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Jun 23, 2022 20:20:56 GMT -8
Post by Michael on Jun 23, 2022 20:20:56 GMT -8
Sheol pit grave Gehenna Hades Hell
The Hebrew word Sheol for grave does not translate into the Pagan belief of Hell.
The Hebrew word for pit does not translate into the Pagan belief of Hell.
The Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna) is a place for broken potsherds, and used as a parable to mean destruction. And it does not translate into the Pagan belief of Hell.
Gehenna
Matthew 5:22: "....whoever shall say, 'You fool', shall be guilty enough to go into Gehenna."
Matthew 5:29: "....it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to be thrown into Gehenna."
Matthew 5:30: "....better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to go into Gehenna."
Matthew 10:28: "....rather fear Him who is able to destroy the soul, both spirit and body in Gehenna."
Matthew 18:9: "It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than with two eyes to be thrown into the Gehenna...."
Matthew 23:15: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you... make one proselyte...twice as much a child of Gehenna as yourselves."
Matthew 23:33, to the Pharisees: "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of Gehenna?"
Mark 9:43: "It is better for you to enter life crippled, than having your two hands, to go into Gehenna into the unquenchable fire."
Mark 9:45: "It is better for you to enter life lame, than having your two feet, to be cast into Gehenna."
Mark 9:47: "It is better for you to enter the Kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into Gehenna."
Luke 12:5: "....fear the One who, after He has killed has authority to cast into Gehenna; yes, I tell you, fear Him."
James 3:6: "And the tongue is a fire,...and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by Gehenna."
Hades
Hades is the name of a Pagan god of the underworld.
The word grave does not translate into the Pagan god name Hades.
The word “Hades is used to replace the word “grave” in these verses.
Matthew 11:23
`And thou, Capernaum, which unto the heaven wast exalted, unto hades shalt be brought down, because if in Sodom had been done the mighty works that were done in thee, it had remained unto this day;
Matthew 16:18
`And I also say to thee, that thou art a rock, and upon this rock I will build my assembly, and gates of Hades shall not prevail against it;
Luke 10:15
`And thou, Capernaum, which unto the heaven wast exalted, unto hades thou shalt be brought down.
Luke 16 is a Gnostic insertion and is not biblical.
Luke 16:23
and in the hades having lifted up his eyes, being in torments, he doth see Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom,
Acts 2:27
because Thou wilt not leave my soul to hades, nor wilt Thou give Thy Kind One to see corruption;
Acts 2:31
having foreseen, he did speak concerning the rising again of the Christ, that his soul was not left to hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
1 Corinthians 15:55
where, O Death, thy sting? where, O Hades, thy victory?'
Revelation 1:18
and he who is living, and I did become dead, and, lo, I am living to the ages of the ages. Amen! and I have the keys of the hades and of the death.
Revelation 6:8
and I saw, and lo, a pale horse, and he who is sitting upon him -- his name is Death, and Hades doth follow with him, and there was given to them authority to kill, (over the fourth part of the land,) with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and by the beasts of the land.
Revelation 20:13
and the sea did give up those dead in it, and the death and the hades did give up the dead in them, and they were judged, each one according to their works;
Revelation 20:14
and the death and the hades were cast to the lake of the fire -- this [is] the second death;
Hell 2
Christ and the disciples did not teach Paganism, those things were added to the bible scriptures by Pagans. Yahshua and his disciples were Orthodox Jews. Orthodox Jews do not believe in a Hell.
Hell, Luke 16:19-31.
I give thanks to you Heavenly Father for hearing my complaint.
The Rich Man and Lazarus
Luke 16:19. "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
Wealth, comfort, poverty, and suffering have nothing to do with a person’s salvation.
22"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'
The word messenger is replaced with the word angel. And assuming that this is a parable, there would be no need for Lazarus to be carried to Abraham, before the resurrection. As for being in Hell and torment and agony; that contradicts the verse that says the dead know nothing. It also is a contradiction where scripture says that Yahwah kills the condemned. In regards to the water on the finger; that would evaporate before it even got to a person.
25"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'
Again I say to you that wealth and poverty has nothing to do with the resurrection of the righteous. There is one truth in all of this, and that there is a chasm that has been set in place; and that is called death of the condemned, which are killed by Yahwah. There is no life for them afterward.
27"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'
29"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'
30" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
31"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "
These are obviously the words of a dim wit, and not the words of an ancient being. No place in these verses is credit given to Yahwah, but only to Moses and the prophets; which would be unlike Yahshua to exclude the Father in matters of life and death.
Hell is a pagan belief and part of the Pagan religion. Why would Yahshua use a nonexistent biblical teaching for which he never explains afterward? Before the return from Babylon, Judaism never taught the concept of hell. But after the return from Babylon, the Hellenistic and Kabbalistic Jews began to introduce Hell into Judaism.
Yahshua never identified the story as a parable, and never explained the relevance as he did in other legitimate parables.
Yahshua, being an ancient being full of knowledge and wisdom, would have had the good sense to explain the new concept. Obviously the story of “The Rich Man and Lazarus” is the words of some man introducing the Pagan concept of Hell. Yahshua and his disciples were Orthodox Jews and Orthodox Jews do not believe in the Pagan concept of Hell.
Genesis 18:25
Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
Luke 20:16
"What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others." When the people heard this, they said, "May this never be!"
Ecclesiastes 9:5
For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten.
Revelation 20:14
Then death and Hades (Grave) were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.
If death and the grave, or even Hades is done away with, then how can there be anyone ALIVE in Hades.
Revelation 21
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
6 He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This (That) is the second death."
Catholic Gnosticism.
The attitude of the Catholic Church toward paganism is best summed up by Pope Gregory the Great, in his words to a missionary: “You must not interfere with any traditional belief or religious observance that can be harmonized with Christianity.”
Pope Gregory 540 – 12 March 604.
Not only were the Congregations divided by Gnosticism, but enticed by philosophy and paganism also, and there were geographic divisions as well.
Just a reminder that it was the Catholic Church that canonized scripture.
Do people go to Hell because they were rich? And do poor people go to Heaven because they were Poor?
