The Valley of the Son of Hinnom (Gehenna)

[Jon]

According to an article I've seen about the history of the word hell and what it's been taken to mean over the centuries, there is no archaeological evidence that Gehenna used to be a fiery rubbish dump, nor any suggestion in pre-12th-century documents that it was or had formerly been one. Could its author be wrong about that? Whether she is or she isn't, she certainly doesn't appear to have a fundamentalist agenda - hence no one who reads the article and accepts what's in it is likely to infer from it that when Jesus warned about the possibility of winding up in Gehenna, he meant an afterlife torture chamber from which those who found themselves in would never be freed.

Here's the address of the article: http://www.hell-on-line.org/AboutGEN.html

[Abigail]

There has been some discussion on this topic recently:

http://tentmaker.org/forum/arguments-against-universal-salvation/soul-destroyed-in-gehenna/msg185888/#msg185888

[Jon]

There has been some discussion on this topic recently:

http://tentmaker.org/forum/arguments-against-universal-salvation/soul-destroyed-in-gehenna/msg185888/#msg185888

Thanks! - hadn't seen that thread.

[Tom]

http://concordant.org/expohtml/DeathAndJudgment/TheGehennaOfFire.html

[Tom]

Here are some pictures of hell.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g293983-i20382797-Jerusalem_Jerusalem_District.html

http://what-the-hell-is-hell.com/HellPhotos/

[Lazarus Short]

Gehenna is a side-issue, maybe even a red herring.  We have debunked Hell on too many other levels. :declare:

[Tom]

Yeah, the problem though is that lots of folks still think Gehenna is hell because that's what their Bibles say.

[rosered]

 

I have  always believed since I first read Jesus words  about how distressed he was to be baptised     in death   to take hold of the keys of   HADES  AND DEATH

  so death would no longer reign  and HE   WOULD BECOME     the LORD , master of the living and the dead     

  the world and its elements are already burning       Just as sodom and gomorrah       in my opinion , look at the world
  whom  God lifts us up out of         like a brand plucked from the fire     




2 Luke 12:49-53Expanded Bible (EXB)

Jesus Causes Division(A)
49 "I came to ·set [bring; cast] fire to the world, and I wish it were already ·burning [kindled]!


50 I have a baptism [C a metaphor for suffering, portrayed as an overwhelming deluge] ·to suffer through [L to be baptized with], and I feel very ·troubled [distressed] until it is over.


51 Do you think I came to give peace to the earth? No, I tell you, I came to ·divide it [bring division].


52 [L For] From now on, a ·family [L house] with five people will be divided, three against two, and two against three.


53 They will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law [Mic. 7:6]."

I must say the first division I saw was on the CROSS  , between the two thieves   ,   the mocker and unrepentant  one was never spoken of again [unseen]hades

  the one who acknowledged his sin  and asked for Jesus to remember him  was taken to paradise    of God that very day!!

I see this as symbolic  of the old man and new man in Christ 
  and we are in the Lakes of fires burning as the world is being consumed   God is a   consuming fire


Just some thoughts to consider       ..       

[eaglesway]

According to an article I've seen about the history of the word hell and what it's been taken to mean over the centuries, there is no archaeological evidence that Gehenna used to be a fiery rubbish dump, nor any suggestion in pre-12th-century documents that it was or had formerly been one. Could its author be wrong about that? Whether she is or she isn't, she certainly doesn't appear to have a fundamentalist agenda - hence no one who reads the article and accepts what's in it is likely to infer from it that when Jesus warned about the possibility of winding up in Gehenna, he meant an afterlife torture chamber from which those who found themselves in would never be freed.

Here's the address of the article: http://www.hell-on-line.org/AboutGEN.html

Topheth was in the Valley of Hinnom. It means "burning place". Isaiah prophesied...

Isaiah 30:33 For Topheth has long been ready, Indeed, it has been prepared for the king. He has made it deep and large, A pyre of fire with plenty of wood; The breath of the Lord, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it afire.

Jeremiah prophesied...

Jeremiah 7:31 They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind.

Josiah, the reformer king, defiled the pagan altars all over Israel, and did so in specific at Topheth, where he burned the bones of the priests of Baal upon them.

Archeological evidence is great when it is found, but the testimony of the scriptures is reliable as well(even more so).

When Jesus spoke of the fires of Gehenna, He was reminding the Pharisees of the sins of there forefqthers and likening Himself to Josiah, the greatest reformer king in all the history of Judah and Israel.

As for the fiery dump thing, I have heard it taught but I have not found any scripture on it. However there is rabinnical tradition that it was kept as a place for burning, and there is evidence the Romans used it for a place of cremation, which they practiced. We ought to be careful tho about quoting this as if it is historical or scriptural fact. It isnt.

But Tophet, in the valley of Hinnom, both by meaning of the name and by history, has clear scriptural connection to fire and brimstone and evil practices and idolatrous fire sacrifices.

This thing of sacrificing children through fire to Mollech in Topheth in the valley of ben- hinnom was a reccurrent problem.

28 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do right in the sight of the Lord as David his father had done. 2 But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel; he also made molten images for the Baals. 3 Moreover, he burned incense in the valley of Ben-hinnom and burned his sons in fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the sons of Israel.

33 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; he also erected altars for the Baals and made Asherim, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 4 He built altars in the house of the Lord of which the Lord had said, "My name shall be in Jerusalem forever." 5 For he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. 6He made his sons pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger. 7 Then he put the carved image of the idol which he had made in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever;