I believe that judgmentalism and legalism are a natural byproduct of the traditional “gospel” of acceptance/exclusion. The traditional “gospel” affirms that God ultimately accepts some people and excludes/rejects others. If we believe this then we will naturally seek to identify those who are accepted “with us” and those who are and will be excluded from God and us. We naturally question whether or not we and others are accepted, and we come up with a list of rules, requirements as to whom we believe to be accepted by God and thus by us. The rules might be as simple as confessing faith in Jesus, praying the sinner’s prayer, or as specific as taking several steps.
I was raised in a fellowship which taught that no one was really saved until they actually made it into heaven because a person could fall from grace at any time if they… We didn’t know for sure we were saved, but we were pretty confident that others were not! This judgmentalism and legalism flowed from a lack of faith in the atonement of Christ for ourselves and others.
Thankfully, I have come to have faith that salvation is by grace alone, and not based on my rightness in beliefs, attitudes, or actions. I believe that Jesus died for all my sins – past, present, and future, sins I’ve repented of and sins I’ll not repent of until I stand before Him in judgment. And since He died for my sins, I’m assured I’ll live with Him forever. He has redeemed me and is and will set me free from sin and death! This was a revolutionary change in faith for me, chaning from a works based salvation to a grace based salvation.
And now I have come to have faith in Christ not only for my salvation, but for the salvation of others also, all humanity, believing that Jesus not only died for my sins, but for the sins of the whole world. I’ve come to trust that the revelation of His love for me that set me free will ultimately set everyone free when they receive that revelation, if not in this present evil world, in the world to come (Evangelical Universalism).
This faith in Christ and faith in the grace of God has freed me from legalism and judgmentalism. Instead of seeing others as not being accepted by God, I see everyone as family, “us”, whether they believe as I do or not, whether they’ve been born of the Spirit as I have or not. I see them this way because 1) they are created in the image of God (an idiomatic phrase that speaks of family relationship, even parenthood), 2) Jesus died for their sins, and 3) God loves them/us and love never fails. Jesus does not fail to save any whom He loves, and He loves all humanity!
Judgmetalism and legalism are natural byproducts of the tradtional “gospel” of exclusion. And note that I put “gospel” in quotes; I did so to highlight that this “gospel” is not really “Good News” at all; rather, it is “bad news” for the excluded. Is it a wonder that most Christians are not active in sharing the traditional “gospel”; no one wants to be the bearer of “bad news”.
Showing posts with label hell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hell. Show all posts
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Current Day Testimonies of Hell
If you have not done so, I encourage you to view and read some of the many testimonies of people who have either experienced Hell or had a vision of Hell. They are very compelling and believable. Assuming that these experiences/visions are from God, how does one reconcile them with the Biblical concept of Universal Reconciliation, the belief that ultimately every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus is Lord? For example:
The History Channel did a documentary on the sin of “Anger”, one of the “Seven Deadly Sins” series. A pastor shared how he was an angry, rage-filled man, an atheist, who died momentarily in the hospital while recovering from surgery. When he died he felt like he was in a semi-conscious vision-type state and he found himself walking through the hospital asking for directions. Some people led him from the hospital and suddenly turned into demons and began savagely beating him.
He quickly realized that these demons were of his own making; they were sins that had ruled his life for years! The abuse that he had leveled against people, even his own wife and children, was coming back to haunt him! Words could not describe how terrible the experience was. In the midst of excruciating torment of his soul, he instinctively cried out to God for help even though he was an avowed atheist. A light appeared, a hand reached down and delivered him, and he found himself waking in the hospital, alive. Not only did he come back to life, but he had also undergone a significant change; he had come to have faith in Christ, was born of the Spirit, and was delivered from rage and anger. It was a powerful, moving, testimony.
On a forum on which I participate, the Evangelical Universalist, is the testimony of brother who died and went to Hell (http://www.evangelicaluniversalist.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1056). He apparently overdosed on drugs and while in the ambulance died for a few minutes. During this time he woke up in Hell smelling burnt flesh, seeing the lake of burning sulfur, and hearing “terrible voices”. He was only there for a moment but it shattered his “annihilationist / soul-mortality cosmology to pieces”, the belief that this life is all there is. He subsequently awoke with a hunger to know the salvation of Christ and was later saved, born again when he repented of his sins and turned to Christ in faith.
Another very interesting testimony is from a lady who was saved while she was dead and in Hell. It was recorded several years ago on The 700 Club with Pat Robertson and Ben Kinchlow. (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6477673356766932160#docid=-122696815623730111) Jesus not only saved her from Hell, but restored her to life, directing her to leave the Mormon Church and seek Jesus Christ and the cross or she would continue to exist in Hell indefinitely.
The first testimony of Hell I ever heard was Mary K. Baxter’s book “A Divine Revelation of Hell” (http://www.nowsthetime.org/revelation.html), a sobbering account of many visions/experiences she had of Hell though she was a believer.
Bill Weise also shares his vision of Hell in his book/video “23 Minutes in Hell.” As you can imagine, it is a long testimony. His testimony can be viewed on various web sites if you are interested. He was a realtor, a committed Christian but not a pastor or theologian. After one Sunday night service, while he was asleep, around 3:00 in the night he suddently felt like he was dropped into a cell with stone walls and bars on the doors. He had no strength and 2 huge reptillian creatures that were filled with hatred for God and were cursing God began torturing him. Terrible heat, wanting just a drop of water, flesh being torn off and regrowing only to be torn off again, an eerie heavy darkness, air so putrid you don’t want to breath but can’t help but breath, and yet no oxygen in the air, complete isolation, no sleep, no strength, exhaustion, no hope, only torment! If you haven’t seen his testimony, I encourage you to watch it. It is very sobering.
If one does an internet search on Hell, the number of people who have experienced Hell is overwhelming! People from all demographics, the rich, the poor, Christians, non-Christians, of all races have experienced Hell to one degree or another. How then can this be reconciled with the scriptures that speak of the salvation of all humanity, the reconciliation of all creation? If these people truly experienced Hell, how can one still believe that Jesus is truly the savior of all humanity, especially we who believe? How can it be true that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God? How are these visions/experiences to be understood and interpreted in the light of scripture that affirms the reconciliation of all creation (Col.1:20), the salvation of all humanity (Rom.5:18, 1 Cor.15:22, 1 Tim.4:10)?
