Gehenna Is Not Hellfire; what is it?

[Ashoka]

One would have to have an open mind to understand the difference between hell and Gehenna. And be willing to examine the scriptures in depth. If you're willing to do so, perhaps we can discuss it in greater detail.

Sure thing.

 

[YoursTrue]

Sure thing.

OK. Here is a beginning, because it can get a little complicated, or technical, so we can start simply with the different translations. The word hell is found in many Bible translations. Yet those same verses in can read as the "grave," “the world of the dead,” and so forth. Some simply transliterate the original-language words that are sometimes rendered “hell”; that is, they express them with the letters of the alphabet but leave the words untranslated. A quick look at Job 26:6 and the different translations help us see the various ways translations have the same word. Job 26:6 - Job: Who Can Understand God's Majesty? shows the various translations. Hell, sheol, underworld, realm of the dead.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

To clarify, nobody among those who know the Son of Man gets thrown into the fire against their will. You already know the Son of Man.
The fire only destroys the wicked. For those who know the SoM, the fire purifies. Nobody can enter into heaven without first being purified in the fire.

Dead Jesus did Not go to fire at death. Dead Jesus went to the grave aka temporary biblical hell from Friday to Sunday. - Acts 2:27
Remember Jesus taught, Not fire, but ' sleep ' in death in the 11th chapter of John.
Jesus was well educated in the old Hebrew Scriptures which teaches 'sleep ' (Not fire) in death.
( Psalm 6:5; Psalm 13:3; Psalm 115:17; Isaiah 38:18; Ecclesiastes 9:5 )
After God resurrected dead Jesus out of death's sleep on Sunday then at Pentecost resurrected Jesus ascended to Heaven.
There was No fire involved. Romans 6:23,7 does Not mention any post-mortem penalty, No double jeopardy in death.
In other words, ' death ' is what stamps the total complete asking price tag for sin as Paid in Full.
Because we can't resurrect oneself or another we needed someone who can resurrect us ( awaken us from death's sleep - Daniel 12:2,13 )
Jesus can and will resurrect the dead (John 6:40,44) some to Heaven who have a first or earlier resurrection - Rev. 20:6; 5:9-10 ; Luke 12:32
The majority of people can have a happy-and-healthy physical resurrection on Earth to be one of Jesus' other sheep ' - John 10:16 ; Psalm 22:26

 

[URAVIP2ME]

OK. Here is a beginning, because it can get a little complicated, or technical, so we can start simply with the different translations. The word hell is found in many Bible translations. Yet those same verses in can read as the "grave," “the world of the dead,” and so forth. Some simply transliterate the original-language words that are sometimes rendered “hell”; that is, they express them with the letters of the alphabet but leave the words untranslated. A quick look at Job 26:6 and the different translations help us see the various ways translations have the same word. Job 26:6 - Job: Who Can Understand God's Majesty? shows the various translations. Hell, sheol, underworld, realm of the dead.

I think it is good to keep in mind besides the Hebrew word sheol and the Greek hell, the word Gehenna KJV translated into English as hell fire.
Gehenna was just a garbage pit outside of Jerusalem where things were: destroyed.
So, Gehenna is a fitting word for: destruction.
So, it should be No wonder that Scripture teaches destruction of the wicked - Psalm 37:38; Psalm 92:7; Psalm 104:35; Psalm 145:20 B
Sinner Satan will also be destroyed by Jesus according to Hebrews 2:14 B.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

Dictionaries may not always have the proper interpretation of some things. They may take what is common jargon, not necessarily accurate.
........................Few people want to die anyway, so it's not like many look forward to death.

Good point to me that 'few want to die' because what healthy person wants to pick the day they want to die.
Eternity is in our hearts, so for each day that we think of we can count both forwards and backwards forever and ever. - Psalm 22:26

 

[YoursTrue]

Good point to me that 'few want to die' because what healthy person wants to pick the day they want to die.
Eternity is in our hearts, so for each day that we think of we can count both forwards and backwards forever and ever. - Psalm 22:26

Exactly. Yet people will come up with a million excuses as to the difference or not depending on their ideas between humans and gorillas per their thoughts about evolution.

 

[YoursTrue]

I think it is good to keep in mind besides the Hebrew word sheol and the Greek hell, the word Gehenna KJV translated into English as hell fire.
Gehenna was just a garbage pit outside of Jerusalem where things were: destroyed.
So, Gehenna is a fitting word for: destruction.
So, it should be No wonder that Scripture teaches destruction of the wicked - Psalm 37:38; Psalm 92:7; Psalm 104:35; Psalm 145:20 B
Sinner Satan will also be destroyed by Jesus according to Hebrews 2:14 B.

Yes, thank you. There is a broad road leading to -- destruction, according to Jesus, and the narrow road leading to -- LIFE. Life - or - destruction. Jesus didn't talk about life or hellfire in eternal torment in conscious torture. He spoke of one road leading to destruction and another leading to life. Thank you for your comments.

 

[YoursTrue]

Good point to me that 'few want to die' because what healthy person wants to pick the day they want to die.
Eternity is in our hearts, so for each day that we think of we can count both forwards and backwards forever and ever. - Psalm 22:26

Most people who are sick would like to be well.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

Yes, thank you. There is a broad road leading to -- destruction, according to Jesus, and the narrow road leading to -- LIFE. Life - or - destruction. Jesus didn't talk about life or hellfire in eternal torment in conscious torture. He spoke of one road leading to destruction and another leading to life. Thank you for your comments.

