Get The Hell Out Of The Bible!

[StarGazer]

I've been reading up on this recently, in regards to Hell in the Bible (Formerly as a sort of comfort, whenever the occasional fear of my skepticism being wrong would seep in). Upon my searching, I found that there is no Hebrew or Greek word for Hell. The original words in the manuscript were 'Hades' and 'Sheol' which mean 'Land of the Dead' and 'Grave' respectively. Given the context these would be used in, it seems quite bizarre.

 

I mean, Jews don't believe in Hell. Why would such a fundamental part of the afterlife be left out?

 

Anybody have any thoughts on this? (Apologies if this has already been covered)

[TrueFreedom]

Jews basically either believed in a resurrection or they didn't.  The evil and the good went to the same place.  Christian doctrines of hell emerged from other religions.

 

http://www.earlychristianhistory.info/hell.html

 

http://www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/tbhell.html

[DayLight]

There are verses such as: some will go into the everlasting life and some will go into the everlasting torment.  Plus the parable of the rich man and Lazarus talks about that kind of stuff.

 

So the Bible definitely writes that hell is a place of torment.  And it calls it: a fiery furnace.  Which I guess could be equivalent to the lake of fire mentioned in Revelation. 

 

And perhaps the idea of the lake of fire somehow morphed from the Gehenna (a physical place of disposal of the bodies through the fire), the fear of this place (because Jews believed they would lose resurrection if they get sentenced to be burned here instead of being properly buried).  And if you add the ideas about Hades, where there was a king over all the dead, and their unpleasant faith... and they have Abyss under Hades from where the smoke comes out (maybe it's hot)...... Maybe all these elements and maybe even some others combined together to create an idea of the Biblical Hell.    Beliefs are formed in people's minds over time out of all the different ideas like that.  It's like someone said this, heard that, told to another.  Another added something else and it's all basically hearsay, but it forms itself as a belief in their minds.

 

I do believe that hell idea became a part of Christianity because people of Jesus' days lived among different pagan religions and there were different beliefs about the afterlife.  Different ideas got mixed in the people's minds.  And overtime, some groups decided to believe certain things. And perhaps it's these particular things which made their way into the Gospels.  For what are the Gospels?  Accounts of witnesses.  But witnesses are usually not reliable.  And these witnesses were talking about something that happened many years ago: how well could they remember the actual reality? I am assuming what they told the writers of the Gospels is what they believed by that time.  And who knows how their beliefs were formed and based on what information.

 

Until Constantine created the BIBLE by asking some people to put certain writings into one Book Collection, there were many different ideas about everything.  So a Christian religion formed out of the many different ideas floating around.

 

Interesting verses here, almost as though hell is on earth...

 

Isaiah 34:8-10  For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion's cause. Edom's streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch!  It will not be quenched night and day; its smoke will rise forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again.

(Edom looks like a lake of fire, doesn’t it?  And it even says that it’s smoke will rise forever.  But then it says that it will lie desolate, so not smoking anymore.  So the smoking expression was just an expression.  Probably the same kind of an expression used in Revelation: “  Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name."   This smoke ends.)

 

So will Edom really be on fire or is this all figurative, is this the "fire of God's jealousy" 

 

Zephaniah  3:8  Therefore wait for me," declares the LORD, "for the day I will stand up to testify. I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out my wrath on them— all my fierce anger. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger.

Isaiah 33:14  The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: "Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?"

 

 

Perhaps then the lake of fire is symbolically the same thing? 

 

And what is the fire of God's jealousy?  There is this idea that it's purification.  Cleansing.

 

Zephaniah  3:8  Therefore wait for me," declares the LORD, "for the day I will stand up to testify. I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out my wrath on them— all my fierce anger. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger. Zep 3:9  "Then will I purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD and serve him shoulder to shoulder.

 

 

Luke 3:17  His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

 

Chaff is usually "stuff" that gets stuck to the wheat.  So the purifying fire is supposed to get rid of that stuff.

 

Mark 9:49  Everyone will be salted with fire.

 

1Corinthians 3:13-15  his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.  If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.  If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

 

 

THE BIBLE HAS A LOT OF CONFUSING STUFF AND ALL CHRISTIANS ARE CONFUSED IN TRYING TO UNDERSTAND IT ALL. PLUS, THE STUFF ITSELF IS ALL "CONFUSION ABOUT THINGS", THE MIXING AND MATCHING OF DIFFERENT IDEAS, LIKE BUILDING A HOUSE OUT OF THE LEGO PIECES.

[themonkeyman]

Celsius said many religions of the day had hell and it's was funny how each group threatened the other

[Justin]

The concept of hell or a negative afterlife has changed considerably up through time and even within the very pages of the bible. Sheol, Hades, Gehenna etc...

[♦ Fuego ♦]

Everyone pretty much summed it up already. Learning this was one of the turning points in my deconversion. How could hell be such a foundational concept in Christianity, which is supposed to be the fulfillment of the Jewish faith, when the Jews have no concept of it? I remember being a bit stunned by this thought and asked my Jewish brother-in-law, "Do you guys have a hell?" He shook his head. It was like a slap to my emotions. Never had I heard this in 30 years of ardent faith.

 

The concept really did come from other religions. I assume that they saw volcanic activity and assumed that there was a place of torment below, because the gods were up in the sky or on Mt Olympus. Up and down thinking, which is why Jesus ascended into the sky. There is no up or down in space, but people of that time had no concept of a ball of dirt floating in an infinite nothing. To them the ball would fall down because you had to have something holding it up, like pillars on the back of a turtle (don't ask what the turtle is standing on). Amazing that millions in 2015 still regard hell as real! The power of fear.

[Guest Furball]

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[StarGazer]

On that note, Jews do tend to have a better deal with religion than Christians. Their lives are centered on doing good in this life, rather than fretting about Heavenly awards like Christians.