A key factor in understanding these experiences/visions is to recognize the positive changes that were accomplished in each person. In the first example, the atheist came to faith in Christ, was born of the Spirit, and delivered from the besetting sins of rage and abuse through his experience, even while he was physically dead. In the second story, a drug addict, after coming back from Hell to life was motivated to seek out salvation, a real relationship with Jesus! In the story of the lady caught up in Mormonism, though physically dead and in Hell she was rescued from Hell by Jesus, warned to forsake Mormonism or continue in Hell, and was brought back to life a changed person.
In fact, salvation was the result of all of the testimonies I read or heard in my research of people who have experienced Hell. Atheists, drug addicts, violent people, those caught up in cults and false religions experienced Hell, but it led to their salvation. Some came to faith in Christ and experienced deliverance from Hell and salvation while they were dead. Others came back to life with a passion to seek out truth and freedom and ultimately came to have faith in Christ after returning to life from Hell. Salvation was the result of these experiences.
In Mary K. Baxter’s and Bill Weise’s testimonies they were already believers, saved, and filled with the Holy Spirit. They did not need salvation but apparently needed to be motivated to share the Gospel. The vision filled them with an overwhelming compassion for those who do not know Jesus and a passion to share with them the good news of God’s love that would deliver them from Hell. Sharing their vision has both brought many unbelievers to salvation in Christ and, even more so, it has motivated other believers to have an urgency in sharing the Gospel!
As I have considered these testimonies, I have come to believe that these people did experience the reality of Hell, separation from God and eternal, seemingly endless, torment. However, these visions of Hell are not visions of what “will be” and “will always be”, but visions of what “are”. Hell is a “present” reality. Many people are “currently” separated from the love of God, do not have a relationship with God, and are oppressed by all manner of evil forces from within and without.
People are presently being harrassed, tortured by demons of their own making and the making of those around them - emotional, psychological, and spiritual patterns of life that are very destructive. Separation from God is their current state of existence. And that state of existance will continue to get darker and darker, hotter and hotter, more and more evident until they recognize their need of God, call out to Him and receive a revelation of the love of God as revealed in Jesus!
I call this the "present reality of Hell", the reality that because of the sin of Adam and our sins people are presently separated from the love of God, presently bound in sin, presently tormented by evil, presently living in the darkness of hatred, unforgiveness, rage, depression, etc. It is a present seemingly hopeless and seemingly unending reality! People are consumed by the fire of their lusts and conveteousness right now!
One person who was saved while dead and in Hell explained that he has come to understand Heaven and Hell as plains of existance that "transcend time", “eternal realities”. He explained that in this temporal life, everything relates to time, but in eternity nothing relates to time, it just "IS". Thus when he was in Hell, he was in Hell eternally, having no concept of time and no hope that things would ever change. How long was he in Hell? Forever! And yet from our temporal perspective he was only dead for minutes. So though he experienced the eternal, time-transcending, forever, essence of Hell, he also experienced the salvation of Christ, was born of the Spirit, and now is in Christ restored in relationship with God.
One might ask whether or not there are any examples in scripture of people experiencing "Hell" and being saved. The answer is yes, though they are easily overlooked.
In the Old Testament, Jonah rejected the call of God to warn Ninevah of empending dome calling them to repentance. He took a boat in the opposite direction from Ninevah and due to an unnatural storm was eventually cast into the sea where he died, went to Sheol, the realm of the dead. The KJV actually translates Jonah 2:2 saying, “I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and He heard me; out of the belly of Hell cried I, and Thou heardest my voice.” Wow! Jonah died, went to Hell (Sheol, Hades, the realm of the dead), was “afflicted”, tormented, cried out to God, and God saved him, restored Jonah’s life and even put him back on track to fulfill his calling. How gracious, merciful, and forgiving is our God!
And in the New Testament, Peter speaks of Jesus preaching the Gospel to the most wicked generation of people ever to live, the people who refused salvation under the ministry of Noah and died. Jesus preached the Gospel to them while in “prison … so they could live in the spirit as God lives” (1 Pet.4:6 NCV).
In conclusion, from the testimonies I have reviewed, the apparent purpose and result of people experiencing "Hell" is Salvation, NOT Damnation! Jesus has the keys of death, Hades, and the grave; and Jesus came to set the captives free! When we physically die, we shed this flesh and enter the full reality of our current spiritual state of being. If a person is alive in Christ, we see the Lord in all of His glory. If the person is not alive in Christ he comes into the full reality of his current separation from God, calls on God, and is raised to spiritual life from spiritual death.
I have come to believe that Hell, as these people experienced it, is not a place where people end up, but it is a present spiritual reality, a present spiritual state of being! People do not die and go to Hell; rather, they are currently in Hell. Due to unbelief and a lack of faith they are spiritually cut off from the love, forgiveness, righteousness, freedom, goodness, joy, peace of God – right now. In this present life the experience of the present spiritual reality of Hell is mitigated by our existance in flesh. And when such people physically die they are exposed, experience, the full, unmitigated terror of their spiritual separation from God; they experience the full torment of being separated from the light, the life, the love, the hope, the joy, the peace of God.
This lines up wonderfully with what Paul said that Jesus came to free us from. Note what he wrote in Galatians 1:3-4 "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."
Jesus died for us to "rescue us from the present evil age!" Scripture does not say that Jesus died for us to save us from "Hell" as it is commonly understood; rather, Jesus died to rescue us from the present reality of being separated from God, slaves to sin, and oppressed by demonic bondage, this present evil age, what I call "the present reality of Hell"! Jesus died so that we will be reconciled to God, if not in this life, the one to come. Jesus died so that we can be restored into right relationship with God and one another NOW!
The History Channel did a documentary on the sin of “Anger”, one of the “Seven Deadly Sins” series. A pastor shared how he was an angry, rage-filled man, an atheist, who died momentarily in the hospital while recovering from surgery. When he died he felt like he was in a semi-conscious vision-type state and he found himself walking through the hospital asking for directions. Some people led him from the hospital and suddenly turned into demons and began savagely beating him.