Luke 16:23
In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.
Hades is the Greek god of the Underworld.
Exodus 23:13
“Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.
Joshua 23:7
Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them.
If Yahshua was a law breaker, then he could not have been the Christ. I am here to tell you that that story is not from Yahshua.
Gehenna: Mentioned twelve or thirteen times in the bible. Gehenna: Referring to the Valley of Hinnom, or Gehenna which is the city dump outside the walls of Jerusalem.
According to Archaeologist, there is no evidence to support that Gehenna was a place for burning garbage. There was however lots of Potsherds found.
Jeremiah 19:2
and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you,
Jeremiah 19:11
and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.
There is no reason to believe that the use of the word "fire' was literal, because Christ was speaking to the public, and not explaining the parable to the disciples.
Matthew 13:34
Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.
Mark 4:11
He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables...
Mark 4:34
He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
The Fires of Gehenna: Views of Scholars
By Todd Bolen
Posted on April 29, 2011
Yesterday I pointed out Trevin Wax’s post on Urban Legends: The Preacher’s Edition. In it he makes the comment that “It’s possible that the verdict may still be out on this one, but not if Todd Bolen is right.” It may be worthwhile to cite a number of significant scholars who have questioned or rejected this myth over the last 150 years. The myth continues to be perpetuated because pastors and Bible teachers are not reading these works. (In the quotations below, I provide the larger context and highlight with bold the statements most relevant to this question.)
The first is Edward Robinson, preeminent explorer of the Holy Land beginning in 1838. He wrote:
“In these gardens, lying partly within the mouth of Hinnom and partly in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and irrigated by the waters of Siloam, Jerome assigns the place of Tophet; where the Jews practised the horrid rites of Baal and Moloch, and ‘burned their sons and their daughters in the fire.’ It was probably in allusion to this detested and abominable fire, that the later Jews applied the name of this valley (Gehenna), to denote the place of future punishment or the fires of hell. At least there is no evidence of any other fires having been kept up in the valley; as has sometimes been supposed” (Biblical Researches, vol. 1 [1841], 404-5).
The origin of the “garbage dump” theory appears to be Kimchi. James A. Montgomery observes this medieval commentator’s logic, but does not accept it.
“With the common sense which often characterizes Jewish commentators, Kimchi says that the place was the dump of the city, where fires were always kept burning to destroy the refuse; ‘therefore the judgment of the wicked is parabolically called Gehenna.’ But from the Biblical references the place appears to have nothing physically objectionable about it; in contrast to its contemporary condition Jeremiah prophesied that it would one day be called ‘Valley of Slaughter’” (“The Holy City and Gehenna,” JBL 27/1 [1908], 34).
Lloyd R. Bailey quotes Kimchi directly:
“The traditional explanation for this seems to go back to Rabbi David Kimhi’s commentary on Psalm 27 (around 1200 C.E.). He remarked the following concerning the valley beneath Jerusalem’s walls:
Gehenna is a repugnant place, into which filth and cadavers are thrown, and in which fires perpetually burn in order to consume the filth and bones; on which account, by analogy, the judgement of the wicked is called ‘Gehenna.’
“Kimhi’s otherwise plausible suggestion, however, finds no support in literary sources or archaeological data from the intertestamental or rabbinic periods. There is no evidence that the valley was, in fact, a garbage dump, and thus his explanation is insufficient” (“Gehenna: The Topography of Hell,” Biblical Archaeologist 49/3 [1986], 188-89).
Click to expand...
About the same time, G. R. Beasley-Murray made a similar observation:
“The notion, still referred to by some commentators, that the city’s rubbish was burned in this valley, has no further basis than a statement by the Jewish scholar Kimchi made about A.D. 1200; it is not attested in any ancient source. The valley was the scene of human sacrifices, burned in the worship of Moloch (2 Kings 16:3 and 21:6), which accounts for the prophecy of Jeremiah that it would be called the Valley of Slaughter under judgment of God (Jer. 7:32-33). This combination of abominable fires and divine judgment led to the association of the valley with a place of perpetual judgment (see Isa. 66:24) and later with a place of judgment by fire without any special connection to Jerusalem (see, for example, 1 Enoch 27:1ff., 54:1ff., 63:3-4, and 90:26ff)” (Jesus and the Kingdom of God, 376-77).
W. D. Davies and D. C. Allison, in their excellent commentary on Matthew, note the lack of ancient evidence but do not entirely reject the notion of a garbage dump.
“Why the place of torment came to have this name, the name of the valley south of Jerusalem, gê-hinnōm (Josh 18.16 LXX: Γαιεννα), now Wādier-rabābi, is uncertain. The standard view, namely, that the valley was where the city’s garbage was incinerated and that the constantly rising smoke and smell of corruption conjured up the fiery torments of the damned, is without ancient support, although it could be correct. Perhaps the abode of the wicked dead gained its name because children had there been sacrificed in fire to the god Molech (2 Chr 28.3; 33.6), or because Jeremiah, recalling its defilement by Josiah (2 Kgs 23.10; cr. 21.6), thundered against the place (Jer 7.31-2; 19.2-9; 32.35), or because it was believed that in the valley was the entrance to the underworld home of the pagan chthonian deities (cf. b. ‘Erub. 19a) (Matthew 1-7, 514-15).
In the “Gehenna” article in the recent (2007) New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Philip S. Johnston considers the biblical evidence to provide “perhaps sufficient links” though he does not dismiss outright the dump theory.
“The exact process by which a geographical toponym became the locale of postmortem punishment is obscure. The clear association with abhorrent sacrifice and subsequent slaughter, and the possible further links with fire and corpses are perhaps sufficient links. It is often suggested that the Hinnom Valley became Jerusalem’s garbage dump, and that it constantly smoldered. Alternatively, the association to the cult of the underworld deity Molech seems to contain a link between a fiery altar and the entrance to divine realm” (2:531).
Bailey gives a further suggestion that may help to explain the origin of the view of Gehenna. The practice of sacrifice to foreign gods led to the view expressed in the Talmud that the Hinnom Valley was the location of two of the gates to Gehenna.
