Psalms 37:20, "But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away." When referring to Psalms 37:20, Adam Clarke's Commentary says: "If we follow the Hebreto, it intimates that they shall consume as the fat of lambs. That is, as the fat is wholly consumed in sacrifices by the fire on the altar, so shall they consume away in the fire of Gods wrath." Psalms 104:35, "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more."

Malachi 4:1, "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Matthew 13:40, "As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world." John 15:6, "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." Isaiah 66:24, "And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses 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." In Isaiah 66:24, observe that the objects to suffer the effects of the unquenchable fire and the work of the undying worms are "the carcasses of men." All must know that the "carcasses of men" are dead men . Living men are not called "carcasses." When speaking of the coming destruction of Jerusalem in Jeremiah 17:27, "...then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched ." In A.D. 70, the time came when this fearful prophecy was fulfilled. Titus intended to save the Temple, but a soldier thrust a firebrand into it, set it on fire, and it was burnt with an unquenchable fire . Is Jerusalem still burning now? Certainly not. But the fire was unquenchable . Suppose a building takes fire, and the fire is declared to be unquenchable , would any one understand that the fire would burn eternally? An unquenchable fire must necessarily burn up whatever comes within its reach, or else not produce any effect upon the object. But the wicked are compared with " tares, " " thorns ," " stubble ," etc. and never with anything that would resist fire. Other terms to describe Hell Brimstone and fire: these verses always speak of brimstone and fire coming from heaven, not hell; and this brimstone and fire is always on the earth, and never in "hell". Genesis 19:24; Deuteronomy 29:23; 2 Kings 1:12,14, Job 1:16; 18:15; Psalm 11:6; 18:13, Isaiah 30:33; 34:9; Ezekiel 38:22; Luke 17:29; Revelation 14:10; 19:20; 20:10; 21:8 Weeping and gnashing of teeth: This is always speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem when their kingdom was cast out, not in "hell". Matthew 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28. Unquenchable: is used in Leviticus 6:12-13; 2 King 22:17; 2 Chronicles 34:25; Isaiah 34:10; 42:3; 43:3; 66:24; Jeremiah 4:4; 7:20; 17:27; 21:12; Ezekiel 20:47; Matthew 12:20; Mark 9:43-48

The apparent meaning of "shall not be quenched" is: when the Lord pronounces a judgment of fire on something, that fire cannot be put out by man until it has burned everything up, leaving only ashes. Obviously, the fire at Jerusalem did go out (Jer.17:27; 52:12-13, 2 Chron.36:19-21) and Jerusalem was rebuilt seventy years later. What sinners will be unable to deliver themselves from (Isa.47:14) is the unquenchable, eternal, everlasting fire. The fire will continue to consume everything that is wicked until it is completely destroyed and turned to ashes. Jude 1:7 clearly states an example of "eternal" fire. This is the same Greek word that is used for "everlasting" fire and "everlasting" punishment as used in Matthew 18:8 and Matthew 25:41,46 (Notice hell is "everlasting punishment", and not "everlasting punishing". The punishment is eternal in its results, not in its duration. Also, in Matthew 25:41, the "everlasting fire" is prepared for the devil and his angles, and not prepared by the devil and his angels). The fire and brimstone destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and turned them into ashes (Gen.19:24). Sodom and Gomorrah was an example of what would happen to the wicked (Luke 17:29-30, 2 Peter 2:6, Jude 1:7). We know that God did not remove Sodom and Gomorrah to burn them somewhere else because Abraham could see the smoke going up "as the smoke of a furnace" (Genesis 19:28). The cities are not burning today because when everything was burned and turned into ashes, the fire, having no fuel left, went out. Another example of "everlasting destruction" (2 Thes.1:9) is; once a match is burned, it is destroyed forever, but is not being forever destroyed. The phrase "eternal torment" does not appear in the Bible. Hanson wrote, "Many suppose that the words "unquenchable fire" mean a fire of endless duration, whereas, it is a fire that cannot be quenched until its purpose is accomplished. The meaning is, not that the fire was endless, but that it was not quenched,--it continued to burn-until all the material was destroyed. So the judgments of God on the Jews were effectually done -- the nation was completely devastated and destroyed. They were like chaff of the summer threshing floor in the consuming fire of God's judgment." Josephus says, [Jewish War, B. ii, ch. xvii:6.] speaking of a fire that used to burn in the temple--though at the time he wrote [A.D.80] it had gone out, and the temple was destroyed--"Every one was accustomed to bring wood for the altar, that fuel might never be needed for the fire, for it continued always unquenchable." Strabo, (A.D. 70) described the "unquenchable lamp" that used to burn in the Parthenon, though it has long since ceased to burn. [Lib. ix: p. 606.] Plutarch, (A.D. 110) in Numa, [p. 262] speaks of places in Delphi and Athens, "where there is a fire unquenchable," (asbeston) though in the same breath he describes it as having ceased to burn. Eusebius, [A.D 325, Eccl. Hist. Lib. vi, chap. 41] in his account of the martyrdom of Cronon and Julian, at Alexandria, says they were "consumed in unquenchable fire, asbesto puri," though it burned only long enough to destroy their bodies.

Isaiah 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. Where do they look for the unquenchable fire in the above verses? On earth or in "hell"? Very clearly it is on earth, and it occurred in 70 AD. Furnace (of fire or smoke): is used in Genesis 19:28; Exodus 19:18; Psalm 21:9; Malachi 4:1; Matthew 13:42, 50; Revelation 9:2 How about this passage in Malachi? Malachi 4:1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven (See Matthew 13:42); and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. (See Jude 12-13). Malachi 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. Malachi 4:3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts. Malachi 4:4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Malachi 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet (John the Baptist) before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD (parousia of Christ): Malachi 4:6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth (land - destruction of Jerusalem) with a curse. Clearly, this occurred in the first century when Jerusalem was destroyed. It is no where said that God has a furnace in eternity, in which to burn souls. For ever and everlasting: Does "forever" always mean never ending? No. In the Bible, "for ever" is used where it has the meaning of lasting only as long as the duration of the event or as long as the man lives. Jonah calls "three days and three nights", "forever" (Jonah 1:17; 2:6). Hannah clearly explains what she means by the term "forever" when she says in verse 28, "as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord" (1 Sam. 1:22,28). Here "forever" is "ten generations" (Deut. 23:3). "Forever" obviously is as long as David lived (1 Chron. 28:4). Leprosy lasted for Gehazi as long as he lived (2 Kings 5:27). Its apparent that the meaning of the word is determined by the context in which it is used (Exo. 21:5-6, Deut. 15:16-17, Philem. 1:10,11,15). Revelation 20:10 can agree with Ezekiel 28:18 by interpreting "for ever" as meaning "as long as they last in the fire or until the fire has burned them up

completely." This is a good example of letting scripture interpret itself. More Studies on Forever and Everlasting Aion (Greek New Testament) / Oham = Hebrew (Hebrew Old Testament) [most Bibles put "forever" or "everlasting"]: First we need to check the background of these words: Before the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek (200-300 B.C., according to Prideaux, or during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, 285-247 B. C., say other authorities) this word aionion was in common use by the Greeks. Homer, Hesiod, Aeschylus, Pindar, Sophocles, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Empedocles, Euripedes, Philoctetes, and Plato, all use the word, but never once does one of them give it the sense of eternity. Aristotle: "The entire heaven is one and eternal (aidios) having neither beginning nor end of an entire aion." And still more to the purpose is this quotation concerning God's existence: "Life and 'an aion continuous and eternal, zoe kai aion sunekes kai aidios.'" Here the word aidios, (eternal) is employed to qualify aion and impart to it what it had not of itself, the sense of eternal. Aristotle could be guilty of no such language as "an eternal eternity." Had the word aion contained the idea of eternity in his time, or in his mind, he would not have added aidios. Josephus and Philo, Jewish Greeks, who wrote between the Old and New Testaments, use the word aionion with the meaning of temporal duration, always. Alluding to the Pharisees, Josephus says: "They believe that the wicked are detained in an everlasting prison (eirgmon aidion) subject to eternal punishment" (aidios timoria) and the Essenes (another, Jewish sect) "Allotted to bad souls a dark, tempestuous place, full of never-ceasing punishment (timoria adialeipton) where they suffer a deathless punishment, (athanaton timorian)." Philo, who was contemporary with Christ, generally used aidion to denote endless, and always used aionion to describe temporary duration. Dr. Mangey, in his edition of Philo, says he never used aionion for interminable duration. He uses the exact phraseology of Matthew 25:46, precisely as Christ used it. "It is better not to promise than not to give prompt assistance, for no blame follows in the former case, but in the latter there is dissatisfaction from the weaker class, and a deep hatred and everlasting punishment (kolasis aionios) from such as are more powerful." Here we have the exact terms employed by our word, to show that aionion did not mean endless but did mean limited duration in the time of Christ. You may point to Jude 6. "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."

Hanson wrote, "The word here rendered "everlasting" is not aionios, temporary duration, but aidios, whose intrinsic meaning is endless. It is found in one other place in the New Testament, Romans 1:20, "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead." Now it must be admitted that this word among the Greeks had the sense of eternal, and should be understood as having that meaning wherever found, unless by express limitation it is shorn of its proper meaning. It is further admitted that had aidios occurred where aionios does, there would be no escape from the conclusion that the New Testament teaches Endless Punishment. It is further admitted that the word is here used in the exact sense of aionios, as is seen in the succeeding verse: "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of aionian fire." That is to say, the "aidios chains" in verse 6 are "even as" durable as the "aionion fire" in verse 7. Which word modifies the other? 1) The construction of the language shows that the latter word limits the former. The aidios chains are even as the aionion fire. As if one should say "I have been infinitely troubled, I have been vexed for an hour," or "He is an endless talker, he can talk five yours on a stretch." Now while "infinitely" and "endless" usually convey the sense of unlimited, they are here limited by what follows, as aidios, eternal, is limited by aionios, indefinitely long. 2) That this is the correct exegesis is evident from still another limitation of the word. "The angels...he hath reserved in everlasting chains unto the judgment of the great day." Had Jude said that the angels are held in aidios chains, and stopped there, not limiting the word, it might be claimed that he taught their eternal imprisonment. But when he limits the duration by aionios and them expressly states that it is only unto a certain date, it follows that the imprisonment will terminate, even though we find applied to it a word that intrinsically signifies eternal duration, and that was used by the Greeks to convey the idea of eternity, and was attached to punishment by the Greek Jews of our Savior's times, to describe endless punishment, in which they were believers. But observe, while this word aidios was in universal use among the Greek Jews of our Savior's day, to convey the idea of eternal duration, and was used by them to teach endless punishment, Jesus never allowed himself to use it in connection with punishment, nor did any of his disciples but one, and he but once, and then carefully and expressly limited its meaning. Can demonstration go further than this to show that Jesus carefully avoided the phraseology by which his contemporaries described the doctrine of endless punishment?" And as for the attributes of God it is quite simple. God is before the ages, he created the ages, he himself wasn't created, he's the King of the Ages, he spoke the ages into being, he has no beginning, he has no end, he is the self-existent one, etc. Therefore "olam" and

"aionion" when applied to God (and His kingdom) denote "infinity" or "eternality" because of the object in view. There are too many scriptures to mention them all using the term "forever" or "everlasting." Here are just a few as examples: "We see the word "everlasting" applied to God's covenant with the Jews; to the priesthood of Aaron; to the statutes of Moses; to the time the Jews were to possess the land of Canaan; to the mountains and hills; and to the doors of the Jewish temple. We see the word forever applied to the duration of a man's earthly existence; to the time a child was to abide in the temple; to the continuance of Gehazi's leprosy; to the duration of the life of David; to the duration of a king's life; to the duration of the earth; to the time the Jews were to possess the land of Canaan; to the time they were to dwell in Jerusalem; to the time a servant was to abide with his master; to the time Jerusalem was to remain a city; to the duration of the Jewish temple; to the laws and ordinances of Moses; to the time David was to be king over Israel; to the throne of Solomon; to the stones that were set up at Jordan; to the time the righteous were to inhabit the earth; and to the time Jonah was in the fish's belly. "We find the phrase forever and ever applied to the hosts of heaven, or the sun, moon, and stars; to a writing contained in a book; to the smoke that went up from the burning land of Idumea; and to the time the Jews were to dwell in Judea. We find the word never applied to the time the fire was to burn on the Jewish altar; to the time the sword was to remain in the house of David; to God's covenant with the Jews; to the time the Jews should not experience shame; to the time the house of David was to reign over Israel; to the time the Jews were not to open their mouths because of their shame; to the time those who fell by death should remain in their fallen state; and to the time judgment was not executed. "But the law covenant is abolished; the priesthood of Aaron and his sons has ceased; the ordinances, and laws, and statutes of Moses are abrogated; the Jews have long since been dispossessed of the land of Canaan, have been driven from Judea, and God has brought upon them a reproach and a shame; the man to the duration of whose life the word forever was applied is dead; David is dead, and has ceased to reign over Israel; the throne of Solomon no longer exists; the Jewish temple is demolished, and Jerusalem has been overthrown, so that there is not left "one stone upon another;" the servants of the Jews have been freed from their masters; Gehazi is dead, and no one believes he carried his leprosy with him into the future world; the stones that were set up at Jordan have been removed, and the smoke that went up from the burning land of Idumea has ceased to ascend; the righteous do not inherit the earth endlessly, and no one believes that the mountains and hills, as such, are indestructible; the fire that burnt on the Jewish altar has long since ceased to burn; judgment has been executed; and no Christian believes that those who fall by death will never be awakened from their slumbers. "Now, as these words are used in this limited sense in the Scriptures, why should it be supposed that they express endless duration when applied to punishment?" (Thomas B.

Thayer - The Origin and History of the Doctrine of Endless Punishment). See Everlasting. Gen. 17:7, 8, 13; 48:4; 49:26; Exod. 40:15; LeV 16:34; Numb. 25:13; Ps. 24:7; Hab. 3:6. Forever. - Deut. 15:17; 1 Sam. 1:22; 27:12; Lev 25:46; 2 Kings 5:27; Job 41:4; 1 Kings 1:31; Neh. 2:3; Dan. 2:4; Exod. 14:13; Eccl 1:4; Ps. 104:5; 78:69; Ezek. 37:25; Gen. 13:15; Exod. 32:13; Josh. 14:9; 1 Chron. 23:25; Jer. 17:25; Ps. 48:8; Jer. 31:40; 1 Kings 8:13; Numb. 10:8;18:23; 1 Chron. 28:4; 1 Kings 9:5; Josh. 4:7; Jonah 2:6; Ps. 37:29. Forever and ever. Ps. 148:5, 6; Isa. 30:8; 34:10; Jer. 7:7; 25:5. Never. - LeV 6:13; 2 Sam. 12:10; Judges 2:1; Joel 2:26, 27; Jer. 33:17; Ezek. 16:63; Amos 8:14; Hab. 1:4. Hanson wrote, "All these and numerous other eternal, everlasting things -- things that were to last forever, and to which the various aionion words are applied--have now ended, and if these hundreds of instances must denote limited duration why should the few times in which punishments are spoken of have any other meaning? Even if endless duration were the intrinsic meaning of the word, all intelligent readers of the Bible would perceive that the word must be employed to denote limited duration in the passages above cited. And surely in the very few times in which it is connected with punishment it must have a similar meaning." These following words and passages are applied to the kind of life we have: Heb. 7:15-16, "And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchizedek there ariseth another priest, who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless (akatalutos, imperishable) life." 1 Pet. 1:3-4, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, (aphtharton) and undefiled, and that fadeth not (amaranton) away." 1 Pet. 5:4, "and when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not (amarantinos) away." 1 Tim. 1:17, "Now unto the King eternal, immortal (aphtharto), invisible, the only wise God be honor and glory forever and ever, Amen." Rom. 1:23, "And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man." Rom. 2:7, "To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality (aptharsain) eternal life." 1 Cor. 9:25, "Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible." 1 Cor. 15:42, "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption (aphtharsian)." See also verse 50. 1 Cor. 15:51-54, "Behold I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all

be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, (aphthartoi) and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, (aphtharsian) and this mortal must put on immortality (athanasian) So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, (aphtharsian) and this mortal shall have put on immortality, (athanasian) then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." 2 Tim. 1:10, "Hath brought life and immortality (aphtharisan) to light, through the gospel." 1 Tim. 6:16, "Who only hath immortality (athanasian)." Now these words are applied to God and the soul's happiness. They are words that in the Bible are never applied to punishment or anything perishable. They would have been affixed to punishment had the Bible intended to teach endless punishment. And certainly they show the error of those who declare that the indefinite word aionion is all the word, or the strongest one in the Bible, declarative of the endlessness of life beyond the grave. Aren't those who do not hear or accept the Gospel doomed by God? In the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), when the younger son demanded his inheritance and left home to indulge in riotous living, he was not stopped by his father. His father did not chase him away yelling, "You good-for-nothing impudent, rebellious ass of a boy! You'll burn in hell!" Not at all. Not even remotely. The father did not threaten the boy with hell-fire and damnation -- why should he? He knew that the boy was going to create this for himself all on his own. Instead, he let the boy go in peace with the freedom to think, feel, and act as he pleased, without recrimination. What do you imagine the boy would have thought some time later, when he had lost everything -- money, friends, and self-respect -- if, when in the depths of desperation, he called to mind his father, and heard echoing through his head, "You no-good-for-nothing impudent, rebellious ass of a boy! You'll burn in hell!" Think about it for a moment. And then ask yourself the question: What was it that made the boy want to return home in the story that Jesus told? Was it the picture of a father breathing hell and damnation or of a sorrowful man who loved him enough to give him his freedom to do as he pleased? We are not in the position of passing ultimate judgment on any man. We do not know how God will judge a man or woman in the eternities because we lack those omniscient, omnipotent, all-loving keys of love. To be sure we are called to make some local judgments of individuals that affect the welfare of the Body (Church), our families, and our countries, but we have never been given the mandate to pass judgment on any individual in his relationship to eternity. Never! And I challenge anyone to show me in the scripture where we have been given that mandate. That Prodigal Son would never have come home had the last picture of his father been of a vengeful, condemning ogre. Once he had realized his stupidity, his egotism, his selfishness,

his rudeness -- yes, his rebelliousness and his being an "ass-head" for himself -- he had only one picture to fall on that would entice him home into loving care -- the picture of a sorrowful but loving father. It is a serious mistake to conclude that a man is lost just because he rejects our preaching. Have we suddenly become gods whose message cannot be refused on pain of everlasting destruction? We do not know the background of anyone fully. We do not, in truth, know the path any single soul has walked within himself. Only God knows that. There are times and seasons when a soul is receptive to the Word, times and seasons which God alone knows. Anyone who calls him- or herself a Christian must be sensitive to these things to be any use to either man or God. There are ways to warn people of the consequences of sin that will endear them to God and cause them to repent, and there are ways that will turn them off Him altogether and encourage them to rebel all the more -- because they simply can't see the love in the inadequate human visions of eternity. God's chief purpose is to reveal His love to us -- to "draw" us to Him, not to "compel" us to Him. The god of the whip has another name. It is not for us to judge men whether they are fit for heaven or hell. That is none of our business, and I would even venture to suggest that those who act as God in this way run the risk of finding themselves in that place they are so busily condemning others to. It is our duty to warn them not to do it and to protect innocent people from them. God will convict people of sin in His own way that will lead to genuine and not plastic repentance. Our job is to point people to the Saviour and His Law and invite them to receive, of their own free will and desire, the Gospel of Salvation themselves. It should be comforting to us, knowing that nobody will have a consciousness after death. The thought of my loved ones looking down on me, and seeing the things I do wrong while they are totally helpless to do anything or even give advice, is comforting. To have a loving mother be conscious of her loving son, while her son she loved so much is burning in hell forever, is not a comforting thought. To me, that would be a living hell for her. In conclusion, there is no conclusive or explicit proof in scripture that says people will have a consciousness after death. In addition, Only God Himself will determine what happens to us after we die. Opinions about what may or may not happen to us, or to others, after death, is just that...opinions. For nobody really knows what will happen except God Himself. THE BIBLE HELL The words rendered hell in the bible, sheol, hadees, tartarus, and gehenna, shown to denote a state of temporal duration. PREFACE

The brief excursus on the word "Hell" contained in this volume, aims to treat the subject in a popular style, and at the same time to present all the important facts, so fully and comprehensively that any reader can obtain in a few pages a birds-eye-view of "The Bible Hell." The author ventures to hope that any one who will read candidly, not permitting the bias of an erroneous education to warp his judgment, will not fail to agree with the conclusions of this book,----that the doctrine of unending sin and woe finds no support in the Bible teachings concerning Hell. THE BIBLE HELL Does the Bible teach the idea commonly held among Christians concerning Hell? Does the Hell of the Bible denote a place of torment, or a condition of suffering without end, to begin at death? What is the Hell of the Bible? Manifestly the only way to arrive at the correct answer is to trace the words translated Hell from the beginning to the end of the Bible, and by their connections ascertain exactly what the divine Word teaches on this important subject. It seems incredible that a wise and benevolent God should have created or permitted any kind of an endless hell in his universe. Has he done so? Do the Scripture teachings concerning Hell stain the character of God and clothe human destiny with an impenetrable pall of darkness, by revealing a state or place of endless torment? Or do they explain its existence, and relieve God's character, and dispel all the darkness of misbelief, by teaching that it exists as a means to a good end? It is our belief that the Bible Hell is not the heathen, nor the "orthodox" hell, but is one that is doomed to pass away when its purpose shall have been accomplished, in the reformation of those for whose welfare a good God ordained it. THE ENGLISH WORD HELL The English word Hell grew into its present meaning. Horne Tooke says that hell, heel, hill, hole, whole, hall, hull, halt and hold are all from the same root. "Hell, any place, or some place covered over. Heel, that part of the foot which is covered by the leg. Hill, any heap of earth, or stone, etc., by which the plain or level surface of the earth is covered. Hale, i.e., healed or whole. Whole, the same as hale, i.e., covered. It was formerly written whole, without the w, as a wound or sore is healed, or whole, that is, covered over by the skin, which manner of expression will not seem extraordinary if we consider our use of the word recover. Hall, a covered building, where persons assemble, or where goods are protected from the weather. Hull, of a nut, etc. That by which a nut is covered. Hole, some place covered over. 'You shall seek for holes to hide your heads in.' Holt, holed, hol'd holt. A rising ground or knoll covered with trees. Hold, as the hold of a ship, in which things are covered, or the covered part of a ship." The word was first applied to the grave by our German and English ancestors, and as superstition came to regard the grave as an entrance to a world of torment, Hell at length became the word used to denote an imaginary realm of fiery woe.

Dr. Adam Clarke says: "The word Hell, used in the common translation, conveys now an improper meaning of the original word; because Hell is only used to signify the place of the damned. But as the word Hell comes from the Anglo-Saxon helan, to cover, or hide, henee the tiling or slating of a house is called, in some parts of England (particularly Cornwall), heling, to this day, and the corers of books (in Lancashire), by the same name, so the literal import of the original word hades was formerly well expressed by it."---Com. in loc. FOUR WORDS TRANSLATED HELL In the Bible four words are translated Hell: the Hebrew word Sheol, in the original Old testament; its equivalent, the Greek word Hadees, in the Septuagint; and in the New Testament, Hadees, Gehenna and Tartarus. SHEOL AND HADEES The Hebrew Old Testament, some three hundred years before the Christian era, was translated into Greek, but of the sixty-four instances where Sheol occurs in the Hebrew, it is rendered Hadees in the Greek sixty times, so that either word is the equivalent of the other. But neither of these words is ever used in the Bible to signify punishment after death, nor should the word Hell ever be used as the rendering of Sheol or Hadees for neither word denotes post-mortem torment. According to the Old Testament the words Sheol, Hadees primarily signify only the place, or state of the dead. The character of those who departed thither did not affect their situation in Sheol, for all went into the same state. The word cannot be translated by the term Hell, for that would make Jacob expect to go to a place of torment, and prove that the Savior of the world, David, Jonah, etc., were once sufferers in the prison-house of the damned. In every instance in the Old Testament, the word grave might be substituted for the term hell, either in a literal or figurative sense. The word being a proper name should always have been left untranslated. Hid it been carried into the Greek Septuagint, and thence into the English, untranslated, Sheol, a world of misconception would have been avoided, for when it is rendered Hadees, all the materialism of the heathen mythology is suggested to the mind, and when rendered Hell, the medieval monstrosities of a Christianity corrupted by heathen adulterations is suggested. Had the word been permitted to travel untranslated, no one would give to it the meaning now so often applied to it. Sheol, primarily, literally, the grave, or death, secondarily and figuratively the political, social, moral or spiritual consequences of wickedness in the present world, is the precise force of the term, wherever found. Sheol occurs exactly sixty-four times and is translated hell thirty-two times, pit three times, and grave twenty-nine times. Dr. George Campbell, a celebrated critic, says that "Sheol signifies the state of the dead in general, without regard to the goodness or badness of the persons, their happiness or misery." FIVE OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS CLAIMED

Professor Stuart (orthodox Congregational) only dares claim five out of the sixty-four passages as affording any proof that the word means a place of punishment after death. "These," he says, "may designate the future world of woe." "They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to Sheol." "The wicked shall be turned into Sheol, and all the nations that forget God." "Her feet go down to death, her steps take hold of Sheol." "But he knoweth that the ghosts are there, and that her guests are in the depths of Sheol." "Thou shalt beat him with a rod, and shall deliver his soul from Sheol. He observes: "The meaning will be a good one, if we suppose Sheol to designate future punishment." "I concede, to interpret all the texts which exhibit Sheol as having reference merely to the grave, is possible; and therefore it is possible to interpret" them "as designating a death violent and premature, inflicted by the hand of Heaven." An examination shows that these five passages agree with the rest in their meaning: Ps. 9:17: "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." The wicked here are "the heathen," "mine enemies," i.e.; they are not individuals, but "the nations that forget God," that is, neighboring nations, the heathen. They will be turned into Sheol, death, die as nations, for their wickedness. Individual sinners are not meant. Professor Alexander, of the Theological Seminary, Princeton, thus presents the correct translation of Ps. 9:17, the only passage containing the word usually quoted from the Old Testament to convey the idea of post-mortem punishment. "The wicked shall turn back, even to hell, to death or to the grave, all nations forgetful of God. The enemies of God and of his people shall not only be thwarted and repulsed, but driven to destruction, and that not merely individuals, but nations." Dr. Allen, of Bowdoin College says of this text: "The punishment expressed in this passage is cutting off from life, destroying from the earth by some special judgment, and removing to the invisible state of the dead. The Hebrew term translated hell in the text does not seem to mean, with any certainty, anything more than the state of the dead in their deep abode." Professor Stuart: "It means a violent and premature death inflicted by the hand of heaven." Job 21:13: "They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave." It would seem that no one could claim this text as a threat of after-death punishment. It is a mere declaration of sudden death. This is evident when we remember that it was uttered to a people who, according to all authorities, believed in no punishment after death. Proverbs 5: 5: "her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell." This language, making death and Sheol parallel, announces that the strange woman walks in paths of swift and inevitable sorrow and death. And so does Prov. 9:18: "But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell." Sheol is here used as a figure of emblem of the horrible condition and fate of those who follow the ways of sin. They are dead while they live. They are already in Sheol or the kingdom of death. Proverbs 23: 13-14: "Withhold not correction from the child; for if thou beatest him with the

rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell." Sheol is here used as the grave, to denote the death that rebellious children experience early, or it may mean that moral condition of the soul which Sheol, the realm of death signifies. But in no case is it supposable that it means a place or condition of after-death punishment in which, as all scholars agree, Solomon was not a believer. MEANING OF THE WORD The real meaning of the word Stuart concedes to be the under-world, the religion of the dead, the grave, the sepulcher, the region of ghosts or departed spirits. (Ex. Ess.): "It was considered as a vast and wide dominion or region, of which the grave seems to have been as it were only a part or a kind of entrance-way. It appears to have been regarded as extending deep down into the earth, even to its lowest abysses. . . . . In this boundless region lived and moved at times, the names of departed friends." But these five passages teach no such doctrine as he thinks they may teach. The unrighteous possessor of wealth goes down to death; the nations that forget God are destroyed as nations; lewd women's steps lead downward to death; their guests are on the downward road; the rod that wisely corrects the unruly child, saves him from the destruction of sin. There is no hint of an endless hell, nor of a post-mortem hell in these passages, and if not in these five then it is conceded it is in no passage containing the word. That the Hebrew Sheol never designates a place of punishment in a future state of existence, we have the testimony of the most learned of scholars, even among the so-called orthodox. We quote the testimony of a few: Rev. Dr. Whitby: "Sheol throughout the Old Testament, signifies not a place of punishment for the souls of bad men only, but the grave, or place of death." Dr Chapman: "Sheol, in itself considered has no connection with future punishment." Dr. Allen: "The term Sheol itself, does not seem to mean anything more than the state of the dead in their dark abode." Dr. Firbairn, of the College of Glasgow: "Beyond doubt, Sheol, like Hades, was regarded as the abode after death, alike of the good and the bad." Edward Leigh, who says Horne's, "Introduction," was "one of the most learned understanding of the original languages of the Scriptures," observes that "all learned Hebrew scholars know the Hebrews have no proper word for hell, as we take hell." Prof. Stuart: "There can be no reasonable doubt that Sheol does most generally mean the underworld, the grave or sepulchre, the world of the dead. It is very clear that there are many passages where no other meaning can reasonably be assigned to it. Accordingly, our English translators have rendered the word Sheol grave in thirty instances out of the whole sixty-four instances in which it occurs." Dr. Thayer in his Theology of Universalism quotes as follows: Dr. Whitby says that Hell "throughout the Old Testament signifies the grave only or the place of death." Archbishop