He quickly realized that these demons were of his own making; they were sins that had ruled his life for years! The abuse that he had leveled against people, even his own wife and children, was coming back to haunt him! Words could not describe how terrible the experience was. In the midst of excruciating torment of his soul, he instinctively cried out to God for help even though he was an avowed atheist. A light appeared, a hand reached down and delivered him, and he found himself waking in the hospital, alive. Not only did he come back to life, but he had also undergone a significant change; he had come to have faith in Christ, was born of the Spirit, and was delivered from rage and anger. It was a powerful, moving, testimony.
On a forum on which I participate, the Evangelical Universalist, is the testimony of brother who died and went to Hell (http://www.evangelicaluniversalist.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1056). He apparently overdosed on drugs and while in the ambulance died for a few minutes. During this time he woke up in Hell smelling burnt flesh, seeing the lake of burning sulfur, and hearing “terrible voices”. He was only there for a moment but it shattered his “annihilationist / soul-mortality cosmology to pieces”, the belief that this life is all there is. He subsequently awoke with a hunger to know the salvation of Christ and was later saved, born again when he repented of his sins and turned to Christ in faith.
Another very interesting testimony is from a lady who was saved while she was dead and in Hell. It was recorded several years ago on The 700 Club with Pat Robertson and Ben Kinchlow. (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6477673356766932160#docid=-122696815623730111) Jesus not only saved her from Hell, but restored her to life, directing her to leave the Mormon Church and seek Jesus Christ and the cross or she would continue to exist in Hell indefinitely.
The first testimony of Hell I ever heard was Mary K. Baxter’s book “A Divine Revelation of Hell” (http://www.nowsthetime.org/revelation.html), a sobbering account of many visions/experiences she had of Hell though she was a believer.
Bill Weise also shares his vision of Hell in his book/video “23 Minutes in Hell.” As you can imagine, it is a long testimony. His testimony can be viewed on various web sites if you are interested. He was a realtor, a committed Christian but not a pastor or theologian. After one Sunday night service, while he was asleep, around 3:00 in the night he suddently felt like he was dropped into a cell with stone walls and bars on the doors. He had no strength and 2 huge reptillian creatures that were filled with hatred for God and were cursing God began torturing him. Terrible heat, wanting just a drop of water, flesh being torn off and regrowing only to be torn off again, an eerie heavy darkness, air so putrid you don’t want to breath but can’t help but breath, and yet no oxygen in the air, complete isolation, no sleep, no strength, exhaustion, no hope, only torment! If you haven’t seen his testimony, I encourage you to watch it. It is very sobering.
If one does an internet search on Hell, the number of people who have experienced Hell is overwhelming! People from all demographics, the rich, the poor, Christians, non-Christians, of all races have experienced Hell to one degree or another. How then can this be reconciled with the scriptures that speak of the salvation of all humanity, the reconciliation of all creation? If these people truly experienced Hell, how can one still believe that Jesus is truly the savior of all humanity, especially we who believe? How can it be true that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God? How are these visions/experiences to be understood and interpreted in the light of scripture that affirms the reconciliation of all creation (Col.1:20), the salvation of all humanity (Rom.5:18, 1 Cor.15:22, 1 Tim.4:10)?
A key factor in understanding these experiences/visions is to recognize the positive changes that were accomplished in each person. In the first example, the atheist came to faith in Christ, was born of the Spirit, and delivered from the besetting sins of rage and abuse through his experience, even while he was physically dead. In the second story, a drug addict, after coming back from Hell to life was motivated to seek out salvation, a real relationship with Jesus! In the story of the lady caught up in Mormonism, though physically dead and in Hell she was rescued from Hell by Jesus, warned to forsake Mormonism or continue in Hell, and was brought back to life a changed person.
In fact, salvation was the result of all of the testimonies I read or heard in my research of people who have experienced Hell. Atheists, drug addicts, violent people, those caught up in cults and false religions experienced Hell, but it led to their salvation. Some came to faith in Christ and experienced deliverance from Hell and salvation while they were dead. Others came back to life with a passion to seek out truth and freedom and ultimately came to have faith in Christ after returning to life from Hell. Salvation was the result of these experiences.
In Mary K. Baxter’s and Bill Weise’s testimonies they were already believers, saved, and filled with the Holy Spirit. They did not need salvation but apparently needed to be motivated to share the Gospel. The vision filled them with an overwhelming compassion for those who do not know Jesus and a passion to share with them the good news of God’s love that would deliver them from Hell. Sharing their vision has both brought many unbelievers to salvation in Christ and, even more so, it has motivated other believers to have an urgency in sharing the Gospel!
As I have considered these testimonies, I have come to believe that these people did experience the reality of Hell, separation from God and eternal, seemingly endless, torment. However, these visions of Hell are not visions of what “will be” and “will always be”, but visions of what “are”. Hell is a “present” reality. Many people are “currently” separated from the love of God, do not have a relationship with God, and are oppressed by all manner of evil forces from within and without.
People are presently being harrassed, tortured by demons of their own making and the making of those around them - emotional, psychological, and spiritual patterns of life that are very destructive. Separation from God is their current state of existence. And that state of existance will continue to get darker and darker, hotter and hotter, more and more evident until they recognize their need of God, call out to Him and receive a revelation of the love of God as revealed in Jesus!
I call this the "present reality of Hell", the reality that because of the sin of Adam and our sins people are presently separated from the love of God, presently bound in sin, presently tormented by evil, presently living in the darkness of hatred, unforgiveness, rage, depression, etc. It is a present seemingly hopeless and seemingly unending reality! People are consumed by the fire of their lusts and conveteousness right now!
One person who was saved while dead and in Hell explained that he has come to understand Heaven and Hell as plains of existance that "transcend time", “eternal realities”. He explained that in this temporal life, everything relates to time, but in eternity nothing relates to time, it just "IS". Thus when he was in Hell, he was in Hell eternally, having no concept of time and no hope that things would ever change. How long was he in Hell? Forever! And yet from our temporal perspective he was only dead for minutes. So though he experienced the eternal, time-transcending, forever, essence of Hell, he also experienced the salvation of Christ, was born of the Spirit, and now is in Christ restored in relationship with God.
