N S B Notes: In Hell Forever?
Gehenna….Valley of Hinnom
WOULD THE GOD OF LOVE TORMENT PEOPLE IN HELL FOREVER?
EVERLASTING TORMENT? Absolutely NOT! What kind of sick mind would devise a torture chamber that would torment people forever? Who would formulate and develop such a hateful arrangement? Would the God who loved the world so much, that he gave his only begotten Son to save all who believed in him, send people to the everlasting torment called Hell? (John 3:16)
GEHENNA: The Greek word “Gehenna” is a classic example of a word that cannot be translated into just one English word. It requires a paraphrase, a translation of the thought and meaning into a phrase. Gehenna means ever burning trash fires in the valley of Hinnom. It was used symbolically by Jesus to represent total destruction. The word is found 12 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures including Matthew 10:28 and 23:15. Matthew 10:28 states: “Do not fear those who kill the body. They are not able to take away your (everlasting) life. Instead fear him who is able to destroy both life and body in the ever-burning fires. (Greek: Gehenna, trash fires in the valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem. Dead bodies were thrown into this trash fire to be destroyed.)”
Luke 12:5 reads: “I will show you the one to fear. Fear the one who, after he has killed you, has power to destroy you (throw into the ever-burning trash fires of the valley of Hinnom). This is one you should fear.”
EVERLASTING TORMENT? Absolutely NOT!
GOD WOULD NOT TORMENT AND TORTURE PEOPLE! Read Jeremiah 7:31 and 32 and see for yourself that torment and torture would not come up into Jehovah's heart!
ADOLF HITLER: Adolf Hitler tormented and tortured people during World War II (1938-1945). Then he exterminated them in the gas chambers. Would a loving God torment and torture people? Why compare our loving God to the tyrants and murderers of man’s jaded history?
MILLIONS DIED IN WORLD WAR II: In July of 1937 China was invaded by Japan in a widening war that continued until the defeat of both Japan and Germany in 1945. These are only estimates provided in order to indicate the immensity of the human losses in this most terrible of all wars. World War II is characterized by unspeakable atrocities, germ warfare, enormous civilian casualties, the genocide of nearly 6 million European Jews, and the use of a new and terror-laden weapon of war--the atomic bomb. Estimates of the death toll attributable to the war for military and civilian losses have ranged upward to 70 million, with civilian losses at or more than 50 percent of that total. More than 50 countries or dependencies were listed as having some degree of involvement.
Would the God who loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten Son provoke such torture and death? No He would not! (John 3:16) (1 John 4:16) Would He torture human beings throughout eternity in a hateful ever-burning hell? NO! ABSOUTELY NOT!
Combatants and civilians of the Soviet Union and China suffered the greatest human losses in World War II. In the two-and-a-half year siege of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) by the German forces, 1 1/2 million Russians alone died from shelling, bombing, disease and starvation, a figure that exceeded all the military casualties of the U.S.A. and British Commonwealth combined. The cruelties perpetrated by morally depraved units of the Japanese army in China is demonstrated most vividly in the torture and massacre of civilians and the barbaric killing of war prisoners in the infamous Rape of Nanking that took the lives of over 300,000 Chinese. Other mass civilian deaths, apart from the singular destruction of European Jews, comprise the hundreds of thousands of slave laborers in the Japanese-held Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia) as well as the 1 1/2 million deaths in Bengal as a consequence of war-related famine. The true God of the Bible would not permit this insane torture to continue forever.
CAMBODIAN KILLING FIELDS: On April 17th, 1975 the Khmer Rouge, a communist guerrilla group led by Pol Pot, took power in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. They forced all city dwellers into the countryside and to labor camps. During their rule, it is estimated that 2 million Cambodians died “in a living hell” by starvation, torture and execution. 2 million Cambodians represented approximately 30% of the Cambodian population during that time. This is something God would never condone and certainly never do! (See list of Scriptures below)
IRAQ: Under Saddam Hussein’s regime many hundreds of thousands of people have died as a result of his actions. For over 20 years, the greatest threat to Iraqis has been Saddam Hussein's regime. He has killed, tortured, raped and terrorized the Iraqi people and his neighbors for over two decades. Saddam Hussein's 1987-1988 campaign of terror against the Kurds killed at least 50,000 and possibly as many as 100,000 Kurds. Again, the true God would not torture people in the confinement of a burning “hell.”
GEH HINNOM: In the Hebrew Scriptures the Valley of Hinnom became the dumping place and incinerator for the city of Jerusalem. Bodies of dead animals were thrown in to be consumed by the fires. Sulphur or brimstone was added to assist the burning. Even dead bodies of executed criminals were thrown into these ever burning fires. Do you understand that? It was the fires that were ever burning…not the dead bodies. The dead bodies were burned up and destroyed, never to exist again. Also…these bodies were already dead when they were thrown into the fire. They were not tortured!
Occurrences of Gehenna
Matthew 5:22 “Now I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother [without cause] shall be guilty before the court. Whoever speaks to his brother with words of contempt shall receive condemnation before the Sanhedrin [Supreme Court]. Curse your brother and you will be guilty enough to be destroyed by fire, with the burning trash, at the Valley of Hinnom, outside of Jerusalem (Greek: Gehenna).
Matthew 5:29 “If your right eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away! It is better to lose a part of your body then to have your whole body destroyed in the ever-burning fires of the Valley of Hinnom.
Matthew 5:30 “If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better to lose part of your body, than for your whole body to be destroyed in the ever-burning fire. (Figuratively: lose prospect for everlasting life; ever-burning fire means total destruction.)
