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#Post#: 95--------------------------------------------------
Hell Article
By: Mentor Date: December 6, 2012, 7:04 pm
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The idea of an ever-burning hell has frightened countless
millions! What really happens to the wicked after death? Are
they “doomed to hell,” where their “souls” roast in “torment”
forever? If hell exists, and the wicked go there, where is it
and what is it? And when do they go? What about the resurrection
of the dead? And the parable of Lazarus and the rich man? There
are many popular beliefs about the fate of unrepentant sinners.
Why such confusion? What are the Bible answers? Here is the
truth about hell!
Recently, a well-known unrepentant mass murderer was executed. A
grim-faced relative of one of his victims appeared at a press
conference shortly afterwards and pronounced that the killer was
now “burning in hell.” It was obvious that the relative also
wanted this to be true just as sincerely as he believed his own
statement. What was this killer’s fate? Did his crimes doom him
to roast in hell forever? Most professing Christians would
answer “yes.” But is this what the Bible teaches?
rcg.org
#Post#: 96--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hell Article
By: Mentor Date: December 6, 2012, 7:05 pm
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Popular Belief
The most common image of people “roasting in hell” pictures a
God willing to burn people for all eternity without ever totally
burning them up. Apart from what the scriptures teach, ask
yourself, what kind of God is capable of this? Modern “human
rights activists” recognize the terrible evil of torture—even in
its temporary forms. Would the loving God of the Bible design an
everlasting torture chamber? If so, He would have to witness—for
the rest of eternity—the suffering of those that He had
condemned to such a “hell.”
We might also ask: How enjoyable could salvation be for the
saved, if they were forced to watch their children or
parents—and other loved ones—screaming in pain and agony for the
rest of time? Do you see the absurdity of this idea? Yet
millions upon millions come to this conclusion when they accept
the beliefs surrounding the popular concept of hell.
Consider what the Encyclopedia Americana says about hell: “…As
generally understood, hell is the abode of evil spirits; the
infernal regions…whither lost and condemned souls go after death
to suffer indescribable torments and eternal punishment…Some
have thought of it as the place created by the Deity, where He
punishes with inconceivable severity, and through all eternity,
the souls of those who through unbelief or through the worship
of false gods have angered Him. It is the place of divine
revenge, untempered, never ending.” An additional quote, also
from the Encyclopedia Americana, makes this stunning admission
about the almost universal acceptance of the popular belief
about hell: “The main features of hell as conceived by Hindu,
Persian, Egyptian, Grecian and Christian theologians are
essentially the same.”
rcg.org
#Post#: 97--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hell Article
By: Mentor Date: December 6, 2012, 7:06 pm
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Dante’s Inferno
Almost no one understands that it was primarily pagan poets who
authored today’s widely believed concept about an underground,
ever-burning hell.
Where is the world going? Why is it filled with problems,
troubles, evils and ills, causing unhappiness, confusion and
misery of every kind? What lies ahead? Is there hope for a
different—and truly…
Read Now
Much of the tradition surrounding this subject came from Dante
Alighieri’s (1265-1321) famous work Divine Comedy. In it, he
described his view of paradise, purgatory and hell. Notice this
quote from a book about his life, Dante and His Inferno: “Of all
poets of modern times, Dante Alighieri was, perhaps, the
greatest educator. He possibly had a greater influence on the
course of civilization than any other man since his day…He
wrote, in incomprehensible verse, an imaginative and lurid
account of a dismal hell—a long poem containing certain phrases
which have caught the attention of the world, such as, ‘all hope
abandon…ye, who enter here!’ This had a tremendous impression
and influence on the popular Christian thought and teaching. His
Inferno was based on Virgil and Plato.”
This makes obvious where Dante got his ideas. He believed that
the pagan philosophers Plato and Virgil were divinely inspired.
His fascination with the Greek philosopher Plato caused him to
accept Plato’s ideas about the immortality of the soul as
described in his famous work, Phaedo. Here is what the
Encyclopedia Americana says about Virgil: “Virgil, pagan Roman
poet, 70-12 B.C. Belonged to the national school of pagan Roman
thought, influenced by the Greek writers. Christians of the
Middle Ages, including Dante, believed he had received some
measure of divine inspiration.”
