The Truth About Hell
"And if your foot offend thee, cut t off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, then having two feet to be cast into hell (Gehenna), into the fire that never shall be quenched." (Mark 9:45)
Below is a paraphrase of an article I once read. I have found to be true in my own study.
"GEHENNA: This word occurs twelve times in the New Testament, and is translated "hell" in English Bibles. But since the Gospel writers repeat the same discourses, Jesus did not really use the word more than six or seven times in all His ministry. Matthew, Mark, Luke and James are the only books where the term is used.
Here is a summary of why Christians should NOT teach the doctrine of endless torment based on the use of the term "Gehenna", translated "hell" in Scripture.
1. Though Gehenna occurs twelve times, Jesus actually used it only on four or five different occasions. If the use of Gehenna by Jesus was intended to reveal the terrible doctrine of endless punishment, how is it possible that he would only mention it four times?
2. Jesus and James are the only persons in the New Testament who use the word Gehenna. John the Baptist did not use it once. Peter nor Jude use the term, and John, who wrote his gospel, three epistles, and the Book of Revelation, never employs it in a single instance. And most astoundingly, Paul, who wrote about half of the books in our New Testament also never mentions it. Surely, if “Gehenna” (hell) really reveals the terrible fact of conscious and endless torment, why this strange silence? And remember, in all of the Old Testament there is no mention of conscious endless torment at all.
3. The Book of Acts contains the record of the first apostolic preaching, and the beginning of the Body of Christ consisting of both Jew and Gentile. It covers a period of about thirty years from the ascension of Jesus Christ. In all this history and in all the preaching in the book of Acts, there is not one use of the word Gehenna. In thirty years of missionary effort, the followers of Jesus addressed people all over the known world and never, under any circumstances, threaten them with the eternal conscious torment in Gehenna, or allude to it at all! In the face of such a fact as this, can any man believe that the word “Gehenna” signifies endless punishment, and that this is a part of divine revelation, a part of the Gospel message to the world?"
Nevertheless, Christian churches have been passing it on from generation to generation for centuries causing all sorts of guilt and heartache for mankind on top of all the other crap we suffer in this life. As a have repeatedly posted, the good news is summed up in Romans 6:23..
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord".
In other posts I have addressed what Jesus meant when he used the word "Gehenna"..
Below is a paraphrase of an article I once read. I have found to be true in my own study.
"GEHENNA: This word occurs twelve times in the New Testament, and is translated "hell" in English Bibles. But since the Gospel writers repeat the same discourses, Jesus did not really use the word more than six or seven times in all His ministry. Matthew, Mark, Luke and James are the only books where the term is used.
Here is a summary of why Christians should NOT teach the doctrine of endless torment based on the use of the term "Gehenna", translated "hell" in Scripture.
1. Though Gehenna occurs twelve times, Jesus actually used it only on four or five different occasions. If the use of Gehenna by Jesus was intended to reveal the terrible doctrine of endless punishment, how is it possible that he would only mention it four times?
2. Jesus and James are the only persons in the New Testament who use the word Gehenna. John the Baptist did not use it once. Peter nor Jude use the term, and John, who wrote his gospel, three epistles, and the Book of Revelation, never employs it in a single instance. And most astoundingly, Paul, who wrote about half of the books in our New Testament also never mentions it. Surely, if “Gehenna” (hell) really reveals the terrible fact of conscious and endless torment, why this strange silence? And remember, in all of the Old Testament there is no mention of conscious endless torment at all.
3. The Book of Acts contains the record of the first apostolic preaching, and the beginning of the Body of Christ consisting of both Jew and Gentile. It covers a period of about thirty years from the ascension of Jesus Christ. In all this history and in all the preaching in the book of Acts, there is not one use of the word Gehenna. In thirty years of missionary effort, the followers of Jesus addressed people all over the known world and never, under any circumstances, threaten them with the eternal conscious torment in Gehenna, or allude to it at all! In the face of such a fact as this, can any man believe that the word “Gehenna” signifies endless punishment, and that this is a part of divine revelation, a part of the Gospel message to the world?"
Nevertheless, Christian churches have been passing it on from generation to generation for centuries causing all sorts of guilt and heartache for mankind on top of all the other crap we suffer in this life. As a have repeatedly posted, the good news is summed up in Romans 6:23..
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord".
In other posts I have addressed what Jesus meant when he used the word "Gehenna"..