One might ask whether or not there are any examples in scripture of people experiencing "Hell" and being saved. The answer is yes, though they are easily overlooked.
In the Old Testament, Jonah rejected the call of God to warn Ninevah of empending dome calling them to repentance. He took a boat in the opposite direction from Ninevah and due to an unnatural storm was eventually cast into the sea where he died, went to Sheol, the realm of the dead. The KJV actually translates Jonah 2:2 saying, “I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and He heard me; out of the belly of Hell cried I, and Thou heardest my voice.” Wow! Jonah died, went to Hell (Sheol, Hades, the realm of the dead), was “afflicted”, tormented, cried out to God, and God saved him, restored Jonah’s life and even put him back on track to fulfill his calling. How gracious, merciful, and forgiving is our God!
And in the New Testament, Peter speaks of Jesus preaching the Gospel to the most wicked generation of people ever to live, the people who refused salvation under the ministry of Noah and died. Jesus preached the Gospel to them while in “prison … so they could live in the spirit as God lives” (1 Pet.4:6 NCV).
In conclusion, from the testimonies I have reviewed, the apparent purpose and result of people experiencing "Hell" is Salvation, NOT Damnation! Jesus has the keys of death, Hades, and the grave; and Jesus came to set the captives free! When we physically die, we shed this flesh and enter the full reality of our current spiritual state of being. If a person is alive in Christ, we see the Lord in all of His glory. If the person is not alive in Christ he comes into the full reality of his current separation from God, calls on God, and is raised to spiritual life from spiritual death.
I have come to believe that Hell, as these people experienced it, is not a place where people end up, but it is a present spiritual reality, a present spiritual state of being! People do not die and go to Hell; rather, they are currently in Hell. Due to unbelief and a lack of faith they are spiritually cut off from the love, forgiveness, righteousness, freedom, goodness, joy, peace of God – right now. In this present life the experience of the present spiritual reality of Hell is mitigated by our existance in flesh. And when such people physically die they are exposed, experience, the full, unmitigated terror of their spiritual separation from God; they experience the full torment of being separated from the light, the life, the love, the hope, the joy, the peace of God.
This lines up wonderfully with what Paul said that Jesus came to free us from. Note what he wrote in Galatians 1:3-4 "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."
Jesus died for us to "rescue us from the present evil age!" Scripture does not say that Jesus died for us to save us from "Hell" as it is commonly understood; rather, Jesus died to rescue us from the present reality of being separated from God, slaves to sin, and oppressed by demonic bondage, this present evil age, what I call "the present reality of Hell"! Jesus died so that we will be reconciled to God, if not in this life, the one to come. Jesus died so that we can be restored into right relationship with God and one another NOW!
Monday, February 22, 2010
“Hell” Is Disappearing From the Bible!
You may have noticed that the word “Hell” is increasingly disappearing from contemporary English translations. The first Catholic English translation Douay Rheims (1610) had the word “Hell” in it 110 times. The 1611 King James Version only has it 54 times; NKJV (1982) – 32 times; CEV (1995) – 20 times; NLT & NCV – 17 times; NIV, ESV, Darby, & Catholic NJB – 14 times; NASB, AMP, ASV & TNIV – 13 times; HCSB – 12 times. And the Catholic NAB, Young’s Literal Translation, Rotherham’s translation, Fenton’s translation, and the WEB do not have the word “Hell” in them at all – 0 times!
You may have also noticed that though in years gone by “Hell” was a primary element of many sermons with some sermons being wholly devoted to its horrors; however, in contemporary churches “Hell” is rarely, if ever, mentioned, especially in mega-churches.
Some believe that contemporary churches have gone soft, preaching only to please people, afraid to preach the full counsel of God, afraid they’ll offend and loose their people. On the other hand, some believe that the message of Hell promotes little, if any, lasting positive change and thus elect to not teach from that perspective. Rather, they minister from a grace-based perspective, believing that it is the goodness of God that leads people to lasting positive change (repentance). And a few go so far as to believe and teach that Hell (i.e. conscious endless torment) is actually not a scriptural concept, but one that was mistranslated into the English text.
Is there some type of conspiracy to remove Hell from Scripture? Are mega-churches only offering Christianity-lite? Is there another explanation for this trend? What is the truth; what does Scripture actually teach concerning Hell?
The word "Hell" is an English word derived from the Old English Norse word "Hel" which was a concept of Old English pagan mythology and connotes a place of "conscious endless torture;" though the one they pictured was freezing. "Hell" is used to translate four words from the original Hebrew and Greek text of Scripture - Sheol, Hades, Tartaroo, and Gehenna. Let us review the actual meaning of these four words. As you know, "Hell" implies "Conscious Endless Torment", but:
Sheol - Hebrew, means the realm of the dead, often translated grave. It does Not imply "Torment".
Hades - Greek, means the realm of the dead, used to translate Sheol in the LXX. It too does Not imply "Torment". In Greek mythology, Hades had several sections – Elysium, Asphodel, and Tartarus. The Elysium fields were the final resting place of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous where they would enjoy immortal bliss. The Asphodel Meadows is where ordinary people went after death, a place of utter neutrality, a ghostly place where people are given over to an endless monotony. Tartarus is the torturous realm of Hades and is reserved for the especially wicked.
Tartaroo - Greek, the torturous realm of Hades, is used only once in scripture in 2 Peter 2:4 to reference the place where sinning angels are held "until judgment". The only scripture where Tartaroo is used does Not imply "Endless", nor are humans consigned there.
Gehenna – Greek, transliteration of the Hebrew "Ga Hinnom," literally means "Valley of Hinnom" – a valley just outside of Jerusalem that was used as a trash dump where there was a continuous (eternal) fire consuming the trash and never a shortage of maggots (worm dies not) consuming decaying flesh. "Gehenna" would best be translated as "the city (Jerusalem’s) trash dump".