Whately: "As for a future state of retribution in another world, Moses said nothing to the Israelites about that." Milman says that Moses "maintains a profound silence on the rewards and punishments of another life." Bishop Warburton testifies that, "In the Jewish Republic, both the rewards and punishments promised by Heaven were temporal only-such as health, long life, peace, plenty and dominion, etc., diseases, premature death, war, famine, want, subjections, captivity, etc. And in no one place of the Mosaic Institutes is there the least mention, or any intelligible hint, of the rewards and punishments of another life." Paley declares that the Mosaic dispensation "dealt in temporal rewards and punishments. The blessings consisted altogether of worldly benefits, and the curses of worldly punishments. Prof. Mayer says, that "the rewards promised the righteous, and the punishments threatened the wicked, are such only as are awarded in the present state of being." Jahn, whose work is the textbook of the Andover Theological Seminary, says, "We have no authority, therefore, decidedly to say, that any other motives were held out to the ancient Hebrews to pursue good and avoid evil, than those which were derived from the rewards and punishments of this life." To the same important fact testify Prof. Wines, Bush, Arnauld, and other distinguished theologians and scholars. "All learned Hebrew scholars know that the Hebrews have no word proper for hell, as we take hell." [Footnote: Encyc. Britan., vol. 1. Dis. 3 Whateley's "Peculiarities of the Christian Religion," p.44, 2d edition, and his "Scripture Revelations of a Future State," pp. 18, 19, American edition. MILMAN'S "Hist. of Jews," vol. 1, 117. "Divine Legation," vol. 3, pp. 1, 2 & c. 10th London edition. PALEY'S works, vol. 5. p. 110, Sermon 13. Jahn's "Archaeology," 324. Lee, in his "Eschatology," says: "It should be remembered that the rewards and punishments of the Mosaic Institutes were exclusively temporal. Not an allusion is found, in the case of either individuals or communities, in which reference is made to the good or evil of a future state as motive to obedience."] Dr. Muenscher, author of a Dogmatic History in German, says: "The souls or shades of the dead wander in Sheol, the realm or kingdom of death, an abode deep under the earth. Thither go all men, without distinction, and hope for no return. There ceases all pain and anguish; there reigns an unbroken silence; there all is powerless and still; and even the praise of God is heard no more." Von Coelln: "Sheol itself is described as the house appointed for all living, which receives into its bosom all mankind, without distinction of rank, wealth or moral character. It is only in the mode of death, and not in the condition after death, that the good are distinguished above the evil. The just, for instance, die in peace, and are gently borne away before the evil comes; while a bitter death breaks the wicked like as a tree." SHEOL RENDERED GRAVE Consult the passages in which the word is rendered grave, and substitute the original word Sheol, and it will be seen that the meaning is far better preserved: Gen. 37: 34-35: "And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sack-cloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. 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." It was not into the literal grave, but into the realm of the dead, where Jacob supposed his son to have gone, into which he wished to go, namely, to Sheol. Gen. 42:38 and 44: 31, are to the same purport: "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." "It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave." The literal grave may be meant here, but had Sheol remained untranslated, any reader would have understood the sense intended. I Samuel 2: 6: "The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up." I Kings 2: 6-9: "Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace. Now therefore hold him not guiltless: for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him; but his hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood." Job 7: 9: "As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more." Job 14: 13: "Oh that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me." Of Korah and his company, it is said, "They and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the congregation."-Num. 16: 33. Job 17: 13-14: "If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister." Job 21: 13: "They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave." Job 33: 21-22: "His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen: and his bones that were not seen stick out. Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his lie to the destroyers." Ps. 6: 5: "In the grave who shall give thee thanks?" Ps. 30: 3: "O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit." Ps. 88: 3: "For my soul is full of troubles, and my soul draweth nigh to the grave." Prov. 1: 12: "Let us swallow them up alive as the grave." Ps. 20: 3: "In the grave who shall give thee thanks?" Ps. 141: 7: "Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth." Song Sol. 8: 6: "Jealousy is cruel as the grave." Ecc. 9: 10: "There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Isa. 38: 18: "For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth." Hos. 14: 14: "I will ransom them from the power of the grave-O grave, I will be thy destruction." Job 33: 22: "His soul (man's) draweth near unto the grave." I Kings 2: 9: "But his hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood." Job 24: 19: "Drought and heat consume the snow-waters; so doth the grave those which have sinned." Psalm 6: 5: "For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks." Psalm 31: 17: "Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave." Psalm 89: 48: "What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the

grave? Prov. 30:16: "The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not. It is enough." Isa. 14: 11: "Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols; the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee." On Isa. 38: 18: "For the Grave (Sheol, Hadees) cannot praise thee; death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth." Prof. Stuart says: "I regard the simple meaning of this controverted place (and of others like it, e.g., Ps. 6: 5; 30: 9; 88: 11; 115: 7; Comp. 118: 17) as being this namely, "The dead can no more give thanks to God nor celebrate his praise among the living on earth, etc." And he properly observes (pp. 113-14): "It is to be regretted that our English translation has given occasion to the remark that those who made it have intended to impose on their readers in any case a sense different from that of the original Hebrew. The inconstancy with which they have rendered the word Sheol even in cases of the same nature, must obviously afford some apparent ground for this objection against their version of it." Why the word should have been rendered grave and pit in the foregoing passages, and hell in the rest, cannot be explained. Why it is not grave or hell, or better still Sheol or Hadees in all cases, no one can explain, for there is no valid reason. SHEOL RENDERED HELL The first time the word is found translated Hell in the Bible is in Deut. 32: 22-26: "For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest Hell, Sheol-Hadees, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap mishiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. The sword without and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs. I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men." Thus the lowest Hell is on earth, and its torments consist in such pains as are only possible in this life: "hunger," "the teeth of beasts," "the poison of serpents," "the sword," etc.; and not only are real offenders to suffer them, but even "sucklings" are to be involved in the calamity. If endless torment is denoted by the word, infant damnation follows, for into this hell "the suckling and the man of gray hairs go," side by side. The scattering and destruction of the Israelites, in this world, is the meaning of fire in the lowest hell, as any reader can see by carefully consulting the chapter containing this first instance of the use of the word. Similar to this are the teachings wherever the word occurs in the Old Testament: "For thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell nor suffer thine holy one to see corruption." Ps. 16:10. Here "corruption" is placed parallel with Sheol, or death. "Though they dig into Hell, thence shall my hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down." Amos 9:2. "If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I

make my bed in Hell, behold, thou art there." Ps. 139: 8. "It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than Hell; what canst thou know." Job 11:8 The sky and the depths of the earth are here placed in opposition, to represent height and depth. A place of torment after death was never thought of by any of those who use the word in the Old Testament. If the word means a place of endless punishment, then David was a monster. Ps. 55:15: "Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into Sheol-Hadees!" Job desired to go there. 14:13: "Oh, that thou wouldst hide me in Sheol-Hadees. Hezekiah expected to go there.-Isa 38:10: "I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of Sheol-Hadees. Korah, Dathan and Abiram (Numbers 16: 30-33) not only went there "but their houses, and goods, and all that they owned," "and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into Sheol-Hadees, and the earth closed upon them; and they perished from among the congregation." It is in the dust-Job 17: 16: "They shall go down to the bars of Sheol-Hadees, when our rest together is in the dust." It has a mouth, is in fact the grave, see Ps. 141: 7: "Our bones are scattered at Sheol'sHadees' mouth , as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth." It has gray hairs, Gen. 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 which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol-Hadees." The overthrow of the King of Babylon is called Hell.-Isa. 14: 9-15, 22-23: "Hell, SheolHadees, from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming; it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak and say unto thee, art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols; the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. For I will rise up against them saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the Lord. I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts." All this imagery demonstrates temporal calamity, a national overthrow as the signification of the word Hell. The captivity of the Jews is called Hell.-Isa. 5: 13-14: "Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore Sheol- Hadees, hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. Temporal overthrow is called Hell.-Ps. 49: 14: "Likesheep they are laid in the grave, death

shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in Sheol-Hadees, from their dwelling." Ezek. 32: 26-27: "And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to Sheol-Hadees with their weapons of war, and they have laid their swords under their heads." Men are in hell with their swords under their heads. This cannot mean a state of conscious suffering. Hell is to be destroyed. Hos. 13: 14: "Oh grave I will be thy destruction." I Cor. 15: 55: "Oh grave I will be thy destruction." Rev. 20: 13,14: "And death and Hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire." Sheol is precisely the same word as Saul. If it meant Hell, would any Hebrew parent have called his child Sheol? Think of calling a boy Sheol (Hell)! Nowhere in the Old Testament does the word Sheol, or its Greek equivalent, Hadees, ever denote a place or condition of suffering after death; it either means literal death or temporal calamity. This is clear as we consult the usage. Hence David, after having been in Hell was delivered from it: Ps. 18: 5; 30: 3: "O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave; thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. When the waves of death compassed me the floods of ungodly men made me afraid." "The sorrows of Hell, Sheol-Hadees compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me," so that there is escape from Hell." Jonah was in a fish only seventy hours, and declared he was in hell forever. He escaped from Hell. Jon. 2: 2, 6: "Out of the belly of Hell (Sheol-Hadees) cried I, and thou heardest my voice, earth with her bars was about me forever." Even an eternal Hell lasted but three days. It is a place where God is and therefore must be an instrumentality of mercy. Ps. 139: 8: "If I make my bed In Hell (Sheol-Hadees), behold thou art there." Men having gone into it are redeemed from it. I Sam. 2: 6: "The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave (Sheol-Hadees) and bringeth up." Jacob wished to go there.-Gen. 37: 35: "I will go down into the grave Hades unto my son mourning." ALL THE SHEOL TEXTS Besides the passages already given, we now record all the other places in which the word Sheol-Hadees, occurs. It is translated Hell in the following passages: Ps. 86: 13: "Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest Hell." Ps. 156: 3: "The pains of Hell got hold on me: I found trouble and sorrow." Prov. 15: 11, 24: "Hell and destruction are before the Lord. The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from Hell beneath." Prov. 23: 14: "Thou shalt beat him, and deliver his soul from Hell." Prov. 27: 20: "Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied." Isa. 28: 15, 18: "Because ye have said, We have

made a covenant with death, and with Hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with Hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it." Isaiah 57: 9: "Thou didst debase thyself even unto hell." Ezek. 31: 16-17: "I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth. They also went down into Hell with him, unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen." Jonah says, "Out of the belly of Hell cried I, and thou heardest me."-Jon. 2: 2. Hab. 2: 5: "Yea, also because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as Hell and is as death, and cannot be satisfied." We believe we have recorded every passage in which the word Sheol-Hadees occurs. Suppose the original word stood, and we read Sheol or Hadees in all the passages instead of Hell, would any unbiassed reader regard the word as conveying the idea of a place or state of endless torment after death, such as the English word Hell is so generally supposed to denote? Such a doctrine was never held by the ancient Jews, until after the Babylonish captivity, during which they acquired it of the heathen. All scholars agree that Moses never taught it, and that it is not contained in the Old Testament. Thus not one of the sixty-four passages containing the only word rendered Hell in the entire Old Testament, teaches any such thought as is commonly supposed to be contained in the English word Hell. It should have stood the proper name of the realm of death, Sheol. 1. Men in the Bible are said to be in hell, Sheol-Hadees, and in "The lowest hell," while on earth. Deut. 32: 22; Jon. 2: 2; Rev. 6: 8. 2. Men have been in Hell, Sheol-Hadees, and yet have escaped from it. Ps. 18: 5, 6; II Sam. ; Jon 2: 2; Ps. 116: 3; 86: 12-13. Ps. 30: 3; Rev. 20: 13. 3. God delivers men from Hell, Sheol-Hadees. I Sam. 2: 6. 4. All men are to go there. No one can escape the Bible Hell, Sheol-Hadees. Ps. 89: 48. 5. There can be no evil there for there is no kind of work there. Eccl. 9: 10. 6. Christ's soul was said to be in Hell, Sheol-Hadees. Acts 2: 27-28. 7. No one in the Bible ever speaks of Hell, Sheol-Hadees as a place of punishment after death. 8. It is a way of escape from punishment. Amos 9: 2. 9. The inhabitants of Hell, Sheol-Hadees are eaten of worms, vanish and are consumed

away. Job 7: 9, 21; Ps. 49: 14. 10. Hell, Sheol-Hadees is a place of rest. Job 17: 16. 11. It is a realm of unconsciousness. Ps. 6: 5; Is. 38: 18; Eccl. 9: 10. 12. All men will be delivered from this Hell. Hos. 13: 14. 13. Hell, Sheol-Hadees, will be destroyed. Hos. 13: 14; I Cor. 15: 55; Rev. 20: 14. At the time these declarations were made, and universally accepted by the Hebrews, the surrounding nations all held entirely different doctrines. Egypt, Greece, Rome, taught that after death there is a fate in store for the wicked that exactly resembles that taught by socalled orthodox Christians. But the entire Old testament is utterly silent on the subject, teaching nothing of the sort as the sixty-four passages we have quoted show and as the critics of all churches admit. And yet "Moses was learned in all the wisdom in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7: 22) who believed in a world of torment after death. If Moses knew all about this Egyptian doctrine, and did not teach it to his followers, what is the unavoidable inference? TESTIMONY OF SCHOLARS Dr. Strong says, that not only Moses, but "every Israelite who came out of Egypt, must have been fully acquainted with the universally recognized doctrine of future rewards and punishments." And yet Moses is utterly silent on the subject. Dr. Thayer remarks: "Is it possible to imagine a more conclusive proof against the divine origin of the doctrine? If he had believed it to be of God, if he had believed in endless torments as the doom of the wicked after death, and had received this as a revelation from heaven, could he have passed it over in silence? Would he have dared to conceal it, or treat so terrible a subject with such marked contempt? And what motive could he have had for doing this? I cannot conceive of a more striking evidence of the fact that the doctrine is not of God. He knew whence the monstrous dogma came, and he had seen enough of Egypt already, and would have no more of her cruel superstitions; and so he casts this out, with her abominable idolatries, as false and unclean things." So that while the Old Testament talks of ten thousand things of small importance, it has not a syllable nor a whisper of what ought to have been told first of all and most of all and continually. No one is said to have gone to such a place as is now denoted by the word Hell, or to be going to it, or saved from it, or exposed to it. To say that the Hell taught by partialist Christians existed before Christ, is to accuse God of having permitted his children for four thousand years to tumble into it by millions, without a word of warning from him. Earth was a flowery path, concealing pitfalls into infinite burnings, and God never told one of his children a word about it. For four thousand years then the race got on with no knowledge of a place of torment after death. When was the fact first made known? And if it was not

necessary to the wickedest people the world ever knew, when did it become necessary? The future world as revealed in the Old Testament is a conscious existence never described as a place or state of punishment. Prof. Stuart well calls it "the region of umbra or ghosts. It was considered as a vast and wide domain or region of which the grave was only a part or a kind of entrance-way. It appears to have been regarded as extending deep down into the earth, even to the lowest abysses. In this boundless region lived and moved at times the manes (or ghosts) of departed friends." Bishop Lowth: "In the under-world of the Hebrews there is something peculiarly grand and awful. It was an immense region, a vast subterranean kingdom, involved in thick darkness filled with deep valleys, and shut up with strong gates; and from it there was no possibility of escape. Thither whole hosts of men went down at once; heroes and armies with their trophies of victory; kings and their people were found there where they had a shadowy sort of existence as manes or ghosts neither entirely spiritual nor entirely material, engaged in the employments of their earthly life though destitute of strength and physical substance." All was shadowy and unreal beyond death until Christ came and brought immortality to light through his Gospel. Whitby on Acts 2: 27: "That Sheol throughout the Old Testament, and Hadees in the Septuagint, answering to it, signify not the place of punishment, or of the souls of bad men only, but the grave only, or the place of death appears, first, from the root of it, Sheol, which signifies to ask, to crave and require. Second, because it is the place to which the good as well as the bad go, etc." HEATHEN IDEAS OF HELL During all the time that generations following generations of Jews were entertaining the ideas taught in these sixty-four passages, the surrounding heathen believed in future, endless torment. The literature is full of it. Says Good in his "Book of Nature": "It was believed in most countries 'that this Hell, Hadees, or invisible world, is divided into two very distinct and opposite regions, by a broad and impassable gulf; that the one is a seat of happiness, a paradise or elysium, and the other a seat of misery, a Gehenna or Tartarus; and that there is a supreme magistrate and an impartial tribunal belonging to the infernal shades, before which the ghosts must appear, and by which they are sentenced to the one or the other, according to the deeds done in the body. Egypt is said to have been the inventress of this important and valuable part of the tradition; and undoubtedly it is to be found in the earliest records of Egyptian history.' [It should be observed that Gehenna was not used before Christ, or until 150 A. D. to denote a place of future punishment."] Homer sings: "Here in a lonely land, and gloomy cells, The dusky nation of Cimmeria dwells; The sun ne'er views the uncomfortable seats, When radiant he advances or retreats. Unhappy race!

whom endless night invades, Clouds the dull air, and wraps them round in shades." Virgil says: "The gates of Hell are open night and day; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way." Just in the gate, and in the jaws of Hell, Revengeful Cares and sullen Sorrows dwell, And pale Diseases, and repining Age, Want, Fear, and Famine's unresisted rage; Here Toils, and Death, and Death's half-brother Sleep Forms terrible to view, their sentry keep; With anxious pleasures of a guilty mind, Deep Frauds before, and open Force behind; The Furies' iron beds; and Strife, that shakes Her hissing tresses, and unfolds her snakes. Full in the midst of this infernal road, An elm displays her dusky arms abroad;-- The god of sleep there bides his heavy head; And empty dreams on ev'ry leaf are spread. Of various forms unnumbered spectres more, Centaurs, and double shapes, besiege the door. Before the passage horrid Hydra stands, And Briarius with his hundred hands; Gorgons, Geryon with his tripe frame; And vain Chimera vomits empty flame." Dr. Anthon says, "As regards the analogy between the term Hadees and our English word Hell, it may be remarked that the latter, in its primitive signification, perfectly corre-sponded to the former. For, at first, it denoted only what was secret or concealed; and it is found, moreover, with little variation of form and precisely with the same meaning in all the Teutonic dialects. The dead without distinction of good or evil, age or rank, wander there conversing about their former state on earth; they are unhappy and they feel their wretched state acutely. They have no strength or power of body or mind. . . Nothing can be more gloomy and comfortless than the whole aspect of the realm of Hadees, as pictured by Homer." The heathen sages admit that they invented the doctrine. Says Polybius: "Since the multitude is ever fickle, full of lawless desires, irrational passions and violence, there is no other way to keep them in order but by the fear and terror of the invisible world; on which account our ancestors seem to me to have acted judiciously, when they contrived to bring into the popular belief these notions of the gods, and of the infernal regions." B. vi. 56. Strabo says: "The multitude are restrained from vice by the punishments the gods are said to inflict upon offenders, and by those terrors and threatenings which certain dreadful words and monstrous forms imprint upon their minds. . . . For it is impossible to govern the crowd of women, and all the common rabble, by philosophical reasoning, and lead them to piety, holiness and virtue-but this must be done by superstition, or the fear of the gods, by means of fables and wonders; for the thunder, the aegis, the trident, the torches (Of the Furies), the dragons, etc., are all fables, as is also all the ancient theology." Geo. B. I. Seneca says: "Those things which make the infernal regions terrible, the darkness, the prison, the river of flaming fire, the judgment-seat, etc., are all a fable, with which the poets amuse themselves, and by them agitate us with vain terrors." How near these superstitious horrors--these heathen inventions

The Christian Idea Of Hell has sometimes been, may be seen by quoting the following testimonies. Do they resemble anything in the Old Testament? Do they not exactly copy the heathen descriptions? Whence came these idea? They are not found in the Old Testament? And yet the world was full of them when Christ came. Read the verse of Pollok as lurid and blasphemous as it is vigorous: Wide was the place, And deep as wide, and ruinous as deep. Beneath I saw a lake of burning fire, With tempest tost perpetually, and still The waves of fiery darkness, gainst the rocks Of dark damnation broke, and music made Of melancholy sort; and over head, And all around, wind warred with wind, storm howled To storm, and lightning forked lightning, crossed, And thunder answered thunder, muttering sound Of sullen wrath; and far as sight could pierce, Or down descend in caves of hopeless depth, Thro' all that dungeon of unfading fire, I saw most miserable beings walk, Burning continually, yet unconsumed; Forever wasting, yet enduring still; Dying perpetually, yet never dead. Some wandered lonely in the desert flames, And some in fell encounter fiercely met, With curses loud, and blasphemies, that made The cheek of darkness pale; and as they fought, And cursed, and gnashed their teeth, and wished to die Their hollow eyes did utter streams of wo.

And there were groans that ended not, and sighs That always sighed, and tears that ever wept, And ever fell, but not in Mercy's sight And Sorrow, and Repentance, and Despair, Among them walked, and to their thirsty lips Presented frequent cups of burning gall. And as I listened, I heard these being curse Almighty God, and curse the Lamb, and curse The Earth, the Resurrection morn, and seek, And ever vainly seek for utter death. And to their everlasting anguish still, The thunders from above responding spoke These words, which thro' the caverns of perdition Forlornly echoing, fell on every ear"Ye knew your duty but ye did it not" * * * The place thou saw'st was Hell; the groans thou heard'st The wailings of the damned-of those who would Not be redeemed-and at the judgment day, Long past for unrepented sins were damned. The seven loud thunders which thou heard'st, declare The eternal wrath of the Almighty God. * * There in utter darkness, far Remote, I beings saw forlorn in wo. Burning, continually yet unconsumed. And there were groans that ended not, and sighs That always sighed, and tears that ever wept And ever fell, but not in Mercy's sight;

And still I heard these wretched beings curse Almighty God, and curse the Lamb, and curse The Earth, the Resurrection morn, and seek, And ever vainly seek for utter death; And from above the thunders answered still, "Ye know your duty, but ye did it not." Such descriptions are not confined to poetry. Plain prose has sought to set forth the doctrine in words equally repulsive and graphic. Rutherford, in his "Religious Letters," declares that hereafter "Tongue, lungs and liver, bones and all shall boil and fry in a torturing fire,--a river of fire and brimstone, broader than the earth!" Boston, in his 'Fourfold State,' says: "There will be universal torments, every part of the creature being tormented in that flame. When one is cast into a fiery furnace, the fire makes its way into the very bowels, and leaves no member untouched; what part then can have ease when the damned sinner is in a lake of fire, burning with brimstone?" Buckle, in his "Civilization in England," thus sums up the popular doctrine: "In the pictures which they drew, they reproduced and heightened the barbarous imagery of a barbarous age. They delighted in telling their hearers that they would be roasted in great fires and hung up by their tongues. They were to be lashed with scorpions, and see their companions writhing and howling around them. They were to be thrown into boiling oil and scalding lead. A river of brim-stone broader than the earth was prepared for them; in that they were to be immersed. . . Such were the first stages of suffering, and they were only the first. For the torture besides being unceasing, was to become gradually worse. So refined was the cruelty, that one Hell was succeeded by another; and, lest the sufferer should grow callous, he was, after a time, moved on, that he might undergo fresh agonies in fresh places, provision being made that the torment should not pall on the sense, but should be varied in its character as well as eternal in its duration. "All this was the work of the God of the Scotch clergy. It was not only his work, it was his joy and his pride. For, according to them, Hell was created before man came into the word; the Almighty, they did not scruple to say, having spent his previous leisure in preparing and completing this place of torture, so that when the human race appeared, it might be ready for their reception. Ample, however, as the arrangements were, they were insufficient; and Hell not being big enough to contain the countless victims incessantly poured into it, had, in these latter days, been enlarged. But in that vast expanse there was no void, for the whole of it reverberated with the shrieks and yells of undying agony. Both children and fathers made Hell echo with their piercing screams, writhing in convulsive agony at the torments which they suffered, and knowing that other torments more grievous still were reserved for them."