“Even after the valley ceased to function as a cult center, it continued to be regarded as the location of an entrance to the underworld over which the sole God was sovereign. This is clear from the following statements in the Babylonian Talmud:
(Rabbi Jeremiah ben Eleazar further stated:) Gehenna has three gates; one in the wilderness, one in the sea and one in Jerusalem. (According to Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai’s school:) There are two palm trees in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and between them smoke arises..,. and this is the gate of Gehenna? (Babylonian Talmud, Erubin, 19a-see Slotki 1938: 130-31)” (191).
Finally, Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron conclude their article on a New Testament-period dump in Jerusalem with some observations from archaeological investigation about the location of the Old Testament-period dump in the Kidron Valley.
“It seems that the location of the city-dump of the late Second Temple period in this particular part of the city had a previous long history in the late Iron Age II. The Book of Nehemiah mentions several times a gate called Saar ha-Aspot/Sopot (Neh 2, 13; 3:13-14; 12:31). This toponym is usually translated as ‘Dung Gate’, based on the analogy with 2 Sam 2,8 and Ps 113,7 (Simons 1952, 123). These verses mention the city’s poor people, who most probably were foraging the city dump for food. Even if we accept B. Mazar’s suggestion (1975, 194-95), to relate spt to tpt – the Tophet – which was an extramural high place in the Valley of Hinnom (2 Kgs 21, 6; 2 Chr 33,6), we remain in an area of dirt. This place involved an extensive use of fire, which produced burning waste such as ashes, soot and charred wood. Also the location of the Gate of the pottery sherds (Sa’ar ha-Harsit), in the south (Jer 19,2), might point to a pile of garbage (Simons 1952, 230), as pottery vessels were the type of household item broken and discarded in antiquity more than any other type of artifact.
All the various types of city-garbage (ashes, pottery shards, waste of human occupation, etc.) were moved and dumped at the southeastern side of the city of Jerusalem, in the Iron Age and Persian periods. This was the city dump to where also the debris of the smashed cult objects and related material that was created during the Josianic religious reform, were moved and dumped, mentioning particularly the Kidron Valley (2 Kgs 23,4,6,10,12)” (“The Jerusalem City-Dump in the Late Second Temple Period, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 119 [2003], 17).
The “southeastern side” of Jerusalem is the southern portion of the Kidron Valley, and this was the area of the excavators’ study. The “extensive use of fire” is in relation to the activities of a high place, whereas the waste products of the city inhabitants were not of the sort that required significant burning.
In short, while it may not be denied that there was some burning of garbage in ancient Jerusalem, there is no indication that this was extensive, that it was located in the Hinnom Valley, or that it was in any way connected to the fires of eternal torment. A simpler and better supported explanation is the sacrificial offerings to pagan deities in the Hinnom Valley (Jer 7:31-32; 32:35; 2 Kgs 23:10; 2 Chr 28:3; 33:6).
Hell 3
As we all know the bible uses many parables. There is no real Hell, that word was put into scriptures by the Gnostic Pagans. Words like grave, pit, and Gehenna were replaced with the word hell. Those who are condemned to destruction never return. They are cut off for all eternity, never to live again.
The number of times "Hell" appears in the English Bible
Translations
Bible Translations
Old Testament
New Testament
Total's
"Authorized" King James Version
31
23
54
New King James Version
19
13
32
American Standard Version
0
13
13
New American Standard Bible
0
13
13
Revised Standard Version
0
12
12
New Revised Standard Version
0
12
12
Revised English Bible
0
13
13
New Living Translation
0
13
13
Amplified
0
13
13
New International Version (best-selling English Bible)
0
14
14
Darby
0
12
12
New Century Version
0
12
12
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
0
0
Scarlett's N.T. (1798)
0
0
The New Testament in Greek and English (Kneeland, 1823)
0
0
Young's Literal Translation (1891)
0
0
0
Twentieth Century New Testament (1900)
0
0
Rotherham's Emphasized Bible (reprinted, 1902)
0
0
0
Fenton's Holy Bible in Modern English (1903)
0
0
0
Weymouth's New Testament in Modern Speech (1903)
0
0
Jewish Publication Society Bible Old Testament (1917)
0
0
Panin's Numeric English New Testament (1914)
0
0
The People's New Covenant (Overbury, 1925)
0
0
Hanson's New Covenant (1884)
0
0
Western N.T. (1926)
0
0
NT of our Lord and Savior Anointed (Tomanek, 1958)
0
0
Concordant Literal NT (1983)
0
0
The N.T., A Translation (Clementson, 1938)
0
0
Emphatic Diaglott, Greek/English Interlinear (Wilson, 1942)
0
0
New American Bible (1970)
0
0
0
Restoration of Original Sacred Name Bible (1976)
0
0
0
Tanakh. The Holy Scriptures, Old Testament (1985)
0
0
The New Testament, A New Translation (Greber, 1980)
0
0
Christian Bible (1991)
0
0
0
World English Bible (in progress)
0
0
0
Original Bible Project (Dr. James Tabor, still in translation)
0
0
0
Zondervan Parallel N.T. in Greek and English (1975)
0
0
Int. NASB-NIV Parallel N.T. in Greek and English (1993)**
0
0
The word hell was not originally in the Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic text, as the so called biased translators have tried to establish it as scripture; but they were not good enough to cover up the reality of what God is saying. The source of this word hell and the concept of eternal torture is not Christian, but Pagan. You can find it in Babylon, in Greece, and especially Rome. But if you dig a little bit deeper you will see that it is bad translations that have infected this doctrine of Damnation in scriptures. As a matter of fact, scripture teaches the opposite.
ALL will see Gods salvation, even the condemned on the day of judgment. However, salvation is for the Elect of God, but the condemned will die because they did not seek God or repent. Death is their punishment. Sad but true. In regards to Romans 5: "All" is not everyone, but everyone saved. The condemned still are cut off from the living in death for all eternity.
Hell in Greek mythology.