Note that this metaphor does not specifically indicate that people will be tormented forever; if anything, without other information, it would indicate annihilation. Though the fire is continuous, the trash cast into the flame burns up. Gehenna was actually used as a metaphor by 1st century Rabbis, both the schools of Shammai and Hillel, to speak of punishment and purification in the afterlife.
Most 1st century Jews believed that when people died (except for the especially wicked) they went through a season of purification where they encountered the Truth about themselves and it, well, burnt the evil from them. Some of the Rabbis spoke of people being tormented by the demons of their own creation until they fully understood just how evil their attitudes and lifestyles were, and cried out for salvation. They believed that this season/event of purification was remedial and terrible, but not endless for most people. For most people, especially loved ones, Gehenna was a season of purification less than twelve months. In fact, to mourn the passing of a loved one more than eleven months was to imply that the person was especially wicked.
The Jews believed that Gehenna was for both Jews and Gentiles and that people were judged according to the revelation and covenant they received - the Old Covenant (Testament) being strictly for the Jew. During the eleven months of mourning, Jews would offer prayers, sacrificial gifts, and even be baptized for the dead (which Paul spoke of affirmatively in 1 Corinthians 15). Some believed that even the most wicked persons would be purified and go on to the Garden of Eden (Paradise). Others believed that those who were especially wicked, wholly given over to evil, would be either consumed (annihilated) or stuck indefinitely in Gehenna.
If one was going to translate Gehenna using a Theological term (instead of metaphorical), the predominant meaning of Gehenna as understood by the 1st Century Jew would be "Purgatory", not "Hell". In fact, Jesus actually indicates that purification was the purpose of Gehenna’s fire in Mark 9.
Warning of the terribleness of Gehenna, Jesus say that “if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell (Gehenna), where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched’” (9:47-48). And Jesus goes on to say that “ Everyone will be salted with fire” (9:49). Jesus warns of the terribleness of Gehenna, but indicates that such is apparently for the purification of the soul, not the destruction of the soul, for everyone shall undergo such purification, salted, seasoned by fire.
This reminds me of what Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 3:13 “Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.” What is burnt up is that which is worthless. Gehenna would be best theologically interpreted as “Purgatory,” and certainly should not be interpreted as “Hell.”
None of the four words commonly translated "Hell" in English translations implied "conscious unending torment" in their original context. The mistranslation of these four words began with St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate. St. Jerome was an advocate for the doctrine of "conscious endless torment" of all who were not part of the Church, which stood in opposition to others in the early church that believed in Universal Salvation like Origen and Gregory of Nyssa, and even others that believed in annihilation. He, St. Jerome, translated his beliefs “INTO” scripture, mistranslating Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, and Tartaroo as Infernum 110 times in his Latin Vulgate. The 1610 Catholic Douay Rheims translation is based solely upon the Latin Vulgate and thus uses the word “Hell” 110 times. And the Roman Catholic Church was strongly influenced, one could say even built upon, the Latin Vulgate.
Why is the word “Hell” disappearing from English translations? Because English translations are getting better and more accurately convey what the original text says! Hell, conscious unending torment, is not a scriptural concept.
You may have also noticed that though in years gone by “Hell” was a primary element of many sermons with some sermons being wholly devoted to its horrors; however, in contemporary churches “Hell” is rarely, if ever, mentioned, especially in mega-churches.
Some believe that contemporary churches have gone soft, preaching only to please people, afraid to preach the full counsel of God, afraid they’ll offend and loose their people. On the other hand, some believe that the message of Hell promotes little, if any, lasting positive change and thus elect to not teach from that perspective. Rather, they minister from a grace-based perspective, believing that it is the goodness of God that leads people to lasting positive change (repentance). And a few go so far as to believe and teach that Hell (i.e. conscious endless torment) is actually not a scriptural concept, but one that was mistranslated into the English text.
Is there some type of conspiracy to remove Hell from Scripture? Are mega-churches only offering Christianity-lite? Is there another explanation for this trend? What is the truth; what does Scripture actually teach concerning Hell?
The word "Hell" is an English word derived from the Old English Norse word "Hel" which was a concept of Old English pagan mythology and connotes a place of "conscious endless torture;" though the one they pictured was freezing. "Hell" is used to translate four words from the original Hebrew and Greek text of Scripture - Sheol, Hades, Tartaroo, and Gehenna. Let us review the actual meaning of these four words. As you know, "Hell" implies "Conscious Endless Torment", but:
Sheol - Hebrew, means the realm of the dead, often translated grave. It does Not imply "Torment".
Hades - Greek, means the realm of the dead, used to translate Sheol in the LXX. It too does Not imply "Torment". In Greek mythology, Hades had several sections – Elysium, Asphodel, and Tartarus. The Elysium fields were the final resting place of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous where they would enjoy immortal bliss. The Asphodel Meadows is where ordinary people went after death, a place of utter neutrality, a ghostly place where people are given over to an endless monotony. Tartarus is the torturous realm of Hades and is reserved for the especially wicked.
Tartaroo - Greek, the torturous realm of Hades, is used only once in scripture in 2 Peter 2:4 to reference the place where sinning angels are held "until judgment". The only scripture where Tartaroo is used does Not imply "Endless", nor are humans consigned there.
Gehenna – Greek, transliteration of the Hebrew "Ga Hinnom," literally means "Valley of Hinnom" – a valley just outside of Jerusalem that was used as a trash dump where there was a continuous (eternal) fire consuming the trash and never a shortage of maggots (worm dies not) consuming decaying flesh. "Gehenna" would best be translated as "the city (Jerusalem’s) trash dump".
Note that this metaphor does not specifically indicate that people will be tormented forever; if anything, without other information, it would indicate annihilation. Though the fire is continuous, the trash cast into the flame burns up. Gehenna was actually used as a metaphor by 1st century Rabbis, both the schools of Shammai and Hillel, to speak of punishment and purification in the afterlife.
Most 1st century Jews believed that when people died (except for the especially wicked) they went through a season of purification where they encountered the Truth about themselves and it, well, burnt the evil from them. Some of the Rabbis spoke of people being tormented by the demons of their own creation until they fully understood just how evil their attitudes and lifestyles were, and cried out for salvation. They believed that this season/event of purification was remedial and terrible, but not endless for most people. For most people, especially loved ones, Gehenna was a season of purification less than twelve months. In fact, to mourn the passing of a loved one more than eleven months was to imply that the person was especially wicked.