And it was not an infinite Devil, but a just and merciful God who was accused of having committed all this infernal cruelty. Michael Angelo's Last Judgment is an attempt to de-scribe in paint, what was believed then and has been for centuries since. Henry Ward Beecher thus refers to that great painting. (Plymouth Pulpit, Oct. 29, 1870): "Let any one look at that; let any one see the enormous gigantic coils of fiends and men; let any one look at the defiant Christ that stands like a superb athlete at the front, hurling his enemies from him and calling his friends toward him as Hercules might have done; let any one look upon that hideous wriggling mass that goes plunging down through the air-serpents and men and beasts of every nauseous kind, mixed together; let him look at the lower parts of the picture, where with the pitchforks men are by devils being cast into caldrons and into burning fires, where hateful fiends are gnawing the skulls of suffering sinners, and where there is hellish cannibalism going on-let a man look at that picture and the scenes which it depicts, and he sees what were the ideas which men once had of Hell and of divine justice. It was a night-mare as hideous as was ever begotten by the hellish brood it-self; and it was an atrocious slander on God. . . . I do not wonder that men have reacted from these horrors-I honor them for it." Tertullian says: "How shall I admire, how laugh, how rejoice, how exult, when I behold so many proud monarchs groaning in the lowest abyss of darkness; so many magistrates liquifying in fiercer flames than they ever kindled against the Christians; so many sage philosophers blushing in red-hot fires with their deluded pupils; so many tragedians more tuneful in the expression of their own sufferings; so many dancers tripping more nimbly from anguish then ever before from applause." Jeremy Taylor, of the English Church, says: "The bodies of the damned shall be crowded together in hell, like grapes in a wine-press, which press one another till they burst; every distinct sense and organ shall be assailed with its own appropriate and most exquisite sufferings." Calvin describes it: "Forever harassed with a dreadful tempest, they shall feel themselves torn asunder by an angry God, and transfixed and penetrated by mortal stings, terrified by the thunderbolts of God, and broken by the weight of this hand, so that to sink into any gulf would be more tolerable than to stand for a moment in these terrors." Jonathan Edwards said: "The world will probably be converted into a great lake or liquid globe of fire, in which the wicked shall be overwhelmed, which will always be in tempest, in which they shall be tossed to and fro, having no rest day or night, vast waves and billows of fire continually rolling over their heads, of which they shall forever be full of a quick sense within and without; their heads, their eyes, their tongues, their hands, their feet, their loins and their vitals, shall forever be full of a flowing, melting fire, fierce enough to melt the very rocks and elements; and, also, they shall eternally be full of the most quick and lively sense to feel the torments; not for one minute, not for one day, not for one age, not for two ages, not for a hundred ages, nor for ten thousand millions of ages, one after another, but forever

and ever, without any end at all, and never to be delivered." And Spurgeon uses this language even in our own days: "When thou diest, they soul will be tormented alone: that will be a hell for it, but at the day of judgment thy body will join thy soul, and then thou wilt have twin hells, thy soul sweating drops of blood, and thy body suffused with agony. In fire exactly like that which we have on earth thy body will lie, asbestos-like, forever unconsumed, all thy veins roads for the feet of pain to travel on, every nerve a string on which the devil shall forever play his diabolical tun of Hell's Unutterable Lament." "A Catholic Book for Children" says: "The fifth dungeon is a red-hot oven in which is a little child. Hear how it screams to come out! see how it turns and twists itself about in the fire! It beats its head against the roof of the oven. It stamps its little feet on the floor of the oven. To this child God was very good. Very likely God saw that this child would get worse and worse, and would never repent, and so it would have to be punished much worse in Hell. So God, in his mercy, called it out of the world in its early childhood." Now the horrible ideas we have just quoted were not obtained from the Old Testament, and yet they were fully believed by the Jew and Pagan when Christ came. Whence came these views? If the New Testament teaches them, then Christ must have borrowed them from uninspired heathen. What does the New Testament teach concerning Hell? Within a few years Christians have quite generally abandoned their faith in material torments, and have substituted mental anguish, spiritual torture. But the torment, the anguish, the woe and agony are only faintly hinted by any possible effect of literal fire. The modification of opinion from literal fire to spiritual anguish, gives no relief to the character of God, and renders the "orthodox" hell no less revolting to every just and merciful feeling in the human heart, no less dishonorable to God. It is woe unspeakable to millions, without alleviation and without end, inflicted by a being called God, ordained by him from the foundation of the world for those he foresaw, before their birth, would inevitably suffer that woe, if he consented to their birth, compelling his wretched children to cry for endless eons in the language of Young (Night Thoughts): "Father of Mercies! why from silent earth Didst thou awake and curse me into birth, Tear me from quiet, banish me from night, And make a thankless present of Thy light, Push into being a reverse of Thee And animate a clod with misery? This question never can be answered. Good men groping in the eclipse of faith created by the false doctrine of an endless Hell, have tried in vain to see or explain the reason of it. Albert Barnes, (Presbyterian,) voices the real thought of millions, when he says: "That any should suffer forever, lingering on in hopeless despair, and rolling amidst infinite torments without the possibility of alleviation and without end; that since God can save men and will save a part, he has not proposed to save all-these are real, not imaginary, difficulties. . . . My whole soul pants for light and relief on these questions. But I get neither; and in the distress and anguish of my own spirit, I confess that I see no light whatever. I see not one ray to disclose to me why sin came into the world; why the earth is strewn with the dying and the

dead; and why man must suffer to all eternity. I have never seen a particle of light thrown on these subjects, that has given a moment's ease to my tortured min. . . . I confess, when I look on a world of sinners and sufferers-upon death-beds and grave-yards-upon the world of woe filled with hosts to suffer for ever: when I see my friends, my family, my people, my fellow citizens when I look upon a whole race, all involved in this sin and danger-and when I see the great mass of them wholly unconcerned, and when I feel that God only can save them, and yet he does not do so, I am stuck dumb. It is all dark, dark, dark to my soul, and I cannot disguise it." HADEES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT The word Hadees occurs but eleven times in the New Testament, and is translated Hell ten times, and grave once. The word is from a, not, and eulo, to see, and means concealed, invisible. It has exactly the same meaning as Sheol, literally the grave, or death, and figuratively destruction, downfall, calamity, or punishment in this world, with no intimation whatever of torment or punishment beyond the grave. Such is the meaning in every passage in the Old Testament containing the word Sheol or Hadees, whether translated Hell, grave or pit. Such is the invariable meaning of Hadees in the New Testament. Says the "Emphatic Diaglott:" "To translate Hadees by the word Hell as it is done ten times out of eleven in the New Testament, is very improper, unless it has the Saxon meaning of helan, to cover, attached to it. The primitive signification of Hell, only denoting what was secret or concealed, perfectly corresponds with the Greek term Hadees and its equivalent Sheol, but the theological definition given to it at the present day by no means expresses it." MEANING OF HADEES The Greek Septuagint, which our Lord used when he read or quoted from the Old Testament, gives Hadees as the exact equivalent of the Hebrew Sheol, and when the Savior, or his apostles, use the word, they must mean the same as it meant in the Old Testament. When Hadees is used in the New Testament, we must understand it just as we do (Sheol or Hadees) in the Old Testament. OPINIONS OF SCHOLARS Dr. Campbell well says: * * "In my judgment, it ought never in Scripture to be rendered Hell, at least, in the sense wherein that word is now universally understood by Christians. In the Old Testament, the corresponding word is Sheol, which signifies the state of the dead in general without regard to the goodness or badness of the persons, their happiness or misery. In translating that word, the seventy have almost invariably used Hadees. * * It is very plain, that neither in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, nor in the New, does the word Hadees convey the meaning which the present English word Hell, in the Christian usage, always conveys to our minds."-Diss. Vi., pp. 180-1. Donnegan defines it thus: "Invisible, not manifest, concealed, dark, uncertain."-Lex. p. 19.

Le Clere affirms that "neither Hadees nor Sheol ever signifies in the Sacred Scripture the abode of evil spirits, but only the sepulchre, or the state of the dead." HEATHEN CORRUPTIONS It must not be forgotten that contact with the heathen had corrupted the opinions of the Jews, at the time of our Savior, from the simplicity of Moses, and that by receiving the traditions and fables of paganism, they had made void the word of God. They had accepted Hadees as the best Greek word to convey their idea of Sheol, but without investing it at first with the heathen notions of the classic Hadees, as they afterwards did. What these ideas were, the classic authors inform us. "The Jews had acquired at Babylon a great number of Oriental notions, and their theological opinions had undergone great changes by this intercourse. We find in Ecclesiastes and the Wisdom of Solomon, and the later prophets, notions unknown to the Jews before the Babylonian captivity, which are manifestly derived from the Orientals. Thus, God represented under the image of light, and the principle of evil under that of darkness; the history of good and bad angels; paradise and Hell, etc., are doctrines of which the origin, or at least the positive determination, can only be referred to the Oriental philosophy." (Milman's Gibbon ch. 21. of it, or the heathen and "evangelical" descriptions of Hell are wholly false.) Dr. Thayer in his "Origin and History," says: "The process is easily understood. About three hundred and thirty years before Christ, Alexander the Great had subjected to his rule the whole of Western Asia, including Judea, and also the kingdom of Egypt. Soon after he founded Alexandria, which speedily became a great commercial metropolis, and drew into itself a large multitude of Jews, who were always eager to improve the opportunities of traffic and trade. A few years later, Ptolemy Soter took Jerusalem, and carried off one hundred thousand of them into Egypt. Here, of course, they were in daily contact with Egyptians and Greeks, and gradually began to adopt their philosophical and religious opinions, or to modify their own in harmony with them." "To what side soever they turned," says the Universalist Expositor, "the Jews came in contact with Greeks and with Greek philosophy, under one modification or another. It was round them and among them; for small bodies of that people were scattered through their own territories, as well as through the surrounding provinces. It insinuated itself very slowly at first; but stealing upon them from every quarter, and operating from age to age, it mingled at length in all their views, and by the year 150 before Christ, had wrought a visible change in their notions and habits of thought." We must either reject these imported ideas, as heathen inventions, or we must admit that the heathen, centuries before Christ, discovered that of which Moses had no idea. In other words either uninspired men announced the future fate of sinners centuries before inspired men knew anything

JEWISH AND PAGAN OPINIONS At the time of Christ's advent Jew and Pagan held Hadees to be a place of torment after death, to endure forever. "The prevalent and distinguishing opinion was, that the soul survived the body, that vicious souls would suffer an everlasting imprisonment in Hadees, and that the souls of the virtuous would both be happy there and in process of time obtain the privilege of transmigrating into other bodies." * * * (Campbell's Four Gospels, Diss. 6, Pt. 2, & 19.) Of the Pharisees, Josephus says: "They also believe that souls have an immortal vigor in them, and that, under the earth, there will be rewards and punishments, according as they lived virtuously or viciously in this life; and the latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but that the former shall have power to revive and live again." (Antiquites, B. 18, Ch. 1, 3. Whiston's Tr.") These doctrines are not found in the Old Testament. They are of heathen origin. Did Jesus endorse them? Let us consult all the texts in which he employed the heathen word Hadees. THRUST DOWN TO HADEES Matt. 11: 23 and Luke 10: 15: "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to Hell." "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to Hell." Of course, a city never went to a place of torment after death. The word is used here just as it is in Isa. 14, where Babylon is said to be brought down to Sheol or Hadees, to denote debasement, overthrow, a prediction fulfilled to the letter. Dr. Clarke's interpretation is correct: "The word here means a state of the utmost woe, and ruin, and desolation, to which these impenitent cities should be reduced. This prediction of our Lord was literally fulfilled; for, in the wars between the Romans and Jews, these cities were totally destroyed; so that no traces are now found of Bethsaida, Chorazin or Capernaum." JESUS WENT TO HADEES That Hadees is the kingdom of death, and not a place of torment, after death, is evident from the language of Acts 2: 27: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell: neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption." Verse 31: "His soul was not left in Hell, neither his flesh did see corruption," that is his spirit did not remain in the state of the dead, until his body decayed. No one supposes that Jesus went to a realm of torment when he died. Jacob wished to go down to Hadees to his son mourning, so Jesus went to Hadees, the under-world, the grave. The Apostle's Creed conveys the same idea, when it speaks of Jesus as descending into Hell. He died, but his soul was not left in the realms of death, is the meaning. THE GATES OF HADEES Matt. 14: 18 "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." The word is here used as an

emblem of destruction. "The gates of Hadees" means the powers of destruction. It is the Savior's manner of saying that his church cannot be destroyed. HADEES IS ON EARTH Rev. 6: 8: "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." All the details of this description demonstrates that the Hell is on earth, and not in the future world. The word also occurs in Rev 1: 18: "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of Hell and of death." To understand this passage literally, with the popular view of Hell added, would be to represent Jesus as the Devil's gate keeper. If Hell is a realm of torment, and the devil is its king, and Jesus keeps the keys, what is he but the devil's janitor, or turnkey? The idea is that Jesus defies death and the grave, evil, destruction, and all that is denoted either literally or figuratively by Hadees, the under-world. Its gates open to him. Cannon Farrar in Excursus II, "Eternal Hope," observes: "Hell has entirely changed its old harmless sense of 'the dim under-world,' and that, meaning as it how does, to myriads of readers, 'a place of endless torment by material fire into which all impenitent souls pass forever after death,'-it conveys meanings which are not to be found in any word of the Old or New Testament for which it is presented as an equivalent. In our Lord's language Capernaum was to be thrust down, not 'to Hell,' but to the silence and desolation of the grave (Hadees); the promise that 'the gates of Hadees' should not prevail against the church is perhaps a distinct implication of her triumph even beyond death in the souls of men for whom he died; Dives uplifts his eyes not 'in Hell,' but in the intermediate Hadees where he rests till the resurrection to a judgment, in which signs are not wanting that his soul may have been meanwhile ennobled and purified." HADEES DESTROYED I Cor. 15: 55: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" This is parallel to Hos. 14: 14, where the destruction of Hadees is prophesied. Whatever Hadees means, it is not to endure forever. It is destined to be destroyed. It cannot be endless torment. That its inhabitants are to be delivered from its dominion, is seen from Rev. 20: 13: "And Death and Hell delivered up the dead that were in them." This harmonizes with the declaration of David, that he had been delivered from it already. (Ps. 30: 3; II Sam. 22: 5,6). It does not retain its victims always, and hence, whatever it may mean, it does not denote endless imprisonment. Hence the next verse reads, "And death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire." Can a more striking description of utter destruction be given than this? Of course the language is all figurative, and not literal. Hell here denotes evil and its consequences. It is in this world, it opposes truth and human happiness, but it is to meet with a destruction so

complete that only a se of fire can indicate the character of its destruction. Says Prof. Stuart: "The king of Hadees, and Hadees itself, i.e., the region or domains of death, are represented as cast into the burning lake. The general judgment being now come, mortality having now been brought to a close, the tyrant death, and his domains along with him, are represented as cast into the burning lake, as objects of abhorrence and of indignation. They are no more to exercise any power over the human race." Ex. Es. p. 133. 'And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom; the rich man also died, and was buried; and in Hell (Hadees) he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." Luke 16: 22, 23. If this is a literal history, as is sometimes claimed, of the after-death experiences of two persons, then the good are carried about in Abraham's bosom; and the wicked are actually roasted in fire, and cry for water to cool their parched tongues. If these are figurative, then Abraham, Lazarus, Dives and the gulf and every part of the account are features of a picture, an allegory, as much as the fire and Abraham's bosom. If it be history, then the good are obliged to hear the appeals of the damned for that help which they cannot bestow! They are so near together as to be able to converse across the gulf, not wide but deep. It was this opinion that caused Jonathan Edwards to teach that the sight of the agonies of the damned enhances the joys of the blest! IT IS A PARABLE 1. The story is not fact but fiction: in other words, a parable. This is denied by some Christians who ask, Does not our Savior say: "There was a certain rich man?" etc. True, but all his parables begin in the same way, "A certain rich man had two sons,: and the like. In Judges 9, we read, "The trees went forth, on a time, to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, reign thou over us." This language is positive, and yet it describes something that never could have occurred. All fables, parables, and other fictitious accounts which are related to illustrate important truths, have this positive form, to give force, point, life-likeness to the lessons that they inculcate. Dr. Whitby says: "That this is only a parable and not a real history of what was actually done, is evident from the circumstances of it, namely, the rich man lifting up his eyes in Hell and seeing Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, his discourse with Abraham, his complaint of being tormented in flames, and his desire that Lazarus might be sent to cool his tongue, and if all this be confessedly parable, why should the rest be accounted history?" Lightfoot and Hammond make the same general comments, and Wakefield remarks, "To them who regard the narrative a reality it must stand as an unanswerable argument for the purgatory of the papists." It occurs at the end of a chain of parables. The Savior had been illustrating several principles by familiar allegories, or parables. He had exhibited the unjustifiable murmurings of the Pharisees, in the stories of the Lost Sheep and of the Lost Piece of Silver, and the parable

commencing the sixteenth chapter was directed to the Scribes and Pharisees, that class of Jews being represented by the Unjust Steward. They had been unfaithful and their Lord would shortly dismiss them. The account says: "And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things, and they derided him," showing, unequivocally, that the force and power of his references were felt. He continued to illustrate his doctrines and gave to them a marked cogency by his striking and beautiful stories. He then struck into this parable designing not to relate an actual incident but to exhibit certain truths by means of a story. It is clearly absurd to say that he launched immediately from the figurative mode of instruction in which he had all along been indulging, into a literal exhibition of the eternal world, and without any notice of his changed mode of expression, actually raised the vail that separates this life from the future! He was not accustomed to teach in that way. And this brings us to another proof that this is a parable. The Jews have a book, written during the Babylonish Captivity, entitled Gemara Babylonicum, containing doctrines entertained by Pagans concerning the future state not recognized by the followers of Moses. This story is founded on heathen views. They were not obtained from the Bible, for the Old Testament contains nothing resembling them. They were among those traditions which our Savior condemned when he told the Scribes and Pharisees, "Ye make the word of God of none effect through your traditions," and when he said to his disciples, "Beware of the leaven, or doctrine of the Pharisees." Our Savior seized the imagery of this story, not to endorse its truth, but just as we now relate any other fable. He related it as found in the Gemara, not for the story's sake, but to convey a moral to his hearers; and the Scribes and Pharisees to whom he addressed this and the five preceding stories, felt- as we shall see-the force of its application to them. Says Dr. Geo. Campbell: "The Jews did not, indeed, adopt the pagan fables, on this subject, nor did they express themselves entirely, in the same manner; but the general train of thinking in both came pretty much to coincide. The Greek Hadees they found well adapted to express the Hebrew Sheol. This they came to conceive as including different sorts of habitations, for ghosts of different characters." Now as nothing resembling this parable is found in the Old Testament where did the Jews obtain it, if not from the heathen? The commentator, Macknight, Scotch Presbyterian, says truly: "It must be acknowledged that our Lord's descriptions are not drawn from the writings of the Old Testament, but have a remarkable affinity to the descriptions which the Grecian poets have given. They represent the abodes of the blest as lying contiguous to the region of the damned, and separated only by a great impassable gulf in such sort that the ghosts could talk to one another from its opposite banks. If from these resemblances it is thought the parable is formed on the Grecian mythology, it will not at all follow that our Lord approved of what the common people thought or spoke concerning these matters, agreeably to the notions of Greeks. In parables, provided the doctrines inculcated are strictly true, the terms in which they are inculcated may

be such as are most familiar to the people, and the images made use of are such as they are best acquainted with." DOES NOT TEACH ENDLESS TORMENT But if it were a literal history, nothing could be gained for the terrible doctrine of endless torment. It would oblige us to believe in literal fire after death but there is not a word to show that such fire would never go out. We have heard it claimed that the punishment of the rich man must be endless, because there was gulf (chasm, chasma) fixed so that those who desired to could not cross it. But were this a literal account, it would not follow that the gulf would last always. For are we not assured that the time is coming when "every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hiss shall be made low?" Isa. 30: 4. When every valley is exalted what becomes of the great gulf? And then there is exalted, what said of the duration of the sufferings of the rich man. If the account be a history it must not militate against the promise of "The restitution of all things spoken by the mouth of all God's holy prophets since the world began." There is not a word intimating that the rich man's torment was never to cease. So the doctrine of endless misery is after all, not in the least taught here. The most that can be claimed is that the consequences of sin extend into the future life, and that is a doctrine that we believe just as strongly as can any one, though we do not believe they will be endless, nor do we believe the doctrine taught in this parable, nor in the Bible use of the word Hell. But allowing for a moment that this is intended to represent a scene in the spirit world, what a representation we have! Dives is dwelling in a world of fire in the company of lost spirits, hardened by the depravity that must possess the residents of that world, and yet yearning in compassion for those on earth. Not totally depraved, not harboring evil thoughts but benevolent, humane. Instead of being loyal to the wicked world in which he dwells as anyone bad enough to go there should be, he actually tries to prevent migration Thither from earth, while Lazarus is entirely indifferent to everybody but himself. Dives seems to have more mercy and compassion than does Lazarus. THE TEACHING OF THE PARABLE But what does the parable teach? That the Jewish nation, and especially the Scribes and Pharisees were about to die as a power, as a church, as a controlling influence in the world; while the common people among them and the Gentiles outside of them were to be exalted in the new order of things. The details of the parable show this: "There was a certain rich man clothed in purple and fine linen." In these first words, by describing their very costume, the Savior fixed the attention of his hearers on the Jewish priesthood. They were emphatically the rich men of that nation. His description of the beggar was equally graphic. He lay at the gate of the rich, only asking to be fed by the crumbs that fell from the table. Thus dependent were the common people, and the Gentiles on the Scribes and Pharisees. We

remember how Christ once rebuked them for shutting up the kingdom of heaven against these. They lay at the gate of the Jewish hierarchy. For the Gentiles were literally restricted to the outer court of the temple. Hence in Rev. 11: 12 we read: "But the court, which is without the temple, leave out, and measure it not, for it is given unto the Gentiles." They could only walk the outer court, or lie at the gate. We remember the anger of the Jews at Paul, for allowing Greeks to enter the temple. This is the significance of the language of the Canaanitish woman, Matt. 15: 27, who desired the Savior to heal her daughter. The Savior, to try her faith, said: It is not meet to cast the children's bread to the dogs." She replied, "Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their Mater's table." The prophet (Isa. 1: 6) represents the common people of Israel as "full of wounds, bruises, and putrifying sores." The brief, graphic descriptions given by the Savior, at once showed his hearers that he was describing those two classes, the Jewish priesthood and nation on the one hand and the common people, Jews and Gentiles, on the other. The rich man died and was buried. This class died officially, nationally and its power departed. The kingdom of God was taken from them and conferred on others. The beggar died. The Gentiles, publicans and sinners were translated into the kingdom of God's dear son where is neither Jew nor Greek, but where all are one in Christ Jesus. This is the meaning of the expression "Abraham's bosom." They accepted the true faith and so became one with faithful Abraham. Abraham is called the father of the faithful, and the beggar is represented to have gone to Abraham's bosom, to denote the fact which is now history, that the common people and Gentiles would accept Christianity and become Christian nations, enjoying the blessing of the Christian faith. What is meant by the torment of the rich man? The misery of those proud men, when soon after their land was captured and their city and temple possessed by barbarians, and they scattered like chaff before the wind-a condition in which they have continued from that day to this. All efforts to bless them with Christianity have proved unavailing. At this very moment there is a great gulf fixed so that there is no passing to and fro. And observe, the Jews do not desire the gospel. Nor did the rich man ask to enter Abraham's bosom with Lazarus. He only wished Lazarus to alleviate his sufferings by dipping his finger in water and cooling his tongue. It is so with the Jews today. They do not desire the gospel; they only ask those among whom they sojourn to tolerate them and soften the hardships that accompany their wanderings. The Jewish church and nation is now dead. Once they were exalted to heaven, but now they are thrust down to Hadees, the kingdom of death, and the gulf that yawns between them and the Gentiles shall not be abolished till the fullness of the Gentiles shall come in, and "then Israel shall be saved." Lightfoot says: "The main scope and design of it seems this: to hint the destruction of the unbelieving Jews, who, though they had Moses and the prophets, did not believe them, nay would not believe though one (even Jesus) arose from the dead." Our quotations are not from Universalists, but from those who accepted the doctrine of

eternal punishment, but who were forced to confess that this parable has no reference to that subject. The rich man or the Jews were and are in the same Hell in which David was when he said: "The pains of Hell (Hadees) got hold on me, I found trouble and sorrow," and "thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest Hell." Not in endless wo in the future world, but in misery and suffering in this. HADEES IS TEMPORARY But is this a final condition? No, wherever we locate it, it must end. Paul asks the Romans, "Have they (the Jews) stumbled that they should fall? God forbid! but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles." "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness is in part happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved. As it is written, There shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is my covenant with them when I shall take away their sins." 11: 22, 25, 27. In brief terms, then we may say that this is a fictitious story or parable describing the fate in this world of the Jewish and Gentile people of our Savior's times, and has not the slightest reference to the world after death, nor to the fate of mankind in that world. Let the reader observe that the rich man, being in Hadees, was in a place of temporary detention only. Whether this be a literal story or a parable, his confinement is not to be an endless one. This is demonstrated in a two-fold manner: 1. Death and Hadees will deliver up their occupants. Rev. 20: 13. 2. Hadees is to be destroyed. I Cor. 15: 55; Rev. 20: 14. Therefore Hadees is of temporary duration. The Rich Man was not in a place of endless torment. As Prof. Stuart remarks: "Whatever the state of either the righteous or the wicked may be, whilst in Hadees, that state will certainly cease, and be exchanged for another at the general resurrection." Thus the New Testament usage agrees exactly with the Old Testament. Primarily, literally, Hadees is death, the grave, and figuratively, it is destruction. It is in this world, and is to end. The last time it is referred to (Rev. 20: 14) as well as in other instances (Hosea 13: 14; I Cor. 15: 55), its destruction is positively announced. So that the instances (sixty-four) in the Old Testament and (eleven) in the New, in all seventy-five in the Bible, all perfectly agree in representing the word Hell, derived from the Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hadees, as being in this world and of temporary duration. We now consider the word Tartarus: "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to Hell (Tartarus), and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." II Peter 2: 4. The word in the Greek is Tartarus, or rather it is a very from that noun. "Cast down to hell" should be tartarused, (tartarosas). The Greeks held Tartarus,

says Anthon, in his Classical Dictionary to be "the fabled place of punishment in the lower world." "According to the ideas of the Homeric and Hesiodic ages, it would seem that the world or universe was a hollow globe, divided into two equal portions by the flat disk of the earth. The external shell of this globe is called by the poets brazen and iron, probably only to express its solidity. The superior hemisphere was called Heaven, and the inferior one Tartarus. The length of the diameter of the hollow sphere is given thus by Hesiod. It would take, he says, nine days for an anvil to fall from Heaven to Earth; and an equal space of time would be occupied by its fall from Earth to the bottom of Tartarus. The luminaries which give light to gods and men, shed their radiance through all the interior of the upper hemisphere, while that of the inferior one was filled with eternal darkness, and its still air was unmoved by any wind. Tartarus was regarded at this period as the prison of the gods and not as the place of torment for wicked men; being to the gods, what Erebus was to men, the abode of those who were driven from the supernal world. The Titans, when conquered were shut up in it and Jupiter menaces the gods with banishment to its murky regions. The Oceanus of Homer encompassed the whole earth, and beyond it was a region unvisited by the sun, and therefore shrouded in perpetual darkness, the abode of a people whom he names Cimmerians. Here the poet of the Odyssey also places Erebus, the realm of Pluto and Proserpina, the final dwelling place of all the race of men, a place which the pet of the Iliad describes as lying within the bosom of the earth. At a later period the change of religions gradually affected Erebus, the place of the reward of the good; and Tartarus was raised up to form the prison in which the wicked suffered the punishment due to their crimes." Virgil illustrates this view, (Dryden's Virgil, Encid, 6): *'Tis here, in different paths, the way divides:-- The right to Pluto's golden palace guides, The left to that unhappy region tends. Which to the depths of Tartarus descends- The scat of night profound and punished fiends. The gaping gulf low to the centre lies, And twice as deep as earth is from the skies. The rivals of the gods, the Titan race, Here, singed with lightning, roll within th'unfathomed space." Now it is not to be supposed that Peter endorses and teaches this monstrous nonsense of paganism. If he did, then we must accept all the absurdities that went with it, in the pagan mythology. And if this is an item of Christian faith, why is it never referred to, in the Old or New Testament? Why have we no descriptions of it such as abound in classic literature? THE BOOK OF ENOCH Peter alludes to the subject just as though it were well-known and understood by his correspondents. "If the angels that sinned."-what angels? "were cast down to Tartarus," where is the story related? Not in the Bible, but in a book well-known at the time, called the Book of Enoch. It was written some time before the Christian Era, and is often quoted by the Christian fathers. It embodies a tradition, to which Josephus alludes, (Ant. 1: 3) of certain angels who had fallen. (Dr. T. J. Sawyer, in Univ. Quart.) From this apocryphal book, Peter

