My Book Condensed to a Pamphlet

[Lazarus Short]

I wanted a short version of "Heaven, Yes...Hell, No" and wrote it out in a few pages.  I posted it on Above Top Secret, where it got some good discussion :Chinscratch:; on Facebook, where no one even responded :footmouth:; and on the Christian Forums, where it was discussed with some vigor until the mods/admins shut it down on a pretext :sigh:.  Let me know what you think...

Does the Hell/ECT Doctrine Hold Up to Scrutiny?

Most folks listen to their priest/preacher/minister and also read their Bibles, and most of the time they hear or see ?Hell? mentioned, and accept it as a given, in a prima facie sense.  I ask you, however, is it so?  Does this word and concept belong in the Bible?  Does it really belong in the theology of so many churches?  Let?s dig down into the ?infernum? of our subject...?infernum? simply meaning originally that which is below...or simply underground.

The witness of the creation accounts

In Genesis, chapters 1 and 2, is the basic Biblical story of the creation of the cosmos and everything in it.  ?In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,? as we read in Genesis 1:1.  Note that there is no mention of God also creating hell.  Chapter 1 goes on to state six times that the creation was good, the last time VERY good.  The existence of hell would have made it less good, but then, that was before the Fall, so it may not apply.  If God made it later, it is not mentioned anywhere, but don?t believe me ? examine this list of scriptures mentioning creation:

Exodus 20:11
Isaiah 40:26
Isaiah 45:7-8, 18
Mark 10:6
John 1:1-5
Romans 1:20,25
Romans 8:19-22
I Corinthians 8:6
II Corinthians 5:17
Ephesians 2:10
Colossians 1:16-17, 20
Hebrews 11:3
Revelation 4:11
In Isaiah 45:7 we see a mention of light and darkness, but this is not a hint of hell, if someone were hoping so, for darkness is simply where the light has yet to penetrate.

So, hell appears to be uncreated, but there is more.

The witness of the translated terms

We will find the origin of hell presently, but first let?s look at the words and terms it was translated from.

1.  Sheol

?Sheol? is from the Hebrew, and generally defined as the realm, state or abode of the dead, apart from the literal grave.  It is translated in the KJV and probably other translations into one of  three words:  grave, pit (about half) or hell (about half).  Overall, I can think of no good reason to separate ?sheol? into three words, as the translators have done.  They could have very well let ?sheol? stand transliterated, to let it be understood by context and usage.  I suppose they needed some support for the hell doctrine in the Old Testament, for besides sheol-rendered-as-hell, there is so very little to go that way.

I find a strong tendency (not consistent) for ?sheol? to be rendered as ?grave? or ?pit? when the context places the instance in the real world.  The verses in the ?hell? list mostly lack context to connect them to the real world, but this is, again, not consistent.
Besides context, there are solid reasons why some verses were translated in one way or another, mostly theological reasons.  Consider I Samuel 2:6 ? I?m sure the translators would have been happy to have rendered it as, ??he bringeth down to hell??, but what would they have done with the following, ??and bringeth up.??  It would have violated the doctrine and belief that damnation is final and irreversible.  We can see the same thing going on with Psalms 30:3, 49:14-15, 89:48 and Hosea 13:14, all quoted in the ?grave/pit? half.
We have the same problem in reverse, in the ?hell? half.  Psalm 16:10?s ?For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell?,? should have been given over to the ?grave/pit? camp, thus avoiding the ban on exit from hell.  As it reads, the translators made a mistake, from their point of view.  We see it again in Psalm 86:13, Psalm 139:8 and Amos 9:2.
2.  Hades
?Hades? is the best Greek eqivalent for the Hebrew term ?sheol.?  However, it is a pagan word from a pagan culture, and thus, brought in some unfortunate theological baggage.  It is translated as ?hell? consistently in most Bibles, except for one instance.  I wondered if it was a matter of context, so I examined all eleven instances of the word, and found that context did allow in ten, if a whole town (Capernaum) going to hell is not too much to swallow.  The one time when ?hades? was rendered as ?grave,? was in I Corinthians 15:55.  Now context might have allowed, but Paul?s taunt of, ?O death, where is thy sting?  O grave, where is thy victory?? follows after Hosea 13:14 ? ?O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction??.  If either were rendered as ?hell,? it would have violated the no-exit/eternal-hell doctrine, and the whole idea would have been exposed if hell were robbed of its victory and subject to destruction.

