Hell and Eternal Torment
Let's look at the subject of hell more closely by examining the scriptures and the original meaning of words used.
The word 'hell' has been used to translate four different words in the Bible, one Hebrew and three Greek, being, sheol, hades, Gehenna and Tartarus.
Sheol and Hades
The Greek word 'hades' is the same as 'sheol' in Hebrew.
This word occurs 65 times in the Hebrew Scriptures and has been translated into Ebglish as follows: 31 times 'grave', 31 times 'hell' and 3 times, 'the pit'.
Its usage is concerned with the state of death, where all human activities cease, i.e. the unseen or imperceivable.
The body is never related with Sheol or Hades except in the case of the sons of Korah, Dathan and Abirem, who went down alive into Sheol, and Jonah, who found his Sheol in the great fish.
In contrast, the soul is definitely spoken of as being in Sheol in at least 6 passages.
(psalm 16:10, 30:3, 49:15, 86:13, 89:48, Proverbs 23:14 and in Hades in two, Acts 2:27, 31
Gehenna
This word occurs 12 times in the Greek Scriptures and is translated, 'hell' every time.
It seems to be the Grecian mode of spelling the Hebrew words which mean, 'The Ravine of Hinnon'. There is nothing Greek about it except the letters and there is no justification for translating it as 'hell'.
Originally, the ravine of the Son of Hinnon was a delightful vale on the southwestern side of Jerusalem, planted with trees and beautified with fountains from the torrent, Kedron.
It was later used by the Kings of Jordan for idoltarus worship, when the Jews sacrificed their children to a brazen image of Moloch.
Later, the pious King Josiah caused it to be polluted and made a place of desecration. It became the incinerator for all the filth and garbage of thr city, together with the carcases of beasts and the unburied bodies of executed criminals.
Continuous fires were necessary in order to consume these, lest the putrefication should pollute the air. Worms and maggots were ever feeding on the carcases not consumed by fire, which reveals the origen of 'where their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched'.
The valley became a place of loathing and abhorence.
During the millenial reign lawbreakers who are executed will be dumped there (Mathew 5:22, 29)
Hence the significance of Jesus' statement,
'And be not afraid of those who are killing the body, yet are not able to kill the soul. Yet be fearing Him rather who is able to destroy both the soul and the body in Gehenna.' Mathew 10:28
Tartarus
This word occurs only once in the Greek Scriptures and is translated as 'hell'.
'For if God spares not the sinning messengers, but thrusting them into the gloomy caverns of Tartarus, gives them up to be kept for chastening judgement.' 2 Peter 2:4
And in Jude
'Besides the messengers who kept not their own sovereignty, but leave their own habitation, He has kept in imperceptible bonds under gloom for the judgement of the great day.' Jude 6
These verses are about messengers NOT men. There is no hint of torment either, raher it is a dungeon where sinning messengers are kept before being judged.
What about the Lake of Fire?
This phrase occurs 5 times in the Unveiling (Revelation) and in only 2 of these places is there said to be consciousness and torment.
'And the wild beast is arrested and with it the false prophet, who does sins before it, by which he deceives those getting the emblem of the wild beast, and those worshipping its image. Living the two were cast into the lake of fire burning with sulphur'. Unveiling 19:20
'And the Adversary who is deceiving them was cast into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the wild beast and where the false prophet are also. And they shall be tormented day and night for the eons of the eons.' Unveiling 20:10
The Lake of Fire is eonian (not everlasting) torment for the Wild Beast, the False Prophet and Satan, and it is the second death for irreverent men – those not found in written in the book of life. And there is no reason to believe that the second death won’t be the same as the first death, i.e. a return to the state of unconsciousness.
The Hell, taught in Christian churches simply does not exist and along with ‘everlasting punishment’ and ‘eternal torment’ cannot be found in the original Scriptures.