quoted the verse referring to Tartarus Dr. Sawyer says: "Not only the moderns are forced to this opinion, but it seems to have been universally adopted by the ancients. 'Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Hilary,' say Professor Stuart, 'all of whom refer to the book before us, and quote from it, say nothing which goes to establish the idea that any Christians of their day denied or doubted that a quotation was made by the apostle Jude from the Book of Enoch. Several and in fact most of these writers do indeed call in question the canonical rank or authority of the Book of Enoch; but the apologies which they make for the quotation of it in Jude, show that the quotation itself was, as a matter of fact, generally conceded among them.' There are it is true some individuals who still doubt whether Jude quoted the Book of Enoch; but while as Professor Stuart suggests, this doubt is incapable of being confirmed by any satisfactory proof, it avails nothing to deny the quotation; for it is evident if Jude did not quote the Book of Enoch, he did quote a tradition of no better authority." This Book of Enoch is full of absurd legends, which no sensible man can accept. WHAT DID PETER MEAN? Why did Peter quote from it? Just as men now quote from the classics not sanctioning the truth of the quotation but to illustrate and enforce a proposition. Nothing is more common than for writers to quote fables: "As the tortoise said to the hare," in Aesop. "As the sun said to the wind," etc. We have the same practice illustrated in the Bible. Joshua, after a poetical quotation adorning his narrative, says: "Is not this written in the Book of Jasher? Josh. 10: 13 and Jeremiah 48: 45 says: "A fire shall come forth out of Heshbon," quoting from an ancient poet, says Dr. Adam Clarke. Peter alludes to this ancient legend to illustrate the certainty of retribution without any intention of teaching the silly notions of angels falling from heaven and certainly not meaning to sanction the then prevalent notions concerning the heathen Tartarus. There is this alternative only: either the pagan doctrine is true and the heathen got ahead of inspiration by ascertaining the facts before the authors of the Bible learned it-for it was currently accepted centuries before Christ and is certainly not taught in the Old Testament- or Peter quotes it as Jesus refers to Mammon rhetorically to illustrate the great fact of retribution he was inculcating. If true, how can anyone account for the fact that it is never referred to in the Bible, before or after this once? Besides, these angels are not to be detained always in Tartarus, they are to be released. The language is, "delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." When their judgment comes, they emerge from duress. They only remain in Tartarus "unto judgment." Their imprisonment is not endless so that the language gives no proof of endless punishment even if it be a literal description. But no one can fail to see that the apostle employs the legend from the Book of Enoch to illustrate and enforce his doctrine of retribution. As though he had said: "If, as is believed by some, God spared not the angels that sinned, do not let us who sin, mortal men, expect to escape." If this view is denied, there is no escape from the gross doctrine of Tartarus as taught by the pagans and that, too, on the testimony of a solitary sentence of Scripture! But whatever may be the intent of the words, they do not teach endless torment, for the chains

referred to only last unto the judgment. GEHENNA While nearly all "orthodox" authorities of eminence concede that Sheol and Hadees do not denote a place of torment in the future world, most of those who accept the doctrine of endless torment claim that Gehenna does convey that meaning. Campbell, in his "Four Gospels," says: "That Gehenna is employed in the New Testament, to denote the place of future punishment, prepared for the devil and his angels, is indisputable. This is the sense, if I mistake not, in which Gehenna is always to be understood in the New Testament, where it occurs just twelve times. It is a word peculiar to the Jews, and was employed by them some time before the coming of Christ, to denote that part of Sheol which was the habitation of the wicked after death. This is proved by the fact of its familiar use in the New Testament, and by the fact of its being found in the Apocrypha books and Jewish Targunis, some of which were written before the time of our Savior." But no such force resides in the word, nor is there a scintilla of evidence that it ever conveyed such an idea until many years after Christ. It is not found in the Apocrypha, Campbell mistakes. Stuart says (Exeg. Ess.); "It is admitted that the Jews of a later date used the word Gehenna to denote Tartarus, that is, the place of infernal punishment." In the second century Clemens Alexandrinus says: "Does not Plato acknowledge both the rivers of fire, and that profound depth of the earth which the barbarians call Gehenna? Does he not mention prophetically, Tartarus, Cocytus, Acheron, the Phlegethon of fire, and certain other places of punishment, which lead to correction and discipline?" Univ. Ex. But an examination of the Bible use of the term will show us that the popular view is obtained by injecting the word with pagan superstition. Its origin and the first references to it in the Old Testament, are well stated by eminent critics and exegetes. OPINION OF SCHOLARS Says Campbell: "The word Gehenna is derived, as all agree, from the Hebrew words ge hinnom; which, in process of time, passing into other languages, assumed diverse forms; e.g., Chaldee Gehennom, Arabic Gahannam, Greek Gehenna. The valley of Hinnom is part of the pleasant wadi or valley, which bounds Jerusalem on the south. Josh. 15: 8; 18: 6. Here, in ancient times and under some of the idolatrous kings, the worship of Moloch, the horrid idol-god of the Ammonites, was practiced. To this idol, children were offered in sacrifice. II Kings 23: 10; Ezek. 23: 37, 39; II Chron. 28: 3; Lev. 28: 21; 20: 2. If we may credit the Rabbins, the head of the idol was like that of an ox; while the rest of the body resembled that of a man. It was hollow within; and being heated by fire, children were laid in its arms and were literally roasted alive. We cannot wonder, then at the

severe terms in which the worship of Moloch is everywhere denounced in the Scriptures. Nor can we wonder that the place itself should have been called Tophet, i.e., abomination, detestation, (from toph, to vomit with loathing)." Jer. 8: 32; 19: 6; II Kings 23: 10; Ezek. 23: 36, 39. "After these sacrifices had ceased, the place was desecrated, and made one of loathing and horror. The pious king Josiah caused it to be polluted, i.e., he caused to be carried there the filth of the city of Jerusalem. It would seem that the custom of desecrating this place thus happily begun, was continued in after ages down to the period when our Savior was on earth. Perpetual fires were kept up in order to consume the offal which was deposited there. And as the same offal would breed worms, (for so all putrefying meat does of course), hence came the expression, 'Where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.' " Stuart's Exegetical Ess., pp. 140-141. "Gehenna, originally a Hebrew word, which signifies the valley of Hinnom, is composed of the common noun, Gee, valley, and the proper name Hinnom, the owner of this valley. The valley of the sons of Hinnom was a delightful vale, planted with trees, watered by fountains, and lying near Jerusalem, on the south-east, by the brook Kedron. Here the Jews placed that brazen image of Moloch, which had the face of a calf, and extended its hands as those of a man. It is said, on the authority of the ancient Rabbins, that, to this image, the idolatrous Jews were wont not only to sacrifice doves, pigeons, lambs, rams, calves and bulls, but even to offer their children. I Kings 9: 7; II Kings 15: 3, 4. In the prophecy of Jeremiah, (Ch. 7: 31), this valley is called Tophet, from Toph, a drum; because the administrators in these horrid rites, beat drums, lest the cries and shrieks of the infants who were burned, should be heard by the assembly. At length, these nefarious practices were abolished by Josiah, and the Jews brought back to the pure worship of God. II Kings 23: 10. After this, they held the place in such abomination, it is said, that they cast into it all kinds of filth, together with the carcasses of beasts, and the unburied bodies of criminals who had been executed. Continual fires were necessary, in order to consume these, lest the putrefaction should infect the air; and there were always worms feeding on the remaining relics. Hence it came, that any severe punishment, especially a shameful kind of death, was denominated Gehenna." Schleusner. As we trace the history of the locality as it occurs in the Old Testament we learn that it should never have been translated by the word Hell. It is a proper name of a well-known locality, and ought to have stood Gehenna, as it does in the French Bible, in Newcome's and Wakefield's translations. In the Improved Version, Emphatic Diaglott, etc. Babylon might have been translated Hell with as much propriety as Gehenna. It is fully described in numerous passages in the Old Testament, and is exactly located. GEHENNA LOCATED IN THIS WORLD "And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom unto the south side of the

Jebusite; the same is Jerusalem, and the border went up to the top of the mountain that lieth before the valley of Hinnom westward." Joshua 15: 8. "And he (Josiah) defiled Tophet, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or daughter to pass through the fire to Moloch." II Kings 23: 10. "Moreover, he (Ahaz) burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen." II Chron. 28: 3. "And they (the children of Judah) have built the high places of Tophet which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter; for they shall bury in Tophet till there be no place." Jer. 7: 31, 32. "And go forth into the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee. 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 19: 2, 6. These and other passages show that Gehenna was a well-known valley, near Jerusalem, in which the Jews in their idolatrous days had sacrificed their children to the idol Moloch, in consequence of which it was condemned to receive the offal and refuse and sewage of the city, and into which the bodies of malefactors were cast and where to destroy the odor and pestilential influences, continual fires were kept burning. Here fire, smoke, worms bred by the corruption, and other repulsive features, rendered the place a horrible one, in the eyes of the Jews. It was locality with which they were as well acquainted as they were with any place in or around the city. The valley was sometimes called Tophet, according to Schleusner, from Toph, a drum, because drums were beat during the idolatrous rites, but Adam Clarke says in consequence of the fact that Moloch was hollow, and heated, and children were placed in its arms, and burn to death; the word Tophet he says, meaning fire stove; but Prof. Stuart thinks the name derived from "Toph, to vomit the loathing." After these horrible practices, King Josiah polluted the place and rendered it repulsive. "Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter; for they shall bury in Tophet till there be no place. And the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away. Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate." Jer. 7: 32-34. "At that time, saith the Lord, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of the princes, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of the graves: and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped; they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth. And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of

this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the Lord of hosts. And I will make this city desolate, and a hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss, because of all the plagues thereof. And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them. And they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury. Thus will I do unto this place, saith the Lord, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make the city as Tophet: and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods. Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord's house, and said to all the people: Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words." Jer. 19: 8-15. These passages show that Gehenna or Tophet was a horrible locality near Jerusalem, and that to be cast there literally, was the doom threatened and executed originally. Every reference is to this world, and to a literal casting into that place. In Dr. Bailey's English Dictionary, Gehenna is defined to be "a place in the valley of the tribe of Benjamin, terrible for two sorts of fire in it, that wherein the Israelites sacrificed their children to the idol Moloch, and also another kept continually burning to consume the dead carcasses and filth of Jerusalem." But in process of time Gehenna came to be an emblem of the consequences of sin, and to be employed figuratively by the Jews, to denote those consequences. But always in this world. The Jews never used it to mean torment after death, until long after Christ. That the word had not the meaning of post-mortem torment when our Savior used it, is demonstrable: Josephus was a Pharisee, and wrote at about the time of Christ, and expressly says that the Jews at the time (corrupted from the teaching of Moses) believed in punishment after death, but he never employs Gehenna to denote the place of punishment. He uses the word Hadees, which the Jews had then obtained from the heathen, but he never uses Gehenna, as he would have done, had it possessed that meaning then. This demonstrates that the word had no such meaning then. In addition to this neither the Apocrypha, which was written from 280 to 150 years. B. C., nor Philo, ever uses the word. It was first used in the modern sense of Hell by Justin Martyr, one hundred and fifty years after Christ. Dr. Thayer concludes a most thorough excursus on the word ("Theology, etc.,") thus: "Our inquiry shows that it is employed in the Old Testament in its literal or geographical sense only, as the name of the valley lying on the south of Jerusalem-that the Septuagint proves it retained this meaning at late as B. C. 150--that it is not found at all in the Apocrypha; neither of Philo, nor in Josephus, whose writings cover the very times of the Savior and the New

Testament, thus leaving us without a single example of contemporary usage to determine its meaning at this period-that from A. D. 150-195, we find in two Greek authors, Justin and Clement of Alexandria, the first resident in Italy and the last in Egypt that Gehenna began to be used to designate a place of punishment after death, but not endless punishment since Clement was a believer in universal restoration-that the first time we find Gehenna used in this sense in any Jewish writing is near the beginning of the third century, in the Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel, two hundred years too late to be of any service in the argument-and lastly, that the New Testament usage shows that while it had not wholly lost its literal sense, it was also employed in the time of Christ as a symbol of moral corruption and wickedness; but more especially as a figure of the terrible judgments of God on the rebellious and sinful nation of the Jews." The Jewish talmuds and targums use the word in the sense that the Christian Church has so long used it, though without attributing endlessness to it, but none of them are probably older than A. D. 200. The oldest is the targum (translation) of Jonathan Ben Uzziel, which was written according to the best authorities between A. D. 200 and A. D. 400. "Most of the eminent critics now agree, that it could not have been completed till some time between two and four hundred years after Christ." Univ. Expos. Vol 2, p. 368. "Neither the language nor the method of interpretation is the same in all the books. In the historical works, the text is translated with greater accuracy than elsewhere; in some of the Prophets, as in Zechariah, the interpretation has more of the Rabbinical and Talmudical character. From this variety we may properly infer, that the work is a collection of interpretations of several learned men made toward the close of the third century, and containing some of a much older date; for that some parts of it existed as early as in the second century, appears from the additions which have been transferred from some Chaldee paraphrase into the Hebrew text, and were already in the text in the second century." Jahn Int. p. 66. Horne's Intro. Vol. 2. p. 160. Dr. T. B. Thayer in his "Theology," says: "Dr. Jahn assigns it to the end of the third century after Christ; Eichhorn decides for the fourth century; Bertholdt inclines to the second or third century, and is confident that it 'cannot have attained its present complete form, before the end of the second century.' Bauer coincides generally in these views. Some critics put the date even as low down as the seventh or eighth century. See a full discussion of the question in the Universalist Expositor, Vol. 2, p. 35l-368. See, also, Horne's Introduction, Vol. 2, 157-163. Justin Martyr. A. D. 150, and Clement of Alexandria, A. D. 195, both employ Gehenna to designate the place of future punishment; but the first utters an opinion only of its meaning in a certain text, and the last was a Universalist and did not, of course, believe that Gehenna was the place of endless punishment. Augustine, A. D. 400, says Gehenna 'stagnum ignis el sulphuris corporeus ignis erit.' De Civitate Dei, L. 21. C. 10." At the time of Christ the Old Testament existed in Hebrew. The Septuagint translation of it was made between two hundred and four hundred years before his birth. In both Gehenna is

never used as the name of a place of future punishment. A writer in the Universalist Expositor remarks, (Vol. 2): "Both the Apocrypha, and the works of Philo, when compared together, afford circumstantial evidence that the word cannot have been currently employed, during their age, to denote a place of future torment. . . . From the few traces which remain to us of this age, it seems that the idea of future punishment, such as it was among the Jews, was associated with that of darkeness, and not of fire; and that among those of Palestine, the misery of the wicked was supposed to consist rather in privation, than in positive infliction. . . . But we cannot discover, in Josephus, that either of these sects, the Pharisees or the Essenes, both of which believed the doctrine of endless misery, supposed it to be a state of fire, or that the Jews ever alluded to it by that emblem." Thus the Apocrypha, B. C. 150-500, Philo Judaeus A. D. 40, and Josephus, A. D. 70-100, all refer to future punishment, but none of them use Gehenna to describe it, which they would have done, being Jews, had the word been then in use with that meaning. Were it the name of a place of future torment, then, can any one doubt that it would be found repeatedly in their writings? And does not the fact that it is never found in their writings demonstrate that it had no such use then, and if so, does it not follow that Christ used it in no such sense? Canon Farrar says of Gehenna (Preface to "Eternal Hope): "In the Old Testament it is merely the pleasant valley of Hinnom (Ge Hinnom), subsequently desecrated by idolatry, and especially by Moloch worship, and defiled by Josiah on this account. (See I Kings 11: 7; II Kings 23: 10.)(Jer. 7: 31; 19: 10-14; Isa. 30: 33; Tophet). Used according to Jewish tradition, as the common sewage of the city, the corpses of the worst criminals were flung into it unburied, and fires were lit to purify the contaminated air. It then became a word which secondarily implied (1) the severest judgment which a Jewish court could pass upon a criminal-the casting forth of his unburied corpse amid the fires and worms of this polluted valley; and (2) a punishment-which to the Jews a body never meant an endless punishment beyond the grave. Whatever may be the meaning of the entire passages in which the word occurs, 'Hell' must be a complete mistranslation, since it attributes to the term used by Christ a sense entirely different from that in which it was understood by our Lord's hearers, and therefore entirely different from the sense in which he could have used it. Origen says (c. Celsus 6: 25) that Gehenna denotes (1) the vale of Hinnon; and (2) a purificatory fire (eis ten meta basanon katharsin). He declares that Celsus was totally ignorant of the meaning of Gehenna." JEWISH VIEWS OF GEHENNA Gehenna is the name given by Jews to Hell. Rev. H. N. Adler, a Jewish Rabbi, says: "They do not teach endless retributive suffering. They hold that it is not conceivable that a God of mercy and justice would ordain infinite punishment for finite wrong-doing." Dr. Dentsch declares: "There is not a word in the Talmud that lends any support to that damnable dogma of endless torment." Dr. Dewes in his "Plea for Rational Translation," says that Gehenna is alluded to four or five times in the Mishna, thus: "The judgment of Gehenna is for twelve

months;" "Gehenna is a day in which the impious shall be burnt." Bartolocci declares that "the Jews did not believe in a material fire, and thought that such fire as they did believe in would one day be put out." Rabbi Akiba, "the second Moses," said: "The duration of the punishment of the wicked in Gehenna is twelve months." Adyoth 3: 10. some rabbis said Gehenna only lasted from Passover to Pentecost. This was the prevalent conception. (Abridged from Excursus 5, in Canon Farrar's "Eternal Hope." He gives in a note these testimonies to prove that the Jews to whom Jesus spoke, did not regard Gehenna as of endless duration). Asarath Maamaroth, f. 35, 1: "There will hereafter be no Gehenna." Jalkuth Shimoni, f. 46, 1: "Gabriel and Michael will open the eight thousand gates of Gehenna, and let out Israelites and righteous Gentiles." A passage in Othoth, (attributed to R. Akiba) declares that Gabriel and Michael will open the forty thousand gates of Gehenna, and set free the damned, and in Emek Hammelech, f. 138, 4, we read: "The wicked stay in Gehenna till the resurrection, and then the Messiah, passing through it redeems them." See Stephelius' Rabbinical Literature. Rev. Dr. Wise, a learned Jewish Rabbi, says: "That the ancient Hebrews had no knowledge of Hell is evident from the fact that their language has no term for it. When they in after times began to believe in a similar place they were obliged to borrow the word 'Gehinnom,' the valley of Hinnom,' a place outside of Jerusalem, which was the receptacle for the refuse of the city-a locality which by its offensive smell and sickening miasma was shunned, until vulgar superstition surrounded it with hob-goblins. Haunted places of that kind are not rare in the vicinity of populous cities. In the Mishna of the latest origin the word Gehinnom is used as a locality of punishment for evil-doers, and hence had been so used at no time before the third century, A. D." From the time of Josephus onwards, there is an interval of about a century, from which no Jewish writings have descended to us. It was a period of dreadful change with that ruined and distracted people. The body politic was dissolved, the whole system of their ceremonial religion had been crushed in the fall of their city and temple; and they themselves scattered abroad were accursed on all the face of the earth. Their sentiments underwent a rapid transformation, and when next we see their writings, we find them filled with every extravagant conceit that mad and visionary brains ever cherished. Expos. Vol. 2. Art, Gehenna, II Ballou, 2d. Before considering the passages of Scripture containing the word, the reader should carefully read and remember the following: IMPORTANT FACTS 1. Gehenna was a well-known locality near Jerusalem, and ought no more to be translated Hell, than should Sodom or Gomorrah. See Josh. 15: 8; II Kings 17: 10; II Chron. 28: 3; Jer. 7: 31, 32; 19: 2. 2. Gehenna is never employed in the Old Testament to mean anything else than the place

with which every Jew was familiar. 3. The word should have been left untranslated as it is in some versions, and it would not be misunderstood. It was not misunderstood by the Jews to whom Jesus addressed it. Walter Balfour well says: "What meaning would the Jews who were familiar with this word, and knew it to signify the valley of Hinnom, be likely to attach to it when they heard it used by our Lord? Would they, contrary to all former usage, transfer its meaning from a place with whose locality and history they had been familiar from their infancy, to a place of misery in another world? This conclusion is certainly inadmissible. By what rule of interpretation, then, can we arrive at the conclusion that this word means a place of misery and death?" 4. The French Bible, the Emphatic Diaglott, Improved Version, Wakefield's Translation and Newcomb's retain the proper noun, Gehenna, the name of a place as well-known as Babylon. 5. Gehenna is never mentioned in the Apocrypha as a place of future punishment as it would have been had such been its meaning before and at the time of Christ. 6. No Jewish writer, such as Josephus or Philo, ever uses it as the name of a place of future punishment, as they would have done had such then been its meaning. 7. No classic Greek author ever alludes to it and therefore it was a Jewish locality, purely. 8. The first Jewish writer who ever names it as a place of future punishment is Jonathan Ben Uzziel who wrote, according to various authorities, from the second to the eighth century, A. D. 9. The first Christian writer who calls Hell Gehenna is Justin Martyr who wrote about A. D. 150. 10. Neither Christ nor his apostles ever named it to Gentiles, but only to Jews which proves it a locality only known to Jews, whereas, if it were a place of punishment after death for sinners, it would have been preached to Gentiles as well as Jews. 11. It was only referred to twelve times on eight occasions in all the ministry of Christ and the apostles, and in the Gospels and Epistles. Were they faithful to their mission to say no more than this on so vital a theme as an endless Hell, if they intended to teach it? 12. Only Jesus and James ever named it. Neither Paul, John, Peter nor Jude ever employ it. Would they not have warned sinners concerning it, if there were a Gehenna of torment after death? 13. Paul says he "shunned not to declare the whole counsel of God," and yet though he was the great preacher of the Gospel to the Gentiles he never told them that Gehenna is a place of after-death punishment. Would he not have repeatedly warned sinners against it were there such a place?

;nbsp Dr. Thayer significantly remarks: "The Savior and James are the only persons in all the New Testament who use the word. John Baptist, who preached to the most wicked of men did not use it once. Paul wrote fourteen epistles and yet never once mentions it. Peter does not name it, nor Jude; and John, who wrote the gospel, three epistles, and the Book of Revelations, never employs it in a single instance. Now if Gehenna or Hell really reveals the terrible fact of endless woe, how can we account for this strange silence? How is it possible, if they knew its meaning and believed it a part of Christ's teaching that they should not have used it a hundred or a thousand times, instead of never using it at all; especially when we consider the infinite interests involved? The Book of Acts contains the record of the apostolic preaching,and the history of the first planting of the church among the Jews and Gentiles, and embraces a period of thirty years from the ascension of Christ. In all this history, in all this preaching of the disciples and apostles of Jesus there is no mention of Gehenna. In thirty years of missionary effort these men of God, addressing people of all characters and nations never under any circumstances threaten them with the torments of Gehenna or allude to it in the most distant manner! In the face of such a fact as this can any man believe that Gehenna signifies endless punishment and that this is part of divine revelation, a part of the Gospel message to the world? These considerations show how impossible it is to establish the doctrine in review on the word Gehenna. All the facts are against the supposition that the term was used by Christ or his disciples in the sense of endless punishment. There is not the least hint of any such meaning attached to it, nor the slightest preparatory notice that any such new revelation was to be looked for in this old familiar word." 14. Jesus never uttered it to unbelieving Jews, nor to anybody but his disciples, but twice (Matt. 23: 15-33) during his entire ministry, nor but four times in all. If it were the final abode of unhappy millions, would not his warnings abound with exhortations to avoid it? 15. Jesus never warned unbelievers against it but once in all his ministry (Matt. 23: 33) and he immediately explained it as about to come in this life. 16. If Gehenna is the name of Hell then men's bodies are burned there as well as their souls. Matt. 5: 29; 18: 9. 17. If it be the name of endless torment, then literal fire is the sinner's punishment. Mark 9: 43-48. 18. Salvation is never said to be from Gehenna. 19. Gehenna is never said to be of endless duration nor spoken of as destined to last forever, so that even admitting the popular ideas of its existence after death it gives no support to the idea of endless torment. 20. Clement, a Universalist, used Gehenna to describe his ideas of punishment. He was one

of the earliest of the Christian Fathers. The word did not then denote endless punishment. 21. A shameful death or severe punishment in this life was at the time of Christ denominated Gehenna (Schleusner, Canon Farrar and others), and there is no evidence that Gehenna meant anything else at the time of Christ. With these preliminaries let us consider the twelve passages in which the word occurs. "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, Raea, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of Hell-fire." Matt. 5: 22. The purpose of Jesus here was to show how exacting is Christianity. It judges the motives. This he affirms in the last sentence of the verse, after referring to the legal penalties of Judaism in the first two. The "judgment" here is the lower ecclesiastical court of twentythree judges: the "council" is the higher court, which could condemn to death. But Christianity is so exacting, that if one is contemptuous towards another, he will be adjudged by Christian principles guilty of the worst crimes, as "he who hates his brother has already committed murder in his heart." We can give the true meaning of this passage in the words of "orthodox" commentators. Wynne correctly says: "This alludes to the three degrees of punishment among the Jews, viz., civil punishment inflicted by the judges or elders at the gates; excommunication pronounced by the great Ecclesiastical Council or Sanhedrim; and burning to death, like those who were sacrificed to devils in the valley of Hinnom or Tophet, where the idolatrous Israelites used to offer their children to Moloch." Note in loc. Dr. Adam Clarke says: "It is very probable that our Lord means no more here than this: 'If a man charge another with apostasy from the Jewish religion, or rebellion against God, and cannot prove his charge, then he is exposed to that punishment (burning alive) which the other must have suffered, if the charges had been substantiated. There are three offenses here which exceed each other in their degrees of guilt. 1. Anger against a man, accompanied with some injurious act. 2. Contempt, expressed by the opprobrious epithet raea, or shallow brains. 3. Hatred and mortal enmity, expressed by the term morch, or apostate, where such apostasy could not be proved. Now proportioned to these three offenses were three different degrees of punishment, each exceeding the other in severity, as the offenses exceeded each other in their different degrees of guilt. 1. The judgment, the council of twenty-three, which could inflict the punishment of strangling. 2. The Sanhedrim, or great council, which could inflict the punishment of stoning. 3. The being burnt in the valley of the son of Hinnom. This appears to be the meaning of our Lord. Our Lord here alludes to the valley of the son of Hinnom. This place was near Jerusalem; and had been formerly used for these abominable sacrifices in which the idolatrous Jews had caused their children to pass through the fire to Moloch." Com. in loc. We do not understand that a literal casting into Gehenna is here inculcated-as Clarke and Wynne teach-but that the severest of all punishments are due those who are contemptuous to others. Gehenna fire is here figuratively and not literally used, but its torment is in this life.