Hell is more than a mistranslation, it's a premeditated deliberate assault on scripture to introduce the Teutonic pagan word.
The word 'Hell' is derived from an Anglo-Saxon word hellia (derived from the Old English, Old Norse, Old High German, hel, helle, circa. 725 AD) that is used in the King James version of the Bible.
Tar-ta-rus (tartarus) [[ Greek Tartaros ]] Tartarus, the infernal regions of ancient Greek mythology. The name was originally used for the deepest region of the world, the lower of the two parts of the underworld, where the gods locked up their enemies.Gr. Myth. 1. An infernal abyss below Hades, where Zeus hurls the rebel Titans, later a place of punishment for the demons and devils. (mentioned only once in the Bible)
Ha-des (hadez) [[Greek Haides ]] 1 Greek Myth. a. The home of the dead, beneath the earth. b The god of the underworld. 2. Bible: The state or resting place of the dead: name used in some modern translations of the New Testament. Hades (/ˈheɪdiːz/; Greek: ᾍδης, translit. Háidēs; Ἅιδης, Háidēs), in the ancient Greek religion and myth, is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld, with which his name is synonymous with Hell.
She-ol (sheol) [[Hebrew shaal , to dig]] A place in the depths of the earth conceived of as the dwelling of the dead.
Note: In the KJV about half of scriptures are translated as hell, the other half as grave.
Gehenna: Mentioned twelve or thirteen times in the bible. Gehenna: Referring to the Valley of Hinnom, or Gehenna which is outside the walls of Jerusalem.
Topheth is believed to be a location in Jerusalem, in the Valley of Hinnom, where the Canaanites sacrificed children to the god Moloch by burning them alive.
Isaiah 30:33
Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
Jeremiah 7:31-32
They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind. So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.
Deuteronomy 13:1-5
If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.
Hades was the ancient Greek god of the underworld.
Jeremiah 19:13-15
The houses in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled like this place, Topheth—all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs to all the starry hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods.' "
Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court of the LORD's temple and said to all the people, "This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'Listen! I am going to bring on this city and the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked and would not listen to my words.' "
That is Gehenna Judgment that Yahshua came and warned Israel about.
Matthew 23:29-39
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!
"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to [Hell / Gehenna?] Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of (the Lord / Yahwah.')
Jeremiah 7:33-34
" 'The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the LORD. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind. So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate.
We do not worship a God who is without mercy or who tortures people for all eternity.
John 5
28"Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. 30By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
Gehenna and Hades are not interchangeable, they are two different places. There is no Hell!
The concept of Hell is part of the Pagan religion. The reason you see the word Hell in the New Testament, is because it was introduced into scripture by the Catholic Church. However, there is death of the body and spirit. Our bodies are mortal, and our spirits are mortal. And if God never called us back into being, we would never live again. And where Yahshua said: “have you not heard, you are gods.” That is based upon the promise of believing that Yahshua is the way to the truth and life: By the way, it is hidden in scripture that God is the Truth and Life. Also we must keep Gods commandments because they were not done away with. It was Moses laws that were written in stone by Joshua that were done away with. Don’t forget the bible uses many parables.
Are the words you are reading a translation, or an interpretation? What you are taught as Christians depends on whose team you’re on.
Gehenna Sheol Tomb Grave Sepulcher Hades Hell
Gehenna
The word Gehenna in English is גֵיא בֶן־הִנֹּם or גיא בן-הינום in Hebrew.
Sheol
The word Sheol in English is שְׁאוֹל in Hebrew
Tomb, Grave, Sepulcher
The English word “tomb” is τάφος in Greek.
The English word “grave” is Ταφικός or τύμβος in Greek.
The English word "sepulcher" is μνήμα in Greek.
Hell
The English word "Hell" is κόλαση, διάολο, κόλασης, Κολάσεως in the different Greek forms.
Hades
The English word "Hades" is άδης, Άδη, τον Άδη, ο Άδης in the different Greek forms.
As a person can see the Greek words Hell and Grave are not the same.
There is life, and there is death. The damned die a second death. Upon judgment day all that had lived are called back into being. The forgiven go on to life immortal, where as the damned are cut off from life for all eternity. Lake of fire is parabolic for a body of people judged unfavorably. Lake = Body of people. Fire = Judgment.
The word “fire” used as a parable.
Psalm 78:21
When the LORD heard them, he was furious; his fire broke out against Jacob, and his wrath rose against Israel,
Psalm 79:5
How long, LORD? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?
Psalm 89:46
How long, LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?
Psalm 104:4
He makes spirits his messengers, flames of fire his servants.
Isaiah 4:4
The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire.
Isaiah 66:15
See, the LORD is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
Isaiah 66:16
For with fire and with his sword the LORD will execute judgment on all people, and many will be those slain by the LORD.
Deuteronomy 32:22.
For a fire has been kindled by my wrath,
one that burns to the realm of sheol below. (Sheol is Hebrew for grave.)
Amos 7:4
This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: The Sovereign LORD was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land.
Hebrews 10:27
but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
2 Peter 3:7
By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
Spirit
1 Samuel 28
13 But the king said to her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?”
“I see a spirit form coming up out of the earth,” the woman answered.
A person cannot see a spirit any more than you can see the wind.
John 3:8
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
Isaiah 26:14.
They are now dead, they live no more; those departed spirits do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin; you wiped out all memory of them.
Matthew 10:28.
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in (hell / Gehenna.)
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life…
Death is a state of being. There are two deaths. The first death is called soul sleep. In the final judgment everyone is brought back into being for the final judgment. The sheep obtain life immortal, and the goats are cut off from their lives forever. The LAKE as a parable represents a body of people, just like other places in the bible where bodies of water represents different groups of people.
A spirit ceases to exist when the body dies, unless divine intervention has taken place.
Every little thing about a person is recorded so God can bring them back from the dead.
Example:
Matthew 10:30
And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Luke 12:7
Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
I want to state that a body without a spirit is dead. People are spirits in physical bodies. Spirit is the nature of a person, place, or thing. The brain is of the body, and the mind is of the spirit. There are two kinds of bodies, the one we presently have, and our future spirit body of an unknown substance. Both types are called souls. A soul is both body and spirit.