....and thank you for the reminder about what Jesus said at Matthew 7:13
Yes, being on the 'narrow road' is the opportunity road for everlasting life.
Whereas the 'broad road' leads Not to fire but to: destruction.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

Most people who are sick would like to be well.

Yes, if going to Heaven was really in all of our hearts then why try to get well ?
Years ago at a funeral home a woman said that her sickness was her cross to bear.
I wanted to point out that Jesus said to ' pick up.... ' whereas a sickness is Not something one comes by by choice, by choosing.

 

[YoursTrue]

Yes, if going to Heaven was really in all of our hearts then why try to get well ?
Years ago at a funeral home a woman said that her sickness was her cross to bear.
I wanted to point out that Jesus said to ' pick up.... ' whereas a sickness is Not something one comes by by choice, by choosing.

Yes. I met a woman today who was mourning because her husband died a few weeks ago. I spoke to her briefly about a resurrection. She really appreciated it. We're neighbors. But afterwards I wondered, why would people cry if they think their loved ones were just so happy in heaven? There are more questions to be asked and answered but that's what I was wondering.

 

[Mark La Buda]

The following is an excerpt from a non-JW Index , the link of which is posted below….

Garbage Dump
The Greek word GeHenna is often translated as Hell Fire in other Bibles.
However, the word simply means the Valley (heb. ge) of Hinnom.

Understand that the Valley of Hinnom (also referred to as ‘the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom‘) was an actual place in ancient JeruSalem.
It wasn’t some symbolic Hell fire;
Rather, it was a valley that was used as the city’s garbage dump, which was located along the southeastern corner of its outer wall.

Before JeruSalem’s conquest by Babylon, the Valley of Hinnom had once been a beautiful park.
However, because unfaithful Jews started offering their children as sacrifices on an altar to the God Moloch there (see 2 Chronicles 28:3);
After their repatriation to JeruSalem, the people started using it as a place to dump their garbage and refuse.

Of course, since it was a garbage dump, it was necessary to keep the garbage burning in order to reduce the stench and to limit the number of flies and rats.
So, sulfur and sulfurous rocks known as ‘brimstone’ were regularly thrown into the dump to keep the fires burning hot.
And this is why Jesus, when using the term, spoke of the fire as not being put out.
Also, because worms (maggots) bred along the edges of the dump, he could say that the worms would always be there.

The only cases where humans were actually thrown into GeHenna provides an insight into what Jesus was talking about when he referred to people as going there.
For there were cases where the dead bodies of particularly vile criminals were thrown into GeHenna’s fires, because people felt that they were undeserving of a decent burial.
And as you read the Scriptures, you will notice the importance that Hebrews placed on being ‘laid to rest with their ancestors.’

So when Jesus spoke of people being thrown into GeHenna;
He was using the name of a familiar place to make the point that those whom God views as being unrepentant sinners would be thrown into the ‘garbage dump;’
For they were unworthy of a resurrection by Him.
Notice that this outcome was well illustrated by what happened to wicked Queen JezeBel, for her body was eaten by dogs.

Such an outcome for the willfully wicked was also referred to by Jesus (in Matthew’s account) as the fire of the age.
Why did he use that term?
Because fire destroys, and this destruction is for the ages.
(For more information, see the linked document, ‘Is there a Burning Hell?’)
Notes

(Oops! Title has a typo. It should be “Gehenna is not hellfire”. Sorry.)

In a brief summary: Ge·hen'n: (Greek form of the Hebrew Geh Hin·nom') was deep, narrow “Valley of Hinnom,” later known by this Greek name, lay to the S and SW of ancient Jerusalem. Judean Kings Ahaz and Manasseh engaged in idolatrous worship there, which included the making of human sacrifices by fire to Baal.-2 Chronicles 28:1, 3; 33:1, 6; Jeremiah 7:31, 32; 32:35.

Evidence indicates, the Valley of Hinnom was a place for the disposal of garbage and carcasses, fire, perhaps increased in intensity by the addition of sulfur (compare Isaiah 30:33), would be the only suitable means to eliminate such refuse. Where the fire did not reach, worms, or maggots, would breed, consuming anything not destroyed by the fire.

Jesus used Gehenna as representative of utter destruction resulting from adverse judgment by God, hence with no resurrection to life as a soul being possible. (Matthew 10:28; Luke 12:4, 5) The scribes and Pharisees as a wicked class were denounced as “subjects for Gehenna.” (Matthew 23:13-15, 33) See Isaiah 66:24; Mark 9:47, 48.

 

[Balthazzar]

If there is no eternal hellfire, what about revelations 20?
10 And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

The Dead Are Judged
11 Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books. 13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; 15 and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Just curious, because here Hell is presented in the frightening hellfire forever type of way

Ok, so everyone in the books were judged and thrown into the lake of fire AND everyone not in the books were thrown into the lake of fire also. The devil, the angels, the false prophets, the antichrists, the beasts, death, the grave, and everything was thrown into the lake of fire. Those still living who's names were in the book of life are still awaiting their departure to the lake of fire OR maybe they already departed and have been refined and purged by becoming one with the fire itself.

Is God a consuming fire - Hebrews 12-? Maybe - there's some sort of refining process going on in there where our infirmities are purged by fire and something new comes from the ashes. Like a phoenix bird. I like phoenix birds. That's a cool thought man.

Thanks for sharing.