Many people today are frightened by the fear of hell fire into following Christ. The fear of fire causes wise men today to purchase fire insurance. And so it is, that the fear of fire, of torments and torture, of pain and punishment, brings millions to the church door each Sunday, hoping to be spared the wrath of the tormentor. However, the existence of a merciful Creator and the idea of eternal torments are not compatible. Many people wonder how a loving and compassionate Heavenly Father can tolerate such torture no matter how deserving may be the rebellious and the wicked. We believe that the Bible does not teach the popular idea of eternal torments!
Now someone may ask, “Well, does not the Bible talk about hell?” Yes, your Bible does speak of hell. Originally the Bible was written in several languages, and in order for you to read it, was translated into English. Two original words which are translated hell in your Bible, are the Hebrew word, Sheol, and the Greek word, Hades. Both mean the same thing: a hidden, unseen place of the dead. The word, Grave, is the closest English word we have which fits this description. About 400 years ago, the King James Translators were at work writing the English Bible. They translated Sheol and Hades sometimes hell and sometimes they used the word Grave. Actually, even the word Hell itself, comes from an old English word which means—a covered place. And so we can see from a study of the words themselves that both Sheol and Hades as well as the original word Hell (meaning to cover) do not convey any idea of torments of eternal fire.
It is true that both Sheol and Hades are represented as possessing a special power, power to consume and to destroy. The prophet Hosea, using poetical language, speaking of the future resurrection of the righteous says, “I will ransom them from the power of (Sheol); I will redeem them from death; O death, I will be thy plagues; O (Sheol); I will be thy destruction.” (Hosea 13:14) The Apostle Paul, paraphrases these very same words when he discusses the coming resurrection. He says, “Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. 0 death, where is thy sting: O (Hades) where is thy victory ?” (I Corinthians 15:54) In these two Scriptures, the translators rendered both Sheol and Hades: the grave. Where Hosea said that the power of Sheol, that is: death would be destroyed, Paul adds that death, this power of Hades was destroyed through the resurrection, through the death of Christ and his resurrection to eternal life. He says, “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57)
Death means: the opposite of life. Th power of the grave is to take away life from men, not: keep them alive in torments for ever. This power is quite enough when we understand that some who come under this power will never come forth to life. Isaiah cries, “O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. They are dead, they shall not live, they are deceased, they shall not rise; therefore hast thou visited and destroyed the and made all their memory to perish.”
(Isa. 26:14) Isaiah is telling us that when the power of Sheol takes over, a man ceases to live, he will never again live, he is destroyed, and he further indicates that he becomes completely unconscious, his memory having perished. He further describes the destroying power of death as such that those who come under its heavy hand “shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.” (Isaiah 44:17) Instead of suffering torments for ever, he compares the death of the wicked with the light of a candle which is pinched off in a moment and is gone; he says, “they are extinct.” The testimony of Solomon fully agrees with Isaiah. He describes the living as knowing that they shall die, but, he says that the “dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward, for the memory of them is forgotten; also their love, and their hatred, and their envy are now perished, neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun.” (Ecc. 9:5)
Contrary to the popular idea, the Bible teaches complete unconsciousness in death. David is even more explicit about this condition; he says that In death there is no remembrance of (God) in (Sheol) who shall give thee thanks.” (Psalms 6:5) He agrees that the dead in the grave or Sheol are unconscious. King Hezekiah understood the truth about death. When told by the prophet Isaiah that he would die and not live, he was despondent, turned his face to the wall and prayed to God. God heard his prayer and the prophet Isaiah brought the message that God had heard his prayer, and would add fifteen more years to Hezekiah’s life. Hezekiah’s answer agrees with the rest of Scripture, he said, “Sheol cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee, they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee as I do this day.” (Isaiah 38:18) And David adds to this testimony when he says that “the dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.” (Psalm 115:17) The state of those who come under the unrelenting, vise-like power of Sheol and Hades, those who have returned to the dust from whence they were made, remain silent in the grave, unconscious, forgetting and forgotten; their thoughts, and Solomon has said that even their hatred is perished. This clear, unmistakable teaching of your Bible hardly fits the idea of souls tortured, screaming out their hatred for God in a burning and fiery hell. The thought expressed in the Scripture by the words Sheol and Hades is nothing more than The Grave where those who have died go down to silence.
Another word translated hell in your Bible is Gehenna. It is the name of a valley immediately south of the city of Jerusalem, called in the Hebrew Gay-Hinnon or simply, Ge-hinnon, meaning the valley of the son of Hinnon. It was originally several hundred feet deep, with steep, precipitous walls. About 2700 years ago it became a place of human sacrifice, where the people of Judah offered their children upon the altar to the god Molech. Later, the good King, Josiah, forcibly cleansed the land of idol worship; the priests of Molech were slain, and their bodies burned upon their own altar, and the altar was destroyed. This valley of Hinnon became a rubbish and garbage receptacle for the city. In addition, the bodies of criminals were unceremoniously dumped there, to be consumed by the insects and fire which were continuously at work, as they are in any city dump. During Christ’s day, this valley of Hinnon was very much in use by the Roman occupation forces as a convenient place to dispose of many conspirators who took up arms against the Emperor. An accusation of traitor often brought swift punishment and the fear of being cast into this valley was very real to the inhabitants of this city. A man who was a traitor to the Roman Emperor could be said to have two eyes, one apparently serving the Emperor, and the other seeking to overthrow him. The Jews knew that such persons, if apprehended met swift destruction in the fire of the valley of Hinnon. Christ made use of this fact when he spoke a parable, If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out; it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into Gehenna; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” (Mark 9:47) Christ’s advice was in parable saying that it is better to pluck out any trace of wickedness and sin against God, than run the risk of being apprehended as a traitor against Him. The punishment of God is just as swift and even more complete than the Romans, who made such use of the valley of Hinnon.
Christ’s words of warning had a very real application to those people who listened, unheeding, for their fate was sealed so to speak by the words of Jeremiah, who said, “Behold, the days come . . . that it shall no more be called . . . the valley of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter . . . and the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of heaven . . . then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth . . . for the land shall be desolate.” (Jeremiah 7:32) Christ knew that these words would soon be fulfilled upon that generation. In A.D. 70, the Roman General Titus completely overthrew Jerusalem at which time eleven hundred thousand people perished, fulfilling the words of the prophet. The destruction was complete, and only after the city was destroyed and the people consumed did the fires of Hinnom go out in the valley south of Jerusalem. Christ’s use of the word Gehenna had nothing to do with the imaginary fires and torments of hell, but was concerned with a literal valley of the son of Hinnom and with what it represented, complete and utter destruction.
There is safety in numbers, some say. But it is not true in spiritual matters. Jesus said, “wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.” (Matt. 7:13) Many are the errors and false teachings of the churches of our day, not the least of which is the pagan idea of eternal torment and torture in hell. It is our purpose to help you find the true teachings of the word of God, your Bible, to help you find the “Narrow . . . way which leadeth unto life,” although few there may be who will find it. (Matt. 7:14) God does not desire to scare and frighten you into obeying Him. His purpose is that you learn of His way by searching His word, by prayerful study, so that by faithful and loving observance of all that He has commanded, He may offer you a place of immeasurable pleasure in His kingdom. The Lord Jesus Christ will soon return to this earth to break the bonds of death for all those who are his called, and chosen, and faithful. On them the power of the grave will have no hold. It will be the Father’s good pleasure to give them the kingdom.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One