The Hebrew word Sheol for grave does not translate into the Pagan belief of Hell.
The Hebrew word for pit does not translate into the Pagan belief of Hell.
The Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna) is a place for broken potsherds, and used as a parable to mean destruction. And it does not translate into the Pagan belief of Hell.
Gehenna
Matthew 5:22: "....whoever shall say, 'You fool', shall be guilty enough to go into Gehenna."
Matthew 5:29: "....it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to be thrown into Gehenna."
Matthew 5:30: "....better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to go into Gehenna."
Matthew 10:28: "....rather fear Him who is able to destroy the soul, both spirit and body in Gehenna."
Matthew 18:9: "It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than with two eyes to be thrown into the Gehenna...."
Matthew 23:15: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you... make one proselyte...twice as much a child of Gehenna as yourselves."
Matthew 23:33, to the Pharisees: "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of Gehenna?"
Mark 9:43: "It is better for you to enter life crippled, than having your two hands, to go into Gehenna into the unquenchable fire."
Mark 9:45: "It is better for you to enter life lame, than having your two feet, to be cast into Gehenna."
Mark 9:47: "It is better for you to enter the Kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into Gehenna."
Luke 12:5: "....fear the One who, after He has killed has authority to cast into Gehenna; yes, I tell you, fear Him."
James 3:6: "And the tongue is a fire,...and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by Gehenna."
Hades
Hades is the name of a Pagan god of the underworld.
The word grave does not translate into the Pagan god name Hades.
The word “Hades is used to replace the word “grave” in these verses.
Matthew 11:23
`And thou, Capernaum, which unto the heaven wast exalted, unto hades shalt be brought down, because if in Sodom had been done the mighty works that were done in thee, it had remained unto this day;
Matthew 16:18
`And I also say to thee, that thou art a rock, and upon this rock I will build my assembly, and gates of Hades shall not prevail against it;
Luke 10:15
`And thou, Capernaum, which unto the heaven wast exalted, unto hades thou shalt be brought down.
Luke 16 is a Gnostic insertion and is not biblical.
Luke 16:23
and in the hades having lifted up his eyes, being in torments, he doth see Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom,
Acts 2:27
because Thou wilt not leave my soul to hades, nor wilt Thou give Thy Kind One to see corruption;
Acts 2:31
having foreseen, he did speak concerning the rising again of the Christ, that his soul was not left to hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
1 Corinthians 15:55
where, O Death, thy sting? where, O Hades, thy victory?'
Revelation 1:18
and he who is living, and I did become dead, and, lo, I am living to the ages of the ages. Amen! and I have the keys of the hades and of the death.
Revelation 6:8
and I saw, and lo, a pale horse, and he who is sitting upon him -- his name is Death, and Hades doth follow with him, and there was given to them authority to kill, (over the fourth part of the land,) with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and by the beasts of the land.
Revelation 20:13
and the sea did give up those dead in it, and the death and the hades did give up the dead in them, and they were judged, each one according to their works;
Revelation 20:14
and the death and the hades were cast to the lake of the fire -- this [is] the second death;
Hell 2
Christ and the disciples did not teach Paganism, those things were added to the bible scriptures by Pagans. Yahshua and his disciples were Orthodox Jews. Orthodox Jews do not believe in a Hell.
Hell, Luke 16:19-31.
I give thanks to you Heavenly Father for hearing my complaint.
The Rich Man and Lazarus
Luke 16:19. "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
Wealth, comfort, poverty, and suffering have nothing to do with a person’s salvation.
22"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'
The word messenger is replaced with the word angel. And assuming that this is a parable, there would be no need for Lazarus to be carried to Abraham, before the resurrection. As for being in Hell and torment and agony; that contradicts the verse that says the dead know nothing. It also is a contradiction where scripture says that Yahwah kills the condemned. In regards to the water on the finger; that would evaporate before it even got to a person.
25"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'
Again I say to you that wealth and poverty has nothing to do with the resurrection of the righteous. There is one truth in all of this, and that there is a chasm that has been set in place; and that is called death of the condemned, which are killed by Yahwah. There is no life for them afterward.
27"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'
29"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'
30" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
31"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "
These are obviously the words of a dim wit, and not the words of an ancient being. No place in these verses is credit given to Yahwah, but only to Moses and the prophets; which would be unlike Yahshua to exclude the Father in matters of life and death.
Hell is a pagan belief and part of the Pagan religion. Why would Yahshua use a nonexistent biblical teaching for which he never explains afterward? Before the return from Babylon, Judaism never taught the concept of hell. But after the return from Babylon, the Hellenistic and Kabbalistic Jews began to introduce Hell into Judaism.
Yahshua never identified the story as a parable, and never explained the relevance as he did in other legitimate parables.
Yahshua, being an ancient being full of knowledge and wisdom, would have had the good sense to explain the new concept. Obviously the story of “The Rich Man and Lazarus” is the words of some man introducing the Pagan concept of Hell. Yahshua and his disciples were Orthodox Jews and Orthodox Jews do not believe in the Pagan concept of Hell.
Genesis 18:25
Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
Luke 20:16
"What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others." When the people heard this, they said, "May this never be!"
Ecclesiastes 9:5
For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten.
Revelation 20:14
Then death and Hades (Grave) were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.
If death and the grave, or even Hades is done away with, then how can there be anyone ALIVE in Hades.
Revelation 21
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
6 He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This (That) is the second death."
Catholic Gnosticism.
The attitude of the Catholic Church toward paganism is best summed up by Pope Gregory the Great, in his words to a missionary: “You must not interfere with any traditional belief or religious observance that can be harmonized with Christianity.”
Pope Gregory 540 – 12 March 604.
Not only were the Congregations divided by Gnosticism, but enticed by philosophy and paganism also, and there were geographic divisions as well.
Just a reminder that it was the Catholic Church that canonized scripture.
Do people go to Hell because they were rich? And do poor people go to Heaven because they were Poor?
Luke 16:23
In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.