Few know the true origin of the beliefs that they hold. Fewer
still even wish to know! We have just laid bare, in the quotes
above, the real origin of this belief. Did you realize the
source of these ideas? The concept of an ever-burning hell comes
from outright paganism! We will see that the popular version of
hell has never had anything to do with the true teaching of the
Bible
rcg.org
#Post#: 98--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hell Article
By: Mentor Date: December 6, 2012, 7:07 pm
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A Popular Scripture
Perhaps the most familiar and often-quoted verse in the Bible is
understood by almost no one. John 3:16 states, “For God so loved
the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Millions routinely quote this verse, while ignoring an essential
phrase within it.
Reread it! Those who receive salvation are promised that they
“should not perish” but “have eternal life!” If hell is a place
of eternal torture, then the people suffering this torment must
also have eternal life. But the verse says, “should not perish.”
It does not say, “Should not suffer eternal life in torment.”
How does the word perish relate to the popular teaching about
hell and hell fire? Why did God inspire John to use the word
perish if this is not what He meant?
rcg.org
#Post#: 99--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hell Article
By: Mentor Date: December 6, 2012, 7:08 pm
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The Wages of Sin
If you are employed, you receive regular paychecks. They
represent wages paid to you for work done. What about God? Does
He ever pay wages for work? Notice Romans 6:23: “For the wages
of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord.” This verse exactly mirrors John 3:16!
Eternal life is contrasted to death—to perishing! The wages of
sin is death, not eternal torture in hell.
There is no mystery regarding the meaning of wages that an
employer pays an employee for his work. Why should there be
confusion over the meaning of wages that God pays a sinner for
his works? God says He pays the wicked a paycheck of death—not
life in a place of torment. The Bible says what it means and
means what it says. It states that “scripture cannot be broken”
(John 10:35) and “Your [God’s] word is truth” (17:17). If we are
to believe that the Bible is unbreakable truth, then we must
believe that death means death and life means life! How sad that
most do not understand these straightforward verses.
Before examining a number of additional verses about the subject
of hell, important groundwork must be laid. The idea of an
ever-burning hell is inseparable from the popular belief that
all human beings have immortal souls. We must examine what God
says about souls. It is not what you may think!
rcg.org
#Post#: 100--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hell Article
By: Mentor Date: December 6, 2012, 7:09 pm
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Do People Have Immortal Souls?
Most people do not understand the relationship between physical
men and souls. In Sunday school, I was taught that human beings
are born with immortal souls. The common belief is that, upon
death, the souls of sinners go to hell forever, since they are
immortal. Is this what the Bible says? If the wages of sin is
death, could the Bible also teach that people have immortal
souls?
Genesis 2:7 says, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of
the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
and man became a living soul.” This verse does not say that men
have souls, but that they are souls. Adam became a soul—he was
not given a soul. Then, almost immediately, God warned him, “And
the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the
garden you may freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you
eat thereof you shall surely die” (vs. 16-17). When placed
together, these verses reveal that men are souls and that souls
can die!
The prophet Ezekiel was inspired to write (twice): “The soul
that sins, it shall die” (18:4, 20). Death is the absence of
life. It is the discontinuance—the cessation—of life. Death is
not life in another place. It is not leaving “this life” for
“another life”—the “next life.”
Further, on the subject of whether or not the soul can die,
consider Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body,
but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him [God]
which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” The Bible
says that souls can be destroyed! According to this verse, they
can be destroyed as much as bodies can. We all recognize that
bodies eventually die and that, when they do, they naturally
decompose and are completely “destroyed” due to the process of
natural corruption. Any undertaker recognizes this. This verse
introduces the understanding that God does the destroying of
souls in hell! Bodies can die and be destroyed in many different
ways. However, souls are destroyed in hell by God.
Before we directly examine the scriptures about hell, some final
points must be established.
rcg.org
#Post#: 101--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hell Article
By: Mentor Date: December 6, 2012, 7:10 pm
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Are the Dead Conscious?
Human minds are differentiated from animal brains by intelligent
thought. Presumably, if the dead are not dead, but are really
still alive, then they must be capable of some kind of
intelligent thought. They must at least be conscious of their
surroundings. Let’s consider a series of scriptures.