The Jews believed that Gehenna was for both Jews and Gentiles and that people were judged according to the revelation and covenant they received - the Old Covenant (Testament) being strictly for the Jew. During the eleven months of mourning, Jews would offer prayers, sacrificial gifts, and even be baptized for the dead (which Paul spoke of affirmatively in 1 Corinthians 15). Some believed that even the most wicked persons would be purified and go on to the Garden of Eden (Paradise). Others believed that those who were especially wicked, wholly given over to evil, would be either consumed (annihilated) or stuck indefinitely in Gehenna.
If one was going to translate Gehenna using a Theological term (instead of metaphorical), the predominant meaning of Gehenna as understood by the 1st Century Jew would be "Purgatory", not "Hell". In fact, Jesus actually indicates that purification was the purpose of Gehenna’s fire in Mark 9.
Warning of the terribleness of Gehenna, Jesus say that “if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell (Gehenna), where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched’” (9:47-48). And Jesus goes on to say that “ Everyone will be salted with fire” (9:49). Jesus warns of the terribleness of Gehenna, but indicates that such is apparently for the purification of the soul, not the destruction of the soul, for everyone shall undergo such purification, salted, seasoned by fire.
This reminds me of what Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 3:13 “Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.” What is burnt up is that which is worthless. Gehenna would be best theologically interpreted as “Purgatory,” and certainly should not be interpreted as “Hell.”
None of the four words commonly translated "Hell" in English translations implied "conscious unending torment" in their original context. The mistranslation of these four words began with St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate. St. Jerome was an advocate for the doctrine of "conscious endless torment" of all who were not part of the Church, which stood in opposition to others in the early church that believed in Universal Salvation like Origen and Gregory of Nyssa, and even others that believed in annihilation. He, St. Jerome, translated his beliefs “INTO” scripture, mistranslating Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, and Tartaroo as Infernum 110 times in his Latin Vulgate. The 1610 Catholic Douay Rheims translation is based solely upon the Latin Vulgate and thus uses the word “Hell” 110 times. And the Roman Catholic Church was strongly influenced, one could say even built upon, the Latin Vulgate.
Why is the word “Hell” disappearing from English translations? Because English translations are getting better and more accurately convey what the original text says! Hell, conscious unending torment, is not a scriptural concept.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
The Lake Burning with Fire and Brimstone
Over the last several months I’ve been researching the doctrine called the “Restoration of All Things” or “Christian Universalism”. It is, at its most basic, the belief that because of the sacrifice of Christ, all of humanity is ultimately saved and will ultimately come into relationship and life forever with Him. There are several scriptures that seem to indicate this is true. However, in order to “balance” what I had been studying on this, I decided to research scripture concerning Hell and Judgment. In my research though, I’ve come across information that is challenging my traditional Evangelical beliefs concerning the essence and purpose of punishment in the afterlife!
According to the doctrine that I have been raised to believe, the traditional Protestant/Evangelical doctrine, Hell is a place of “endless torture” for those who are not saved. However, I’ve run across information that seems to indicate that the traditional doctrine of Hell is incorrect, that the afterlife does not include a place of “endless torture”.
As mentioned in the previous post, Jesus used the word GEHENNA in speaking of punishment in the afterlife. But the Rabbis of Jesus’ day taught that GEHENNA was a place of purification of and payment for sin that only lasted as long as was needed for the healing and the reformation of the human soul. After a person was purified in GEHENNA, he was admitted to Paradise; but the English word Hell carries the connotation of “endless torture”, so it is not a good interpretation of GEHENNA. Rather, the best interpretation of the word GEHENNA, I believe, is Purgatory.
But of course, GEHENNA is only one word used in scripture which references punishment in the afterlife. In my research of Hell, Judgment, and related words and scriptures, another very interesting bit of information came to my attention. It is the word “Brimstone”, THEION in Greek. Notice how similar THEION is to THEIOS (divine). THEION, brimstone, actually means “divine incense, because burning brimstone was regarded as having power to purify and to ward off disease” (Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon).
Thayer’s Lexicon, Friberg’s Analytical Lexicon, and Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon all agree that THEION is related to purification and healing. And Liddell and Scott notes that the verb THEIOO actually means “to hallow, to make divine, or to dedicate to a god.” Thus, based upon the actual Greek usage of THEION, brimstone carries the connotation of purification and healing, and even signifies being made holy, set apart, dedicated to God; it does NOT connote “endless torture”.
Brimstone - fire from heaven, lightening, volcanic bombs, and other geologic forms of fire give off the smell of burning sulfur. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone, fire from heaven. Geologist Frederick Clapp theorized that Sodom’s divine judgmental fire was likely a petroleum-based substance called bitumen, similar to asphalt, that was forced out of the earth through a fault-line, ignited by a spark or surface fire, and then fell to earth as a burning fiery mass bringing the judgment of God.
Furthermore, as noted by Strong’s Lexicon, brimstone, sulfur was burnt as incense meant to ward off disease. Even today many medicines are sulfur-based. Thus brimstone is dynamically connected to healing.
Something else that I’ve never noticed before about the “lake burning with fire and brimstone” is that it is actually in the “presence” of God, not separated from the presence of God. Rev. 14:10 says that those who receive the mark of the beast shall “drink of the wine of the wrath of God” and “shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.”
When I ran across this information about brimstone the first thing that came to mind was when Isaiah stood before the Lord and was overwhelmed by the sin that God’s presence revealed in him (Isaiah 6). In the presence of the Lord and His angels, Isaiah cried, “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips!” In response to this confession an angel took a live coal (brimstone?) from the altar, put it to Isaiah’s lips and purified him! Could it be that this is a picture of the burning purification of the Lord? I like Peterson’s translation of this passage:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Master sitting on a throne—high, exalted!—and the train of his robes filled the Temple. Angel-seraphs hovered above him, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two their feet, and with two they flew. And they called back and forth one to the other,
Holy, Holy, Holy is God-of-the-Angel-Armies. His bright glory fills the whole earth.