Barnes: "In this verse it denotes a degree of suffering higher than the punishment inflicted by the court of seventy, the Sanhedrim. And the whole verse may therefore mean, He that hates his brother without a cause, is guilty of a violation of the sixth commandment, and shall be punished with a severity similar to that inflicted by the court of judgment. He that shall suffer his passions to transport him to still greater extravagances, and shall make him an object of derision and contempt, shall be exposed to still severer punishment, corresponding to that which the Sanhedrim, or council, inflicts. But he who shall load his brother with odious appellations and abusive language, shall incur the severest degree of punishment, represented by being burnt alive in the horrid and awful valley of Hinnom." (Com.)--A. A. Livermore, D. D., says: "Three degrees of anger are specified, and three corresponding gradations of punishment, proportioned to the different degrees of guilt. Where these punishments will be inflicted, he does not say, he need not say. The man, who indulges any wicked feelings against his brother man, is in this world punished; his anger is the torture of his soul and unless he repents of it and forsakes it, it must prove his woe in all future states of his being." Whether Jesus here means the literal Gehenna, or makes these three degrees of punishment emblems of the severe spiritual penalties inflicted by Christianity, there is no reference to the future world in the language. "Unlike the teachings of Judaism, Jesus taught that it was not absolutely necessary to commit the overt act, to be guilty before God, but if a man wickedly gave way to temptation, and harbored vile passions and purposes, he was guilty before God and amenable to the divine law. He who hated his brother was a murderer. Jesus also taught that punishment under his rule was proportioned to criminality, as under the legal dispensation. He refers to three distinct modes of punishment recognized by Jewish regulations. Each one of these exceeded the other in severity. They were, first, strangling or beheading; second, stoning; and third, burning alive. The lower tribunal or court, referred to in the passage before us, by the term 'judgment,' was composed of twenty-three judges, or as some learned men think, of seven judges and two scribes. The higher tribunal, or 'council' was doubtless the Sanhedrim, the highest ecclesiastical and civil tribunal of the Jews, composed of seventy judges, whose prerogative it was to judge the greatest offenders of the law, and could even condemn the guilty to death. They were often condemned to Gehennafire or as it is translated Hell-fire. Jesus did not intend to say, that under the Christian dispensation, men should be brought before the different tribunals referred to in the text to be adjudicated but he designed to show that under the new economy of grace and truth man was still a subject of retributive justice, but was judged according to the motives of the heart. 'But I say unto you, whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment.' According to the Christian principle, man is guilty if he designs to do wrong." Livermore's "Proof Texts." CAST INTO HELL-FIRE "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 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. Matt. 5: 28, 29. "And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into Hellfire. Matt 18: 9: "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into Hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into Hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into Hell-fire." Mark 9: 43, 49. These passages mean that it is better to accept Christianity, and forego some worldly privilege, than to possess all worldly advantages, and be overwhelmed in the destruction then about to come upon the Jews, when multitudes were literally cast into Gehenna. Or it may be figuratively used, as Jesus probably used it, thus: it is better to enter the Christian life destitute of some great worldly advantage, comparable to a right hand, than to live in sin, with all worldly privileges, and experience that moral death which is a Gehenna of the soul. In this sense it may be used of men now as then. But there is no reference to an after-death suffering, in any proper use of the terms. The true idea of the language is this: Embrace the Christian life, whatever sacrifice it calls for. The latter clause carries out the idea, in speaking of THE UNDYING WORM "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Undoubtedly Jesus had reference to the language of the prophet. "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. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses 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." Isa. 66: 23, 24. The prophet and the Savior both referred to the overthrow of Jerusalem, though by accommodation we may apply the language generally, understanding by Hell, or Gehenna, that condition brought upon the soul in this world by sin. But the application by the prophet and the Savior was to the day then soon to come. The undying worm was in this world. Strabo calls the lamp in the Parthenon, and Plutarch calls the sacred fire of a temple "unquenchable," though they were extinguished ages ago. Josephus says that the fire on the altar of the temple at Jerusalem was "always unquenchable," asbeston aei, though the fire had gone out and the temple was destroyed at the time of his writing. Eusebius says that certain martyrs of Alexandria "were burned in unquenchable fire," though it was extinguished in the course of an hour, the very epithet in English, which Homer has in Greek, asbestos gelos, (Iliad, 1: 599), unquenchable laughter.

Bloomfield says in his Notes: "Deny thyself what is even the most desirable and alluring, and seems the most necessary, when the sacrifice is demanded by the good of thy soul. Some think that there is an allusion to the amputation of diseased members of the body, to prevent the spread of any disorder." Dr. A. A. Livermore adds: "The main idea here conveyed, is that of punishment, extreme suffering, and no intimation is given as to its place, or its duration, whatever may be said in other texts in relation to these points. Wickedness is its own Hell. A wronged conscience, awakened to remorse, is more terrible than fire or worm. In this life and in the next, sin and woe are forever coupled together, God has joined them, and man cannot put them asunder." Says the Universalist Assistant: "Will any one maintain that our Lord meant to contrast the life his gospel is calculated to impart, and the kingdom he came to establish, with the literal horrors of the valley of Hinnom? I think not. Every one it appears to me must see the horrors of this place are used only as figures; and the question at once arises-Figures of what? I answer-Figures of the consequences of sin, of neglect of duty, of violation of God's law. And these figures are not used so much to represent the duration of punishment, as to indicate its intensity, and its uninterrupted, unmitigated continuous character so long as it lasts, which must be as long as its cause continues, i.e., sin in the soul." Dr. Ballou says in Vol. 1, Universalist Quarterly: "This passage is metaphorical. Jesus uses this well-known example of a most painful sacrifice for the preservation of corporeal life, only that he may the more strongly enforce a corresponding solicitude to preserve the moral life of the soul.And if so, it naturally follows that those prominent particulars in the passages which literally relate to the body, are to be understood as figures, and interpreted accordingly. If one's eye or hand become to him an offense, or cause of danger, it is better to part with it than to let it corrupt the body fit to be thrown into the valley of Hinnom. . . . It is better to deny ourselves everything however innocent and even valuable in itself, if it become an occasion of sin, lest it should be the means of bringing upon us the most dreadful consequences-consequences that are aptly represented in the figure by having one's dishonored and putrid corpse thrown into the accursed valley of Hinnom." DESTROY SOUL AND BODY IN HELL "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell. Matt. 10: 28. "But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: Fear him which, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell: yea, I say unto you, fear him." Luke 12: 5. The reader of these verses and the accompanying language, will observe that Jesus is exhorting his disciples to have entire faith in God. The most that men can do is to destroy the body, but God "is able," "hath power" to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. It is not said that God has any disposition or purpose of doing so. He is able to do it, as it is said (Matt. 3: 9) he is "able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." He never did and never will raise up children to Abraham of the stones of the street, but he is able to, just as he is able to destroy soul and body in Gehenna, while men

could only destroy the body there. Fear the might power of God who could if he chose, annihilate man while the worst that men could do would be to destroy the mere animal life. It is a forcible exhortation to trust in God, and has no reference to torment after death. Fear not those who can only torture you-man-but fear God who can annihilate (apokteino.) 1. This language was addressed by Christ to his disciples, and not to sinners. 2. It proves God's ability to annihilate (destroy) and not his purpose to torment. Donnegan defines apollumi, "to destroy utterly." Says a writer in the Universalist Expositor, (Vol. 4): "That it was the design of Christ, to lead his disciples to reverence the surpassing power of God, which he thus illustrated, and not to make them fear an actual destruction of their souls and bodies in Gehenna, seems evident from the words that immediately follow. For he proceeds to show words that immediately follow. For he proceeds to show them that that power was constantly exerted in their behalfnot against them. See the following verses." The word rendered soul is psuche, life, same as in verse 39, "He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." Also, John 13: 37, "I will lay down my life for thy sake." The word psuche is translated "mind," "soul," "life," "hear," "minds," and "souls." "And made their minds (psuche)evil affected against the brethren." Acts 14: 2: "Doing the will of God from the heart," (psuche). Eph. 6: 6: "Learn of me. . . and ye shall find rest unto your souls." (psuche). Matt. 11: 29: "Let every soul (psuche) be subject unto the higher powers." Rom. 13: 1. The immortal soul is not meant, but the life. As though Jesus had said: "Fear Not those who can only kill the body, but rather him, who if he chose could annihilate the whole being." Fear not man but God. "So much may suffice to show the admitted fact, that the destruction of soul and body was a proverbial phrase, indicating utter extinction or complete destruction." Paige. Dr. W. E. Manley observes that the condition threatened "Is one wherein the body can be killed. And no one has imagined any such place, outside the present state of being. Nor can there be the least doubt about the nature of this killing of the body; for the passage is so constructed as to settle this question beyond all controversy. It is taking away the natural life as was done by the persecutors of the apostles. The Jews were in a condition of depravity properly represented by Gehenna. The apostles had been in that condition, but had been delivered from it. They were in danger, however, of apostasy which would bring them again into the same condition in which they would lose their natural lives and suffer moral death besides. By supposing the term Hell to denote a condition now in the present life, there is no absurdity involved. Sinful men may here suffer both natural death and moral death; but in the future life natural death cannot be suffered; whatever may be said of moral death. Add to this that the Jews used Gehenna as an emblem of a temporal condition, at the time of Christ; but there is no evidence that they used it to represent future punishment. That they did has many times been asserted but never proved. In conclusion, the meaning of

this passage may be stated in few words. Fear not men, your persecutors, who can inflict on you only bodily suffering. But rather fear him who is able to inflict both bodily suffering, and what is worse, mental and moral suffering, in that condition of depravity represented by the foulest and most revolting locality known to the Jewish people." Dr. Parkhurst observes Hell-fire, literally Gehenna of fire, does "in its outward and primary sense, relate to that dreadful doom of being burnt alive in the valley of Hinnom." Schleusner: "Any severe punishment, especially a shameful kind of death was denominated Gehenna." THE CHILD OF HELL "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of Hell than yourselves." Matt. 23: 15. Looking upon the smoking valley and thinking of its corruptions and abominations to call a man a "child of "Gehenna" was to say that his heart was corrupt and his character vile, but it no more indicated a place of woe after death than a resident of New York would imply such a place by calling a bad man a child of Five Points. THE DAMNATION OF HELL "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers! how can ye escape the damnation of Hell?" Matt. 23: 33. This verse undoubtedly refers to the literal destruction that soon after befell the Jewish nation, when six hundred thousand experienced literally the condemnation of Gehenna, by perishing miserably by fire and sword. The next words explain this damnation: "Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation." This was long before prophesied by Jeremiah, (chapter 19): "Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord's house, and said to all the people, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring upon this city, and upon all her towns, all the evil that I have pronounced against it; because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words." Isaiah has reference to the same in chapter 66: 24: "And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses 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." This explains the "unquenchable fire" and the "undying worm." They are in this world. SET ON FIRE OF HELL "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity; so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of Hell."

James 3: 6. A tongue set on fire of Gehenna when James wrote was understood just as in London a tongue inspired by Billingsgate, or in New York by Five Points, or in Boston by Ann street, or in Chicago by Fifth Avenue would be understood, namely, a profane and vulgar tongue. No reference whatever was had to any after-death place of torment but the allusion was solely to a locality well-known to all Jews, as a place of corruption and it was figuratively and properly applied to a vile tongue. CONCLUSION We have thus briefly explained all the passages in which Gehenna occurs. Is there any intimation that it denotes a place of punishment after death? Not any. If it mean such a place no one can escape believing that it is a place of literal fire, and all the modern talk of a Hell of conscience is most erroneous. But that it has no such meaning is corroborated by the testimony of Paul who says he "shunned not to declare the whole counsel of God," and yet he never in all his writings employs the word once, nor does he use the word Hadees but once and then he signifies its destruction, "oh Hadees, where is thy victory?" If Paul believed in a place of endless torment, would he have been utterly silent in reference to it, in his entire ministry? His reticence is a demonstration that he had no faith in it though the Jews and heathen all around him preached it and believed it implicitly. A careful reading of the Old Testament shows that the vale of Hinnom was a well-known and repulsive valley near Jerusalem, and an equally careful reading of the New Testament teaches that Gehenna, or Hinnom's vale was explained as always in this world, (Jer. 12: 2934; 19: 4-15; Matt. 10: 28), and was to befall the sinners of that generation, (Matt. 24) in this life, (Matt. 10: 39), before the disciples had gone over the cities of Israel, (Matt. 10: 23), and that their bodies and souls were exposed to its calamities. It was only used in the New Testament on five occasions, either too few, or else modern ministers use it altogether too much. John who wrote for Gentiles and Paul who was the great apostle to the Gentiles never used it once nor did Peter. If it had a local application and meaning we can understand this, but if it were the name of the receptacle of damned souls to all eternity, it would be impossible to explain such inconsistency. The primary meaning then of Gehenna is the wellknown locality near Jerusalem; but it was sometimes used to denote the consequences of sin in this life. It is to be understood in these two senses only in all the twelve passages in the New Testament. In the second century after Christ it came to denote a place of torment after death, but it is never employed in that sense in the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Apocrypha nor was it used by any contemporary of Christ with that meaning, nor was it ever thus employed by any Christian until Justin and Clement thus used it (A. D. 150) (and the latter was a Universalist), nor by any Jew until in the targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel about a century later. And even then it only denoted future but did not denote endless punishment, until a still later period. The English author, Charles Kingsley writes (Letters) to a friend: "The doctrine occurs nowhere in the Old Testament, nor any hint of it. The expression in the end of Isaiah about

the fire not quenched and the worm not dying is plainly of the dead corpses of men upon the physical earth in the valley of Hinnom or Gehenna, where the offal of Jerusalem was burned perpetually. "The doctrine of endless torment was as a historical fact, brought back from Babylon by the Rabbis. It may be a very ancient primary doctrine of the Magi, an appendage of their fire-kingdom of Ahriman and may be found in the old Zends, long prior to Christianity. "St. Paul accepts nothing of it as far as we can tell never making the least allusion to the doctrine. "The apocalypse simply repeats the imagery of Isaiah, and of our Lord; but asserts distinctly the non-endlessness of torture, declaring that in the consummation, not only death but Hell shall be cast into the lake of fire. "The Christian Church has never held it exclusively till now. It remained quite an open question till the age of Justinian, 530, and significantly enough, as soon as 200 years before that, endless torment for the heathen became a popular theory, purgatory sprang up synchronously by the side of it, as a relief for the conscience and reason of the church." Canon Farrar truthfully says, in his "Eternal Hope": "And, finally, the word rendered Hell is in one place the Greek word 'Tartarus,' borrowed as a word for the prison of evil spirits not after but before the resurrection. It is in ten places 'Hadees,' which simply means the world beyond the grave, and it is twelve places 'Gehenna,' which means primarily, the Valley of Hinnom outside of Jerusalem in which after it had been polluted by Moloch worship, corpses were flung and fires were lit; and, secondly, it is a metaphor not of final and hopeless but of that purifying and corrective punishment which as we all believe does await impenitent sin both here and beyond the grave. But be it solemnly observed, the Jews to whom and in whose metaphorical sense the word was used by our blessed Lord, never did, either then or at any other period attach to that word 'Gehenna,' which he used, that meaning of endless torment which we have been taught to apply to Hell. To them and therefore on the lips of our blessed Savior who addressed it to them, it means not a material and everlasting fire, but an intermediate, a metaphorical and a terminal retribution." In Excursus II, "Eternal Hope," he says the "damnation of Hell is the very different "judgment of Gehenna;" and Hell-fire is the "Gehenna of fire," "an expression which on Jewish lips was never applied in our Lord's days to endless torment. Origen tells us (c. Celsus 6: 25) that finding the word Gehenna in the Gospels for the place of punishment, he made a special search into its meaning and history; and after mentioning (1) the Valley of Hinnom, and (2) a purificatory fire (eis teen meta basanon katharsin,) he mysteriously adds that he thinks it unwise to speak without reserve about his discoveries. No one reading the passage can doubt that he means to imply the use of the word 'Gehenna' among the Jews to indicate a terminable, and not an endless punishment." The English word Hell occurs in the Bible fifty-five times, thirty-two in the Old Testament and twenty-three in the New Testament. The original terms translated Hell, Sheol-Hadees occur in the Old Testament sixty-four times and in the New Testament twenty-four times; Hadees eleven times, Gehenna twelve times and Tartarus once. In every instance the

meaning is death, the grave or the consequences of sin in this life. Thus the word Hell in the Bible, whether translated from Sheol, Hadees, Gehenna, or Tartarus, yields no countenance to the doctrine of even future, much less endless punishment. It should not be concluded, however, from our expositions of the usage of the word Hell, in the Bible, that Universalists deny that the consequences of sin extend to the life beyond the grave. We deny that inspiration has named Hell as a place or condition of punishment in the spirit world. It seems a philosophical conclusion and there are Scriptures that appear to many Universalists to teach that the future life is affected to a greater or less extent, by human conduct here; but that Hell is a place or condition of suffering after death is not believed by any and as we trust we have shown, the Scriptures never so designate it. Sheol, Hadees and Tartarus denoted literal death or the consequences of sin here, and Gehenna was the name of a locality well-known to all Jews into which sometimes men were cast and was made an emblem of great calamities or sufferings resulting from sin. Hell in the Bible in all the fifty-five instances in which the word occurs always refers to the present and never to the immortal world. Does the Bible teach that there is a place of eternal torment? HADES NASB Concord. # 86- adhV, ou hads; perh. from 1 (as a neg. pref.) and 7054 (1491a) (3708);Hades, the abode of departed spirits :-- Hades(10). The Greek word "Hades" is translated into English as "Hades" 10 times in the New American Standard (NASB) and that is the ONLY way it is translated. * Matt 11:23 (NASB) "And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. * Matt 16:18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. * Luke 10:15 "And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will be brought down to Hades! * Luke 16:22 "Now it came about that the poor man died and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 "And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 "And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame.' 25 "But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 'And besides all this, between us and you there is a great

chasm fixed, in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able, and [that] none may cross over from there to us.' * Acts 2:27 Because Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay. * Acts 2:31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. * Reve 1:18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. * Reve 6:8 And I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. And authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth. * Reve 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one [of them] according to their deeds. * 14 And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. From this little study of the Greek word, Hades, we learn this: 1. Hades is down (Luke 10:15) 2. Those in Hades are being tormented (Luke 16:23) in flames (vs 24.) 3. All dead do not go to Hades. Some go to "Abraham's Bosom." 4. (Luke 16:22, 25) Once you are dead, there is nothing you can do about about your whereabouts. (Luke 16:26) 5. The soul (the conscious part of us) is what goes to Hades. (Acts 2:27.) 6. Jesus (who was dead but is now alive forever) has the keys of Hades. (Rev 1:18.) 7. The dead who are in Hades, will one day come out to be judged. (Rev 20:13) 8. Hades will be thrown into the lake of fire (Rev 20:14.) LAKE OF FIRE So what is this "lake of fire"? It is spoken of 5 times. Read those verses below. NASB Concord. # 3041- limnh, hV limn; from leib (to pour); a lake :-- lake(11). NASB Concord. # 4442 - pur, oV pur; a prim. word; fire :-- burning(2), fiery(2), fire(69).

* Reve 19:20 (NASB) And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. * Reve 20:10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. * Reve 20:14 And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. * Rev 21:8 "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part [will be] in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." From these we learn: 1. The "lake of fire" burns with brimstone (sulfur.) (Rev 19:20) 2. It is a place of torment "day and night forever"(Rev 20:10) 3. Going there is "the second death" (Rev 20:14) 4. Anyone whose name is not written in the Book of Life goes there!!!! (Rev 20:15) 5. Those who commit bad sins go there, but then so do the cowardly and unbelieving! (Rev 21:8) eternal... Another passage sheds a little more light on the subject. Matt 25:41 "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, saying, '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, saying, '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 " And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." 1. The fire is "eternal." (Mt 25:41) 2. It was not prepared for man. It was prepared for the devil and his angels (demons.) (Mt

25:41) 3. The punishment is "eternal" (vs 46) unquenchable... Need more proof? Mark 9:41 "For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as [followers] of Christ, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. 42 "And whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea. 43 "And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, 44 [where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.] 45 "And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than having your two feet, to be cast into hell, 46 [where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.] 47 "And if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell, 48 where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. 1. The fire never stops, it is "unquenchable". (Mk 9:43,46,48) 2. There are also worms (maggots) which are involved in the torment, and they never stop either! (Mk 9:44,46,48) Yukkkk!!! maggots... Does the Old Testament describe this? You bet it does!!! * Isa 11 'Your pomp [and] the music of your harps Have been brought down to Sheol; Maggots are spread out [as your bed] beneath you, And worms are your covering.' * Isa 66:22 "For just as the new heavens and the new earth Which I make will endure before Me," declares the Lord, "So your offspring and your name will endure. 23 "And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me," says the Lord. 24 "Then they shall go forth and look On the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm shall not die, And their fire shall not be quenched; And they shall be an abhorrence to all mankind." HELL And what do you think about "hell" (Gehenna)? You know that the term came from a garbage dump where refuse was constantly burning. I think the idea conveyed is the constant burning (and maybe the stench). Read each time that Greek word is used in the scriptures and decide for yourself.

NASB Concord. # 1067 geenna, hV geenna; of Heb. origin 01516 and 02011 ; Gehenna, a valley W. and S. of Jer., also a symbolic name for the final place of punishment of the ungodly :-- hell(12). The only 12 uses of gehenna are these: * Matt 5:22 (NASB) "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, 'You fool,' shall be guilty [enough to go] into the fiery hell. * Matt 5:29 "And if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 "And if your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to go into hell. * Matt 10:28 "And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. * Matt 18:8 "And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the eternal fire. 9 "And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into the fiery hell. * Matt 23:15 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. * Matt 23:33 "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of hell? * Mark 9:43 "And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, * Mark 9:45 "And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than having your two feet, to be cast into hell...47 "And if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell, * Luke 12:4 "And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5 "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who after He has killed has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him! * James 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, the [very] world of iniquity; the tongue is set among

our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of [our] life, and is set on fire by hell. * Hell is fiery (Mt 5:22) * The fire is "eternal" and it is "hell". It is so bad that it would be better to cut off a part of your body to avoid going there. (Mt 5:29-30; 18:8-9; Mk 9:43-48) Does that sound like "the grave" to you? * Hell is for the soul as well as the body. (Mt 10:28) * Some people are sentenced to hell (Mt 23:33) * They are then cast into hell. (Mk 9:45,47) * Those who only kill the body do not cast anyone into hell; they merely cast someone into their grave. Only the Lord has the authority to cast a person into hell. (Luke 12:4) ABYSS There is another place called the abyss. It is also called the bottomless pit. It seems to be a location inside the earth, or something, and may possibly be the same as hades, but it is definitely different from the lake of fire. If you are interested, look up these references to the abyss: Luke 8:31; Romans 10:7; Rev 9:1,11;11:7;17:8;20:1 You will find out.. 1. Demons don't want to go there. (Lk 8:31) 2. Presumably, no one can go there, or perhaps no one can go there and get back out on his own accord. (Rom 10:7) 3. It is down, and Jesus was there. (Rom 10:7) 4. It is in the earth, and is locked with a key which an angel has. (Rev 9:1) 5. It has smoke (and where there's smoke...) (Rev 9:2) 6. It has a King (Rev 9:11) and locust-like demons (see vs 3-10) 7. A beast comes out of it to kill the two witnesses. (Rev 11:7) 8. Then he (he is identified as Antichrist here) goes to destruction (Rev 17:8) 9. Satan is chained up here for 1000 years (Rev 20:1-3) In looking over all of these scriptures, I'm sure you can see why most teach that some people are being tormented in Hades even as we speak, but other people are in Paradise or Abraham's bosom. However, there is no one in the Lake of Fire yet. People will go there after their judgment, and we will all be judged. "For we must all appear before the

judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." 2 Cor 5:10 The truth is, none of us are "good enough" to stand before a Holy God. No matter how "good" we are, no matter how hard we try, "all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment" Isa 64:6. That is why the sinless Lamb of God, Jesus, had to be sacrificed, in our place, so that we would have a means to escape the fate of hell, which was originally intended only for the devil and his demons. "For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" Heb 2:2-3. HELL! 'To him was given the key of the shaft of the bottomless pit ... and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke .. The smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever; and they have no rest day nor night." Revelation 9:1, 2; 14:11 by Diane S. Dew 1990 God is not only loving; he is just and holy. And justice requires punishment for sin. Scripture teaches that the spirits of men are fully conscious after separation from the body at death: 1) They can speak: 2) They can cry: 13:28 3) They can hear: 4) They can see: Isaiah 14:9-11 Matthew 8:11, 12; Revelation 6:9-11 John 5:25 Luke 16:23 1 Peter 3:18-20; 4:6 John 8:51-54, 45 Revelation 20;10 Ezekiel 32:21 13:43, 50; 22:13 Luke 16:24-31;

5) They can feel pain: 6) They have memory:

Luke 16:23, 24 Luke 16:28

Rejecting the concept of eternal torment does not change the fact any more than believing

the earth was flat made it not round. Either Jesus was a liar, or many modern theologians are in for a big surprise! What Americans Believe*: Is there a hell? Yes 64% No 25% Don't know 9% Refused 2%

What will Hell be like? A real place of suffering eternal fiery torments 34% An anguished state of existence 53% Don't know 11% * From a US News Poll 1/31/00 JOIN Diane's E-Group! Since the beginning of time, man has been fascinated with thoughts of the afterlife. This curiosity is reflected in the literature of virtually every culture. Just recently, the cover story of a national newsmagazine examined Americans' belief in the netherworld.1 According to a survey published in the Mar. 25, 1991 issue of U.S. News & World Report, 3 out of 5 Americans now believe in Hades (up 4 percent from 1965). Of those surveyed, however, only 4 percent feel they themselves have a good chance of going there. [A January 31, 2000 story in the same publication indicates these figures have not changed much.] While 60 percent of Americans believe in the existence of hell, their ideas of the place vary considerably. Nevertheless, and probably as a deterrent, God has revealed more to us in Scripture on the topic of hell, than is even said of heaven. The Bible is very descriptive of the intense pain (Rev. 16;10) and torment2 (Luke 16:2328; Rev. 14;10, 11) experienced by the ungodly after death. Hell is not a mere psychological or emotional distress, a some would suggest, but actual physical agony.3 Some would suppose that these descriptions are merely symbolic in meaning. Such rationalization might be reasonable in the Book of Revelation, which is clearly metaphorical. However, in the gospel accounts, and elsewhere in Scripture, this is not so. When Jesus spoke figuratively i.e., in parables, he said so. All of his parabolic stories were prefaced with phrases such as, "Hear then the parable..." In Luke's account of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus did not preface his story with such a statement; hence, it would be mere supposition to state that he spoke metaphorically. When Jesus taught, his purpose was to instruct and clarify, not confuse. It should be pointed out that the original languages in which the Scriptures were written utilized several words in reference to the abode of the dead. The Hebrew sheol4 referred to the place of the dead. Its New Testament counterpart is Hades5, sometimes translated "Hell" Refused 3%