Hades is the Greek god of the Underworld.
Exodus 23:13
“Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.
Joshua 23:7
Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them.
If Yahshua was a law breaker, then he could not have been the Christ. I am here to tell you that that story is not from Yahshua.
Gehenna: Mentioned twelve or thirteen times in the bible. Gehenna: Referring to the Valley of Hinnom, or Gehenna which is the city dump outside the walls of Jerusalem.
According to Archaeologist, there is no evidence to support that Gehenna was a place for burning garbage. There was however lots of Potsherds found.
Jeremiah 19:2
and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you,
Jeremiah 19:11
and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.
There is no reason to believe that the use of the word "fire' was literal, because Christ was speaking to the public, and not explaining the parable to the disciples.
Matthew 13:34
Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.
Mark 4:11
He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables...
Mark 4:34
He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
The Fires of Gehenna: Views of Scholars
By Todd Bolen
Posted on April 29, 2011
Yesterday I pointed out Trevin Wax’s post on Urban Legends: The Preacher’s Edition. In it he makes the comment that “It’s possible that the verdict may still be out on this one, but not if Todd Bolen is right.” It may be worthwhile to cite a number of significant scholars who have questioned or rejected this myth over the last 150 years. The myth continues to be perpetuated because pastors and Bible teachers are not reading these works. (In the quotations below, I provide the larger context and highlight with bold the statements most relevant to this question.)
The first is Edward Robinson, preeminent explorer of the Holy Land beginning in 1838. He wrote:
“In these gardens, lying partly within the mouth of Hinnom and partly in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and irrigated by the waters of Siloam, Jerome assigns the place of Tophet; where the Jews practised the horrid rites of Baal and Moloch, and ‘burned their sons and their daughters in the fire.’ It was probably in allusion to this detested and abominable fire, that the later Jews applied the name of this valley (Gehenna), to denote the place of future punishment or the fires of hell. At least there is no evidence of any other fires having been kept up in the valley; as has sometimes been supposed” (Biblical Researches, vol. 1 [1841], 404-5).
The origin of the “garbage dump” theory appears to be Kimchi. James A. Montgomery observes this medieval commentator’s logic, but does not accept it.
“With the common sense which often characterizes Jewish commentators, Kimchi says that the place was the dump of the city, where fires were always kept burning to destroy the refuse; ‘therefore the judgment of the wicked is parabolically called Gehenna.’ But from the Biblical references the place appears to have nothing physically objectionable about it; in contrast to its contemporary condition Jeremiah prophesied that it would one day be called ‘Valley of Slaughter’” (“The Holy City and Gehenna,” JBL 27/1 [1908], 34).
Lloyd R. Bailey quotes Kimchi directly:
“The traditional explanation for this seems to go back to Rabbi David Kimhi’s commentary on Psalm 27 (around 1200 C.E.). He remarked the following concerning the valley beneath Jerusalem’s walls:
Gehenna is a repugnant place, into which filth and cadavers are thrown, and in which fires perpetually burn in order to consume the filth and bones; on which account, by analogy, the judgement of the wicked is called ‘Gehenna.’
“Kimhi’s otherwise plausible suggestion, however, finds no support in literary sources or archaeological data from the intertestamental or rabbinic periods. There is no evidence that the valley was, in fact, a garbage dump, and thus his explanation is insufficient” (“Gehenna: The Topography of Hell,” Biblical Archaeologist 49/3 [1986], 188-89).
Click to expand...
About the same time, G. R. Beasley-Murray made a similar observation:
“The notion, still referred to by some commentators, that the city’s rubbish was burned in this valley, has no further basis than a statement by the Jewish scholar Kimchi made about A.D. 1200; it is not attested in any ancient source. The valley was the scene of human sacrifices, burned in the worship of Moloch (2 Kings 16:3 and 21:6), which accounts for the prophecy of Jeremiah that it would be called the Valley of Slaughter under judgment of God (Jer. 7:32-33). This combination of abominable fires and divine judgment led to the association of the valley with a place of perpetual judgment (see Isa. 66:24) and later with a place of judgment by fire without any special connection to Jerusalem (see, for example, 1 Enoch 27:1ff., 54:1ff., 63:3-4, and 90:26ff)” (Jesus and the Kingdom of God, 376-77).
W. D. Davies and D. C. Allison, in their excellent commentary on Matthew, note the lack of ancient evidence but do not entirely reject the notion of a garbage dump.
“Why the place of torment came to have this name, the name of the valley south of Jerusalem, gê-hinnōm (Josh 18.16 LXX: Γαιεννα), now Wādier-rabābi, is uncertain. The standard view, namely, that the valley was where the city’s garbage was incinerated and that the constantly rising smoke and smell of corruption conjured up the fiery torments of the damned, is without ancient support, although it could be correct. Perhaps the abode of the wicked dead gained its name because children had there been sacrificed in fire to the god Molech (2 Chr 28.3; 33.6), or because Jeremiah, recalling its defilement by Josiah (2 Kgs 23.10; cr. 21.6), thundered against the place (Jer 7.31-2; 19.2-9; 32.35), or because it was believed that in the valley was the entrance to the underworld home of the pagan chthonian deities (cf. b. ‘Erub. 19a) (Matthew 1-7, 514-15).
In the “Gehenna” article in the recent (2007) New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Philip S. Johnston considers the biblical evidence to provide “perhaps sufficient links” though he does not dismiss outright the dump theory.
“The exact process by which a geographical toponym became the locale of postmortem punishment is obscure. The clear association with abhorrent sacrifice and subsequent slaughter, and the possible further links with fire and corpses are perhaps sufficient links. It is often suggested that the Hinnom Valley became Jerusalem’s garbage dump, and that it constantly smoldered. Alternatively, the association to the cult of the underworld deity Molech seems to contain a link between a fiery altar and the entrance to divine realm” (2:531).
Bailey gives a further suggestion that may help to explain the origin of the view of Gehenna. The practice of sacrifice to foreign gods led to the view expressed in the Talmud that the Hinnom Valley was the location of two of the gates to Gehenna.
