Charlie correctly points out that, despite mainstream Christian teaching, eternal punishment isn't taught in the Bible.
There are four words that are translated as hell in the King James Version, and they are Sheol, Gehenna, Hades and Tartarus.
Sheol is Hebrew for the grave, and the Torah (5 books of Moses) taught no afterlife.
Gehenna was just the flaming dump outside Jerusalem, Hades is a mythological Greek underworld and Tartarus is a gloomy place.
The best proof that there is no eternal punishment is the mention in Revelation that death and Hades themselves will be thrown into the lake of fire, meaning they will be abolished, so what "hell" really is is just annihilation -- that is, ceasing to exist.
Charlie correctly points out that, despite mainstream Christian teaching, eternal punishment isn't taught in the Bible.
ReplyDeleteThere are four words that are translated as hell in the King James Version, and they are Sheol, Gehenna, Hades and Tartarus.
Sheol is Hebrew for the grave, and the Torah (5 books of Moses) taught no afterlife.
Gehenna was just the flaming dump outside Jerusalem, Hades is a mythological Greek underworld and Tartarus is a gloomy place.
The best proof that there is no eternal punishment is the mention in Revelation that death and Hades themselves will be thrown into the lake of fire, meaning they will be abolished, so what "hell" really is is just annihilation -- that is, ceasing to exist.