(speaking of punishment) or "grave" (when referring to the souls of the righteous). It is also used to define the place where the soul resides between death and resurrection. (Luke 16:1931) Gehenna is the place of torment6 usually spoken of as "hell" in common usage today. The Greek tartarus (2 Pet. 2:4) is thought by many to refer to the nether world. At times, sheol is translated "grave,"7 or "pit."8 Translations can vary on the rendering of the word, but marginal helps can clarify any confusion that might arise. The doctrine of eternal punishment has been challenged and perverted by many. It is one of the primary doctrines distorted (or denied) by the cults. Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists and Christadelphians, for example, teach a complete annihilation of the wicked and deny and consciousness after death.9 (This is sometimes referred to as "soul sleep.") Christian Science and Unitarianism reject entirely the doctrine of final judgment. In every modification of the doctrine, hell is never depicted as more severe than Scripture portray it. Attempts to soothe (unrepentant) sinners' fears, and increase membership, offer only a false sense of security. False prophets tell people what they want to hear. (Jer. 23:13-17, 21, 22) Without a sincere love for the Truth, they deceive others as well as themselves (2 Tim. 3:13). They pervert the Scripture, and "twist" the scriptures "to their own destruction" (2 Pet. 3:16). Popularity, however, has never been a test for truth. In fact, Jesus said that we should beware "when all men speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets."10 If they hated and persecuted him, he said, they will do the same to us.11 Daniel was thrown to the lions.12 Jeremiah was cast into a pit.13 Amos was told to leave town.14 John was beheaded.15 Paul was imprisoned.16 Stephen was stoned.17 Jesus was crucified. "They will put you out of the synagogues," Jesus said, adding that "the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God." (Jn. 16:2) They love darkness (willful ignorance), rather than light (truth, which exposes sin and error). (Jn. 3:19) As humans, the tendency always exists to want to bring down to the level of our own understanding, spiritual things. Since the beginning of history, it has been so. However, spiritual things cannot be perceived by the natural mind; they must be spiritually understood. (1 Cor. 2:13, 14) That is why Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit -- to "teach you all things." (Jn. 14;26) What will hell really be like? First of all, it will be total separation from God (Mat. 25:41; 2 Thes. 1:9) It will be a place of misery and pain,18 where only the wicked will reside.19 And it will be eternal.20 There will be no escape, "No Exit." Throughout the Old and New Testaments, hell was described as a place of fire and

burning.21 This "bottomless pit"22 is a "great furnace"23 in "outer darkness" (Mat. 8:12; 22:13), covered with a "mist of blackness (or, darkness)" (2 Pet. 2:17; Jude 13). "There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Mat. 18:41, 42; Luke 13:28) The question often arises, How could a loving God commit his creation to such a horrible place of punishment? This question has given way to all kinds of perverted interpretations of Scripture. First of all, it must be pointed out that God is not only loving; he is just. And he is holy. The fact is, "all have sinned" and, therefore, deserve punishment -- apart form Jesus Christ. It was by our own choice that we failed to keep his commandments. The Father has gone out of his way to show us the Truth -- through creation (Rom. 1), in His Word, and by His Son. God sends no one to hell; anyone who goes there, goes by choice. God is merciful. But he is also just. "Behold therefore the goodness and the severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness..." (Rom. 11:22) --Scripture quotations are from "The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Revised Standard Version," copyright 1973, 1977 by Oxford University Press, Inc. MAIN PAGE In the early 90s, my theology professor -- a blatantly pro-homosexual, pro-abortion atheist -argued that a loving God could not send anyone into fiery torment. When he had us write a paper on Hell, in reaction to Jean-Paul Sartre's play "No Exit," I seized the opportunity to tell what the eternal abode of the wicked will really be like, according to the Scriptures. Following is a reproduction of my paper on the subject. How many times is hell mentioned in the Bible? This would depend on the translation being used. In the oldest manuscripts available, the Hebrew word sheol appears 65 times. The King James Version translates this Hebrew word sheol, 31 times as "hell," 31 times as "grave," and 3 times as "pit." So in the "Old Testiment," the KJ version uses the word "hell" 31 times, but it interesting to note that the same Hebrew word Sheol was also translated into two other words, "grave" and "pit." In the "New Testiment," the King James Version translates the Greek word "hades" in all 10 places it occurs, as "hell." The King James Version also uses the word "hell" or "hellfire" when translating the Greek word "Gehenna" 12 times. Other Bible translations translate the Hebrew word sheol and Greek word hades in different ways, some don't use the english word "hell" at all, instead trasliterating the Hebrew and Greek words directly as "sheol" and "hades." I'd like to add the greek word "tartaroos" or tartarus from which Hell is translated in 2 Peter 2:4 which describes the deeps parts of the dark pit where the fallen angels are reserved for punishment. This is the same place the demons in the swine did not want Jesus to sent them;

that is, the Abyss. Also, consider a careful study in the same context of 2 Peter and that is 2 Peter 2:9 which places the deceased wicked in the same place as the fallen angels. Study that verse in the original language or using various clearer versions of the Bible like The English Standard Version. In the KJV of the Bible, the word Hell, though not meaning the same thing in every verse, is used 54 times. Related answers: How many times is I mentioned in the bible? It is mentioned 12,440 times. How many times is the word hell mention in the Bible? hell is the form of a nightmare world and is generally used in our lords holy book it is mentioned 462 times to be exact and is used to describe the worst place any1 can ever go. Praise God we have... How many times is if mention in the Bible? Get a Strongs Exhaustive Concordance (they have them available on line), look up the term and count the references When is hell first mentioned in the bible? Hell is first mentioned in the old testament: Isaiah 66:24 reads: "And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be... How many times is the word Bible mentioned in the Bible? None, but remember the word bible means {Book] But it mentions 'scriptures a few times' (2 Timothy 3:16) and remember the bible was written on scrolls, that were rolled up etc, and papyrus (they... (* The KJV and the NKJV are the only two of the major translations in the list above to use "Hell" in the Old Testament. Even the NKJV which was only supposed to modernize the English of the traditional "Authorized Version," the KJV, took a dozen Hell references out. (2 Sam 22:6, Job 11:8, Job 26:6, Ps 16:10, Ps 18:5, Ps 26:13, Ps 116:3. Is 5:14, Is 28:15, Is 57:9, Jonah 2:2). It seems even in the King James Tradition, the use of the word "Hell" is decreasing. The NKJV, RSV, ASV, NRSV, and NASB are all technically revisions of the original King James Bible. From 54 times to 32 and then to 12 or 13 times--who knows-maybe the next revision will bring it in line with the many Bibles which have eliminated the pagan word Hell all together.) ** A note about the Parallel Interlinears. I am referring to the word-for-word translations

beneath the Greek in these works, NOT the English versions which are also in these reference works. Obviously the versions in these books (NIV, NASB, and KJV) contain the word Hell as many times as they normally would. There are other translations like the Companion Bible King James Version, American Standard Version (1901), the Newberry Reference Bible (Still published by Kregal Publications), and the Riverside New Testament by Ballantine (1934) which contain footnotes, marginal readings and appendages which point out that several key Greek and Hebrew words regarding Hell have been MIStranslated by such Bible versions as the King James Bible. Please note that the above list of Bibles which do NOT contain the word Hell in the text is NOT exhaustive--we are discovering more translations all the time in which the translators did not feel justified in using the Teutonic pagan word Hell to translate the Hebrew word Sheol and the Greek words Gehenna, Hades, and Tartarus. The End of "Forever" in the Bible. Another pleasant change which more Bible translations of the future will make deals with the subject of the words "everlasting," "eternal," and "for ever and ever." These words have been used in times past to translate the Hebrew word "olam," and its Greek counterpart "aion," and its adjective, "aionios." These ancient words should NEVER have been translated this way. Many modern scholars are beginning to cut against the grain of tradition and speak the truth which has been shackled by the chains of tradition long enough. It's time for light. The body of Christ has had enough of living in the shadows. It's time for pure light! Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, a well-known Bible teacher, hailed as "the prince of expositors" wrote in his book "God's Method's With Men" on pages 185, 6, "Let me say to Bible students that we must be very careful how to use the word 'eternity.' We have fallen into great error in our constant use of that word. There is NO word in the whole Book of God corresponding with our 'eternal,' which as commonly used among us, means absolutely without end." The above statement may come as a shock to the traditional Christian in the typical Church. It was certainly a shock to me. How could he make what appeared to me such a ridiculous statement. The Bible translations I had were FILLED with verses that spoke of things which were "eternal," "everlasting," and went on "forever and ever." How could he be hailed as a renowned Bible teacher and be given the honor of being called by the evangelical world the "prince of expositors" and yet make what appeared to me based upon my few Bible translations an utterly ridiculous statement? But when I decided to dig through my walls of tradition to see if what the famous Doctor Morgan said was true, I found MANY other well-known and respected scholars and Bible teachers had come to the very same conclusions to which Dr. Morgan had come. And after doing some intensive studies comparing English Bible translations and noting great discrepancies among them, comparing translations to the original languages of the

Bible and studying the teachings of the early Christian believers and leaders and aided by the Spirit of Truth whom Jesus promised to send His disciples, I came to the conclusion based upon solid facts that Dr. Morgan was correct in his assertions. The "traditional" teachings which I had consumed in the many churches I had attended over the years were false. This was a very painful discovery in one sense. It brought about division with some of my other Christian brothers and sisters who were not willing to look at these plain facts. They didn't want to rock the boat. They were comfortable being in the majority whether they were right or wrong. The fear and respect of man had gripped them and they didn't even know it. Jesus said that His word would divide, didn't He? Sometimes it even divided brother from sister, father from son, etc. Even though that brought sorrow for a season, the Truth shall make you free. The freedom I found after being set free of some "traditions of men" and "doctrines of demons" which had held me imprisoned is impossible to put in words. Truly God expanded Himself greatly in my life after the religious shackles which enslaved me came off. I pray that the rest of my brothers and sisters who are still enslaved to "majority rule" thinking be given the courage to look at the truth instead of bow down to the fear of man. Today, many years after this shocking discovery, I can't believe I ever believed the "traditional" view. Today, the Bible speaks from cover to cover of a MUCH more glorious God than I had been taught in the traditional fundamentalist, evangelical, Pentecostal, and Charismatic Churches I had attended. I wrote this brief article to serve as an introduction to a subject on which we have written and reprinted hundreds of articles, tracts, books, audio tapes, CD's etc. It is merely a tiny spark.a spark which I hope will set ablaze once and for all every single tradition the reader has been taught by men and women which are contrary to the true Word of God. This article will NOT answer all your questions-this article's purpose is to free the reader to begin to ask the RIGHT questions which, with diligent study and prayer, will bring the answers to the reader. At the end of this article are listed some Internet sites which contain literally hundreds of articles and books which will greatly expound upon the tiny spark which this brief article is. If the reader let's this spark take its course in their lives, I believe a real resurrection will follow-a resurrection from the death found in the "traditions of men" and the "doctrines of demons" and into the glorious light of the truly Good News of Jesus Christ which most of the world to this day has NOT heard especially in church. Before reading the rest of this short article, I beg the reader to pray a short prayer something like this. Use your own words, of course: Dear heavenly Father, if I have swallowed traditions and doctrines which have made the word of God of no effect in my life (Matt. 5:15-6-9), then I ask you to reveal this to me, no matter how hard it may be for me to bear it. I want the Truth and nothing but the Truth. Please send the Spirit of Truth into my life. Make all my beliefs line up with the Truth found in Jesus Christ alone. Cause me to yield myself completely to the Spirit whom Jesus promised to send to His believers. Set me free from ALL traditions, rituals, doctrines, beliefs and associations which have NOT come from you. And Father, if the message in this article is indeed true and from you, then let it do

its work in me. Use it as a spark which will burn up everything and anything which is NOT from You. Humble me, Father, that I might be able to receive your Truth found in Your Son, Jesus Christ. Send me Your Precious Holy Spirit, and reveal the Truth to me. Amen. Now please take the English Bible translation of your choice and find the following Scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit to do His work. It would be helpful if you compared at least three English translations. Since the King James Bible has held sway over the nonCatholic and Orthodox Churches for the last 350 years, that should be one of the translations. Then find another one of the leading "selling" English translations like the NIV, NASB, NRSB, Amplified, Living Translation, etc. I emphasized the word "selling" because the merchandising of the Gospel is one of the leading factors which has brought corruption into our English translations. The third Bible to have at hand would be perhaps Young's Literal Translation of the Holy Bible published by Baker Book House, or "Rotherham Emphasized Bible" published by Kregal Publications (both publishing houses are leading well-established evangelical publishers). The last two translations can be ordered from just about any Christian bookstore or through their internet sites or via Christian Book Distributors, the largest discounter of Christian books. They have a large Internet site from which one can order directly. Also, used copies of the last two translations are readily available through used book internet databases like Bookfinder; their url is: http://www.bookfinder.com/ Now let's discover how long the "eternity" REALLY is in many leading "selling" English translations: Sodom's fiery judgment is "eternal" (Jude 7)--until--God "will restore the fortunes of Sodom" (Ezek. 16:53-55). Israel's "affliction is incurable" (Jer. 30:12)-until--the Lord "will restore health" and heal her wounds (Jer. 30:17). The sin of Samaria "is incurable" (Mic. 1:9)-until-- Lord "will restore ... the fortunes of Samaria." (Ez. 16:53). Ammon is to become a "wasteland forever" and "rise no more" (Zeph. 2:9, Jer. 25:27 --until--the Lord will "restore the fortunes of the Ammonites" (Jer. 49:6). An Ammonite or Moabite is forbidden to enter the Lord's congregation "forever"-until-the tenth generation (Deut. 23:3): Habakkuk tells us of mountains that were "everlasting", that is -until-- they "were shattered" Hab. 3 3:6). The Aaronic Priesthood was to be an "everlasting" priesthood (Ex. 40:15), that is-until-it was superceded by the Melchizedek Priesthood (Hebrews 7:14-18). Many translations of the Bible inform us that God would dwell in Solomon's Temple "forever" (1 Kings 8:13), that is,--until the Temple was destroyed.

The children of Israel were to "observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant" (Exodus 31:16)-until--Paul states there remains "another day" of Sabbath rest for the people of God (Heb. 4:8,9). The Law of Moses was to be an "everlasting covenant" (Leviticus 24:8) yet we read in the New Covenant the first was "done away" and "abolished" (2 Corinthians 3:11,13), and God "made the first old" (Hebrews 8:13). The fire for Israel's sin offering (of a ram without blemish) is never to be put out. It shall be a "perpetual"-- until-- Christ, the Lamb of God, dies for our sins. We now have a better covenant established on better promises (Lev. 6:12-13, Heb. 8:6-13). God's waves of wrath roll over Jonah "forever"-until--the Lord delivers him from the large fish's belly on the third day (Jonah 2:6,10; 1: 17); Egypt and Elam will "rise no more" (Jer. 25:27)-until--the Lord will "restore the fortunes of Egypt" (Ez. 29:14) and "restore the fortunes of Elam" (Jer. 49:39). "Moab is destroyed" (Jer. 48:4, 42)-until--the Lord "will restore the fortunes of Moab" (Jer. 48:47). Israel's judgment lasts "forever"-until--the Spirit is poured out and God restores it (Isa. 32:13-15). So, narrow is the way to life and few find it-until-- and His church confiscate the "strong man's" booty, setting the captives free so God becomes all in all (Isa. 61, Luke 11:21-22, Matt. 7:13; 16:18, 1 Cor. 15:24-28). The King James Bible, as well as many others, tells us that a bondslave was to serve his master "forever" (Exodus 21:6), that is,--until--his death. God is now calling out "a people for His name"--an "elect" or chosen priesthood people who will represent and reflect His loving nature. Many are called and few are chosen--until-the small chosen priesthood people, by the Spirit, restore "David's tabernacle" so ALL mankind may inquire of the Lord. Thus we see that the church is the first-born, the beginning--until--in ALL (later born new creatures in Christ) our Lord will have supremacy (Amos 9:11-12, Matt. 22:14, Acts 15:14-18, Eph. 3:15, Col. 1 18). All manner of sin will be forgiven in this AGE as well as in the AGE (not eternity) to come, except blasphemy against God's Spirit-until--such blasphemy finds pardon in the fullness of the times (or ages) when God unites all in Christ. For the Lord does not retain His anger forever because He delights in mercy (Matt. 12:32; 18:11,21-22, Eph. 1:9-11, Rev. 4:11; 5:13, Mic. 7:18-20). God's wrath has come upon Israel "to the uttermost" (1 Thess. 2:16). So there is a gulf between "the rich man in purple" (Royal Covenant "Son", Israel) and the saved gentiles (Lazarus) which no man can cross--until--Christ Himself crosses it to bring His promised

restoration. For again, Scripture promises that ALL Israel will be saved (Jer. 50:5, Luke 16:19-26, John 12:32, Romans 11:26-29). Christ's fallen apostle, Judas, will be restored just as surely as fallen Israel (of which he is a member) will be restored. For the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable, and He has purposed to unite all in Christ. For Scripture assures us that He who calls us is 'faithful". He will surely perform it. So Judas is lost-until--the Lord restores Him (John 15:16, 1 Thess. 5:24). So, Christ will say to unrighteous NATIONS, "Depart from Me into 'everlasting' fire." And these nations will go away into "everlasting" (original language: age-lasting) punishment or pruning, that is--until--by God's severe mercy shown in judgment, ALL nations He has made glorify and worship Him. Thus God will fulfill His covenant with Abraham that in Christ all the families of ALL the nations will be BLESSED (Gen. 12:3, Ps. 62:12, 67:4, 86:9, Matt. 25:41,46). For according to Paul (Gal. 3:8), God's covenant with Abraham means that ALL will be justified and set right with God. So all flesh will bless His name forever and ever (Ps. 145:21). Therefore, ALL scriptural references that speak of everlasting fire or judgment MUST be understood in light of God's (Love's) clearly expressed heart, promise, desire, purpose and will. They ARE "everlasting"; that is, they are continuous and on-going--until--God's judgments serve to accomplish His unchanging will and purpose to unite ALL creation in Christ. (Gen. 12:3, Romans 4:13, Heb. 6:17). Truly God's judgments are in the earth-until-mercy shall triumph over those judgments. (James 2:13) In Adam ALL died, that is,--until-in Christ shall ALL be made alive, but each in his own order. (1 Cor. 15:22) Paul reemphasized this important truth in Romans 5:18. "Through the one man's offense judgment came to ALL men, resulting in condemnation, that is,--untilthrough one Man's righteous act the free gift came to ALL men, resulting in justification of life." It is righteous AND fair that because all were condemned to death through Adam's one act of disobedience that God undo that unrighteous act and give us all live. We didn't ask to die and we should have to ask to live. God is God. We do we get mad when He becomes good to all just because He delights in doing good? There is a parable about some workers who worked all day yet were given the same wages as those who only worked a short while. Perhaps we, Christians, should learn the lesson of that parable. (Matt. 20:1-16) What is in us that doesn't think it's fair if God gives us all eternal life? After all, did we earn ours? Maybe that's where the real problem lies. Many of us have been duped into mixing law and works with grace thereby falling from grace and becoming unrighteous judges just like the Pharisees of old. Gehenna's fires are not quenched and its worm does not die--until--the restoration of all things which has been spoken of by all God's holy prophets (Christ included) since the world

began. For our Savior did not come to contradict His own prophets. Our Good Shepherd and Faithful Deliverer came to fulfill the law and the prophets! Thus our Lord does not cast off forever (Lam. 3:31-32, Heb. 13:8). He who taught us to forgive and bless our enemies will surely do the same for His. For every tongue will give thanks that in Him they have righteousness and strength. All flesh will bless His name forever and ever! For our Lord will not fail or become discouraged until He fulfills all of God's purpose, word and will. For He tells us that everyone will be "seasoned" with fire (Matt. 5:17, Mark 9:42-49, Acts 3:21). Those who disobey the gospel and persecute Christians will be repaid with "everlasting" (that is, continuous) tribulation, destruction and punishment-until--by such persistent correction God shows them their need for Christ. So what is written in the prophets will come to pass, that ALL shall be taught of God, and everyone who has heard and LEARNED from the Father (eventually) comes to Christ. Thus, all the families of the nations will remember Him and worship before Him. And all will submit to Him and sing His praise. So God's promise will be fulfilled that ALL men shall reverence Him proclaim His works, and wisely consider His doing (Ps. 22:27-28, 64:4-5, 64:9, 2 Thess. 1:7-10). Paul the apostle understood the "forever until" principle at work in God's redemptive judgments. He knew the heart of God, and Paul also knew God's will, purpose and plan. His knowledge of God's character, will and purpose governed his understanding of Scripture. That is why Paul could appear to contradict the prophet David! Have a look at Romans 11:912 in the NIV translation, where David prophesies in Psalm 69:22: "May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution to them. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see and their backs be bent FOREVER." And observe how Paul responds: "Again I ask: Did they (Israel) stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? NOT AT ALL! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the gentiles (pagans, all who are spiritually unenlightened) to make Israel envious. For if their transgression means RICHES for the WORLD, and their loss means riches for the gentiles--how much greater riches will their (Israel's) fullness bring?" Wow. . . ! In the next three verses Paul assures us: that Israel's fall is the reconciliation of the WORLD; that Israel's fall will be (for them and all the world) life from the dead! (Ez. 37); that because the FIRST fruit (Israel) is holy, the whole world ("lump" or "harvest field") is holy. Read all of Romans chapter eleven, and the Scriptures will clearly speak for themselves. Practice reading all of God's Word in light of His character, commitment, purpose and reliable good pleasure and will. Get God's "forever until" policy of judgment settled in your

heart--and get ready! The "forever until" principle should really more accurately be termed "present time until" principle, NOT "forever-until. As the reader can plainly see from the many Scriptures we quoted, the terms "forever and ever," "eternal," "everlasting," etc., are MIStranslations which appear in many of our leading "selling" translations, but they never appeared in the original languages of the Scriptures. The wages of sin have always been DEATH, NOT "everlasting" punishment, "everlasting" destruction" or burning in a lake of fire "for ever and ever." Yes, death, which was IMPUTED to all mankind through the one unrighteous act of Adam, would send ALL of mankind to death-until-Jesus would overcome all His enemies, the last one being death itself. ALL death will be overcome by Jesus. The lake of fire is defined by the Bible itself as the "second death." (Rev. 20:14, Rev. 21:8) Death would reignuntil Jesus overcomes it and then Jesus will deliver the kingdom unto God the Father, that He may be "all in all." (1 Cor. 15:28) If one wants to get down right technical about it (which I don't particularly want to do in this article), many leading selling English Bible translations have just plain missed it when translating the Hebrew word "olam," the Greek word, "aion," and its adjective "aionios." These words simply should never have been translated by words which indicate an eternal state. Many leading scholars today readily admit that. I'll just quote one for this nontechnical article just for the reader's sake. Dr. R. F. Weymouth, translator of the "New Testament in Modern Speech" states in that work, "Eternal, Greek aeonian, i.e., of the ages: Etymologically this adjective, like others similarly formed does not signify, "during" but "belonging to" the aeons or ages." Many more scholars who make similar statements regarding these key Hebrew and Greek words may be found at the "Scholars Corner," at the following Internet sites: You are about to embark upon a love affair with our Heavenly Father that will transform your life. His heart will heal and transform your heart! For of Him and through Him--and to Him--are ALL things! (Romans 11:36) Yourself included. For again, we must remember, our Savior did not come to contradict the words of His own prophets. He came to fulfill them. God hardened all of us, that He might have mercy upon all of us. One can't give mercy to someone unless one is in need of it. And that is why God does not unharden and give mercy to all at once. WE must learn to be like God Who overcomes His enemies with His Love. How can we possibly practice becoming like Him unless He gives us hardened unbelievers who look like enemies? How can we love the unlovely unless He allows some of us to remain unlovely until He chooses to unharden them as well? Paul told the early church that those whom God hardened were to be won through the mercy shown them through us who had received God's mercy. Concerning the Jews whom God hardened for a season that the gentiles might be grafted into the tree:

Concerning the gospel they are enemies FOR YOUR SAKE, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as you were once disobedient to God, yet now have obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. (Study Church history and see if the Church has shown this mercy to the Jews. Sad story indeed) For God has committed (shut them all up in) disobedience, that He might have mercy on all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! 'For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid?' For of Him and through Him and to Him are ALL things to whom be glory forever. Amen. The Father seeks worshippers who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. The Father also implores us to reason with Him. Try to fathom the height, depth, length, and width of His Love. Imagine truly knowing the beginning from the end. Imagine being absolutely sovereign over all things, where NOTHING takes you by surprise. Imagine mercy which does not know an end. (Psalm 136) Imagine a judge who always delivers absolutely perfect righteous judgment. Imagine a God who is ever-present everywhere. Imagine a God who says all souls are HIS and that He fashions EVERY heart. (Ez. 18:4; Zech. 12:1; Isaiah 45:9; Psalms 33:15) This God is perfectly Holy. He is NOT a man that He should lie. He does NOT break His promises. He does NOT break His word. While He can get angry for righteousness sake, He will NOT be angry forever nor will He cast off man forever. (Lam. 3:31, 32; Isaiah 57:16) He is a God Who said He was going to overcome His enemies with love and commands us to do likewise if we want to be like Him. (Matt. 5:43-48) When some of Jesus' disciples wanted to pour fire down on some unbelievers' heads because they refused Jesus as Lord, Jesus responded to them, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did NOT come to destroy men's live but to save them. (Luke 9:54-56) How much is the spirit of the modern church like these two disciples' and so much UNLIKE the spirit of Jesus? Imagine a Love that NEVER fails. (1 Cor. 13:8) Imagine a loving God for whom NOTHING is impossible. (Jer. 32:17; Matt. 19:26) Imagine a Creator who made you in HIS image-one who desires that you call him Daddy, Abba. Imagine YOUR loving heavenly Father who not only says that He loves, but Who says the He IS LOVE!!! Imagine this Love who said in one of His parables that He leaves the ninety nine sheep to find the single one that is lost and He does NOT give up until He finds it. Have you got all this in your mind and heart? It's really all too big, too wonderful, isn't it? That is why we will need a new spiritual body. Our natural bodies are simply incapable of handling all that our glorious Maker is. Hold all these attributes in your mind as well as you are able. Now this heavenly Father, our Maker, has a Son. He sent His Son to the earth to accomplish a few things. He gave this Son all power and all authority to accomplish the Father's will and desires. Here are a handful of Scriptures which declare why God the Father

sent His only begotten Son into this world: God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:17) Who comes down from heaven and gives Life to the world. (John 6:33) The Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them. (Luke 9:56) And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself. (John 12:32) As you have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as you have given Him. (John 17:2) The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. (John 3:35) God, Who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, Whom He has appointed heir of all things, through Whom also He made the worlds. (Hebrews 1:1,2) His purpose is very clear: to reconcile all things back to His Father. (Col. 1:16-20) According to Scripture, Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, created all things, reconciles all things, is Heir of all things, has authority of all things, will have all men to be saved, His grace comes to all men, He takes away the sin of the world, He gives His flesh for the life of the world, He is the propitiation for the sins of the world, whose gifts are irrevocable of which life is one of the gifts, He manifested to put away sin, He preached to the spirits in prison and holds the keys to death and hell, who changes not, He is Lord of both the living and the dead, he will destroy all enemies of God the last one being death, Who made all things alive, Who completes the work the Father gave Him to do, Who restores all things, gave HHHHimself a ransom for all, He takes away the curse and said He came to do the will and work of the Father who wills that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth so that God, the Father may be all in all! I could lengthen this paragraph considerably, but I think the point has been made. Now-think and reason with your Maker and the Son Who is probably in your heart. Is it reasonable that God should consign everyone who was every born to endless misery burning forever in a literal lake of fire which will never be quenched considering the above nature and character of the Father and the purpose of Christ? Most of traditional Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Fundamentalist, Evangelical, Charismatic Christianity seems to think so. They all say one will burn in Hell if they don't make some kind of decision before they die. Is it reasonable and just to tell the world that if two people commit murder just before they die, if one says the sinner's prayer, he will escape punishment forever and if the other doesn't, he will burn in Hell forever without a chance of pardon? Is this really "justice?" Millions of church-going Christians are taught it is. Now stay with me for a little while longer. How are people saved? Paul tells us through