The foundations trembled at the sound of the angel voices, and then the whole house filled with smoke. I said,
"Doom! It's Doomsday! I'm as good as dead!Every word I've ever spoken is tainted— blasphemous even!And the people I live with talk the same way, using words that corrupt and desecrate.And here I've looked God in the face! The King! God-of-the-Angel-Armies!"
Then one of the angel-seraphs flew to me. He held a live coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with the coal and said,
Look. This coal has touched your lips. Gone your guilt, your sins wiped out."
Thus considering that 1) brimstone implies purification and healing (not endless torture), 2) the “lake burning with fire and brimstone” is in the presence of God, and 3) God Himself is a Consuming Fire, the “lake burning with fire and brimstone could be, should be interpreted as “the Volcanic Lake of God’s Consuming-Purifying-Healing Presence”!
Could it be that the traditional Evangelical doctrine of the afterlife for the wicked being endless fiery torture, unending punishment, Hell, be wrong? Could it be that the fiery punishment of the afterlife spoken of in the Bible is for our healing and purification, even for those with the mark of the beast? Frankly, the more I study what is actually written in scripture, the more I believe the answer to be yes! “Look. This coal has touched your lips. Gone your guilt, your sins wiped out!”
According to the doctrine that I have been raised to believe, the traditional Protestant/Evangelical doctrine, Hell is a place of “endless torture” for those who are not saved. However, I’ve run across information that seems to indicate that the traditional doctrine of Hell is incorrect, that the afterlife does not include a place of “endless torture”.
As mentioned in the previous post, Jesus used the word GEHENNA in speaking of punishment in the afterlife. But the Rabbis of Jesus’ day taught that GEHENNA was a place of purification of and payment for sin that only lasted as long as was needed for the healing and the reformation of the human soul. After a person was purified in GEHENNA, he was admitted to Paradise; but the English word Hell carries the connotation of “endless torture”, so it is not a good interpretation of GEHENNA. Rather, the best interpretation of the word GEHENNA, I believe, is Purgatory.
But of course, GEHENNA is only one word used in scripture which references punishment in the afterlife. In my research of Hell, Judgment, and related words and scriptures, another very interesting bit of information came to my attention. It is the word “Brimstone”, THEION in Greek. Notice how similar THEION is to THEIOS (divine). THEION, brimstone, actually means “divine incense, because burning brimstone was regarded as having power to purify and to ward off disease” (Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon).
Thayer’s Lexicon, Friberg’s Analytical Lexicon, and Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon all agree that THEION is related to purification and healing. And Liddell and Scott notes that the verb THEIOO actually means “to hallow, to make divine, or to dedicate to a god.” Thus, based upon the actual Greek usage of THEION, brimstone carries the connotation of purification and healing, and even signifies being made holy, set apart, dedicated to God; it does NOT connote “endless torture”.
Brimstone - fire from heaven, lightening, volcanic bombs, and other geologic forms of fire give off the smell of burning sulfur. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone, fire from heaven. Geologist Frederick Clapp theorized that Sodom’s divine judgmental fire was likely a petroleum-based substance called bitumen, similar to asphalt, that was forced out of the earth through a fault-line, ignited by a spark or surface fire, and then fell to earth as a burning fiery mass bringing the judgment of God.
Furthermore, as noted by Strong’s Lexicon, brimstone, sulfur was burnt as incense meant to ward off disease. Even today many medicines are sulfur-based. Thus brimstone is dynamically connected to healing.
Something else that I’ve never noticed before about the “lake burning with fire and brimstone” is that it is actually in the “presence” of God, not separated from the presence of God. Rev. 14:10 says that those who receive the mark of the beast shall “drink of the wine of the wrath of God” and “shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.”
When I ran across this information about brimstone the first thing that came to mind was when Isaiah stood before the Lord and was overwhelmed by the sin that God’s presence revealed in him (Isaiah 6). In the presence of the Lord and His angels, Isaiah cried, “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips!” In response to this confession an angel took a live coal (brimstone?) from the altar, put it to Isaiah’s lips and purified him! Could it be that this is a picture of the burning purification of the Lord? I like Peterson’s translation of this passage:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Master sitting on a throne—high, exalted!—and the train of his robes filled the Temple. Angel-seraphs hovered above him, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two their feet, and with two they flew. And they called back and forth one to the other,
Holy, Holy, Holy is God-of-the-Angel-Armies. His bright glory fills the whole earth.
The foundations trembled at the sound of the angel voices, and then the whole house filled with smoke. I said,
"Doom! It's Doomsday! I'm as good as dead!Every word I've ever spoken is tainted— blasphemous even!And the people I live with talk the same way, using words that corrupt and desecrate.And here I've looked God in the face! The King! God-of-the-Angel-Armies!"
Then one of the angel-seraphs flew to me. He held a live coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with the coal and said,
Look. This coal has touched your lips. Gone your guilt, your sins wiped out."
Thus considering that 1) brimstone implies purification and healing (not endless torture), 2) the “lake burning with fire and brimstone” is in the presence of God, and 3) God Himself is a Consuming Fire, the “lake burning with fire and brimstone could be, should be interpreted as “the Volcanic Lake of God’s Consuming-Purifying-Healing Presence”!
Could it be that the traditional Evangelical doctrine of the afterlife for the wicked being endless fiery torture, unending punishment, Hell, be wrong? Could it be that the fiery punishment of the afterlife spoken of in the Bible is for our healing and purification, even for those with the mark of the beast? Frankly, the more I study what is actually written in scripture, the more I believe the answer to be yes! “Look. This coal has touched your lips. Gone your guilt, your sins wiped out!”
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Hell - "Gehenna"
I've recently been doing an indepth study on Hell and am coming to believe differently than what I've been taught since childhood. One of the most interesting things I've come across is the cultural context of what Jesus said concerning Gehenna.
When Jesus spoke of sin and sinners burning in continuous fire, He spoke of Gehenna. Jesus uses the word Gehenna 10 times in the Gospels, and the Gospels only record Jesus using the word Hades 4 times. And only once is the word Hades used in regards to a person - the rich man in Luke 16. And considering Luke was a Gentile, it's understandable that He would use a Greek term to reference a fiery afterlife twice and only use Gehenna once.
