If the church in general can adopt and perpetuate a falsely interpreted and twisted doctrine such as the unfortunate misconception of 'hell' for so long, what else have they got wrong? that's all I'm saying... Don't just take things on 'authority', take authority on things. God has given us brains and we should intend to use them. Seeking the truth is too tame a term, sometimes you have to get a shovel and dig it up.
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I can't agree with this guy; he downplays hell way too far- he takes 162 references of hell from the New Testament alone and says they're all translations of Gehenna. Hell is also translated from Sheol; which is described as deep (Job 11:8), dark (10:21,22), with bars (17:16). The dead "go down" to it.(Num 16:30,33; Ezek 31:15,16,17). It is a prison (1 Peter 3:19), with gates and bars and locks (Matt 16:18; Rev 1:18), and it is downward (Matt 11:23; Luke 10:15). Yes, Gehenna is in a valley, it's burning, and is where dead bodies are thrown. But he disregards every description of hell in the Bible. For example, when the rich man says to Abraham, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame." He is clearly in torment. Matthew 12:40- Jesus says: "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly: so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." In Matthew 13:42, Jesus says: "And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." He's not talking about when they die, they get thrown into the garbage dump. Their soul is thrown in hell, a place where you feel torment; not where your body burns. I'm sure your body was thrown into the garbage dump when you died, I don't doubt that, but Jesus describes many times the torment that goes with dying if you're lost. The speaker is probably right about Gehenna, but to just say hell is being without life and in a garbage dump is distorted. For someone who knows the Bible, I think they are manipulating it to what they want to believe. Thank you for your post, it did make me dig for the truth!
well we could go round and round about these verses and what they really mean and whether the 'parable' of Lazarus is to be taken literally or not but the fact is that it is not spelled out for us. I dont thnk he is manipulating the scripture or downplaying 'hell' He is merely dispellng the aweful twisted version of 'hell' being a literal place where people suffer for all eternity that has been perpetuated as fact. Hell is seperation from God it IS torment and weeping and gnashing of teeth, It is realizing that you have chosen to be seperated your creator who LOVED you endlessly. That is the important issue here not using scare tactics and focusng on the threats of hell to turn people towards God. This was an important discovery for me because I couldn't believe that if God was truely lovng that He having the power to destroy souls would allow them to suffer for all eternity, it would seem spiteful to me... a dick move, I mean afterall did He not love us all the same as a Father loves his child? and what Parent even though thier child denies them would still want them to suffer for all eternity if it was withn thier power to end it? I am thankful it is not required of me to believe that Heaven and Hell will co-exist and John backs this up. i cant imagine anyone wanting to believe it when we clearly dont need to.
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