The last two instances of ?hades? to ?hell? are in the Revelation, 20:13-14:  ?And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them?And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.  This is the second death.?  As these verses stand, they are confusing, and just muddy the waters.  ?Hades,? in the sense of the realm/place of the dead, would be clearer, and that is precisely what my Bible?s references suggest.  The translators may have over-reached themselves here, however, for hell delivering up its dead, and hell cast into the Lake of Fire (destruction?) violate the no-exit/eternal-hell doctrine.  Using ?grave? or ?sheol? would have cleared up the problems.

3.  Gehenna
?Gehenna? is used in the Bible some twelve times, depending on the version, and refers to a physical place in the real world that you can visit today.  In the OT, it was the ?Valley of the Sons of Hinnom,? where children were sacrificed to idols.  The form we read in the NT is a Greek transliteration.  Now since it is a place in the real world, a fact no one can dispute, I believe its translation as ?hell? is NOT justified.
4.  Tartarus
This is yet another pagan word from a pagan culture, and only used once, in II Peter 2:4.  For the Greeks, it was a prison for the Titans and some people - to Peter, it was a prison for some spirit beings.  Should we really hang a doctrine on the single use of a term?
Further, if these four terms were NOT translated as ?hell,? would any of us have suspected such a place, such an outcome?  If we take the Bible at face value, how do we explain God failing to tell us that He made the place?  How we view God?s sketchy warnings ? why did He warn Adam and Eve of only death...if hell were a real place?  The warnings He gave to many after that follow the same pattern:  simple death was the only listed outcome.
So, examination of the four underlying words translated to ?hell? fails to support the concept, especially as two of them are pagan terms.  So let?s move on to...
The witness of paganism
You the reader may be wondering something like ?What the hell??  and I fully sympathize.  Where did this word ?hell? come from, anyway?  Happily, we have some bread crumbs.  Not only do we have the help of our Bible?s marginal references, telling us to ?see sheol,? ?see hades,? ?see gehenna,? and ?see tartarus? - we have the following:
1.  I have an Oxford English Dictionary, and it lists the year in which a word first appears in the English language.  For ?hell? that year is about 825 AD.  In that period, Norse and Danes were pouring into the eastern part of Britain, and the Danelaw resulted.  New Nordic words were coming into use as well as Nordic rule, and ?hel? was one such word.  Here?s a sampling from related languages:
Old English ? hel
Old Frisian ? helle, hille
Old Saxon ? hellja, hella
Old High German ? helle
Old Norse ? hel, heljar
Gothic ? halja
Original Teutonic ? halja
It?s useful to know that the original meaning of such words was ?to hide, to cover? used as verbs, and ?hidden, covered? used as adjectives ? a reference to the grave, but not to the common understanding of hell.  We pick up breadcrumbs in the 1611 KJV, where we see ?hell,? and also ?hel,? used twice.  We see ?hel? a lot more in ?Beowulf,? which was written in Old English ? in fact, it was the Anglo-Saxon language, spoken also on the continent.  Under the baptized veneer of the story is a pagan subtext, and the Angles and Saxons were pagans if you go very far back in time.  Note in the list above that Old Norse shared ?hel? with Old English/Anglo Saxon, so maybe that breadcrumb could lead to something in the culture of Old Norway.
In Norse mythology, we find paydirt ? the Norse believed that if you did not rate going to Valhalla when you died, you would spend the afterlife in Helheim, or ?House of Hel.?  Hel was the ruler of Helheim, they thought, and was considered a goddess or ogress, and very ugly.
2.  Have you ever seen a depiction of the Tibetan Buddhist hell?  It is all too familiar:  fire, demons and the suffering damned in scenes of torture and misery.  The Islamic hell is much like it, but less inventive.  Some other religions have a hell, and some don?t.
The witness of helling
As I said, ?hell? is a verb, as well as a noun, and is derived from an old Germanic word, meaning, ?to hide or cover.?  My father told me about this years ago ? if a farmer lacked a root cellar or a cellar/basement under the house, and needed a place to keep veggies or fruits over the winter, he would do the following.  First, he would dig a pit or trench deeper than the local frost line.  Then, he would line the bottom with straw.  On top of that, he?d place a layer of, say, potatoes.  More straw went on top of the potatoes, and he would finish the job by shovelling in the dirt previously dug out.  Note ? it is called ?helling the potatoes.?  Going to Hell, then, just means going into the ground...or the grave.
The witness of truth
So ? having tracked hell down to its likely source in pagan mythology/religion, what should we believe?  God has some cheery news for us:  the Jubilee.  Every 49 years, at a set time, everyone who had fallen into slavery was freed, and had land and possessions returned ? see Leviticus 25:8-13.  Are you mired in sin?  Aren?t we all?  The Bible tells us to resist sin, the flesh, the adversary...but so few seem to overcome in this life.  However, do not despair ? the same Book has the solution:  Romans 6:7, ?For he that is dead is freed from sin.?

