Introduction
This idea of hell as a torture chamber built by a loving and compassionate God of Christianity to inflict unremitting punishment on the human beings that He created in His own image has been troubling me from the days I started thinking of the inevitability of death. The Bible says, “There is no one righteous, not even one; There is no one who understands; no one who seeks God” (Romans 3:10-11). This means that as things stand, none is likely to reach ‘heaven’. There is hardly any chance of anyone turning eligible for eternal life. (I do not believe in the holiness of those bearing titles of ‘His Holiness’ or on whom ‘Sainthood’ is conferred by a corrupt Church system). The argument against this could be that Jesus came to save the sinners who believed in him. But, aren’t the people who claim to have their names written in the ‘book of life’ continuing to wallow in the filth of their continuing sins? Thus, life on this earth becomes just the staging area for an eternal life of everlasting torture in a divinely designed hell. That is not a very inviting proposition…
Now, the question is whether the Bible really speaks about a fiery hell in which the sinners would burn everlastingly. This post seeks to examine whether the terms ‘hell’ and ‘hellfire’ appearing in the Bible really meant the hell that the priests and pastors have been trying to paint before the faithful to put the fear of Satan into their hearts. Let us see to what extent, if any, such arguments are sustainable in the light of the Holy Bible they quote.
The Meaning of the Word ‘Hell’
Is Hell a Pagan Idea?
The term ‘pagan’ denotes those who practiced Polytheism prior to the emergence of the Monotheistic faith of the Abrahamic Religions viz. Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths. It is quite possible that the widely believed concept of an ever-burning (subterranean) hell originates from the views of the pre-Christian (pagan) poetic ideas.
Much of the Christian tradition surrounding the idea of a burning hell comes from ‘Divine Comedy’, the famous work of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). This work comes in three parts to describe the poet’s ideas of Paradise, Purgatory and Hell. ‘Inferno’, which means intense and uncontrollable fire, is the title of the part dealing with hell. “He wrote, in incomprehensible verse, an imaginative and lurid account of a dismal hell“. Although Dante had a tremendous influence on the popular Christian thought and teaching about the term ‘hell’, the inferno that Dante had painted was not his own. He had borrowed it from ancient philosophers.
The Concept of ‘Hell’ in the Bible
Anyone trying to examine what the Bible says about hell and hellfire, with an open mind, would see that the Bible has hardly anything to do with the popular Christian misconception that hell is a horrible place readied by God for the unending torture of dead sinners. It is true that we find mentions of helland hell fire in numerous passages in the Bible. Even Jesus had referred to it several times. So did some of the Apostles. We can also find mentions of these terms in the Old Testament. Perhaps, the authors of the Old Testament and New Testament who wrote in Hebrew and Greek respectively had not used the terms translated in English as ‘hell’ or ‘hellfire’, to mean an ever raging inferno.
The Hebrew ‘Hell’
The Greek ‘Hell’
Three different Greek words appearing in the New Testament have all been translated as ‘hell’ or ‘hellfire’ in English. These words are Hades, ‘Tartaroo’ and ‘Gehenna’. Do these words really mean the ‘hell’ of horror that Dante had painted in ‘Inferno’?
Hades
‘Tartaroo’
Apostle Peter used this reference to contemporary mythology to show that the sinning angels were “delivered…into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment.” These fallen angels are now restrained and awaiting their ultimate judgment for their rebellion against God and destructive influence on humanity. The place where they are restrained is the earth, where they wield influence over the nations, not some dark netherworld. Furthermore, tartaroo applies only to demons. Nowhere does it refer to a fiery hell into which people are deposited after death.
‘Gehenna’
‘Gehenna’ is the third Greek word used in the New Testament, which too is translated as ‘hell’. (The Urdu word Jehannum might be connected to this). This word indeed has some elements people commonly associate with their traditional view of hell. The original Greek word gehenna is translated either as hell or hellfirein the New Testament. However, this word also has significant differences from the popular impressions about hell.
The term‘Gehenna’ comes from the Hebrew expression, ga-Hinnom or the Valley of Hinnom. Hasting’s Dictionary defines the word as follows, “Gehenna: the word occurs twelve times in the New Testament. This term ‘gehenna’ represents ‘the Valley of Hinnom’ (Neh. 11:30, II Kings 23:10, etc.). The place was…a deep narrow gorge in the vicinity of Jerusalem, understood to be on the south side. It is repeatedly mentioned in the Old Testament (Jer. 19:6, etc.). The Valley of Hinnom became an object of horror to the Jews, and is said to have been made the receptacle for the bodies of beasts and criminals, refuse and all unclean things. The terrible associations of the place…the fires said to have been kept burning in it in order to consume the foul and corrupt objects that were thrown into it, made it [an]…unmistakable symbol of dire evil…absolute ruin. So it came to designate the place of future punishment.”