Anyhow, Jesus used almost exclusively the word Gehenna to reference God's punishment upon sin and sinner; so understanding that word in its cultural context is very important. What was Gehenna and how did the first century Jew understand the concept of Gehenna? When Jesus used the word Gehenna, what did it communicate to His first century audience?
Lexicons and commentaries all note that Gehenna was Jerusalem's trash dump where the city waste was consumed by fire and maggots; trash was burnt and waste flesh, even the bodies of condemned criminals, was reduced to dust by maggots. It was a place continuously (eternally) burning with fire and continuously populated by maggots (worm dieth not). The continuous fire was actually fueled by brimstone - sulfur. The valley of Gehenna was selected by default to be a trash dump because it was where Molech had been worshipped and children burnt in sacrifice to that idol; so when the Jews repented from such, they used the site as a trash dump. This is information readily noted in most commentaries and lexicons.
What is rarely noted is that Gehenna was used by the Rabbis of Jesus' day to reference the afterlife of sinners. Shammai and Hillel both used Gehenna to speak metaphorically of a place of purification of the soul for those who were not righteous enough to directly enter Paradise - the Garden of Eden. Shammai believed that only the extremenly righteous went to Paradise when they died; everyone else went to Gehenna. Most would rise to Ga Eden (Paradise) after being purified, having their sins burnt up - similar to the Catholic concept of Purgatory. Hillel taught that only the wicked went to Gehenna. Both Shammai and Hillel taught that the longest most people would stay in Gehenna was 11 months, and only the most wicked evil person would stay longer, possibly as much as 12 months. They debated as to what would happen to the especially wicked people, whether they too would be purified, annihilated, or endure the punishment of Gehenna indefinitely. They agreed though that most people, after being purified and healed by fire though, rose from the pit and were admitted to Paradise, the Garden of Eden! This was especially true for loved ones!
Thus, when Jesus spoke of Gehenna, unless He otherwise specified, the word Gehenna would have carried this meaning of a place of purification and healing of the soul! Note Jesus' use of Gehenna in the following passage.
Mark 9:42-49 "And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell (Gehenna), where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell (Gehenna). And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell (Gehenna), where " 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.' Everyone will be salted with fire."
The NLT actually translates vs. 49 as "Everyone will be purified by fire." And according to the immediate literary context, there is no reason to not equate "fire" in vs. 49 with the "fire" of Gehenna in the previous verses. So Jesus warned everyone to be careful how we live, especially in regards to how we treat others. If we treat others badly, especially if we cause someone to loose faith, we're accountable for our actions and will suffer the chastisement of the Lord undergoing His fiery purification - terrible and yet redemptive (with a purpose)! And though the Rabbis taught that some are righteous enough to not undergo the fire of Gehenna, Jesus said that "Everyone will be purified by fire!"
When Jesus spoke of sin and sinners burning in continuous fire, He spoke of Gehenna. Jesus uses the word Gehenna 10 times in the Gospels, and the Gospels only record Jesus using the word Hades 4 times. And only once is the word Hades used in regards to a person - the rich man in Luke 16. And considering Luke was a Gentile, it's understandable that He would use a Greek term to reference a fiery afterlife twice and only use Gehenna once.
Anyhow, Jesus used almost exclusively the word Gehenna to reference God's punishment upon sin and sinner; so understanding that word in its cultural context is very important. What was Gehenna and how did the first century Jew understand the concept of Gehenna? When Jesus used the word Gehenna, what did it communicate to His first century audience?
Lexicons and commentaries all note that Gehenna was Jerusalem's trash dump where the city waste was consumed by fire and maggots; trash was burnt and waste flesh, even the bodies of condemned criminals, was reduced to dust by maggots. It was a place continuously (eternally) burning with fire and continuously populated by maggots (worm dieth not). The continuous fire was actually fueled by brimstone - sulfur. The valley of Gehenna was selected by default to be a trash dump because it was where Molech had been worshipped and children burnt in sacrifice to that idol; so when the Jews repented from such, they used the site as a trash dump. This is information readily noted in most commentaries and lexicons.
What is rarely noted is that Gehenna was used by the Rabbis of Jesus' day to reference the afterlife of sinners. Shammai and Hillel both used Gehenna to speak metaphorically of a place of purification of the soul for those who were not righteous enough to directly enter Paradise - the Garden of Eden. Shammai believed that only the extremenly righteous went to Paradise when they died; everyone else went to Gehenna. Most would rise to Ga Eden (Paradise) after being purified, having their sins burnt up - similar to the Catholic concept of Purgatory. Hillel taught that only the wicked went to Gehenna. Both Shammai and Hillel taught that the longest most people would stay in Gehenna was 11 months, and only the most wicked evil person would stay longer, possibly as much as 12 months. They debated as to what would happen to the especially wicked people, whether they too would be purified, annihilated, or endure the punishment of Gehenna indefinitely. They agreed though that most people, after being purified and healed by fire though, rose from the pit and were admitted to Paradise, the Garden of Eden! This was especially true for loved ones!
Thus, when Jesus spoke of Gehenna, unless He otherwise specified, the word Gehenna would have carried this meaning of a place of purification and healing of the soul! Note Jesus' use of Gehenna in the following passage.
Mark 9:42-49 "And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell (Gehenna), where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell (Gehenna). And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell (Gehenna), where " 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.' Everyone will be salted with fire."
The NLT actually translates vs. 49 as "Everyone will be purified by fire." And according to the immediate literary context, there is no reason to not equate "fire" in vs. 49 with the "fire" of Gehenna in the previous verses. So Jesus warned everyone to be careful how we live, especially in regards to how we treat others. If we treat others badly, especially if we cause someone to loose faith, we're accountable for our actions and will suffer the chastisement of the Lord undergoing His fiery purification - terrible and yet redemptive (with a purpose)! And though the Rabbis taught that some are righteous enough to not undergo the fire of Gehenna, Jesus said that "Everyone will be purified by fire!"
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