This is our Jubilee ? after a lifetime as slaves to sin, we are freed!  How do we know we are all saved?  First Corinthians 15:28 tells us, ?And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.?  Yes, ?all? in this verse really means ALL ? you, me and everyone!  Jesus the Christ really is the Savior of the World, in fact, of the entire created Cosmos.  I need to add that the Lake of Fire is not Hell, and is not ID?d as Hell in the Revelation.  After a long word study on ?fire? in the Bible, which is beyond the scope of this short essay, I concluded that all mentions of fire in the Bible are either natural fire or a manifestation of God, or as I like to call it, Godfire.  Therefore, I am compelled to see the Lake of Fire as Godfire, which is both punitive, corrective and transformatinal.  I will leave you with First Corinthians 3:15 - ? If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.?

       

[marie glen]

Very good! I love it!! ..except we disagree on 2nd advent eschatology.. Because of hoe the Lord said ?all those in the tombs? (graves) ?will hear His voice and will come forth? (from the graves/tombs) ?..some in the resurrection of life, and some in the resurrection of judgment? (Jn.5:28-29) ?after the thousand years? (Rev.20:5).
     And Matthew 25:46 - ?these will go away into aionian-AGELASTING kolasis-CORRECTION? (translated, everlasting punishment) ?but the righteous into aionian life? (the millennium)...

I?ve become convinced His long second advent is prophesied by and will fulfill the Fall holy days (of Lev.23) like His first one fulfilled the Spring ones. The Fall holy days typifying the 3 peaks of the advent.

(1)Trumpets (of Rev and his return at/during the 7th - 10days/1000yrs later - (2)?Day? Of Atonement, just like ours ?which is called today? - then 5days/500yrs (duration)/later is (3)Tabernacles when the Father ?makes all new? - ?things? (all things) is added by the translators. Rev.21:1-5 - the (fiery) ?all in all? event which anyone still not believing will find theirself cast into that fire. First mention of lake of fire I believe is manmade!

I?m pretty sure I?m right as I can?t get anyone to hear me! :laughing7: :sigh:

Great pamphlet! Good work! :thumbsup:

[Lazarus Short]

Thank you, Marie!  I know you have written about the fall holy days before, and I find it very interesting.  Could you direct me to a thread/post where you expound on it more fully?