We read in the book of Jeremiah, “So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter“ (Jer. 19:6). “Religiously it was a place of idolatrous and human sacrifices . . . In order to put an end to these abominations, [Judah’s King] Josiah polluted it with human bones and other corruptions(2 Kgs. 23:10, 13, 14)” (Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament, 1992, p. 360). Thanks in large part to its evil reputation, this valley bordering Jerusalem on the south became the city’s garbage dump. Trash was burned there, along with the bodies of dead animals and criminals, and all kinds of abominable items.
The word Gehenna occurs also in passages that Jesus spoke. When Jesus mentioned gehenna, His listeners knew that this “hell” was a consuming fire, in which garbage and the bodies of the wicked were destroyed. Here are some examples of the saying of Jesus. “…but whosever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire (Matthew 5:22); “…not that thy whole body should be cast into hell (Matthew 5:29,30); “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?“ (Mathew23:33). In all these instances, the words “hell“ and “hellfire” are translations of the original Greek word “gehenna“, which was an area close to Jerusalem in which fires burned constantly, fueled by rotting trash and the decomposing dead bodies of animals and humans. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that Jesus was warning people of unending suffering in hellfire after they died.
The bodies of criminals and animals thrown over the edge of the ravine often remained caught on a ledge where they rotted and decomposed with worms all over. So, Jesus says, “In that place, worms never die, and the fire is never put out” (Mark 9:48). In fact Jesus was referring to an Old Testament verse which says, “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh” (Isaiah 66:24).
Of course, the punishment in Gehenna is eternal in the sense that it is irrevocable, permanent and total. It does not necessarily mean that the sinners would be kept alive perpetually and tortured incessantly. I find it impossible that God could be so vengeful and sadistic.
Living and Dying ‘Eternally’
The above view is borne out by Prophet Malachi who says, ““Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.” (Mal. 4:1-3). Anyone who walks through a fire that has burned itself out understands that there would be ashes under their feet. Thus, total annihilation is the destiny of the wicked.
The Ever Burning Hell of Christian Theology
- Mathew 25:41, 46: “Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels…And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”
- Acts 2:31: “He seeing this before spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh did see corruption.”
(I am refraining from citing more examples owing to constraints of space)
Conclusion
Jesus once told the parable of a rich man who lived a luxurious life and a poor man who survived on the leftovers from the table of the rich man. Both died. The poor man was taken to heaven and the rich man was cast into the eternally burning fire of hell. The rich man looked up and saw the poor man sitting in heaven by the side of Patriarch Abraham….
well said. "fear is the key that opens purse strings, chequebooks and bank lockers" 🙂
@Ruchi
Thank you.
Sir,
What about the concept of "Resurrection". How does it fit in here?
@Tamil selvan Samuel
Dear Sam,
I do not have answers to all the questions. I have a personal point of view. Another person has another view. I do not know who is right. I do not know who is wrong. Today, my views are based on my understanding as of today. Tomorrow I might know more, think differently and might modify or discard my current views. I have done so in the past. Remember what St Paul said, "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me" (1 Corinthians 13:11).
Evolution is a reality. We keep changing. Change is the evidence of life. Once we stop changing, we are dead. Today, I do not believe in Heaven somewhere up and a Hell somewhere down. I do not take scripture in its literal meaning. Jesus had said that the Kingdom of Heaven is within you. May be, I will write a separate post on this.
Remember what St Paul said. "I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready" (1 Corinthians 3:2). Jesus as well as the Apostles tried to simplify deep spiritual truths through stories, parables and images familiar to their target audience.
I try to understand the meaning behind those stories, parables and images. The meaning I obtain today might not be the meaning I would obtain tomorrow. The meaning I find might not be the meaning another person finds. We are all unique. I believe that God would not judge everyone using the same yardstick. Everyone is evaluated individually, uniquely. "For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). That is my view today.
St Paul wrote about Jesus coming again before his own death and the death of the faithful in the ancient church. Then Christians started dying. There was confusion. The consequence is the Second Epistle to Thessalonians. It is uncertain whether Paul wrote it. In it we find reference to Old Testament apocalyptic prophesies (Daniel) to find justification for the delay in the Second Coming. The question is, could we be sure the St Paul really understood the meaning of the teachings of Jesus? Who knows?
I hope you have caught the point I wished to make. We are all looking at the same truth in our own ways. I do not believe that God would be offended since He knows that each one of us is unique.
Thank you,
vgkutty
Yes Sir
Thanks and regards