In each blog, I often reference many different topics that I've already covered (or will soon cover), and maybe you've missed. Please review my blogs to read more...
CLICK HERE! for an index to previous blogs.
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This post is going to be relatively brief... only one question for you to think about for now.
Where did this Theological business of "hell" come from?
I have my ideas... for example, was religion "created" to control the populace?
Or, did governments, including stuffy guy (modern day Pharisees and Sadducees) create doctrine hand in hand with the religious leaders of their day as a means to control the populace?
If those two controlling forces (reigning government and religious leaders) could only come up with a way to scare the people into obedience wouldn't that make their jobs much easier?
Not only that, but what a nice source of income it might provide those religious leaders! For example, look at the grandiosity of Vatican City today!
Might they be easier to govern if they feared the edict from those higher above who were telling them...
"You'll go to HELL and burn, be tortured, for ALL of ETERNITY if you don't believe US and behave?"
Or...
"A little extra money wouldn't hurt if you'd like to see your loved ones purgatorial sentence shortened..."
It has everything to do with:
Jer 10:2 Thus says the Lord, Learn NOT the way of the heathen [see my blogs on Egyptian fables]...
Deut 12:30 ...and that you enquire NOT after their [who is "their"] gods...
Deut 12:29-30 When the Lord thy God shall cut off the nations... take heed to thyself that you be NOT snared by following them [who are "them"?], after that they [again, who are "they"?] be destroyed from before you; and that you enquire NOT after their gods [who are "their gods"?] saying: How did these nations serve their gods? Even so will I do likewise.
Another blog... coming soon!
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In my notes, are every Scriptural occurrence of the word "hell". It is only used 23 times in the entire New Testament of our KJV Bibles.
I won't give you all of those references in this blog, but each time you find the word "hell" in Scripture - it comes from one of these four Hebrew or Greek words:
[1] sheol (Hebrew)
The Hebrew inspired equivalent of the Greek word hades (#2 below) and vice versa.
Here's a good one for you to think about... why would David claim that his soul would be redeemed from "hell"?!
NASB Psa 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol [H7585 - sheol], For He will receive me. Selah.
How does the KJV interpret this verse?
Psa 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave [H7585 - sheol]: for He shall receive me. Selah.
Don't you find that interesting?
Most of the time, in the KJV, this Hebrew word sheol is translated as "HELL".
Wonder why, in this case they chose to translate it as grave?
I'll tell you why... stuffy guy realized it didn't fit into his theological box.
It's not the only time the KJV translators changed their minds on this translation of sheol either!
Sometimes they translated this one word sheol as grave, or pit - which is far more accurate than "hell"...
I wonder why they chose "hell" in some cases?
Especially when grave and pit already have their own Hebrew words!
[2] hades (Greek)
Means: unseen, unperceived, imperceptible.
This word connotes the state of the dead. Sheol means the exact same thing, it's the inspired Hebrew equivalent.
[3] Gehenna (Greek)
CLICK HERE! for an index to previous blogs.
_________________________
This post is going to be relatively brief... only one question for you to think about for now.
Where did this Theological business of "hell" come from?
I have my ideas... for example, was religion "created" to control the populace?
Or, did governments, including stuffy guy (modern day Pharisees and Sadducees) create doctrine hand in hand with the religious leaders of their day as a means to control the populace?
If those two controlling forces (reigning government and religious leaders) could only come up with a way to scare the people into obedience wouldn't that make their jobs much easier?
Not only that, but what a nice source of income it might provide those religious leaders! For example, look at the grandiosity of Vatican City today!
Might they be easier to govern if they feared the edict from those higher above who were telling them...
"You'll go to HELL and burn, be tortured, for ALL of ETERNITY if you don't believe US and behave?"
Or...
"A little extra money wouldn't hurt if you'd like to see your loved ones purgatorial sentence shortened..."
It has everything to do with:
Jer 10:2 Thus says the Lord, Learn NOT the way of the heathen [see my blogs on Egyptian fables]...
Deut 12:30 ...and that you enquire NOT after their [who is "their"] gods...
Deut 12:29-30 When the Lord thy God shall cut off the nations... take heed to thyself that you be NOT snared by following them [who are "them"?], after that they [again, who are "they"?] be destroyed from before you; and that you enquire NOT after their gods [who are "their gods"?] saying: How did these nations serve their gods? Even so will I do likewise.
Lev 18:3 After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein you dwelled, shall you NOT do and after the doings of the land of Canaan, where I bring you, shall you NOT do: NEITHER shall you walk in their ordinances.
Remember Tophet, and the "fire of Molech", Baal (Baalam), etc., in Scripture?
Egyptian fables...
Another blog... coming soon!
In my notes, are every Scriptural occurrence of the word "hell". It is only used 23 times in the entire New Testament of our KJV Bibles.
I won't give you all of those references in this blog, but each time you find the word "hell" in Scripture - it comes from one of these four Hebrew or Greek words:
[1] sheol (Hebrew)
The Hebrew inspired equivalent of the Greek word hades (#2 below) and vice versa.
Here's a good one for you to think about... why would David claim that his soul would be redeemed from "hell"?!
NASB Psa 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol [H7585 - sheol], For He will receive me. Selah.
How does the KJV interpret this verse?
Psa 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave [H7585 - sheol]: for He shall receive me. Selah.
Don't you find that interesting?
Most of the time, in the KJV, this Hebrew word sheol is translated as "HELL".
Wonder why, in this case they chose to translate it as grave?
I'll tell you why... stuffy guy realized it didn't fit into his theological box.
It's not the only time the KJV translators changed their minds on this translation of sheol either!
Sometimes they translated this one word sheol as grave, or pit - which is far more accurate than "hell"...
I wonder why they chose "hell" in some cases?
Especially when grave and pit already have their own Hebrew words!
[2] hades (Greek)
Means: unseen, unperceived, imperceptible.
This word connotes the state of the dead. Sheol means the exact same thing, it's the inspired Hebrew equivalent.
[3] Gehenna (Greek)
Every single time you see this word referenced in the New Testament (OT = ravine, or Valley of Hinnom)... it's referring to a very real, and literal place, that once was, and will come to life again during the Millennial Reign of Jesus. It's basically a garbage dump to the southwest of Jerusalem that will be utilized during the Millennial Reign.
Did you know that Gehenna in the Old Testament is not translated as hell?
Wonder why it's all of the sudden translated as hell in the New Testament?
[4] tartaroo (Greek)
Means abyss, and is supposedly the lowest part of hades.
Used only once in all of Scripture and is incorrectly translated as hell.
The one time it is used, it refers exclusively to angels, and the passage itself explains that it is not permanent, or eternal in nature.
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This was a shock to me... do you know how "hell" used to be used in our old English language?
"Hell" never was and never will be a proper translation of the Greek word hades, sheol, gehenna, or tartaroo.
Back in the Middle Ages it had a totally different connotation than today.
Hell was a cool cellar, underground where they would store their potatoes, etc. They would hell their potatoes in order for them to keep for winter...
Think about that... does that sound like a better definition for hades to you? Where do the dead reside? Are they also in a type of winter, being kept for a coming Spring?
Tell a person to "go to hell" today, and it's taken as an insult.
Tell a person to "go to hell" back then, and they would've went to their underground cellar... and you might end up with a couple of potatoes from your neighbor!
Although not a proper translation of hades, this old English word did (I said "did"- not anymore) have similarities to the word hades.
An old Webster's Twentieth Century Dictionary has this definition:
"hell, n. [ME, helle; AS, hell, hell, from helan, to cover, conceal.]"
To "cover" or "conceal".
That definition has at least some similarity to the Greek elements of hades: UN-PERCEIVED [the UNSEEN or IMPERCEPTIBLE].
Before the king James Bible, the old Anglo-Saxon word simply meant a dark, hidden, concealed, or covered hole in the ground.
Actually, hell would be a better translation for grave than hades.
Now check a modern dictionary and look what we get:
Webster's New World Dictionary:
"hell (hel), n 1. the place where Christians believe that devils live and wicked people go to be punished after they die."
What?! Not THIS Christian.. I do not believe in this man-made religious definition!
What happened to the definition of the word ... "hell"?!
Seriously... what happened?!
How have all these Theological nightmares been birthed from one little word?!
Answer: Stuffy guy.
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We could go down a million different rabbit trails from here... what happens when we die? What is the difference between body, Spirit, and soul? How does all of this tie together?
We will get to that stuff eventually... first:
I want to, with every fiber in my being, make sure that YOU are as sure as I am that your unbelieving loved ones will never be tortured, for all of eternity, in this nonsense called HELL.
Scripture knows no such place as "hell" throughout it's entirety. I assure you, God has no such plans for you lost loved ones... His plans are much more glorious than we've been led to believe!
I know that I can't get you there with one short little blog... it took me years of digging, and I'm going to try and take us there, but...
We've got a TON of unraveling to do. Centuries of blasphemous nonsense passed down to each generation from the stuffy guys of this world will take some time to unravel.
You can't unravel a tangled ball of yarn immediately... it takes patience.
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I'll move on to part 2 soon, but leave you with this question:
What justification is there in translating these Greek and Hebrew words into the English word "hell?"
Are we " ... distinguishing the things that differ" (Phi 1:10)
" ... having a pattern of sound words" (2 Tim 1:13-14)
"adding to" the Word of God" (Rev 22:18-19)
Or...
Are we following the "traditions of men" (Col 2:8)?
I have found that most of the stuffy guys in this world often dictate false doctrine based on the silence of Scripture - rather than, what Scripture actually says.
Are we " ... distinguishing the things that differ" (Phi 1:10)
" ... having a pattern of sound words" (2 Tim 1:13-14)
"adding to" the Word of God" (Rev 22:18-19)
Or...
Are we following the "traditions of men" (Col 2:8)?
I have found that most of the stuffy guys in this world often dictate false doctrine based on the silence of Scripture - rather than, what Scripture actually says.
An argument from silence is ALWAYS proven futile when comparing to what Scripture actually says!
God's Word NEVER contradicts... and I'm not referring to our English translations.
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Some of these excerpts are from my personal notes copied from 30+ years of studying... some of these notes are direct copies of various sources - I do not claim to have authored every word of this... it's just a mass collection I've tucked away over the years for my own personal studies... I didn't consider a bibliography at the time I directly copied small excerpts from various authors. Also, any emphasis (underlines, bold text, all CAPS, etc.) noted above was only meant to capture my personal attention as I studied...
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