[joeteekay]

Very good! I love it!! ..except we disagree on 2nd advent eschatology.. Because of hoe the Lord said ?all those in the tombs? (graves) ?will hear His voice and will come forth? (from the graves/tombs) ?..some in the resurrection of life, and some in the resurrection of judgment? (Jn.5:28-29) ?after the thousand years? (Rev.20:5).
     And Matthew 25:46 - ?these will go away into aionian-AGELASTING kolasis-CORRECTION? (translated, everlasting punishment) ?but the righteous into aionian life? (the millennium)...

I?ve become convinced His long second advent is prophesied by and will fulfill the Fall holy days (of Lev.23) like His first one fulfilled the Spring ones. The Fall holy days typifying the 3 peaks of the advent.

(1)Trumpets (of Rev and his return at/during the 7th - 10days/1000yrs later - (2)?Day? Of Atonement, just like ours ?which is called today? - then 5days/500yrs (duration)/later is (3)Tabernacles when the Father ?makes all new? - ?things? (all things) is added by the translators. Rev.21:1-5 - the (fiery) ?all in all? event which anyone still not believing will find theirself cast into that fire. First mention of lake of fire I believe is manmade!

I?m pretty sure I?m right as I can?t get anyone to hear me! :laughing7: :sigh:

Great pamphlet! Good work! :thumbsup:

Concerning the holy days and Marie Glens take on it. Here is my view:

The holy days of God include the following given in scripture:

Spring Holy Days: Passover (1), Unleavened bread (2), Pentecost (3)

Autumn Holy Days: Trumpets (4), Atonement (5), Tabernacles (6)

and the Last Great Day (7)

The Spring Holy days ? The third eon:
Some of the historical events of the third eon include the calling of Abraham, the exodus, the history of Israel, the birth and death of Jesus Christ, and His resurrection.  It is a period of blood shed, cruelty and wars and rumors of wars.  It is the age that Satan (the Adversary) deceives the whole world (Rev. 12:9).  We live in that age today.

Passover
The Passover in ancient Israel was a type of its true fulfillment to come in our Lord?s crucifixion.  The first Passover involved the sprinkling of the blood of an unblemished lamb on the doorposts of the Israelites dwellings when the death angel went through Egypt.  The blood of the sacrificed lamb saved the Israelites first born from death.  The sacrifice of our Savior saves us from sin and makes it possible for us to be His firstfruits.

Pentecost
The Feast of Weeks in the Old Testament was fulfilled by the day of Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit became available on that day, soon after the ascension of the resurrected Christ to Heaven.  Those who received the Holy Spirit in that day became the Elect of God, first fruits.  More were added later.  Pentecost follows the early spring harvest.  Pentecost means ?count fifty?.  Count fifty from a day during the feast of unleavened bread.  It usually occurs on a day in May or June of our modern calendar.

Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles : The 4th Eon
Trumpets
The Feast of Trumpets introduces the autumn festivals?representing the culmination of the present age of man and the beginning of an incredible time during which God will play a direct role in world events. Trumpets signal the intervention of God in the affairs of humanity on a global basis. This feast represents a dramatic turning point in mankind?s history. It ushers in the start of the Millennium.  In Ezekiel Chapters 40 ? 48 describes the millennial temple, the return of God?s glory to the temple (43:1-9), the temple regulations (43:10-46:24), and  the millennial features of the land and people (47:1-48:35).

The Feast of Trumpets depicts the return of Jesus Christ to the earth to establish the Kingdom of God.  The seventh angel?s sounding of the last trumpet signifies that ?the kingdom of the world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ?.

Atonement
Christ is our Passover and His shed blood atones for our past sins.  Atonement means reconciliation. The Day of Atonement symbolizes the reconciliation of God, initially to the first fruits, then eventually to all humanity.