First, notice Psalm 146:3-4: “Put not your trust…in the son of
man…His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth; in that very
day his thoughts perish.” When people die, their thoughts end
immediately—“in that very day.” That is what it says. This verse
is not compatible with the idea that the dead are consciously
suffering in a place of torment. We could suppose that, if they
are suffering, they do not have knowledge that they are. They
are unaware of what is happening to them. Ask yourself: What
would be the point of their suffering? It would be as though
they were in a coma—i.e., completely unaware of what is going on
around them—while their sensory nervous system is feeling the
tremendous pain sensation of burning. How would this work?
Use the following analogy. If someone is to undergo major
surgery, they are anesthetized—they are made to be
unconscious—so that they will not experience pain. Medical
doctors understand this—why don’t theologians and religionists?
Why do they deny the plain statements of the Bible?
Some who willingly ignore the message of scripture allege that
only mortal thoughts “perish,” in the sense that the dead leave
this earthly realm and experience some mysterious, different
kind of thought than they previously knew. Is this true? Of
course, this is ridiculous, and the Bible does not say this, but
we should at least examine the idea. Now consider an even more
direct verse: “For the living know that they shall die: but the
dead know not any thing…” (Ecc. 9:5).
To the honest reader, there is no mistaking the plain meaning
here!
Solomon recorded, “For that which befalls the sons of men
befalls beasts; even one thing befalls them: as the one dies, so
dies the other; yes, they have all one breath; so that a man has
no preeminence above a beast…All go unto one place; all are of
the dust, and all turn to dust again” (Ecc. 3:19-20).
Now consider Psalm 115:17: “The dead praise not the Lord,
neither any that go down into silence.” Death involves
“silence.” This certainly does not square with any of the
popular concepts of millions of the dead wailing and screaming
in agony. Such a scene could never be described as silence! And,
if many of the dead go to heaven, why are they not praising God?
Psalm 6:5 further explains that the dead do not experience
conscious memory: “For in death there is no remembrance of You:
in the grave who shall give You thanks?” Could anyone seriously
suggest that the dead, suffering in hell, could experience the
normal range of human memories but not be cognizant of God—not
remember Him? Would God put people in “hell” and then leave them
there suffering, forever wondering how they had gotten there and
who had put them there—because they have “no remembrance” of
anything related to God?
rcg.org
#Post#: 102--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hell Article
By: Mentor Date: December 6, 2012, 7:11 pm
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The Resurrection of the Dead
Remember to let the Bible interpret the Bible. Always keep its
truth simple, and the deceptive ideas of men will fall like a
house of cards.
Here is why the dead have no remembrance of God in the grave.
Jesus said, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the
which ALL that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall
come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of
life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of
damnation [Greek: judgment]” (John 5:28-29).
Christ understood that most would find this astonishing. That is
why He told the disciples to “marvel not at this”—He understood
that most people would marvel at the thought that everyone who
ever lived is now “in the grave,” awaiting the resurrection! My
instruction to you is also to not marvel at Christ’s words.
Accept them! He said that “all” are in the grave. He did not say
some are there.
The reason there are no conscious thoughts and no remembrance of
God after death is that everyone who has ever died is currently
awaiting one of the resurrections to which Christ referred. All
people will either be resurrected to eternal life or to
judgment. That is what it says.
No wonder David said, “As for me, I will behold Your face in
righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Your
likeness” (Psa. 17:15). David understood that the resurrection
was an awakening—a coming back to life.
Like David, Job also looked forward to the resurrection of life.
Notice: “O that You would hide me in the grave, that You would
keep me secret, until Your wrath be past, that You would appoint
me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live
again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my
change come. You shall call, and I will answer You” (Job
14:13-15).
Job did not ask that God would only hide his body in the grave.
He asked God to “hide me…keep me…appoint me…remember me.” He
also recognized that God would keep him “secret.” Ask yourself
how being kept secret would square with being in heaven. If that
were the case, God would be pretty poor at keeping secrets and
the rest of the verse would make no sense. Now look at the
question he asked—“if a man die, shall he live again?” If Job
was going to still be alive at death, how could he “live again?”
He understood that he would “wait…in the grave” for his
resurrection at an “appointed time” when he would be “changed.”
What did it mean that he would be changed?