“Even after the valley ceased to function as a cult center, it continued to be regarded as the location of an entrance to the underworld over which the sole God was sovereign. This is clear from the following statements in the Babylonian Talmud:
(Rabbi Jeremiah ben Eleazar further stated:) Gehenna has three gates; one in the wilderness, one in the sea and one in Jerusalem. (According to Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai’s school:) There are two palm trees in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and between them smoke arises..,. and this is the gate of Gehenna? (Babylonian Talmud, Erubin, 19a-see Slotki 1938: 130-31)” (191).
Finally, Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron conclude their article on a New Testament-period dump in Jerusalem with some observations from archaeological investigation about the location of the Old Testament-period dump in the Kidron Valley.
“It seems that the location of the city-dump of the late Second Temple period in this particular part of the city had a previous long history in the late Iron Age II. The Book of Nehemiah mentions several times a gate called Saar ha-Aspot/Sopot (Neh 2, 13; 3:13-14; 12:31). This toponym is usually translated as ‘Dung Gate’, based on the analogy with 2 Sam 2,8 and Ps 113,7 (Simons 1952, 123). These verses mention the city’s poor people, who most probably were foraging the city dump for food. Even if we accept B. Mazar’s suggestion (1975, 194-95), to relate spt to tpt – the Tophet – which was an extramural high place in the Valley of Hinnom (2 Kgs 21, 6; 2 Chr 33,6), we remain in an area of dirt. This place involved an extensive use of fire, which produced burning waste such as ashes, soot and charred wood. Also the location of the Gate of the pottery sherds (Sa’ar ha-Harsit), in the south (Jer 19,2), might point to a pile of garbage (Simons 1952, 230), as pottery vessels were the type of household item broken and discarded in antiquity more than any other type of artifact.
All the various types of city-garbage (ashes, pottery shards, waste of human occupation, etc.) were moved and dumped at the southeastern side of the city of Jerusalem, in the Iron Age and Persian periods. This was the city dump to where also the debris of the smashed cult objects and related material that was created during the Josianic religious reform, were moved and dumped, mentioning particularly the Kidron Valley (2 Kgs 23,4,6,10,12)” (“The Jerusalem City-Dump in the Late Second Temple Period, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 119 [2003], 17).
The “southeastern side” of Jerusalem is the southern portion of the Kidron Valley, and this was the area of the excavators’ study. The “extensive use of fire” is in relation to the activities of a high place, whereas the waste products of the city inhabitants were not of the sort that required significant burning.
In short, while it may not be denied that there was some burning of garbage in ancient Jerusalem, there is no indication that this was extensive, that it was located in the Hinnom Valley, or that it was in any way connected to the fires of eternal torment. A simpler and better supported explanation is the sacrificial offerings to pagan deities in the Hinnom Valley (Jer 7:31-32; 32:35; 2 Kgs 23:10; 2 Chr 28:3; 33:6).
Hell 3
As we all know the bible uses many parables. There is no real Hell, that word was put into scriptures by the Gnostic Pagans. Words like grave, pit, and Gehenna were replaced with the word hell. Those who are condemned to destruction never return. They are cut off for all eternity, never to live again.
The number of times "Hell" appears in the English Bible
Translations
Bible Translations
Old Testament
New Testament
Total's
"Authorized" King James Version
31
23
54
New King James Version
19
13
32
American Standard Version
0
13
13
New American Standard Bible
0
13
13
Revised Standard Version
0
12
12
New Revised Standard Version
0
12
12
Revised English Bible
0
13
13
New Living Translation
0
13
13
Amplified
0
13
13
New International Version (best-selling English Bible)
0
14
14
Darby
0
12
12
New Century Version
0
12
12
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
0
0
Scarlett's N.T. (1798)
0
0
The New Testament in Greek and English (Kneeland, 1823)
0
0
Young's Literal Translation (1891)
0
0
0
Twentieth Century New Testament (1900)
0
0
Rotherham's Emphasized Bible (reprinted, 1902)
0
0
0
Fenton's Holy Bible in Modern English (1903)
0
0
0
Weymouth's New Testament in Modern Speech (1903)
0
0
Jewish Publication Society Bible Old Testament (1917)
0
0
Panin's Numeric English New Testament (1914)
0
0
The People's New Covenant (Overbury, 1925)
0
0
Hanson's New Covenant (1884)
0
0
Western N.T. (1926)
0
0
NT of our Lord and Savior Anointed (Tomanek, 1958)
0
0
Concordant Literal NT (1983)
0
0
The N.T., A Translation (Clementson, 1938)
0
0
Emphatic Diaglott, Greek/English Interlinear (Wilson, 1942)
0
0
New American Bible (1970)
0
0
0
Restoration of Original Sacred Name Bible (1976)
0
0
0
Tanakh. The Holy Scriptures, Old Testament (1985)
0
0
The New Testament, A New Translation (Greber, 1980)
0
0
Christian Bible (1991)
0
0
0
World English Bible (in progress)
0
0
0
Original Bible Project (Dr. James Tabor, still in translation)
0
0
0
Zondervan Parallel N.T. in Greek and English (1975)
0
0
Int. NASB-NIV Parallel N.T. in Greek and English (1993)**
0
0
The word hell was not originally in the Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic text, as the so called biased translators have tried to establish it as scripture; but they were not good enough to cover up the reality of what God is saying. The source of this word hell and the concept of eternal torture is not Christian, but Pagan. You can find it in Babylon, in Greece, and especially Rome. But if you dig a little bit deeper you will see that it is bad translations that have infected this doctrine of Damnation in scriptures. As a matter of fact, scripture teaches the opposite.
ALL will see Gods salvation, even the condemned on the day of judgment. However, salvation is for the Elect of God, but the condemned will die because they did not seek God or repent. Death is their punishment. Sad but true. In regards to Romans 5: "All" is not everyone, but everyone saved. The condemned still are cut off from the living in death for all eternity.
Hell in Greek mythology.
Hell is more than a mistranslation, it's a premeditated deliberate assault on scripture to introduce the Teutonic pagan word.