The Day of Atonement pictures the time during which the Adversary?s (Satan?s) deception will be removed and he will no longer be free to influence and deceive mankind.  He will be restrained from deceiving mankind for a 1000 years, the time of the Millennium.  Righteous judgment will prevail on the earth in the Kingdom of God under Chris?s direct rule.  At the end of the 1000 years the Adversary will be released to deceive the nations once again for a short period of time.  It is amazing that after 1000 years, after all this time of prosperity and peace, Satan will again have the power to deceive nations on a worldwide scale.

Tabernacles
This feast, also called the feast of in gathering.

We know that Christ was the First of the firstfruits to be resurrected to non-ending life. We also know that all the chosen Elect are the rest of the firstfruits who are to be with Christ at His coming.  And there is another large group of people who will be harvested by God. 

The literal fulfillment of this Old Covenant feast of Tabernacles starts with the millennial rule of Christ and His saints.  Knowledge of God will be so abundant at that time that it will be like the waters covering the sea bottoms.   It is a time of prosperity and peace for everyone. It is true that Christ will rule with a rod of iron during that time, but also rule with justice and mercy.

Last Great Day ? the 5th and final Eon
There is one more feast day called the Last Great Day.  The eighth day of this Feast of Tabernacles period is called ?The Last Great Day of the Feast.? Jesus Christ when in earth came to the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem and spoke on the Last Great Day.

What happens at the end of the eons (ages) is not well understood by many Christians.  The commonly understood belief of today?s Christianity is that at the very end there will be spirit beings in heaven with God who believed in Jesus Christ.  And there will be those in an ever burning hell of torture for those who never knew Christ or rejected Him.  This is a demonic idea.

The firstfruits are but the beginning of God?s harvest, and there is to follow the full fall harvest of all humanity. God said that this end of the year fall harvest was a time of rejoicing. One could hardly rejoice over throwing the entire fall harvest of humanity into some torturing chamber of eternal fire.

http://www.bibleanalytics.ca/holy-days.html

[WhiteWings]

Hades, 100% pagan. I also 100% agree with the meaning of hel(l).
An important part I'm missing, but may be discussed in depth in your book, is the audience.
The word hades wasn't used because the author of the book believed in it, but because for the audience that word explained a lot. Let call it a 'teacher's shortcut'. The audience would understand Hades as two things.
Hades the person, god, demon, whatever that rules the underworld of the dead. That realm was also called Hades. So Hades is a person and a realm. It equals death. Some Jewish writers equal Hades as a buddy of the fallen satan.
But the exact pagan concept doesn't have to be understood because it's nothing more than a stab in the back of Hades.


New Living Translation
Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death.

New King James Version
Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And hell and death were cast into the pool of fire. This is the second death.

Grave=hell=Hades= the kingdom/realm ruled by Hades.
Death=Hades= the person Hades.

So it's not a theological argument about what believes about Hades are right or wrong; because it's followed by a declaration stating Hades and Hades will be defeated.
Dead (person Hades) where is your string (locked up in Hades).

A similar thing we see in the elements that are burned up with fervent heat. (2 Peter 3:10). Today some people understand that a global nuclear war. But to Greeks elements had a deep philosophical meaning. Even the basis of religious. They saw 'elements' in about everything. In earthly things, but also Gods were created with elements. So for the Greek hearer, Peter stated all that wisdom will become null and void because it will be defeated by the fire (God's power, wisdom, etc)

Revelation is a difficult book because just translating it, won't learn you much. Marriage and Temple are a big blueprint for it. And yeah, it's written by a former priest...

Back to the point I want to make.
Hades was cast into the fire. A fire that's described in several verses. Fire+sulfur+smoke+tormented=hell
How much clearer can it be?
At those days sulfur was burned for purification (by priests. For example in a house to get rid of bugs. Or to disinfect when someone dies in that house from an infectious disease. Also used as skin treatment. For many cultures sulfur was a nearly devine material.

Back then, and even today, gold is refined by putting it in a crucible (lake), heat it (fire), then add sulfur.
The sulfur binds impurities and makes them float to the top, so the refiner can easily swipe them away like foam on a glass of beer.
That chemical reaction causes violent smoke.
Torment means torture today but before 288AD it had the meaning of testing purity of gold with a touchstone (also still used today).