The apostle Paul wrote of a “change” that will come to all true
Christians. Carefully examine I Corinthians 15:51-52, 54:
“Behold, I show 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…the dead shall be raised…and this mortal shall
have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the
saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.”
It certainly is a mystery to the world that there is coming a
change to immortality at the resurrection. How can someone go
from “mortal” to “immortal” if they already have an immortal
soul? Do you see the foolish logic of men when they ignore plain
scriptures of the Bible?
Just as Job knew that he would be “changed,” David knew that he
would “awake,” and Paul knew that Christians will be
“changed”—that they will awaken from “sleep”—at the time of the
resurrection. At the resurrection, people will literally awaken
from death. Do not believe me—believe your Bible!
Ask yourself: How can people be resurrected if they are already
alive as immortal souls? Only the dead, like Christ when He was
in the tomb, need to be resurrected. That is the purpose of a
resurrection. Do not be fooled by deceivers who say that “the
resurrection only applies to the body, since the soul remained
alive after death”! You have already seen several scriptures
disproving that fallacy.
Upon even the most basic examination, the ideas of intelligent
men are often exposed as outright foolishness. The popular
concept of hell was devised by men as a means of scaring people
into following the false religion that they had created. The
true God would never roast people for all eternity without
allowing them to burn up, so that their suffering could
mercifully end. This is what a monster would do. Humanly-devised
false gods figuratively “do” and “teach” whatever the men who
created them have decided.
Many billions have lived and died without ever knowing the name
of Jesus Christ and without ever having an opportunity for
salvation. Are we to believe that they are now roasting in a
man-made “hell” devised by pagan poets? If the unsaved, upon
death, go directly to hell, then well over half the people who
have ever lived are there!
Now what is the truth about hell?
Since no one has ever returned from the dead—from “hell”—and
offered a firsthand report, we must either choose to believe the
ideas of men or search the scriptures for what God reveals.
rcg.org
#Post#: 103--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hell Article
By: Mentor Date: December 6, 2012, 7:12 pm
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Hell: Four Words
The Bible does speak about the subject of hell and hell fire in
numerous passages. Christ referred to it several times, as did
some of the apostles. The prophets also mentioned it several
times in the Old Testament. The Bible uses three Greek words in
the New Testament, and one Hebrew word in the Old Testament,
explaining the meaning of hell. Let’s examine these words.
The Hebrew word translated hell in the Old Testament is sheol.
It has a New Testament counterpart, hades. Actually, if you look
up sheol in a concordance, it will reference the Greek word
hades. They both mean “the grave, pit, world of the dead or
hell.” Hell is the tomb. In saying this, we have just discovered
that all people do, in fact, go to “hell” at death! Since the
Bible does say, “it is appointed unto men once to die” (Heb.
9:27), then everyone does die and go to hell—literally. All
people eventually go to the grave.
The word hades is the most common word used in the New Testament
for “hell.” (Actually, some New Testament translations have
exchanged the word hell for hades.) I remember learning over
thirty-five years ago that people in England, in the 1600s,
spoke commonly of planting or putting their potatoes in hell
through the winter. They understood that hell was a dark, cold,
quiet place that was a hole in the ground. This word held no
mystery for them. Virtually all sources agree that sheol and
hades are the same and that both refer to the grave.
It was only with the passing of time that the pagan view of
hell, as a blazing underground inferno, came to replace this
original intent of the word.
The second Greek word translated as “hell” is found only once in
the New Testament. Notice II Peter 2:4: “For if God spared not
the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and
delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto
judgment.” The word used here is tartaros and refers to angels,
not people. It means “a prison, incarceration, place of
restraint or a dark abyss.” This verse describes the imprisoning
of the angels on earth as their “place of restraint” or “prison”
after their rebellion during the pre-Adamic age. (Read our free
booklet Who Is the Devil? to learn more about this rebellion.)
We are now prepared to examine the third and final Greek word
translated twelve times as hell in the New Testament. Jesus
spoke of it when He said, “And if your hand offend you, cut it
off: it is better for you to enter into life maimed, than having
two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be
quenched: where their worm dies not, and the fire is not
quenched. And if your foot offend you, cut it off: it is better
for you to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast
into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where
their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched. And if your
eye offend you, pluck it out: it is better for you to enter into
the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast
into hell fire: where their worm dies not, and the fire is not
quenched” (Mark 9:43-48).