The word 'Hell' is derived from an Anglo-Saxon word hellia (derived from the Old English, Old Norse, Old High German, hel, helle, circa. 725 AD) that is used in the King James version of the Bible.
Tar-ta-rus (tartarus) [[ Greek Tartaros ]] Tartarus, the infernal regions of ancient Greek mythology. The name was originally used for the deepest region of the world, the lower of the two parts of the underworld, where the gods locked up their enemies.Gr. Myth. 1. An infernal abyss below Hades, where Zeus hurls the rebel Titans, later a place of punishment for the demons and devils. (mentioned only once in the Bible)
Ha-des (hadez) [[Greek Haides ]] 1 Greek Myth. a. The home of the dead, beneath the earth. b The god of the underworld. 2. Bible: The state or resting place of the dead: name used in some modern translations of the New Testament. Hades (/ˈheɪdiːz/; Greek: ᾍδης, translit. Háidēs; Ἅιδης, Háidēs), in the ancient Greek religion and myth, is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld, with which his name is synonymous with Hell.
She-ol (sheol) [[Hebrew shaal , to dig]] A place in the depths of the earth conceived of as the dwelling of the dead.
Note: In the KJV about half of scriptures are translated as hell, the other half as grave.
Gehenna: Mentioned twelve or thirteen times in the bible. Gehenna: Referring to the Valley of Hinnom, or Gehenna which is outside the walls of Jerusalem.
Topheth is believed to be a location in Jerusalem, in the Valley of Hinnom, where the Canaanites sacrificed children to the god Moloch by burning them alive.
Isaiah 30:33
Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
Jeremiah 7:31-32
They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind. So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.
Deuteronomy 13:1-5
If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.
Hades was the ancient Greek god of the underworld.
Jeremiah 19:13-15
The houses in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled like this place, Topheth—all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs to all the starry hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods.' "
Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court of the LORD's temple and said to all the people, "This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'Listen! I am going to bring on this city and the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked and would not listen to my words.' "
That is Gehenna Judgment that Yahshua came and warned Israel about.
Matthew 23:29-39
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!
"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to [Hell / Gehenna?] Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of (the Lord / Yahwah.')
Jeremiah 7:33-34
" 'The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the LORD. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind. So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate.
We do not worship a God who is without mercy or who tortures people for all eternity.
John 5
28"Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. 30By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
Gehenna and Hades are not interchangeable, they are two different places. There is no Hell!
The concept of Hell is part of the Pagan religion. The reason you see the word Hell in the New Testament, is because it was introduced into scripture by the Catholic Church. However, there is death of the body and spirit. Our bodies are mortal, and our spirits are mortal. And if God never called us back into being, we would never live again. And where Yahshua said: “have you not heard, you are gods.” That is based upon the promise of believing that Yahshua is the way to the truth and life: By the way, it is hidden in scripture that God is the Truth and Life. Also we must keep Gods commandments because they were not done away with. It was Moses laws that were written in stone by Joshua that were done away with. Don’t forget the bible uses many parables.
Are the words you are reading a translation, or an interpretation? What you are taught as Christians depends on whose team you’re on.
Gehenna Sheol Tomb Grave Sepulcher Hades Hell
Gehenna
The word Gehenna in English is גֵיא בֶן־הִנֹּם or גיא בן-הינום in Hebrew.
Sheol
The word Sheol in English is שְׁאוֹל in Hebrew
Tomb, Grave, Sepulcher
The English word “tomb” is τάφος in Greek.
The English word “grave” is Ταφικός or τύμβος in Greek.
The English word "sepulcher" is μνήμα in Greek.
Hell
The English word "Hell" is κόλαση, διάολο, κόλασης, Κολάσεως in the different Greek forms.
Hades
The English word "Hades" is άδης, Άδη, τον Άδη, ο Άδης in the different Greek forms.
As a person can see the Greek words Hell and Grave are not the same.
There is life, and there is death. The damned die a second death. Upon judgment day all that had lived are called back into being. The forgiven go on to life immortal, where as the damned are cut off from life for all eternity. Lake of fire is parabolic for a body of people judged unfavorably. Lake = Body of people. Fire = Judgment.
The word “fire” used as a parable.
Psalm 78:21
When the LORD heard them, he was furious; his fire broke out against Jacob, and his wrath rose against Israel,
Psalm 79:5
How long, LORD? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?
Psalm 89:46
How long, LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?
Psalm 104:4
He makes spirits his messengers, flames of fire his servants.
Isaiah 4:4
The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire.
Isaiah 66:15
See, the LORD is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
Isaiah 66:16
For with fire and with his sword the LORD will execute judgment on all people, and many will be those slain by the LORD.
Deuteronomy 32:22.
For a fire has been kindled by my wrath,
one that burns to the realm of sheol below. (Sheol is Hebrew for grave.)
Amos 7:4
This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: The Sovereign LORD was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land.
Hebrews 10:27
but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
2 Peter 3:7
By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
Spirit
1 Samuel 28
13 But the king said to her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?”
“I see a spirit form coming up out of the earth,” the woman answered.
A person cannot see a spirit any more than you can see the wind.
John 3:8
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
Isaiah 26:14.
They are now dead, they live no more; those departed spirits do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin; you wiped out all memory of them.
Matthew 10:28.
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in (hell / Gehenna.)
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life…
Death is a state of being. There are two deaths. The first death is called soul sleep. In the final judgment everyone is brought back into being for the final judgment. The sheep obtain life immortal, and the goats are cut off from their lives forever. The LAKE as a parable represents a body of people, just like other places in the bible where bodies of water represents different groups of people.
A spirit ceases to exist when the body dies, unless divine intervention has taken place.
Every little thing about a person is recorded so God can bring them back from the dead.
Example:
Matthew 10:30
And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Luke 12:7
Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
I want to state that a body without a spirit is dead. People are spirits in physical bodies. Spirit is the nature of a person, place, or thing. The brain is of the body, and the mind is of the spirit. There are two kinds of bodies, the one we presently have, and our future spirit body of an unknown substance. Both types are called souls. A soul is both body and spirit.