So the whole description of hell is about crucible of a refiner.

Mal 3:3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,

God is a refiner. But not only that, the ancients pictured God sitting in the Holy of Holies and looked toward the Temple doors. There was washbasin were the priests tapped water from to purify all stuff they used for their duties, and also wash their hands etc. New (high) priest had to submerge themselves in it.
That basin goes by many names. Because it was so big, part of its name was sea or lake. It sparkled a lot (fire mingled with glass Rev 15:2) and was said to symbolically contain gold so pure it's transparent.
The whole picture of that is that God purifies those in that basin. God overlooks the lake from his throne.
(Solomon's throne room had a crystal floor that shone so much visitors thought the room was flooded)

The whole NT is full of words that refer to refining gold. But, well lost in translation....

Sorry for all that background info to make a simple point.

Hades was not only ridiculed by stating it/he will be totally and utterly destroyed; it goes further, because it states those in Hades (sinners) will be purified. Purified sinners are saints....

So the audience/culture is extremely important to understand something.
A good example is the word Grace.
Both UR and Calvinists agree 100% of humanity are sinners and not worthy of God.
But for UR Grace means that God somehow manages to give 100% of humanity a ticket to heaven.
For a Calvinist it means that 5% instead of 0% get such a ticket.

For us all are saved by Christ means 100% of humanity go to heaven.
For most others it means that God doesn't exclude people from heaven based on race, wealth, country, etc but still most never enter heaven.

Pagan words should be handled with care. Likely their concepts have some truth but don't believe most of it.
Same goes with parables and symbology. I'm sure all of you agree Christ is the Lamb of God. But I'm equally sure all of you agree Christ looked 100% human and didn't look like a sheep.

[WhiteWings]

Concerning the holy days and Marie Glens take on it. Here is my view:

The holy days of God include the following given in scripture:

Spring Holy Days: Passover (1), Unleavened bread (2), Pentecost (3)

Autumn Holy Days: Trumpets (4), Atonement (5), Tabernacles (6)

and the Last Great Day (7)

I guess it depends on what you call spring and fall.
For me Pentecost falls mid summer. Closer to fall than to spring.
For me it's more the the part before and after the fall equinox.



Yes, I'm fully aware the word penta means 50.
But keep it simple it turns out to be 2x50.
There were several feast spaced out by 50 days.
Barley (few days after crucifixion)
50 days
Wheat, also feast of weeks. (Lev 23:16 new grain.
50 days
New Wine
50 days
New oil

I know this is no longer a place for discussion, so I offer it on a take it or leave it basis.
When the HS descended on the people they started to speak in strange languages. They were accused of being drunk on new wine.
Now look up a source you trust, on when grapes were harvested, add a little time for processing and fermenting and see that's possible within 50 days from crucifixion.

Read Acts 20 and 21. That's Paul's 1000 mile trip from Philippi to the Temple. Partly by a freight ship, partly walking.
Acts 20:5-6 shows Paul left after FUB. So that already at least 7 days of the 50. Now simply read the two chapters and write down the duration of all events when Scripture states Paul was not traveling. Add up all those days. Do you end up close to 50 days. Do you think it's possible Paul traveled 1000 miles by ship and 123 miles by foot within the remainder of the 50 days?
http://radical-reaction.com/MyChristianSites/Feasts/pauljourney.html

Joel 2:24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

The only thing I'll say is that to have vats full of wine and oil, and wheat on the floors it has to be harvested first. Before it can be harvested it has to be ready for harvest.
Keep in mind the current Jewish calendar bounces back on forth on our calendar by whole months. But my unfinished research shows it likely was not so during Biblical times. The calendar was pretty tightly fixed to the equinox (like ours).
22 July 2021 is Pentecost day (allowing a few days error margin)

http://radical-reaction.com/MyChristianSites/Feasts/pentecost.html