the foolishness of the preaching of the gospel.(1 Cor. 1:17-21) "Faith cometh by hearing by the word of God." (Rom. 10:17) "But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Rom. 10:8-10) Paul and Jesus make it quite plain that people are "saved" by hearing the gospel preached, responding to it by believing in one's heart that God raised Jesus from the death and confess Him with the mouth, they will be saved. The Bible also makes it quite clear there is no other name by which mankind can be saved except the name of Jesus Christ. (Acts 4:12) There are a couple of verses they might indicate one needs to be baptized in some fashion or another as well. (Mark 1:8; John 1:26-33) Dear reader, are you aware that 2000 years after the gospel was sent into the world, that there are literally thousands of languages in the earth today which do NOT have even pieces of Scriptures let alone an entire Bible? Do you understand that from Adam to the present day, probably well over 95 percent of the world never heard the one name under which men must be saved? Are you also aware that most of the world who did hear the name hear it from a Catholic priest who told them that Jesus was a piece of cracker which they had to eat in order to be saved? Are you also aware that most denominations of Christianity throughout the ages have added hundreds of other qualifications which potential converts also had to perform or rules one had to abide by in order to stay saved? The list is endless-it ranges from being a member of the "right" church or denomination to a certain form of water baptism to declaring a certain formula to having to speak in tongues, etc. Once a person is saved, there are literally hundreds of ways one can lose their salvation according to the thousands of different denominations which have formed around creeds, men, styles of buildings and worship, nationality, forms of church government, etc. Let's face it, if we add all the things Jesus said about those who thought they knew Him but whom He would say to, "I never knew you,"(Matt. 7:23) and the many luke-warm who he would "vomit" out of his mouth (Rev. 3:16), surely there is scarcely a person who can really have absolute assurance they are truly saved. Contrast this depressing situation with the nature and character of our heavenly Father and His Son. Do you see a terrible discrepancy? As a matter of fact, the discrepancy is so great that many Christians have had to create other gospels remedy this great gap. Some Christians have invented the "age of accountability" to get the little ones out of the eternal flames. Surely they do it quite unscripturally. There isn't a shred of Scripture which supports such a cause noble as it may be. The Scriptures plainly state "there is NONE righteous, nay, not one." (Rom. 3:10-12) "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Rom. 3:23) No-the teaching that children are innocent until a mythical age of accountability might partially remove the black

eye He suffered from the church's "good news" which is terribly bad for almost ALL of mankind, but it's not in the Bible. Some well-meaning Christians try to justify God for sending almost all of mankind to Hell even though they never heard the name of Christ by stating Romans 1:20 makes it plain that all can see that there is a god just by looking at trees, stars, rocks, etc. Well, there were MANY heathens who believed in a god through nature. The nation of Israel was surrounded by nations who believed in gods of all kind because they saw something divine in nature, but did that save them? NO! They were called idolators! One does not find Jesus by looking at clouds and trees. One finds Jesus through the preaching of the Good News. No preaching, no salvation. Archaeology conclusively proves this fact. We only find Christian civilizations where the Gospel was preached. We do NOT find it in civilizations in which there were no Bibles or preachers of the Gospel. To try to get some of those who never heard the gospel into heaven because they realize it isn't fair to send someone to Hell if they've never heard the gospel tell us that God will judge people based upon the condition of their heart. If they are good people, God will save them even if they've never heard the gospel. While that certainly makes God look a lot better than what traditional Christianity teaches, this teaching totally contradicts the Bible which plainly states "there is NONE righteous, nay not one." Furthermore, it negates the cross completely. If people can get saved outside of the cross, then there was no reason for Christ's death. Good people go to heaven, bad people go to hell. But according to Scripture, there are no "good people" from God's point of view. When someone called Jesus good, Jesus said to them, "Why do you call me good? There is none good except God." All these extra-biblical ways to try to get more people out of the traditional Hell and into heaven is because the traditional view has so grossly distorted the gospel and the character of God, that well-meaning Christians have felt the need to invent non-scriptural means to empty the traditional Hell some. The traditional concept of salvation, when carefully scrutinized, surely puts almost all of mankind into Hell. How can grace have abounded much more than sin with such pathetic results. Adam condemns all of mankind to death, Jesus manages to squeeze out a pathetic handful for Himself and then is compelled to send the rest of mankind to eternal tortures which would make Hitler's actions look like child's play. Until the heart of God and the will of God become the foundational factors determining our understanding of Scripture, our "gospel" will be bad news--not good. "God is Love, but" is simply not the message the Holy Spirit is conveying to us in the Bible (1 John 4:10,14). (Many of the above "forever-til" verses came from an excellent work entitled "Absolute Assurance in Jesus Christ: Four Views of the Salvation of Our God" by Charles Slagle. The book may be ordered from Charles & Paula Slagle, P. O. Box 17419, San Antonio, TX., 78217 or phone at 817-685-7617. It is also on the internet at: http://www.tentmaker.org under "books.")

Listed below are some reference materials which will help the reader with the Truth side of Bible translations, how to push through the traditions of men which have found their way onto the very pages of the Bible. And there is also some material which will help the reader discover the real nature of the God of the Scriptures. Some links are to brief articles. Others are to full and well-documented reference books. In addition, at the bottom of the page is a link to Bibles and concordances for the individual to do their own searches and also two links to Internet sites full of more books and articles on these most important subjects. Truly the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth even as the waters cover the seas. Open your minds and hearts and let the Glory of God, our Father and Jesus Christ, His Son, shine upon you! The first few entries on this list deal with Hell and the Bible. The next few deal primarily with the mistranslation of the key words "olam," "aion," and "aionios," and a few other key Greek words followed by several works that show that the early believers closest to the original languages believed in the salvation of all mankind through Jesus Christ. These works show/prove that this teaching is perfectly consistent with the original Greek and Hebrew AND more importantly with the nature of the God of the Bible. Hell is Leaving the "Bible Forever" The word "Hell" is disappearing from the pages of English Bible translations and HAS already completely disappeared from many of them. Even those leading selling translations which contain the word usually don't use the word more that a dozen times or so? Why so few times if indeed salvation is FROM such a terrible fate? Was God absent minded? Or is it NOT found in the original languages at all? Scholars are beginning to see that a few key ancient words should NEVER have been translated to mean eternal. Hell is Leaving the Bible "Forever" (Updated and expanded version) Hell is leaving the Bible forever. Contains a Chart showing many Bible translations which DO NOT contain the concept of a Hell of everlasting punishment and many scriptural proofs that words like "eternity," "forever and ever," "everlasting" in various leading Bible translations are simply gross errors. Bibles That do not Teach A Hell of Everlasting Punishment (also Entitled "The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail") This article is a comparison and list prepared by Gary Amirault showing that there are major differences among English translations regarding the teaching of Hell. Many Bible translations do NOT contain the word Hell nor the concept of everlasting punishment. The Bible Hell

An excellent short book by Dr. John Wesley Hanson detailing the history of the English word "Hell." He also goes into thorough detail discussing the Greek and Hebrew words, Sheol, Gehenna, Hades and Tartarus. The Origin and History of the Doctrine of Endless Punishment An excellent well-documented full-length book by Thomas Thayer proving the teaching of Hell and Everlasting Punishment was added to Christianity centuries after Jesus walked this earth. Analytical Study of Words Louis Abbott spent 50 years combing the Greek of the Bible and related reference works. Once believing in Hell, his studies turned him away from such a concept because he could not find it in the original languages of the Bible. He quotes many outstanding scholars who have come to a similar conclusion...Jesus is indeed Savior of the whole world. The Greek Word Aion/Aionios Translated Everlasting/Eternal in the Holy Bible by Dr. John Wesley Hanson Surely, the Greek word aion and its adjective aionios have been mistranslated in most Bible translations leading to grave misrepresentations regarding the length of punishment and Hell in the Bible. This book is probably the best one on this most important subject. The Power of Life and Death in a Four Letter Greek Word: Aion A short article by Gary Amirault that shows how important the correct translation of a single Greek word can be in truly understanding the God of the Bible. There is a REAL problem with how some leading selling English Bible translations have translated the word "aion" and its adjective "aionios." Does ForeverS and EverS Make Sense to You? This article by Gary Amirault deals with the various double construct forms of the Greek word "aion" found in the Greek New Testament. The author shows that many leading selling English Bible translations have translated these constructs after the traditions of their denominations, NOT according to the Greek or correct English grammar. Eternal Death; One Step out of Hell, One Step short of Glory This work by Gary Amirault deals with the concepts sometimes called "Conditional Mortality," "Eternal Death," or "Annihilationism." The leading visible figure espousing this view is Dr. Edward Fudge. Many small groups of Christians hold such a view: The Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, many Bible Student Movement groups, etc. This work shows that the original languages of the Bible do not allow for such a view. This view would still make God out to be an utter failure, which He is not.

Olethron Aionion (Eternal Destruction) An excellent short note from "Word Studies in the New Testament" by Dr. Marvin R. Vincent. There are a few key passages in leading selling English translations of the Bible which have been mistranslated causing the God of the Bible to appear to be double-minded. This brief note examines one of those key passages. Etymology of the Word "Damned" Most modern English translations no longer use that word. Why? Because this word has been changed by theologians to such an extend that it no longer even remotely means what it did when it was first used in the original King James Bible. Discover what it originally meant before "theologians" changed its meaning. By Gary Amirault (use attached article) Aion This small book by Dr. John Wesley Hanson is perhaps the complete treatment of a Greek work which has been mistransated by several of the leading selling Bible translations. He proves conclusively the word "aion" and its adjective "aionios" should NEVER have been translated eternal, everlasting, or for ever and ever. It's clearly a timely word. Time and Eternity An excellent short book by G. T. Stevens examining the Greek, Hebrew, Latin words behind our English concepts of time and eternity. It traces how Hebrew words denoting time were changed to the idea of eternity through Jerome's Latin Vulgate. Bible Threatenings Explained Some leading selling English Bible translations seem to teach both the concept of everlasting punishment AND universalism, that is, the salvation of all mankind. This book by Dr. John Wesley Hanson shows that those passages in SOME translations that teach Hell have been mistranslated or misinterpreted. Dr. Hanson analyzes each of those passages of Scripture which appear to teach endless punishment proving the original Greek and Hebrew taught something entirely different. Early Christian View of the Savior Many Orthodox scholars acknowledge that the early Church did NOT primarily believe in Hell, but believed in the salvation of all mankind. They termed their belief in Greek "apocatastasis," that is, the restoration of all things back to God. This work by Gary Amirault quotes some of those Orthodox historians as well as some of the early church leaders who taught universalism though Jesus Christ. Universalism in the First 500 Years of the Church A well-referenced full length book by Dr. John Wesley Hanson proving that the message of Universalism, that Jesus Christ was the Savior of the entire world, was the majority view of the early Church and its leaders.

The Doctrine of Scriptural Retribution Brother of the famous Henry Ward Beecher, Dr. Edward Beecher traces the teachings of punishment after death to their original sources. He discovered this teaching does NOT originate from the original texts of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. One Hundred Scriptural Proofs That Jesus is the Savior of All Mankind A list of scores of Scriptures by Thomas Whittemore proving that Jesus Christ is indeed Savior of the whole world, not just a part of it. Arguments in Favor of Biblical Universalism The twentieth chapter of E. E. Guild's book "Universalist's Book of Reference. The Scriptures implore us to "reason together" with God. This chapter reveals the reasonableness of Jesus Christ truly being the Savior of all instead of a few. Bible Proofs Another fine work by Dr. J.W. Hanson showing both the reasonableness of the Doctrine of the Salvation of all mankind through Jesus Christ, but also it's scriptural foundation. Just What Do You Man By "The Judgment?" Christians have been brainwashed to believe in a false and unbiblical concept of God's judgments. This book by J. Preston Eby brings God's judgments and punishments back into their proper Biblical places. Bible Search Tool Lots of Bible Translations and search tools. Compare your favorite translation with Young's Literal Translation or Weymouth's NT and see some MAJOR differences regarding Hell. Hell Charts In-depth statistics and charts showing how all the Greek and Hebrew "hell" words have been translated by many different Bible translations. (This is the chart that's in the Hell's Encyclopedia) There are many other well-researched articles on the subjects of Hell, everlasting punishment, and Universalism (Salvation of all mankind through Jesus Christ at the following urls. Try the provided search engines on these sites to help you find specific persons, events, or passages of Scripture. A Kinder, Gentler Hell? As opinions about hell have changed over the years, so have the teachings of many churches. But what does the Bible say?

by David Treybig Syncretism-the combination of differing beliefs and practices-has long been a hallmark of mainstream Christianity. Centuries ago church leaders set aside biblically assigned days of worship in favor of Sunday, Christmas and Easter. Similarly, popular tradition long ago replaced the biblical teaching about hell. Beliefs about hell are changing again. A recent poll revealed a dramatic shift in opinion among Americans regarding concepts of hell. True to historical form, major religious organizations are adjusting their teachings accordingly. The latest beliefs and teachings concerning the fate of sinners could be called a "kinder, gentler" hell. According to U.S. News & World Report, in 1997 the majority belief among U.S. citizens was that "hell is a real place where people suffer eternal fiery torments." Now 53 percent believe "hell is an anguished state of existence eternally separated from God" ("Hell Hath No Fury," Jeffrey Sheler, Jan. 31, 2000, p. 47). This shift in thinking can be attributed to several factors. "Lampooned by modern intellectuals and increasingly sidelined by preachers preferring to dwell on more uplifting themes, the threat of post-mortem punishment of the impenitent in an eternal lake of fire all but disappeared from the religious mainstream by the 1960s. Theological discourse on the subject at the nation's divinity schools almost evaporated. And while polls showed that the majority of Americans professed to believe in hell's existence, almost no one thought he would go there" (ibid.). The reasoning behind the shift often paints punishment as a childish fear tactic that is no longer valid or needed by mature adults. Others reason that a good God couldn't possibly punish people forever, as that would be against His very nature. "'Once we discovered we could create hell on Earth,' says John Dominic Crossan, professor emeritus at DePaul University in Chicago, 'it became silly to talk about it in a literal sense'" (ibid., p. 50). Authenticating this modern interpretation for Roman Catholics, Pope John Paul II stated last summer that, "rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitely separate themselves from God." In so doing he described hell as something figuratively portrayed in the Bible as a "pool of fire" or a "second death" (ibid., p. 45). Catholic funeral masses have changed to reflect this view. White priestly garments have replaced black ones, and prayers such as Dies Irae (Day of Wrath), which describe the torture of the wicked, have been set aside in favor of ones dealing with hope and the resurrection. In concert with this socially driven change, "the doctrine commission of the Church of England recently recommended a hell of 'final and irrevocable choosing of that which is opposed to God' instead of medieval fire and torment. And the newest Presbyterian catechism hardly mentions the subject at all ... Even among evangelicals, hell as a subject

from the pulpit is less ubiquitous than before" (USA Today, "Churches Give Hell a Makeover," Gerald Zelizer, Feb. 21, 2000, p. 15A). The modern religious consumer In an effort to explain recent changes in teachings about hell, Gerald Zelizer, rabbi of a Conservative congregation serving Jewish residents of Metuchen and Edison, New Jersey, offers three reasons he believes hell is being refashioned. First is the religious consumer's view that he needs positive things, including love, hope, peace and marriage enrichment, more than being saved from hell. Second is the American psyche, which thinks people are entitled to be happy and successful. Third is ambiguity within Christianity over what Matthew meant when he said that evildoers would be "cast into a furnace of fire." In an age of consumer-driven markets, churches are not only striving to meet the individual where he stands emotionally and intellectually but are adjusting doctrines to attract and retain people. Like a technician who can't resist the urge to tweak the knobs of an already perfectly operating system, theologians and parishioners regularly adjust doctrinal positions to fit their changing perspectives. Jesus Christ's first-century condemnation of substituting "the commandments of men" for the teachings of God (Matthew 15:9; Mark 7:7) has gone unheeded. Yet, strangely, some theologians paint their revisions as honorable, carefully thought-out methods of taking the gospel to contemporary culture. Thomas Reese, editor of the Jesuit journal America, reasons that today's gentler hell, based on relationships and psychological experiences such as loneliness, wouldn't have made sense to earlier generations. U.S. News & World Report's religion writer Jeffrey Sheler notes that this most recent change in the view of hell is similar to other changes in Christian teaching. But not everyone agrees with such humanly devised changes of biblical teachings. The history of change Evangelical Protestants and conservative Catholics (who comprise much of the 34 percent of Americans who hold to the traditional view that hell is a literal place of eternal punishment) do not accept the kinder, gentler hell. Yet, ironically, many of those resistant to the recent change are unaware that their traditional beliefs are nothing more than revisions of the true biblical teaching. The major difference lies in the fact that their revisions were made many centuries ago. Surprising as it may sound, the idea of hell as a literal place where evildoers are punished for eternity did not arise until centuries after Jesus' life on earth and subsequent crucifixion. As Rabbi Zelizer explained: "In the Hebrew Bible, there is no mention of hell at all, but only a deep ravine of rocky earth outside the Old City of Jerusalem, where the Israelites burned garbage and emptied sewage, and Sheol, a non-descript underworld into which both the good

and the bad descended after death." So where did the idea of hell as a place of eternal punishment come from? In Mark 9:43-48 Jesus spoke of hell as a place where "the fire is not quenched." Did He mean evildoers would be punished forever? Or did He mean no one would quench the fire, that it would not go out until the wicked were consumed? This question has left many confused, as have disagreements among third- and fourth-century theologians over whether the punishment would be sensory or only symbolic of separation from God. Origen, another early church theologian, offered this theory: Hell is remedial in nature, a place where sinners could be rehabilitated. The Council of Constantinople in 543 rejected Origen's view. From that time forward, people were divided between two perspectives, the majority believing in a never- ending punishment of the wicked (who would necessarily be immortal), the minority believing in a one-time annihilation of the wicked (who by definition would be mortals, capable of dying and being destroyed). Little changed until the 14th century when Dante presented a fictional description of hell in his work the Divine Comedy. Using vivid imagery of the horrors associated with a multileveled subterranean chamber, Dante galvanized popular opinion about sensory punishment. However, the doctrinal evolution did not end there. "Two hundred years later, leaders of the Protestant Reformation rejected the terrifying depictions of hell in art and literature," wrote Jeffrey Sheler. "While Martin Luther and John Calvin regarded hell as a real place, they believed its fiery torments were figurative. Hell's worst agonies, they said, were the terror and utter despair of spending eternity cut off from God." Given the options, what should one believe? Is there no definitive, biblically based answer? Yes, there is. An often-overlooked passage sheds a brilliant light on the entire debate. The Bible's explanation Although many have noted Christ's references to punishment for evildoers in Mark 9:43-48 and Revelation 20:15, few have made the connection between this subject and Malachi 4. Written 400 years before the birth of Christ, Malachi's book has been assumed by many to be simply a historical record of the time. Yet its last two chapters (3 and 4) focus on Jesus' second coming. Malachi 4:1-3 explains what will happen to the wicked: "'For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,' says the LORD of hosts, 'that will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise

with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,' says the LORD of hosts." As their punishment, says Malachi, evildoers will be burned up. This is not a case of divinely administered eternal torture but of a mercifully quick capital punishment-the annihilation and eternal elimination of the wicked. The wicked will not burn forever. Indeed, they will be reduced to ashes. This is the "everlasting punishment"-a death after which there is no hope of a resurrectionJesus speaks of in Matthew 25:46. This punishment is eternal in the sense that it has eternal consequences: No one will return to life once punished in this manner. The punishing is instantaneous, but its effect is eternal. The idea that one can work his way out of this punishment is also a mistaken concept. Understanding annihilationism The understanding that the wicked will be destroyed is called annihilationism. Addressing this concept, Sheler reports: "A small but growing number of conservative theologians are promoting a third position: that the end of the wicked is destruction, not eternal suffering. Evangelical scholars such as Clark H. Pinnock, theology professor at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario; John R.W. Stott, founder of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity; and Philip E. Hughes, a noted Anglican clergyman and author, contend that those who ultimately reject God will simply be put out of existence in the 'consuming fire' of hell," Sheler wrote. These theologians correctly point out, as Sheler writes, that "the traditional belief in unending torment is based more on pagan philosophy than on a correct understanding of Scripture. They base their belief on New Testament passages that warn of 'eternal destruction' (2 Thessalonians 1:9) and 'the second death' (Revelation 20:14) for those who reject God, and on the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel's admonition that 'the soul that sins shall die' (Ezekiel 18:4). "They also raise ethical arguments. 'How can Christians possibly project a deity of such cruelty and vindictiveness' as to inflict 'everlasting torture upon his creatures, however sinful they may have been?' asks Pinnock in the Criswell Theological Review. A God who would do such a thing, Pinnock argues, is 'more nearly like Satan than like God.'" There is much more to the story. For a thorough explanation of what happens to people when they die, request our eye-opening booklets Heaven and Hell: What Does the Bible Really Teach? and What Happens After Death? Both are free online! Was Judas Iscariot really a traitor, or was he helping Jesus Christ fulfill His destiny?

He is one of the most infamous figures in the Bible. His crime is considered by Christians as the most grievous of them all: the betrayal of the Son of God Himself. Judas Iscariot has forever been maligned by all of Christendom, but is this dubious reputation at all deserved? Should the supposedly treasonous apostle be held accountable for something that was meant to happen? The Apostles' Money Man Hailing from the Judean city of Kerioth (hence the name "Iscariot," derived from the Hebrew language as "a man of Kerioth"), the man known to the world as Judas was one of the original twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. Exactly how he was called into the Lord's ministry is never made clear, but what is known is that he held the apostles' money bag; that is, he was responsible for managing their finances. And as the story goes, money (thirty pieces of silver, in fact) was instrumental in getting him to turn his back on his Master. But was greed the primary motive in his crime? At any rate, an earlier dispute between Judas and the Lord was over a financial matter. As detailed in John 12:4-6, Judas expressed displeasure over the anointing of Christ's feet by the woman named Mary, stating that the expensive ointment used could have been sold and the money made would be donated to the poor. However, the same Gospel emphasizes that Judas was not acting out of altruism, "but because he was a thief, and having the purse, carried the things that were put therein." It had also been suggested in Luke 22:3-6 and John 13:27 that he had been influenced (or even possessed) by the Devil. Judas' Repentance and Death Even so, the betrayal of Christ is a grave transgression, and His betrayer was fated to pay the price for it. The well-known account given in Matthew 27:3-5 has Judas, overcome by guilt for what he had done, returning the thirty pieces of silver to the Pharisees that had bribed him. He then commits suicide by hanging himself. Acts 1:16-20 describes a much more graphic version of his demise, wherein he falls from being hanged and hits the ground with his intestines gushing out of him. The writers of the Scriptures seem to have really hated the man. But even thousands of years after that seemingly unforgivable act, is Judas truly deserving of such venomous enmity? After all, if he was really as bad as everybody thinks, he could have just taken the money and ran, or stuck around to celebrate with the other enemies of the Lord. Instead, he appeared to have felt remorse over the wrongdoing that he had done. But then, one may argue that, although Judas apparently repented in the end, he had succumbed to the sin of despair, which led him to commit suicide. And according to Christian beliefs, one who had taken his own life could not be admitted into Heaven. Judas Iscariot: Sinner or Saint? Surely, though, Jesus Christ Himself must have seen some good in Judas to count him

among his twelve apostles. However, the Gospels (particularly John 6:64 and 13:27-28, and Matthew 26:25) also indicate that Jesus knew Judas would eventually betray Him. Why would Christ, who taught people to love their neighbor and advocated the forgiveness of sins, allow one of His own to commit evil? And if the betrayal was a necessary act, leading to Christ's death and resurrection as part of God's plan, was Judas then nothing more than a fall guy? Read on Who Were the Cainites? Heresy became outlawed in countries with civil supported churches. There is a theory that Judas may not have actually betrayed Jesus, but that he may have in fact been in on the plan from the start. In this regard, there are those who believe that he may indeed have been Christ's most loyal apostle. This is suggested by the so-called Gospel of Judas, thought to have been written in the 2nd century, which documents purported conversations between Judas and Jesus. But this controversial Gnostic gospel, which attacks many religious conventions, is not recognized by the Church. The Final Judgement The mystery of Judas Iscariot remains elusive. That he acted against the Lord is not in doubt, but the exact circumstances behind the alleged betrayal and the character of the man himself continues to be disputed. And then there is the question of his final fate. Is he forever consigned to damnation, or could he possibly be (or perhaps has been) forgiven? Ultimately, only God knows the real score and has the final say. We can trust in Him to pass fair, wise and compassionate judgment upon Judas, whereas we can only judge him within our own limited mortal parameters. And as Matthew 7:1 tells us, "Judge not, that you may not be judged." Do People Who Commit Suicide Go to Hell? What the Bible Says about Suicide, Sin, and Eternal Damnation Aug 23, 2008 Brian Tubbs Does suicide send a person to hell? Do people who commit suicide automatically suffer eternal damnation in hell as a result? What does the Bible say about suicide? Seven people in the Bible committed suicide. The two most famous suicides are perhaps Judas, who killed himself after betraying Jesus, and Samson, who asked God to restore his strength one last time, so he could literally "bring down the house." These stories illustrate that people take their lives for different reasons -- something that has been the case since the dawn of human history. Is Suicide a Sin?

In his first epistle, the Apostle John defined sin as a "transgression of the law" (I John 3:4) as well as anything that was "unrighteousness" (I John 5:17). The Apostle Paul wrote that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) and that "[w]hatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Romans 14:23). According to the Bible then, sin is anything that is outside of God's will and glory - any action, thought, or deed that is displeasing to Him. John MacArthur, a popular mega-church pastor and well-regarded Christian scholar, says that sin "is any violation, any violation of the character or law of God, the moral character or the law of God." The standard then for determining whether suicide is sinful is to ask whether suicide is pleasing to God. In the case of Samson, we have a wayward Israelite judge, who had allowed himself to be compromised and thus humiliated and imprisoned by Israel's enemies. Samson's prayer and subsequent suicide was apparently pleasing to God, who seemingly viewed Samson's act as a sincere and redemptive act of contrition. Samson's suicide was on the same moral level as a soldier who gives his life to strike a blow to his nation's enemies and perhaps save the lives of his fellow comrades-in-arms. In most cases, however, suicide is not a sacrificial act of service to a higher cause, it is rather a desperate attempt to escape depression, misery, or suffering. Suicide then becomes a temptation (and, for some, a choice) when the person's life has already slipped away from God's desire. The Gospel of John records Jesus as saying that "the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). In other words, the "thief" (and Jesus was calling Satan by that name) is responsible for the death and suffering of this world. It is God's desire that we all enjoy a spiritually and emotionally fulfilling life. Suicide is a sin, not because the person wants to escape suffering. Suicide is wrong, because it cheats the person out of an opportunity to see God work in his or her life -- and bring the joy and abundance that Jesus says he wants to give. Read on Should Judas be Forgiven? Was Judas Iscariot really a traitor, or was he helping Jesus Christ fulfill His destiny? Is Suicide a Mortal Sin? If suicide is a sin, is it a mortal one? Is it an unforgivable sin that will condemn the person to hell? The Christian community is divided on this question, because of a difference in interpretation over how sins are forgiven. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that "Christ conferred the power to forgive sins only

upon the apostles and their successors" (Spirago, Francis and Clarke, Richard. The Catechism Explained: An Exhaustive Explanation of the Catholic Religion, TAN Publishing, 1994). The Anglican and Eastern Orthodox communities generally agree with the Catholic Church on this position, though they challenge the Vatican's assertion that it solely represents apostolic authority today. The Protestant Reformation unleashed a repudiation of this (and other) doctrines. The Protestant view is that Jesus forgives sins -- not the church. What does all this have to do with suicide? Well, the Catholic position holds that, since only the Church forgives sins, a person must do all that he can to insure that he enters eternity with his sins forgiven. This is why "last rites" are given. So, if a person commits suicide, then presumably he or she has not had "last rites" administered, and he or she enters eternity with unconfessed sins (including and especially the final act of taking one's own life). The Protestant view of how sins are forgiven is much more in line with Scripture than the Catholic position. Since Protestant denominations (especially evangelical communities) hold Scripture to be greater in authority than the church - any church - they point to Christ only as the redeemer of mankind. According to the evangelical view, a person's sins are forgiven the moment he or she confesses Jesus as Savior (see John 3:16; Romans 10:9-13; Ephesians 2:8-9). The sins include past, present, and future transgressions. Therefore, if a person has accepted Jesus, all of his or her sins are forgiven, including suicide. This of course does not mean that God wishes or desires one to commit suicide. On the contrary, Jesus wants all God's followers to have an "abundant" and "joyous" life - a life that can rest in the knowledge that, no matter how hard life might get, one is never outside of the love of God. What The Bible Really Teaches About Hell November 30th, 2008 Adrian Hayter Leave a comment Go to comments A theist member of an atheist forum I help run wrote an essay-like topic that I thought I should share with people who read this blog. He has cleared me to post it on my blog, so here it is: The English Word Hell The old English word hell comes from helan, and means to cover or conceal. Similar words coming from the same root have a similar meaning. Hill for example is a mound of dirt or stone that covers the level surface of earth. Hull is the covering of a nut or the covered part of a ship. Heal is the covering of a wound. Hall is a building space which is used to cover people or goods. Hole is an uncovering. Shell.