Matthew 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body. They are not able to take away your [everlasting] life. Instead, fear him who is able to destroy both life and body in the ever-burning fires. (Greek: Gehenna: continuously burning trash fires in the valley of Hinnom.)
Matthew 18:9 “If your eye causes you stumbling, take it out and throw it away. It is better for you to go into life with one eye than, having two eyes, to be destroyed in ever-burning fires in the Valley of Hinnom (Greek: Gehenna).
Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel on both sea and land to make one convert. When this happens, you make him twice as deserving of destruction in the trash fires of the valley of Hinnom (Greek: Gehenna).
Matthew 23:33 “You serpents! You offspring of vipers! How will you escape from being destroyed in the ever-burning fires of the Valley of Hinnom? (Greek: Gehenna, the trash fires in the valley just outside of Jerusalem)
Mark 9:43 “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It would be better to enter into life maimed then, having two hands to be destroyed in the ever-burning trash fires in the Valley of Hinnom. (Greek: Gehenna)
Mark 9:45 “If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is good for you to enter into life with only one foot, rather than having two feet to be cast into the ever-burning fires of Hinnom. (Greek: Gehenna: symbolic of total destruction)
Mark 9:47 “If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out. It is good for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be destroyed in the ever-burning trash fires in the valley of Hinnom.
Luke 12:5 “I will show you the one to fear. Fear the one who, after he has killed, has power to destroy you (throw into the ever-burning trash fires of the valley of Hinnom) (Greek: Gehenna). This is one you should fear.
James 3:6 The tongue is like fire, the place of iniquity among our members. It defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of our life. It is set on fire like the ever-burning fires in the Valley of Hinnom (Greek: Gehenna: symbolic of total destruction).
TOPETH: Topeth was a place outside Jerusalem where apostate Israelites sacrificed children. King Josiah finally put an end to this despicable practice. (2 Kings 23:10) (2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6) (Jeremiah 7:31-33; 19:3-14; 32:35) Topeth could have been in the eastern part of the Valley of Hinnom near the Gate of the Potsherds. (Jeremiah 19:2, 6, 14) Topeth was used figuratively at Isaiah 30:32, 33 as a place of burning with fire. It represented the destruction that came upon Assyria. The place was called Topeth because they would dance and strike tambourines so that the father would not hear his son crying when they caused him to pass through the fire.. The Hebrew word for tambourines was “tuppim.” The Valley of Hinnom was named after a man who first owned it. His name was Hinnom. (Simplified Bible Dictionary)
Occurrences of Hinnom and Topheth with reference to destroying people with fire:
(2 Kings 23:10 NSB) Josiah also made Topheth in the valley of Ben Hinnom unclean so that people would never again sacrifice their sons or daughters by burning them to the god Molech.
(Isaiah 30:33 NSB) Topheth was prepared long ago. It was made ready for the king. It was made deep and wide and piled high with plenty of burning logs. Jehovah’s breath will be like a flood of burning sulfur, setting it on fire.
(Jeremiah 7:31 NSB) “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. I did not command this. I would never think of such a thing. (It would not come from my heart.)
(Jeremiah 7:32 NSB) “Days are coming, says Jehovah, when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of the Slaughter. They will bury in Topheth because there is no other place.
(Jeremiah 19:5 NSB) “‘They have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal. This is not something I commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter my mind.”’
(Jeremiah 19:6 NSB) “‘“Therefore days are coming, declares Jehovah, when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter.
(Jeremiah 19:11 NSB) “‘Say to them: ‘Thus says Jehovah of Hosts: “Like this I will break this people and this city. It is just like one breaks a potter's vessel that cannot again be repaired. They will bury in Topheth because there is no other place for burial.”’
(Jeremiah 19:12 NSB) “‘This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants,’declares Jehovah, ‘I will make this city like Topheth.
(Jeremiah 19:13 NSB) “‘The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like Topheth. They burned sacrifices to the heavenly hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the rooftops of all of their houses.’”
(Jeremiah 19:14 NSB) Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Jehovah had sent him to prophesy. He stood in the court of Jehovah’s house and said to all the people:
(Jeremiah 32:35) In the valley of Ben Hinnom they built worship sites for Baal to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I did not ask them to do this. It never entered my heart (mind). I did not make Judah sin.’
ETERNAL TORMENT?
The Hebrew word “Sheol” and the Greek word “Hades” basically refer to the place of the dead. They mean the common grave of mankind, gravedom, or the earthly place where the dead are buried. The Hebrew word that specifically means an individual grave or burial place is “qever.” (Genesis 23:4, 6, 9, 20) These words do not in any way mean a place where dead people suffer pain.
The idea of eternal torment in Sheol or Hades is not consistent with the true meaning of these words! The only reference in the Holy Scriptures that speaks of someone suffering in the grave is found at Luke 16:23 where Jesus Christ is obviously presenting an illustration, something symbolic, in order to teach a lesson. This was perhaps hyperbole or an exaggeration to emphasize an important spiritual lesson. There are Scriptures that speak about everburning fire and torment and these apply to Satan the Devil and his angels. Human beings are destroyed just as God promises at Revelation 11:18.
HELL: In the seventeenth century, when the King James Version of the Bible was written, people stored their potatoes in hell. Hell was a cellar, a pit where root vegetables were stored, and the grave where dead people were buried. The word hell is not found in the New Simplified Bible. This is because the vast majority of the religious population today thinks hell is a place of everlasting torment. Proper translation of the Hebrew and Greek words lead us to understand that it is simply the grave.
See Translation Notes: Grave, Sheol, Hades, Hell.
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