This verse repeatedly refers to “hell” and “fire unquenched.” It
also speaks three times of “worms that die not.” We will return
to these terms.
In Matthew 5:22, Christ spoke of those who could “be in danger
of hell fire.” We have already examined another of His warnings
to “fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in
hell” (Matt. 10:28). Christ describes destruction in this verse,
not ongoing punishing.
In each case, the terms hell and hell fire are always translated
from the remaining Greek word for hell, gehenna. It can be
translated either as hell or hell fire. Understanding its
meaning will explain the lengthy quote from Mark 9 cited above.
From Hasting’s Dictionary comes the following definition of this
word: “Gehenna: the word occurs twelve times in the New
Testament. This term ‘gehenna’ represents ‘the Valley of Hinnom’
(Neh. 11:30, II Kings 23:10, etc.). The place was…a deep narrow
gorge in the vicinity of Jerusalem, understood to be on the
south side. It is repeatedly mentioned in the Old Testament
(Jer. 19:6, etc.). It became an object of horror to the Jews,
and is said to have been made the receptacle for bones, the
bodies of beasts and criminals, refuse and all unclean things.
The terrible associations of the place…the fires said to have
been kept burning in it in order to consume the foul and corrupt
objects that were thrown into it, made it [an]…unmistakable
symbol of dire evil…absolute ruin. So it came to designate the
place of future punishment.”
I have personally walked through this valley and examined its
ledges, the design of its contour and its proximity to
Jerusalem. It is a long, steep, trench-like ravine that is not
particularly wide, but is quite deep. It is definitely a real
place and looks exactly as the above description depicts it. The
fires there burned continuously, much as we would see in certain
city dumps of the past. Years ago, the city dump in my hometown
of Lima, Ohio, constantly burned refuse. I saw this many times
and have no difficulty understanding what Christ was referring
to.
Some of the bodies that were cast into this valley never made it
into the fires burning below. They would get hung up in the
brush and trees on the ledges near the rim. In describing the
wicked, when Christ stated that “their worms die not,” He was
referring to the bodies of certain criminals that were thrown
over the edge of the ravine but did not burn up because they got
stuck on a ledge. They literally rotted and decomposed where
they were. The maggots that entered their bodies completed the
decomposition process without interruption from either the fire
or anything else. These worms “died not,” so to speak, because
they later developed into flies. This graphic picture is part of
the reason that Gehenna was such a place of revulsion to all who
were familiar with it!
rcg.org
#Post#: 104--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hell Article
By: Mentor Date: December 6, 2012, 7:12 pm
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The Lake of Fire
The Valley of Hinnom—Gehenna—came to represent a place of final
punishment—a place of “absolute ruin”—for all who go there. The
reference to hell fire actually refers to the “lake of fire”
described in Revelation 20:13-15: “And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them: and they were judged every man according to their
works. And death and hell [hades] 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.”
All who enter this lake suffer permanent death. They suffer
complete destruction—a final punishment that is
everlasting—eternal—permanent! It is not punishing but is rather
punishment that is everlasting. Christ understood this just as
anyone that knew of the fires in the Valley of Hinnom recognized
that the bodies of criminals and animals thrown there burned up.
When I walked the valley, I did not see any of them still
burning. I could not even find any evidence that there had ever
been fires there. Two thousand years have completely changed its
appearance.
Jude 7 speaks of the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah having
received the “vengeance of eternal fire” for their sins. Those
cities are not burning today and have been so completely
destroyed that archaeologists have never been able to prove with
certainty their exact location. What happened to these cities
does not reflect a permanent state of visible fire burning for
all to see today. Their destruction was eternal. When those
cities completely burned up, the fires went out. However, their
punishment continues to this day!
It should be clear why Paul recorded that the wages of sin is
death, not eternal punishing and torment in an ever-burning
hell. Most people have seen fires go unquenched. But they always
burned out after they consumed whatever combustible material was
available to them. Read Jeremiah 17:27 and 52:13. Over
twenty-five hundred years ago, after God warned Jerusalem that
He would burn her with an “unquenchable fire,” if she did not
repent, this happened. I have also seen Jerusalem. You, too,
have probably seen it many times on television. It is not still
burning today.
rcg.org
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