In the early days to hell potatoes meant to cover them, as to store them in a cellar or underground. To hel a house meant to cover a portion of it with tile. The term heling a house is still used in the New England portions of the United States. At first the use of hell had no pagan meaning to it. It was simply used as the common grave of man. To go to hell in the old English language meant simply that one was dead and buried. It was in Germany and England that the word began to evolve into the pagan unscriptural meaning of eternal punishment. Poor Translation The original meaning of the word hell is not so much a poor translation of the Hebrew sheohl (English Transliteration sheol) and the Greek Haides (English transliteration hades), however, as the word has evolved into a pagan meaning the modern day translation of hell is misleading. The Catholic Douay Version translates sheohl as hell 64 times and once as death. The King James Version translates sheohl 31 times as hell, 31 times as grave and 3 times as pit. This is common in older translations as well, such as is used by the English Revised Version (1885) where sheohl is transliterated in many cases but most of the occurrences were translated as grave, or pit. Hell being used 14 times. The American Standard Version (1901) transliterated sheohl in all 65 occurrences and haides in all ten of its occurrences, though the Greek word Geenna (English Gehenna) is translated hell. The Hebrew Sheohl The Hebrew word sheohl is the unseen resting place of the dead. It is not to be mistaken for the Hebrew words for individual burial place ( qever Judges 16:31 ), grave ( qevurah Genesis 35:20 ), or individual tomb ( gadhish Job 21:32 ) but rather the common grave of all mankind whatever the form of burial might be. The Greek teaching of the immortality of the human soul and hell began to infiltrate Jewish teachings probably around the time of Alexander The Great. The Bible itself, however, is in stark contrast to the teachings of pagan origin regarding the soul, which is not immortal ( Ezekiel 18:4 ) and therefore cant suffer forever in hell. The Bible also teaches that there is no consciousness in hell. ( Ecclesiastes 9:4-10 ). Sheol corresponds with the Greek Haides, both being the unseen resting place of the dead. It is not a place of fire, but of darkness ( Job 10:21 ) a place of silence ( Psalm 115:17 ) rather than a place filled with tortured screams. The Greek Haides The Greek word Haides corresponds to the Hebrew Sheohl as is indicated by the apostle Peters reference to Psalm 16:10 at Acts 2:27-31 where Jesus had fulfilled Davids prophecy

that Jesus would not be left in hell. Likewise Jesus himself said that like Jonah, he would spend three days in hell. ( Jonah 1:17 Jonah 2:2 / Matthew 12:40 ) The Greek word Haides occurs 10 times in the Christian Greek scriptures. ( Matthew 11:23 / Matthew 16:18 / Luke 10:15 / Luke 16:23 / Acts 2:27 / Acts 2:31 / Revelation 1:18 / Revelation 6:8 / Revelation 20:13 / Revelation 20:14 ). It means the unseen place. In ten of the occurrences of haides it is in reference to death. It is not to be confused with the Greek word for grave ( taphos ), tomb ( mnema ) or memorial tomb ( mnemeion ), but is rather the common resting place of the dead. The place of death. Jesus also uses haides at Matthew 11:23 and Luke 10:15 in a figurative way to indicate the debasement of Capernaum compared to heaven. Also see The Rich Man And Lazarus below. The Greek Gehenna Unlike the Hebrew sheohl and the Greek haides, there is really no excuse for mistaking the Greek Geenna (Hebrew Geh Hinnom English Transliteration Gehenna) with the notion of any hell, either the old English word meaning covered or the pagan hell of todays Christianity. The Christian Greek Gehenna is a literal place a valley that lies South and South-West of ancient Jerusalem. It is the modern day Wadi er-Rababi ( Ge Ben Hinnom ), a deep, narrow valley. Today it is a peaceful and pleasant valley, unlike the surrounding dry and rocky terrain, and most certainly unlike the pagan / apostate Christian hell. In the days of unfaithful Kings Manasseh and Ahaz idolatrous worship of the pagan god Baal was conducted in the place which was then known as Geh Hinnom, ( the valley of Hinnom ) including human sacrifices to fire. It is ironic that the pagan custom burning in fire would have so clearly infiltrated the Christian teachings, considering that this practice was a detestable thing to Jehovah God, and his prophets spoke of a time when this place would be turned into a defiled and desolate place. ( 2 Chronicles 28:1-3 / 2 Chronicles 33:1-6 / Jeremiah 7:31-32 / Jeremiah 32:35 ). The prophecy was fulfilled in the days of faithful King Josiah, who had the place, especially the area known as Topeth polluted into a refuse heap. ( 2 Kings 23:10 ) So it was that in the days of Jesus and the early Christian congregations, that the valley was known as a literal place where the carcasses of criminals and animals were thrown, having no hope for resurrection. The refuse there was kept burning with sulphur, which is abundant in the area. When Jesus used Gehenna as a figurative a symbolic reference to the spiritually dead the people in the area knew what he was talking about.

The Greek Tartarus The Greek word Tartarus is found only once in scripture, at 2 Peter 2:4. It is often mistranslated as hell. Tartarus in the Christian Greek scriptures refers to a condition of debasement, unlike the pre-Christian pagan tartarus ( Homers Iliad ) which is a mythological prison. Peter refers to the angels who in the time of Noah foresook thier original positions and became men in order to have relations with the women of earth. The result was their offspring being giants, the Nephilim, who caused so much trouble God had to bring forth the flood. ( Genesis 6:1-4 / Ephesians 6:10-12 / Jude 1:6 ). It is interesting that this verse is often mistranslated because when Jesus was resurrected from Sheol / Hades ( Hell in some translations ) on earth, he first went to tartarus that is to say the disobedient angels whom had been lowered in position who happened to be in heaven. This means that if you dont understand the mistranslation you would see Jesus go to hell on earth and then hell in heaven. The Pagan Hell The Pagan teaching of hell was adopted by the apostate Christian church. Todays thinking of hell comes more from Dantes Divine Comedy and Miltons Paradise Lost, but the teaching of hellfire is much older than the English word hell or Dante and Milton. It comes from Babylonian and Assyrian beliefs of a nether world. A place where gods and demons of great strength and fierceness presided over the damned. Ancient Egyptian beliefs considered the Other World to be a place of pits of fire for the damned though they didnt think this lasted forever. Islamic teaching considers hell as a place of everlasting punishment. Hindus and Buddhists think of hell as a place of spiritual cleansing and final restoration. Separation From God Hell ( as is often translated from the Hebrew Sheohl ) cant be a separation from God, since God is in effect there it is in front of him. He watches sheol for the time when the dead shall be resurrected. ( Proverbs 15:11 / Psalm 139:7-8 / Amos 9:1-2 ) Lazarus And The Rich Man Luke 16:19-31 Jesus often taught people in a way which was easy for them to grasp. One way of doing this is through parables, or illustration. They are stories, which are not meant to be taken as literal accounts. Such is the case with the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man. Notice that the Rich man is buried in hades. If this account is to be taken literally then the Bible would contradict itself with all of the information being given in this post, but lets not leave it up to what may be thought to be my own personal interpretation.

Let it also be known that if this account is to be taken literally then that would make Jesus a liar. How so? How could Lazarus be at the bosom of Abraham in heaven when Jesus had already said that no man had ascended to heaven other than himself? ( John 3:13 ) The Lake Of Fire The lake of fire is sometimes referred to as hell. This isnt even worth mentioning in my opinion because the lake of fire is obviously a symbolic reference to everlasting destruction. Since hell itself is cast into the lake of fire along with death and Satan, all of this ties up rather nicely in that Adams sin brought death. Had Adam not sinned therefore he wouldnt have died. Jesus takes away sin so the meek shall inherit the earth and live forever upon it. Death will be no more. Sin will be no more. Hell ( the common grave of mankind ) will be no more and Satan will be no more. Reference Sheol was located somewhere under the earth . . . . The state of the dead was one of neither pain nor pleasure. Neither reward for the righteous nor punishment for the wicked was associated with Sheol. The good and bad alike, tyrants and saints, kings and orphans, Israelites and gentiles all slept together without awareness of one another. Encyclpdia Britannica (1971, Vol. 11, p. 276) Hades . . . it corresponds to Sheol in the O.T. and N.T., it has been unhappily rendered hell Vines Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (1981, Vol. 2 p. 187) First it (Hell) stands for the Hebrew Sheohl of the Old Testament and the Greek Hades of the Septuagint and New Testament . Since Sheohl in Old Testament times referred simply to the abode of the dead and suggested no moral distinctions, the word hell, as understood today, is not a happy translation. Colliers Encyclopedia (1986, Vol. 12, p. 28) Much Confusion and misunderstanding has been caused through the early translators of the Bible persistently rendering the Hebrew Sheohl and the Greek Hades and Gehenna by the word hell. The simple transliteration of these words by the translators of the revised editions of the Bible has not sufficed to appreciably clear up this confusion and misconception. The Encyclopedia Americana (1956, Vol. XIV, p. 81) The word ( sheol ) occurs often in the Psalms and in the book of Job to refer to the place to which all dead people go. It is represented as a dark place, in which there is no activity worthy of the name. There are no moral distinction there, so hell ( KJV ) is not a suitable translation, since that suggests a contrast with heaven as the dwelling-place of the righteous after death. In a sense, the grave in a generic sense is a near equivalent, except that Sheol is more a mass grave in which all the dead dwell together . . . . The use of this particular imagery may have been considered suitable here [ in Jonah 2:2 ] in view of Jonahs imprisonment in the interior of the fish. A Translators Handbook on the Book of Jonah,

Brynmor F. Price and Eugene A. Nida, 1978, p 37 Im not exactly sure what to make of it, seeing as I have hardly any experience with the study of history and linguistics. If there are any linguists that have studied the areas and wish to comment, please do so. The original forum thread can be found here. Jeffrey Mark 85 weeks ago Thanks for sharing this. I devoted several sections of my book Christian No More to the topic of Hell and where the different words came from and what they really mean. (And I'm glad to see what I came up with is the same as you have here!) What's particularly bizarre is that while Christianity has effectively based the majority of its present day teachings on the theology of Hell (or at least eternal reward vs eternal punishment), in fact, when you add up all the verses in the entire Bible that discuss any kind of eternal punishment (including all the versions you provide in this blog), it would barely fill a single page! And so I find it fascinating that these people would spend so much of their life focusing on the "don't be bad or you'll go to Hell" topic when it's such a tiny part of their supposed holy book. ChallengeGodOpenly 84 weeks ago "Let it also be known that if this account is to be taken literally then that would make Jesus a liar. How so? How could Lazarus be at the bosom of Abraham in heaven when Jesus had already said that no man had ascended to heaven other than himself? ( John 3:13 )" Lazarus didn't ascend, he died and his spirit went to heaven. Christ was glorified when He was resurrected and then He ascended into Heaven 40 days later because He was already Holy and Pure. Another atheist misinterpretation. I love to hear people who don't study the Bible take scripture completely out of context. How do you explain Elijah? Bill 76 weeks ago I love how ChallengeGodOpenly seems to think that is slight disagreement about the interpretation of a single example of what is being talked about here equals "Atheist misinterpretation" and taking "scripture completely out of context". Also i believe sparky, that the original author was, AS STATED AT THE VERY BEGINNING, a Theist, not an Atheist. So according to the method of your very own criticism, we should all, flat out, consider your argument invalid because of a single potential error. wl jonathan 66 weeks ago maybe its time people try to understand the bible from gods perspective...__it is a child book for children... so it has the most value in its explinations, but you have to grow to god perspective...god doesn thave a name, thats why atheism is leading also into gods direction, but if you take the cross in your head, and suffer by choice until you know that you dont

know, you can proove his existence by not knowing, because there is not knowing and knowing except by the existence of everything, God is very alive, and christ is the begotten son, the one that is equal to the father...which is hidden in you and which you can decline.____Use logic and you end with God, and everything around you will start to proove it,__you will start to understand the bible away from blind belief.__the only way you can see God is seeing everything,which is love, which is acceptance, which is explination, which let go of explination and words, ends the logos and starts the one.____I know how this sounds, im the most sceptical person in the world, sceptisism is a gift of God, deceiving yourself is a choice, truth evolves, that is what you can find out, so never say never until you know what is never. okay, let me add a bit, everything is belief, or are everythign atoms ??? tell me, yeah, tell me :) what is closer to the truth ?? atheism is bad on honesty. it is this honesty that kills atheism. everything is a belief, and true or not, it is a belief. so atheism is based on observation which is time dependant. so there is no proof. which leaves us with, every belief is believed by another belief, everything is one. you can't count what was not divided first. there is only one absolute truth, not 2. so why all the pain the bible created ? you understand what a paradox is ? the paradox makes the paradox unneeded. thats why we live here, seperated from the one, so the one, can be whatever he wishes. Whatever you do, if you are honnest and love truth, truth will find you. It is not about theory, it is about intentions.

wl jonathan 57 weeks ago the paradox reality is that where all the believes which arent true are believed :-) even that the paradox is needed, this gives god total freedom and lucifer, or paradox falls. God is one, and because of that he is love, and because of that all the lies had to be believed so the beliefs that aren't true could exsist, it made god possible, and his personality, instead of the parallell universes where every belief has to be true, this paradox allows god to skip all the parallel universes which are bad and put it in only one, this one. It is so simple people can not see it. book. e known that if this account is to be taken literally then that would make Jesus a liar. How so? How could Lazarus be at the bosom of Abraham in heaven when Jesus had already said that no man had ascended to heaven other than himself? ( John 3:13 )" Lazarus didn't ascend, he died and his spirit went to heaven. Christ was glorified when He was resurrected and then He ascended into Heaven 40 days later because He was already Holy and Pure. Another atheist misinterpretation. I love to hear people who don't study the Bible take scripture completely out of context. maybe its time people try to understand the bible from gods perspective__it is a child book for children so it has the most value in its explinations, but you have to grow to god perspectivegod doesn thave a name, thats why atheism is leading also into gods direction, but if you take the cross in your head, and suffer by choice until you know that you dont know, you can proove his existence by not knowing, because there is not knowing and knowing except by the existence of everything, God is very alive, and christ is the begotten son, the one that is equal to the fatherwhich is hidden in you and which you can decline.____Use logic and you end with God, and everything around you will start to proove it,__you will start to understand the bible away from blind belief.__the only way you can see God is seeing everything,which is love, which is acceptance, which is explination, which let go of explination and words, ends the logos and starts the one.____I know how this sounds, im the most sceptical person in the world, sceptisism is a gift of God, deceiving yourself is a choice, truth evolves, that is what you can find out, so never say never until you know what is never. Bible Studies - Hell Expert: Brenda Martin - 4/17/2009 Question Hi Brenda, I was looking at various responses you gave in the past and came across one regarding hell. You claimed that hell doesn't exist and that it was created by the church to "keep people in

check" and that when we die, we simply turn back to dust and cease to exist. If that's the case, then what's the explanation for scripture that talks about everlasting torment? Here are some verses that I came across: Matthew 13:42: "And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Matt 25:41: "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Mark 9:43-48: And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched." Luke 16:24: "And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame." This is a plea described as coming from an inhabitant of Hell. Revelation 20:13-15: "...hell delivered up the dead which were in them...And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Revelation 21:8: "But the fearful, and unbelieving ... shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." The reaction to life after death according to scripture is not a non-reaction, but instead a tormented one: Matthew 8:12: "...there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 13:42: "... there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 13:50: " there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 25:30: "... there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Again, to emphasize that the punishment in Hell lasts forever: Matthew 25:46: " And these shall go away into everlasting punishment." Mark 9:43-48: "...it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched" Revelation 14:11: " And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night..." You pointed out some scriptures from the OT that speak of man returning to dust when he dies. This is true, but isn't the final revelation of God, through Jesus Christ, even more authoritative and clear and precise concerning eternal things? So when Jesus speaks of everlasting punishment, shouldn't we be concerned?

Just some things I'm wondering about... thanks again for your time. Get the answer below Answer HI Michael, I have answered each scripture individually-MATTHEW 8:12-- Remember that we are studying a parable. If the wheat and the weeds are SYMBOLIC, so are the fiery furnace, the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. MATTHEW 13:42, 50-- Fire was used in Bible times as the most thorough means of destruction. Hence, Jesus used fire to ILLUSTRATE the complete destruction of the wicked. MATT 25:30, 41, 46-- The ILLUSTRATION of the Talents- the sluggish evil slave class specialize upon their personal salvation instead of the interests of Gods Kingdom, Their symbolic talent has been taken away from them and has been given to the class that has shown the willingness to use that talent during the remaining part of this conclusion of the system of things. MARK 9:43-48 Jesus used Gehenna as REPRESENTATIVE of utter destruction resulting from adverse judgment by God, hence with no resurrection to life as a soul being possible. (Mt 10:28; Lu 12:4, 5) The scribes and Pharisees as a wicked class were denounced as subjects for Gehenna. (Mt 23:13-15, 33) To avoid such destruction, Jesus followers were to get rid of anything causing spiritual stumbling, the cutting off of a hand or foot and the tearing out of an eye FIGURATIVELY representing their deadening of these body members with reference to sin.Mt 18:9; Mr 9:43-47; Col 3:5; compare Mt 5:27-30. LUKE 16:24-- Jesus is relating an ILLUSTRATION about a rich man and a poor beggar named Lazarus; The rich man represents the religious leaders who are favoured with spiritual privileges and opportunities, and Lazarus pictures the common people who hunger for spiritual nourishment. Jesus continues his story, describing a dramatic change in the mens circumstances. Since the rich man and Lazarus are not literal persons but symbolize classes of people, logically their deaths are also symbolic. REVELATION 14:11-- this passage says is that the wicked are tormented, not that they are tormented forever. The text states that it is the smokethe evidence that the fire has done its work of destructionthat continues forever, not the fiery torment. This use of the word torment (from the Greek basanos) reminds one of its use at Matthew 18:34, where the same basic Greek word is applied to a jailer. (Held under restraint forever, in eternal death) REVELATION 20:13-15-- Is this the hellfire Christendom speaks about? No, for in the preceding verse, we read: Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. (Revelation 20:14,) If hell is cast into the lake of fire, the lake cannot itself be hellfire. Moreover, death is not something concrete that can be picked up and hurled

somewhere. So the lake of fire must be symbolic. Of what? The Bible says: This is the second death. When death and Hades are hurled into the lake of fire, they die, cease to exist. Similarly, rebellious humans who end up there die, or cease to exist. This, though, is the second death, without hope of a resurrection. REVELATION 21:8-- A judgment of eternal destruction has been determined for Satan, his demons, the symbolic wild beast and false prophet, and even death and Hades. (Mt 25:41; Re 20:10, 14, 15; 21:8) All of these are consigned to the lake of fire, that is, they are everlastingly destroyed. "THE OT THAT SPEAK OF MAN RETURNING TO DUST WHEN HE DIES, BUT ISN'T THE FINAL REVELATION OF GOD, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, EVEN MORE AUTHORITATIVE AND CLEAR AND PRECISE CONCERNING ETERNAL THINGS?" Jesus Christ himself likened death, not to some form of consciousness, but to sleep. (John 11:11-14) Most religions teach that the soul or spirit is some invisible part of a human that survives the death of the physical body. By means of this teaching, many of these religions exploit their members, charging money to pray for departed souls. However, the Bible teaches a different doctrine. The soul that is sinningit itself will die. (Ezekiel 18:4) The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all. (Ecclesiastes 9:5) Jesus taught that the dead will be resurrectedan unnecessary action if humans had an immortal soul. (John 11:11-25) "SO WHEN JESUS SPEAKS OF EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT, SHOULDN'T WE BE CONCERNED?" IF he did yes, but he doesnt :) the picture of a God who consigns millions to eternal torment is far removed from the revelation of Gods love in Christ. What was Gods view when the Israelites, following the example of peoples who lived nearby, began to burn their children in fire? He explains in his Word: They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, in order to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, a thing that I had not commanded and that had not come up into my heart.Jeremiah 7:31. Think about this. If the idea of roasting people in fire had never come into Gods heart, does it seem reasonable that he created a fiery hell for those who do not serve him? The Bible says, God is love. (1 John 4:8) Would a loving God really torment people forever? Would you do so? Millions are learning the truth about Hell, here is one such persons words Kathleen (a drug addict) I learned that there is no burning hell. The Scriptural evidence

made perfect sense, said Kathleen. Knowing that I would not have to burn in hell was a tremendous relief. But she also learned of Gods promise that humans could live forever on an earth cleansed of wickedness. (Psalm 37:10, 11, 29; Luke 23:43) I now had a real hope to live forever in Paradise! she exclaimed. Would Kathleen be able to stop abusing drugs without the threat of a fiery hell hanging over her? She related: When I had a strong craving for drugs, I would pray, begging God for help. I thought of his view of such defiling habits, and I did not want to disappoint him. He answered my prayers. (2 Corinthians 7:1) This fear of displeasing God enabled Kathleen to break free from her addictions. Yes, cultivating love for God and a healthy fear of himnot fear of torment in hellcan motivate us to do Gods will in order to enjoy lasting happiness. Related Articles Eternity in Hell - Original Christian Poem About Eternity in Hell Alpha & Omega - Christian Symbols Illustrated Glossary Basic Christian Beliefs - Basic Doctrines and Beliefs of Christianity Comparing Christian Denominations - Beliefs: Hell Christianity vs. Judaism: Jesus' Great Commandment (Mark 12:28-34) - Analysis and Commentary Sponsored Links Bible StudiesGrow Closer To God With Over 55 Devotions & Bible Studies. View Nowwww.GrowingInChrist.net Free Bible StudyFree Christian books on how to be born again of water and the Spiritwww.BJNewLife.org Hazop Study SoftwareIntuitive Hazop study software Sophisticated yet easy to usewww.isograph-software.com Summer at Regent CollegeStudy with top Christian scholars in beautiful Vancouver, Canada.summer.regent-college.edu The Baptist ChallengeNew book from Bill Leonard. Why being Baptist is still worth itwww.baylorpress.com User Agreement | Privacy Policy | Kids' Privacy Policy | Help Copyright 2008 About, Inc. AllExperts, AllExperts.com, and About.com are registered trademarks of About, Inc. All rights reserved

What the Bible Says About Hell

Key Facts About Eternity (1) Everyone will exist eternally either in heaven or hell (Daniel 12:2,3; Matthew 25:46; John 5:28; Revelation 20:14,15). (2) Everyone has only one life in which to determine their destiny (Hebrews 9:27). (3) Heaven or hell is determined by whether a person believes (puts their trust) in Christ alone to save them (John 3:16, 36, etc.). Key Passages About Hell (1) Hell was designed originally for Satan and his demons (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10). (2) Hell will also punish the sin of those who reject Christ (Matthew 13:41,50; Revelation 20:11-15; 21:8). (3) Hell is conscious torment. * Matthew 13:50 furnace of fireweeping and gnashing of teeth * Mark 9:48 where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched * Revelation 14:10 he will be tormented with fire and brimstone (4) Hell is eternal and irreversible. * Revelation 14:11 the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever and they have no rest day and night * Revelation 20:14 This is the second death, the lake of fire * Revelation 20:15 If anyones name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire Erroneous Views of Hell (1) The second chance view After death there is still a way to escape hell. Answer: It is appointed unto men once to die and after that the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). (2) Universalism All are eternally saved. Answer: It denies the truth of salvation through Christ which means that a person decides to either trust in Christ or else he/she rejects Christ and goes to hell (John 3:16;3:36). (3) Annihilationism Hell means a person dies like an animal ceases to exist. Answer: It denies the resurrection of the unsaved (John 5:28, etc. see above). It denies conscious torment (see above).

Objections to the Biblical View of Hell (1) A loving God would not send people to a horrible hell. Response: God is just (Romans 2:11). * God has provided the way of salvation to all (John 3:16,17; 2 Corinthians 5:14,15; 1 Timothy 2:6; 4:10; Titus 2:11; 2 Peter 3:9). * Even those who havent heard of Christ are accountable for Gods revelation in nature (Romans 1:20). God will seek those who seek Him (Matthew 7:7; Luke 19:10). * Therefore God doesnt send people to hell, they choose it (Romans 1:18,21,25). (2) Hell is too severe a punishment for mans sin. Response: God is holy-perfect (1 Peter 1:14,15). * Sin is willful opposition to God our creator (Romans 1:18-32). * Our sin does merit hell (Romans 1:32; 2:2,5,6). * What is unfair and amazing is that Christ died for our sin and freely offers salvation to all (Romans 2:4; 3:22-24; 4:7,8; 5:8,9). Biblical Terms Describing Where the Dead Are * Sheol - a Hebrew term simply describing the grave or death Does not refer to hell specifically * Hades - A Greek term that usually refers to hell a place of torment (Luke 10:15; 16:23, etc.) * Gehenna - A Greek term (borrowed from a literal burning dump near Jerusalem) that always refers to hell a place of torment (Matthew 5:30; 23:33) * Lake of fire- the final abode of unbelievers after they are resurrected (Revelation 20:14,15) * Abrahams bosom - (Luke 16:22) a place of eternal comfort * Paradise - (Luke 23:43) a place of eternal comfort * With the Lord - a key phrase describes where church age believers are after death (Philippians 1:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:17; 2 Corinthians 5:8) * New heavens and earth where believers will be after they are resurrected (Revelation 20:4-6; 21: Four views on Hell.

1)The Metaphorical view 4) Literal view

2) Purgatorial view

3)Conditional view

The Metaphorical View The Metaphorical view does not agree with the literal view of burning hell. Descriptions like: Fire, brimstone, weeping, etc are taken as just colorful speeches . They say that Rabbis in ancient times (including Jesus)often used colorful speech to explain their points. Some of them are given below, If your right eye causes you to sin remove it and throw it away. (Mathew 5:29). If any one comes after me and does not hate his father and mother ........... ( Luke 14:26) a) Take the plank out of your own eye. ( Mathew 7:5) b) It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. ....(Mathew 19:24) c) Let the dead bury their dead. ( Luke 9:60) Colorful descriptions are used in the describing Heaven also.Heaven is surrounded with thick walls and strong gates. today we would never describe a great city like Paris as having gates and walls. If heaven is described like this, the same is true for hell also. 1) Hell is not literal fire because mutually exclusive terms like fire and darkness are used to describe it. 2) There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (What about people who dont have teeth?) 3) Eternal fire was created for spirit beings such as the devil and his angels (Mat:25:41).How then will people be affected? 4) Hell is not literal fire because mutually exclusive terms like fire and darkness are used to describe it. 5) Eternal fire was created for spirit beings such as the devil and his angels (Mat:25:41).How then will people be affected?